Abandoned Treasure

Nathan Storm’s POV

Arrowhead Pack Beta Home

Thursday, July 23, 2020

“Nathan?”

I woke immediately, going to roll on my stomach, but I couldn’t move my back legs!

Raising my muzzle off the cushions of the room-filling U-shaped couch, I soon figured out the problem. Mykayla had gone to sleep between me in my wolf and Jade in her cat form. Her snout draped over my back, with her legs tangled with mine. Hannah’s wolf stretched half over Mykayla’s back, and our children were all kitty-piling on Isra. “They are so damn cute,” Beta Lana said as she took a picture on her phone. “If you don’t get to breakfast in the next thirty minutes, you’ll be late for your meeting with the Alpha.” She lifted Mykayla’s head enough for me to sneak out while the kids slept late. We’d been up late last night on our movie marathon. Everyone was zonked out, but I had work to do.

I trotted down the hall to my room, shifted, and dressed in jeans, boots, and a T-shirt. The forecast was another hot one, but I didn’t want to go through the brush and tall weeds in shorts. Lana was waiting when I emerged. I followed her to the Pack House.

The Alpha table was full. Chair Colletta and Frank Grimes sat to the right of the Alpha pair. Alpha Martin Smith and Luna Rebecca were on their left, and they gave me a stare that could freeze water. Lana guided me to the buffet line. I loaded up a plate and followed her to a table on the opposite side of the room. Beta James and Beta Vic joined us a minute later. “Last meal?” Vic asked as he looked at the pancake stack with bacon piled six inches high.

“Today’s going to suck, so I’m using excessive amounts of bacon to balance it out.”

“Not possible,” James chuckled.

I looked at him quizzically. “Not possible to balance it out?”

“No, it’s not possible to have an excessive amount of bacon. You can’t have too much money, sex, horsepower, or bacon.”

“That’s funny,” Lana teased her mate. “I recall someone saying he had to take a break from sex on our honeymoon, and that was with werewolf stamina and healing!”

“You ready for today,” James asked.

“I don’t have a choice. Rori deserves to hear this story outside a courtroom.” We ate while James went over logistics. The woods and landscaping had reclaimed the old roads and homesites, so we’d go by ATV. “Who all is coming?”

“I’ll drive the first one with you and the Arrowhead Alphas,” he replied. “Lana, Luna Rebecca, and Frank Grimes will be in the second one, along with a Council enforcer who will videotape everything. Two Pack warriors and two Council Enforcers will be in the third one.”

I didn’t miss the exceptions. “Chair Colletta and Alpha Smith?”

“Both will be involved in any future trial, so they are sitting this out.” Their mates were going along, and they could always watch the video, so I didn’t know what this accomplished. “I’d like to start along the highway near the original entrance.”

“That will be fine,” Lana replied. She pulled a manila envelope out. “I took the liberty of printing a topographical map of the area and satellite photographs from before the fire. I’ve got them on my tablet with GPS, so we can see where we are. The old foundations and the safe room have all been buried and planted over.”

“And that’s our five-minute warning,” James added.

I shoveled in the rest of the food, took my dishes to the return area, and followed the Betas to the waiting ATVs. James drove off as soon as the others were ready, taking a trail through the woods and away from the lake. It didn’t take long to arrive at the grown-over gravel road that once led to the Pack House deep in the woods. We all got out, and I used the tablet’s overview of the Pack land to start my story.“ Alpha Todd didn’t explain his reasoning to us; we were warriors and were to follow his orders without question. Forty of us arrived at the border, divided into four groups.” I showed how two groups would run straight for the compound from the east, with smaller groups preventing people from escaping to the south or along the lake to the west. “The Pack had no idea we were coming. Beta Miller assigned me to protect the Alpha’s back, so I was in the first group. We ran hard along the road and through the woods to the south, straight to the Alpha home. The other group with us went through the woods to our north. Their job was to overcome defenders and herd everyone else into the Pack House.”

“What were your orders,” Frank asked.

“Kill all the males and females beyond breeding age as quickly as possible. The young and fertile women we’d capture as breeders,” I replied. “They were to be slaves unless they were mates with a male in our pack.”

“Did you question the orders?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I was young and fresh out of warrior training. It wasn’t my place to question anything.” I could tell that didn’t satisfy him, but it was the only one I had.

There weren’t other questions, so we drove along the road towards the old compound. We got out before reaching the meadow surrounded by a high deer-proof fence. Fruit trees and wildflowers were inside. Beta James unlocked the gate and opened it for our group. I didn’t miss the expressions on the other’s faces as we approached the stone marker.

I wasn’t the only one who cried as I read the inscription. “In Loving Memory of the Arrowhead Pack, killed here on the night of October 9th, 2000.United in Life and Death.” Underneath was a list of the dead in alphabetical order. I placed my finger next to Luna Joanna’s name. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Luna and the spirits of the dead. “You deserved better.”

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD, YOUR APOLOGY IS NOT ACCEPTED!” I didn’t respond to her scream as I prayed to Luna for forgiveness. I heard a struggle behind me as Luna Rebecca shifted into her wolf, her clothes tearing. The Council Enforcers had to use silver to restrain her from tearing my throat out.

Two Enforcers held her in the ATV as an Arrowhead Warrior drove them away. “Sorry about that,” Frank said.

“I don’t blame her,” I said. “Shall we continue?”

“Yes,” Rori responded shakily.

“Fighting wolves were everywhere, but the Pack was so surprised by the attack that they didn’t have time to prepare a defense. Your father died right over there; already weakened fighting other wolves, he couldn’t beat Alpha Todd. I watched his back as ordered, but the male defenders were quickly overwhelmed. When Todd killed the Alpha, and the Pack felt his loss? It was like a balloon popping. The rest of the defenders died soon after.”

Using the tablet, I walked over to where the Alpha home used to be. I traced my steps around the back, then told of the Luna’s brave stand. “Todd wanted the daughter, but she wasn’t in the house. He offered to spare the ones in the safe room if she turned over the Blessed One. Luna Joanna said, ’Never. My family line is not going to mix with your craziness.’ That is when I got sent to get a gas can.Alpha Todd had her arms and legs broken before I returned. He then ordered me to set the place on fire.”

“Which you did,” Rori seethed.

“She cursed Todd and his line before he left for the Safe Room. I spread the gasoline around and grabbed matches. ‘You never should have rejected him.’ Her last words to me were, ‘You never should follow an Alpha like that.’ She was right. I didn’t understand how cruel and twisted Alpha Todd was until later.”

“Yet you lit the match,” Frank asked.

“I did.I told myself that Luna Joanna was dead as soon as we crossed that border. Her screams still haunt my dreams, and not a day goes by that I don’t regret my actions.” I hadn’t participated in the rest, standing guard while others broke into the safe room to find everyone inside dead. “I’m glad you escaped, Rori. Your mother died protecting you. Luna only knows what would have happened if she didn’t.” I dropped to my knees, reaching for her leg. “I’m so sorry.”

Chase wrapped his pregnant mate in his arms. Frank joined us a bit later, and we shared the pain and loss until the tears stopped coming.