Abandoned Treasure

Nathan Storm’s POV

Alameda, California

October 11, 2017

For over a year, Rori King had evaded the Council. Jade and I had monitored the situation, occasionally passing the Steel Brotherhood tips via Spider Monkey when the investigation was getting too close. Her biker friends couldn’t keep her safe forever, though.

She’d turned up in Seattle in an alley, naked and sleeping next to a partially devoured raccoon. The police took her to a psychiatric hospital and placed her on a 72-hour hold. Jade saw the messages from the Enforcer team.We hacked the feed of the Council videoconference.

Beta Carlson led the team charged with bringing Rori in. “My team failed, and that is my responsibility alone. I underestimated both her and her wolf and ended up risking exposure to humans at the same time I failed to bring her back.”

“You know where she is.”

“Yes, she’s on a psychiatric hold at a mental hospital east of Seattle. Our tech guy picked up the 911 call, and confirmed it was her by talking with the ambulance driver who took her from the emergency room to Kirkland.”

Councilman Forrest looked up. “Wait, isn’t that where Beta Nygaard’s brother is doing his residency?”

“I can check with Coral,” Beta Carlson said. “She’s on vacation now, recuperating from her wounds.”

Doctor Phillips leaned forward. “He might be able to talk to her, but he’s a student doctor. He doesn’t have the authority to do anything without his supervisor signing off on it. I will talk to him and see what he has learned about her mental state.”

They talked for a minute about their options, but with her in a secure facility and the Steel Brotherhood reeling from the attempted kidnapping, there weren’t good ones. “We have to change course,” Councilman Forrest said. “Trying to grab her hasn’t worked; it’s only driven her further underground and risked us getting exposed to the humans. We can’t get to her in the hospital, and they’ll have her protected like the President when she is released. They’ll disappear her again.”

“What do you suggest,” Chairman Gruber asked.

“What does a child, abandoned and adopted as a baby, really want to know?” Councilman Waterman said.

“Who she is,” Forrest replied. “Charles and Martin.”

“Correct. They are Rori’s only living relatives, her uncle and grandfather. She’s afraid of them right now, but if she stops to think about it, they never did anything they can’t explain. They need to gather photographs, birth certificates, and letters. Anything that can prove her heritage. Hell, supply her with their DNA. Let her run tests against hers, proving Charles is her grandfather. When she gets the results back, she’ll come to us with her questions.”

“That still doesn’t tell us where she is,” Chairman Gruber said.

“True, but we know where her mother is. We give the information to her and ask her to pass it on. Let her know that the estate remains in limbo as no one found her body. It’s her birthright, after all.” The conference ended shortly after that.

“Well, at least they called off the dogs,” Jade said as she sat back in her chair.

“We aren’t dogs,” I grumbled.

“Figuratively.”

The Council had finally admitted defeat. They’d wasted too many resources searching for Rori with no results. “They are right, though. There’s no way they are snatching Rori from the Brotherhood now.”

“What if she goes to them?”

I shrugged. “Rori can’t learn who she is without discovering what happened to her parents and Pack. Hopefully, she’s smart enough not to join them.”

“If she does, we’re out. I can’t risk the Oracle on a Pack wolf.”

“Agreed.” Our mandate was for those outside the Pack system. “I gotta say, the Brotherhood can take care of business. They’ll get her out of there and safe.”

Two days later, our system intercepted a message to the Packs of an emergent legal proceeding before the Council. Jade did a little digging and found it involved Rori King and Chase Nygaard exposing themselves to humans. “This should be good,” Jade said as she brought it up on the monitor.

Chairman Gruber started the broadcast. "This hearing will come to order. The purpose of this hearing is to read the charges against Coral Ann Nygaard, Alpha daughter of the Cascade Pack and Beta on loan to the Bitterroot Pack, and determine if sufficient evidence exists to hold her over for trial.” Coral? We’d heard of her exploits as a Bitterroot instructor and seen the video of her beatdown. She was the kind of Pack wolf I could respect.

Sawyer dismantled the charge of Disobeying an Alpha easily, enraging his Alpha father along the way.

"The next charge is intentional revealing of our nature to humans.” Alpha Nygaard took the stand. We listened in fascination as we heard about Rori’s reveal to her parents after the bear attack and Chase Nygaard protecting his mate against his father. He wanted to kill the only parents Rori had, and Chase left his Pack to prevent it. Like me, he’d risk anything for his mate. Sawyer dealt with this quickly, getting the witness to admit her parents realized she was a werewolf before Chase and Coral arrived.

The Chairman continued. ”The final charge is harboring a known Council fugitive. According to multiple statements, Chase and Coral Nygaard not only kept Rori King away from Council authority but involved humans in her protection. Surely you wish to enter a plea on this charge,” he said.

Sawyer answered for his sister. ”Mr. Prosecutor, can you read the specific section of Council Law for my client.”

“Certainly. Section 19. Upon receipt of an order from the Council for the arrest of any person charged by the Council with a crime, or by a Pack affiliated with the Council, each Pack and individual SHALL cooperate in the apprehension and transfer of such individual to the appropriate legal authority. Intentional ignorance of a warrant, refusal to transfer the individual named or actions or inaction intended to prevent, hinder or delay apprehension of the person may be penalized by the Council as it directs up to life imprisonment, removal from position, or other punishments not to include death.” It was the same law that kept any Pack wolf from helping me when I was on the run. I wasn’t going to test if now, as my arrest order died with me. It would be issued again if the Packs discovered I was alive and well in the Bay Area.

“Mr. Chairman, I move for immediate dismissal of this charge based on it not applying to my client.” He called Beta Ron to the stand. He got him to admit the order to retrieve Rori was not an arrest warrant, and the Council had never formally charged her with a crime.

“Shit, this is better than any crime drama on television,” Jade said as the Council’s case fell apart.

The Prosecutor withdrew the final charge, and Coral was set free. It wasn’t that simple, of course. Coral was Beta of the Arrowhead Pack now, but Sawyer had left the Cascade Pack when he challenged his father. He would have to find Rori to join Arrowhead, so he was technically a rogue wolf. He was allowed one hour to grab his shit and leave. “One of us now,” I chuckled as the feed ended.

“What do we do now?”

“We watch,” I told her. “This could go a lot of ways. The Council will do anything to get Rori back before she can complete the mating with Chase so they can give her to another. Once mated, killing him ends the blessing. They’d have to wait for her firstborn daughter to come of age to have another chance at the Blessed One.”

“And what about Arrowhead?”

I laughed. “After what we just saw, do you think Rori and Chase will be compliant, rule-following members of the Werewolf Council? They threaten the current power structure. The Council looks weak and out of touch. If they don’t move quickly, Arrowhead will become a power that could topple them.”

She thought about that for a minute. “Do we get involved?”

“If we can help without risking the Oracle or the other wolves, yes. Anything that weakens the Council is good for the rest of us. If Sawyer takes over Cascade? They’ll have strong allies in Adirondack and Oxbow Lake by blood. It would only take a few Packs to join them to get new faces on the Council.”

“And maybe then we could work out a treaty that allows us to live free,” Jade replied. Ending the Pack attacks would change the lives of every rogue and free shifter. “What should we do?”

“Dig into Arrowhead and monitor the Council’s moves,” I said. “Chase and Rori are headed to the North Shore to claim her hereditary territory. We need to make sure the Council doesn’t stop them.” I posted a notice on the Oracle message board to watch and report anything involving the Arrowhead Pack and its new Alphas.