Abandoned Treasure

Warrior Vic Knightly’s POV

Bitterroot Training Facility

Monday, July 4, 2016

’One week left to go,’ I thought as I headed to breakfast. The Instructor’s table was nearly full as the new arrivals learned from those of us who had been here from the beginning of the program. Coral Nygaard sat down, and I snagged the empty seat next to her before anyone else could slide over. She wasn’t my mate or anyone else’s, but that didn’t mean she lacked suitors.

“Thank Luna, it’s you,” she said as she attacked her omelet. “Jenkins thinks persistence will gain him a date with something other than my fist.”

“They will learn,” I chuckled, “Or you will humble them on the mats.” Coral smiled at that. She arrived three weeks ago like a hurricane coming onshore. The Alpha wanted her in the face of the young men undergoing retraining, thinking taking orders from a woman might change their perspective. If that didn’t work, she’d keep kicking their asses until they got their minds right.

When Coral arrived here, she went undercover as an Omega. Three students tried to force her to have sex. She beat the crap out of them on camera. The video went viral on the Were-net, and every Alpha and Beta son was trying to figure out a way to visit her now to see if she was their mate.

Beta Coral had made a big impression on the staff, and the Council was watching. In another century or so, she would be the perfect candidate for the Enforcer ranks unless she became Luna of a Pack.

I was as old as Coral’s father, so I didn’t even try to hit on her after the initial sniff. She appreciated that, and we’d become friends. We only saw each other at meals and my pistol and rifle training classes. “Ready to go home?”

I let out a grunt. “I’d rather stay here where I’m useful and appreciated. I’m still on the Alpha’s shit list.”

“Still? How long has it been since you quit the Enforcers?”

I had a reputation, and it wasn’t always a good one. Few could understand why I quit a job many of the staff here aspired to. My demotion was looking permanent at this point. “Seven and a half years now. Alpha Robertson will never forgive me for embarrassing him. I wouldn’t be here if Mark Trestman hadn’t insisted on my help when they put the staff together.”

“So what will you do?”

There wasn’t much I could do. “I’ll figure things out soon enough.”

She shoved the last bite in as she stood up. “Good luck, Vic. Gotta go.”

Warrior Ted Richards, my replacement from the Blue River Pack in Canada, took her place a minute later. “What is the plan for today?”

“Downhill shooting. We’ll set up the targets in the next valley.”

“What are we challenging them with?”

“Ranges from a hundred to over a thousand yards, and angles from ten to sixty degrees. We’ll see how well they remember their ballistics tables.” Ted snorted at that. “Staff classes go at ten and twelve, student class at three. Take a truck to the armory, sign out a dozen rifles and two thousand rounds, and grab targets and mats from the range. Be ready to go by nine.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

“I’ve got a meeting scheduled.” He left, and I got up from the table. One of the Omegas moved away from the wall to bus the table, clearing my plate away before I’d gone two steps. “Thank you, Debbie,” I said as I turned back.

“You’re welcome, sir.” She didn’t look me in the eyes.Few of them did; ending the abuse hadn’t removed the conditioning from their previous life.

I returned to the staff quarters, knowing one of Mykayla’s guardians would be cleaning rooms while the other homeschooled her. I tracked down Tammy on the first floor. “Tammy, do you have a minute?”

“Of course, sir,” she said as she turned to me and bowed slightly to me.

“Vic, please,” I said. “Can we sit down? And can you mind-link Taylor into this conversation?”

She waited for me to sit on the chair, then sat on the bed. “I’m leaving for Denali in a week. Bitterroot isn’t good for you, and Mykayla needs a fresh start. Would you like to come with me?”

That got her to look up. “Alpha Robertson refused to consider taking us into his Pack last year, sir. Did something change?”

“No, he’s still as pigheaded as he ever was.” I may as well get it out. “There is a way to get Mykayla out of here, but I’ll need you and Taylor to help.”

“How?”

“One of you needs to take me as a choice mate.”

Her jaw dropped. “WHAT?”

“Hear me out,” I said. “Who is Mykayla’s mother, Tammy?”

“I don’t know. Someone left a baby at the border,” she said quietly.

“I didn’t ask for the story Alpha Todd told you to repeat. I know the truth, and so do you.” She was shivering now, wondering where this was going. “She is the daughter of Nathan Storm and Carol Sampson. When I was an Enforcer, I forced their car off the road. Carol died during childbirth, but I delivered Mykayla alive to the Beta. The Alpha reported she died, but that was a lie, right?”

She nodded. “What does that have to do with mating?”

“You and Taylor became Mykayla’s legal guardians after the Council took over. If I mate one of you, I have a right to bring you home to my Pack, including your family.”

“The Alpha could refuse to recognize the mating.”

I shook my head no. “If Alpha Robertson refuses to allow you to join Denali, the law says I can apply to any other Pack for membership. He won’t do that because it would make him look bad before the other Alphas.”

“But we would fully mate for that to happen.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “We would have to bite each other during sex. You can’t fake that bond.”

“And one of us would have to forego our true mate to take you.” I nodded again. “Then the answer is no.”

“I can get you all out of here,” I protested.

“The cost is too high, and the Denali Pack won’t welcome us. Mykayla is the daughter of a murderer and a traitor. She’s better off here, where we can shield and protect her, even though men who abused us still walk free. Thank you for the offer, but you can’t assuage your guilt by taking on a mate you don’t desire or love.”

It wasn’t the answer I expected, but I respected the choice. “Is there anything I can do to help Mykayla?”

“She needs nothing from men, and the Council provided her with a trust fund,” Tammy replied. “May I return to my duties?”

“Of course,” I replied. I walked away, but my mind was still going. Mykayla wasn’t mine, but my wolf felt responsible for her. I’d have to find a way to protect her from a distance.

Nathan Storm’s POV

Alameda, California

I made the bank transfer, paying for the fall tuition for a werepanther girl at the University of Florida. “That’s the last one,” I told Jade.

“How many scholarships is that now?”

“Forty-two. It feels good, doesn’t it?” We didn’t have a choice when it came to running drugs for the Sons, but we DID have a choice for what we did with the money. It didn’t feel right to get rich that way, but the money could help people. We created a charity, funneled the money into it, and started paying for college tuition for rogues and independent shifters.

Most of the risk of the drug operation went to the rogue wolves who took over the transportation. Once I arranged the pickup, I was out. Jade monitored the load and the route, keeping them away from checkpoints and Pack activities. It was a well-oiled machine now.

She leaned back in her custom-made computer chair. “Our luck can’t hold out forever, and I’m tired of taking orders from these fuckers. We need an exit strategy.”

“Tortuous death isn’t much of an exit strategy,” I replied. “The Sons are in a dozen cities, and the leaders are all jaguar shifters. If our names come out, the Cartel will want to silence us. We know too many secrets to get away.”

“They don’t have contact with anyone but you. We can hide you.”

I shook my head. “You don’t think the Sons have had eyes on us for years? They have all of our scents, Jade. No matter where we go, they’ll find us and kill us. We’ll never be free until the Sons are gone.”

I closed my eyes, opening them a minute later when I got an idea. “There is a way,” I said.

“What?”

“We have to give the Cartel a reason to eliminate the Sons. They are strong enough to wipe them out.”

Jade shook her head. “And how are we supposed to get the Sinaloa Cartel to turn on their major West Coast distribution partners? A partnership worth tens of millions of dollars every year?”

“Eventually, they will make a mistake. They’ll lose a shipment, fail to pay, or get taken down by the cops. If they become a liability? The Cartel will cut them off. They may do it eventually if they decide to take over US distribution. When the Sons come under attack? The Club must die.”

She thought about it for a minute. “If you strike at the King, don’t miss,” she said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

I got up and kissed her deeply, one hand moving down her side and cupping a breast. “I love you, Jade.”

I had to stop because an emergency message came in from one of our friends in the Northeast. “Check this out. Look familiar?”

Jade opened the link; it was a Missing Person Alert out of western New York State. “Holy shit, it’s her,” she said. “Treasure Olson, aka Rori King.”

“The Adirondack Pack is there,” I said. “Why the hell would they involve law enforcement?”

“She got away from them,” Jade replied. “If they could find her, they wouldn’t call the cops.”

I gripped the back of her chair until my knuckles turned white. “Those fuckers won’t give up until she’s a captive baby momma in some Alpha’s basement.” The anger passed when Jade patted my hand. “We have to help her. If she doesn’t trust the Packs, she’s in good company.”