Abandoned Treasure

Council Enforcer Vic Knightly’s POV

Oxbow Lake Pack House, Minnesota

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

“May I have this dance, Papa?”

“I’d love to.” My smile could have lit up the room. I took Celeste’s offered hand and stood up from the head table. I was memorizing every moment of this night. If only my mate had lived to see it.

I was alone for a hundred and seventy years before I’d found my mate. I only had sixteen years before I lost her in childbirth back in eighty-nine. I had raged at the Moon Goddess for what she took away, but I had a baby daughter to raise. My parents and extended family ensured Celeste had a happy childhood, even with my warrior duties.

She’d barely been of age for a month before a late-summer Pack visit brought her mate to her. Tom was a tracker here at Oxbow. They’d claimed each other within thirty seconds of scenting each other and had completed the mating minutes later. I’d been there for her coming-of-age party at Denali Pack but missed the magic moment. Tom brought her back to Oxbow a few days ago, and tonight was her Mating Celebration with her new Pack.

For eighteen years, I’d worried about whether Celeste would be cursed to wait and wait for her fate mate. Finding her made it all worth it, but it wears on you. Luna must have heard my prayers, or maybe she owed me. Tom was a good wolf, Oxbow Lake was a small but solid Pack, and they were young enough to have a large family if the Goddess cooperated.

Now, as I took her hand and wrapped my right arm around her waist, relief and joy filled my heart. “Your smile could light up the darkest night,” I whispered as we danced to the song. She was wearing a white satin dress that hugged her body. It was sleeveless, leaving her still-healing mating bite on display.

“He’s everything you told me to wait for, Daddy,” she replied. “And more! I never dreamed it would be this good.”

“Treasure every moment, baby. You know I am.”

“You’ll find someone eventually, Dad. I pray every night for you.”

I knew she did. “No one could replace your mother.” She didn’t say more; she rested her head on my shoulder as I held her close.

The dance was over way too fast, and Celeste was off with another man. I grabbed another Bent Paddle IPA from the bar where the young wolves waited for the ‘old fogie’ music to end. I made my way back to the Alpha’s table, where Alpha Michael and Luna Margaret watched over the festivities. Alpha Michael waved me over to the empty seat by him. “Great party,” I said as I sat down. “Thank you for being so welcoming to Celeste. She loves it here already.”

“She’s a welcome addition to the Pack. We’ll take good care of her for you,” Margaret promised.

“She was worried that if she found her mate, her next Pack might not let her finish school,” I said. “I’m glad you two have a more progressive attitude towards women’s educations.”

“It only makes sense to invest in their educations,” Michael replied. “We need our people to be successful among the humans, Vic. We don’t have thousands of acres of land or big businesses to support us. We depend on fees from working wolves to survive. A good education means a better job and a more prosperous Pack.”

“We pray for their heats to catch, but you know the odds. It might be decades before they have a pup,” Margaret added. “Celeste will finish this semester online through Alaska-Anchorage, then transfer to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. We couldn’t get her admitted on such short notice.”

“In-person classes will be good for her,” I agreed. “She was homeschooled or online her whole life.”

“How are your Enforcer duties? They must keep you busy.”

“They do. It’s not exciting, and I hate being around all the politics. It’s a different challenge. I’ve gone as far as I can in the Denali Pack. Another decade or two, and they’ll force me out of the active ranks. The Council Enforcers were my only way to get more experience and responsibility.”

“You could transfer here when you finish with your Council stint. I’d take you,” Michael promised.

“My Alpha would never let me go, and I don’t want to leave the memories of my mate behind just yet.” I looked out at my daughter. “She looks so much like her. The pain never leaves.”

Margaret reached across for my hand. “That part of your heart never recovers, but you make room for more somehow. I still ache for the people we lost at Arrowhead.”

That massacre was almost eight years ago now. “I can’t visualize a whole Pack gone, and no one has been held accountable.”

“That’s one reason I don’t send people to the Council. I can’t prove anything, but if they wanted to know badly enough? They’d find out.” I could see Michael’s wolf coming forward in his eyes. “I’ll take you there tomorrow. If I had my way, every Enforcer would get a tour. Maybe that would light a fire under their asses.”

“I doubt it.”

The rest of the party went well; one of the older single females tried to get close to me, but I was not interested. I left with the Alphas and senior wolves before the young ones moved the party to the bonfire by the lake.

At breakfast, almost half of the Pack was still sleeping it off. I polished off a big plate of biscuits and gravy with eggs, then followed the Alpha to his Ford Expedition. It wasn’t a long drive up the North Shore to Two Harbors. We stopped so I could buy a bouquet before heading west to their old Pack lands. “Your Pack and Arrowhead was close?”

“Very. It’s been that way for generations since the first werewolves arrived in Northern Minnesota. When it was difficult to travel to find mates, many choice matings occurred between us. Everyone in our Pack lost family in that raid.”

He turned into a gravel driveway with a chain and “NO TRESPASSING” signs everywhere. A man got out of his waiting Jeep on the other side as we stopped. “A human?”

“The Arrowhead Pack properties are held in a trust,” Michael replied as he turned off the vehicle. “The lawyer who administers the trust is the only one who can let us on the land. He’s been a Pack Affiliate for over two decades now. We can speak freely and shift in front of him.” Damn. I’d heard of Pack Affiliates, but they were as rare as hen’s teeth. The Council and most Alphas preferred to deal with humans who learned our secrets quickly and permanently. “Ralph Emerson, may I introduce Vic Knightly, Council Enforcer. Vic’s daughter Celeste just mated into my Pack, and he was curious about Arrowhead.”

“It’s a pleasure, Vic,” the middle-aged lawyer said as we shook hands. “Hop in. Some areas are a bit rough for that glorified grocery hauler of yours,” he teased.

I got in the back seat of his Jeep and hung on. “You’re not maintaining the road?”

“Better this way. I don’t want kids or hunters getting back here. I’ve got motion sensors on the major approaches, but I call the Sheriffs at least once a month to get people chased off.”

“How big is the property?”

“One thousand, nine hundred and eighty-seven acres surrounded by State Forest. It has thousands of feet of undeveloped lakeshore, so I get developers asking about it often.”

I whistled. “Taxes have to suck. How long until the expenses forced you to sell?”

“The Trust has enough cash, and I’ve allowed some logging on parts of the land. Since there is no development anymore, it’s at a lower rate. There is enough to hold off for a long while.”

We arrived at a clearing and stopped. I could see the foundations of burned-down homes in the tall grasses and shrubbery. The land was trying to reclaim the site; another twenty-five years, and you’d have a tough time seeing it for what it was.

A wolf graveyard.

“Damn.” We walked down what used to be the street leading to what used to be the Pack House. I could see the breached steel doors and concrete of the safe room. “They cut through the door?”

“Blowtorches. By the time they broke through, every female, child, and elderly Pack member had taken their own life.”

The place echoed with negative energy, and my wolf didn’t like it. Every instinct told me to flee. “Why?”

“We don’t know. Whatever attacked was worse than death.”

“And the Council found nothing?”

“The rain and the fires took away the scents, and their investigation went nowhere. The leading theory is either werejaguars or rogues. It’s too brazen for rogues, and they would have tried to set up a Pack in their place. Werejaguars are hundreds of miles away, and don’t have the numbers for this.”

I looked around at the destruction. “There must have been dozens of warriors involved. You can’t hide that forever.”

“Every eyewitness is dead, Vic. I keep hoping we find the people responsible because I want their blood on my teeth. I don’t trust the Council to do it for me. Not anymore.”

I didn’t want to, but I owed it to the dead. I walked to the doors, prayed to Luna for justice, and left the flowers behind. I didn’t say another word until we were back in Michael’s SUV. “I’ll keep my ears open, Alpha. Someone knows something.”

“If you do, speak only to me or Alpha Charles in the Adirondack Pack. Trust no one in the Council.”

The same Council I had sworn allegiance to.

I got cell reception as we got closer to Two Harbors, and I had a message to call the Chief Enforcer. “Chief, it’s Vic,” I said when he picked up.

“You still at Oxbow Lake?” Trestman sounded like he was in a hurry.

“Yes. The mating party was last night, and most of the Pack is still recovering.”

“Good. When you’re done there, I need you to head west. Spend some time around Grand Forks looking for those rogues.”

“Boss, we’ve checked that area a dozen times. They are smart enough not to go home, not that their home still exists.”

“Do it again. Alpha Todd isn’t giving up, and the Chairman promised we’d keep on it. I’m emailing you a list of potential areas to check, and I want you to talk to the three bear den leaders again.”

Great. Bears don’t like us, and sending someone into their territory alone didn’t always end well. “Just when I thought I might survive this assignment,” I wisecracked. “Shouldn’t someone with more seniority make that contact?”

“Suck it up, buttercup. We think sending a new Enforcer is less threatening to them than a Council member.”

“That will look great on my headstone, Mark.”

“Just get it done. Take your time, and report to the Bitterroot Alpha when complete.”

“Yes, sir.” He ended the call without saying goodbye. “I guess I’m not staying too long.”

“And now you know why I don’t send my people to be Enforcers,” Michael said.

I stayed another two days before starting my trip west. Grand Forks was a bust, as were all the “potential” hideouts on my list. I didn’t dare cross into bear territory; I’d call ahead and meet a representative at the border. Every interaction was the same; they hadn’t had contact with the rogues, fuck you very much, and you need to get out of here before I tear you to shreds.

No wonder they sent the junior guy.

It was Saturday, the eighth of September, and I’d been driving around for ten days without a break. I figured if I reported my task was complete, either Trestman or Alpha Todd would send me right back out.

Great Falls wasn’t far away. I could get a hotel with a pool and hot tub, have pizza and beer while watching football in a sports bar, and relax before heading to Bitterroot on Monday.

I made a reservation at the Holiday Inn near the convention center. The website showed a sports bar and casino at the hotel, with other sports bars nearby. It was almost eight at night when I drove down Tenth Street. I stopped at Target to pick up a few things, and when I walked out, I smelled it in the breeze.

Rogues.

Male and female.

And the female was pregnant.