Claiming Treasure

Heather Rhodes’ POV

Trailhead in the Cascade Range

“We have to go,” I told my aunt and her husband after letting them go. I’d kept their hands high, above my broken ribs, but they still ached.

“Back to the airport? I can’t believe this shit,” Mongo said.

“No, back to the Pack House. We need to get over the ridge while it is still light, or it is much more dangerous.”

The big man looked over. “And how exactly are we getting over the ridge?”

She pointed at the biggest of the three wolves, a huge male. “Four-paw drive. Mongo, you get Frank, Three T, you take Beta Carl on the right, and I’ll be on Colletta.”

“Really?” Three Tequila walked over to Carl, who dropped to the ground so she could climb on. She shrieked as he stood up, but I showed her how to sit so she would not hamper his breathing.

“What about Tom?”

“I’m going to head back to the main road. One of the Pack members will pick up your luggage from me, and then I’ll head northeast to throw anyone off the trail. The Enforcers won’t see or smell you if they are still watching the Pack entrance.”

Frank dropped to the gravel and let out a groan as he stood up with Mongo on top of him. “Poor guy, having to carry your fat ass up the mountain,” Tom teased.

“Can’t we ride a snowmobile?” Mongo didn’t look comfortable on the big wolf.

“Too steep for that,” I said. I waved to Tom as he got back in the vehicle, then coached Mongo on riding a wolf.

We went single file back up the trail. “What happened with Carson,” Three T asked me.

“I got a reprieve,” I said. “Carson and his Pack will let me stay here with the Pack and have my babies, but their protection is only good for a year. After that, Carson has to turn me over to them, so I can be killed to protect their secret.”

“Then why are we staying here? Jesus, Heather, let’s go back to the airport and get the fuck out of Dodge,” Mongo said. “We’ll go with you. The Brotherhood will keep you safe!”

“I can’t do that,” I said. “If I leave, the Council will kill Carson. It’s messed up, but he saved my life and brought me here, knowing it might cost him everything. I can’t leave him behind.” I wiped away a tear, thinking back to how he defended me this morning. “I can’t do that to him or his family. They all risked a lot to protect me.”

“So, you’re just going to let them kill you when the year is over?”

“We’ll think of something,” I said. Frank chuffed in response, and we didn’t talk much more as we hit the steep and dangerous part of the trail. “Keep low and balanced,” I told them as we pushed up above the treeline. I let out a sigh of relief as we reached the top; the sun was almost to the horizon, with Mount Ranier just to its right. The wolves kept moving slowly, as making their way down was even more dangerous. Frank almost went down when his front left paw slid on a patch of ice, making me hold on to Colletta’s fur even tighter.

The sun was down as we reached the treeline. “Oh, HELL yeah,” Mongo said as he saw the three snowmobiles waiting in a clearing. We all got off, then the three wolves shifted and pulled on the clothes stacked on the seats. The three of us looked out over the valley, ignoring them until they had dressed. “Can you handle one,” Carl asked Mongo as he watched him walk around the new Arctic Cat.

“If it’s got an engine, I can handle it,” he said. “This the Alpha One Mountain Cat? I saw one of these in a magazine.”

“It is. Kind of hard not to buy a snowmobile with ‘Alpha’ in the name, but it was the best model for out here. Carson splurged last year and bought a bunch of new gear for us. We’ve got a dozen of them.”

“Sweet.” He set Three T in front of him, then got on and started it up; Frank got on the middle one with Colletta, and I got on with Carl. We set off down the trail, moving at an even pace down to the valley towards where the Pack House and homes were. When we had it in sight, Carl waved them up. “Take a fast run across the clearing; you’ll love it,” he said. “Heather’s ribs can’t take the bumps.”

The two snowmobiles powered ahead, reaching high speeds as we traveled behind. They were already parked in the machinery shed when we arrived. “I have GOT to get me one of these,” Mongo said as he helped me off.

“I thought you didn’t want anything to do with snow and cold,” Three Tequila teased.

“Well, if we have to visit our family and friends, it’s not so bad,” he said. Carl led us into the big building through a side door that passed by the dining hall. I had gotten a tour, but I still didn’t know my way around. Some people were sitting at a table eating sandwiches, while on the other side, an expansive recreation room had hockey playing on the televisions over the bar, with video games going on to the side. “Do you want to eat now, or would you want to change and freshen up first?”

“I’m kind of tired,” Three Tequila said. “I need to talk to my niece.”

I knew this was coming; Mongo couldn’t be happy to find out what had happened. It was going to be a long, uncomfortable conversation for me.

“Fine, I’ll have the kitchen send up some sandwiches and snacks to your room. Your clothes beat you here.” We went to the top floor. “Let McKenna know if you need anything,” he said as he pointed to the woman seated at the reception desk by the Pack offices. She bowed her head to the Beta, and we continued down the opposite hallway to the guest room.

“Thank you, Beta Carl,” I said to him as he opened the door to their room, which was similar to mine. “I’ll be next door when you’re ready.”

“Fifteen minutes,” Three Tequila said. “We’re just going to shower and change quickly.”

I went to my room, finally able to raise my arms high enough to remove my shirt tonight. My ribs still hurt, but the painkillers and ice therapy had helped. I changed into lounge pants, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and lined moccasins, all purchased for me by Allison in town today. I’d fled Arrowhead with nothing, and everything I had in Las Vegas was gone. I didn’t even have my bank books or emergency cash that I’d left in the car outside the Arrowhead Pack House.

Now, it didn’t matter. Everyone in the Werewolf world knew who I was and where I was hiding. Stepping out into the hallway, I got to their door at the same time the food did. “Thank you, Allison,” I said to the young Omega as she left the room.

“It’s going to be a long talk, isn’t it,” she said. The cheery 22-year old and I had hit it off after meeting earlier in the morning when she came to clean my room. We had talked about hot men and music as I helped her with what I could handle physically, which wasn’t much. She had good taste in clothes, too.

“I’ve got to come clean on a lot of things I’d rather not talk about,” I said quietly.

“I’ll come back in an hour with what you need,” she said. I gave her a quick hug, then knocked on the door.

I remember how awkward and uncomfortable I’d been when my Mom sat me down to have the ‘birds and the bees’ talk, not knowing that between school and the Internet, I already had the idea. I’d kept my sex life hidden from the Club and my parents, but I couldn’t hide what my belly was doing. When they told me to come in, Mongo was sitting at a table by the window across from Three Tequila with their sandwiches. I poured myself a glass of milk and stood between them. “I’m sorry,” I said.

“Baby, we all make mistakes, and love makes you do things,” Three Tequila said as she pulled me into her lap. “We’re not mad at you; we just want you to be happy.”

“I’m mad at Greg,” Mongo said.

“He already got a beat-down over it,” I said. “And do you think anything you do to him will be worse or more embarrassing than his current situation? His mate knows what he did, hell, every werewolf in the world does. ‘Don’t be a Greg’ is the Werewolf version of ‘Don’t be a Todd.’ He’ll never live it down.”

“Good,” Mongo said. “I see him, and I will beat his ass just because he hurt you.”

I rolled my eyes. “None of that will help me. I’m here now, I’m fourteen weeks pregnant with twins, and I’m scared,” I said. “I’ve got an expiration date, for God’s sake! They want to take my babies away and kill me!”

Three T held me, and Mongo got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around us both as the emotional dam burst. I don’t know how long I cried, but when I heard the knock on the door, T’s shirt was soaked, and my eyes and face were red. Allison came in with four containers of ice cream. “Looks like I’m just in time,” she said.

“Thank you,” I said as I took my favorite flavor, mint chocolate chip. Mongo took the Rocky Road, and Three Tequila the cookies and cream. “Sit with us, Allison. I’d rather not repeat this story more than I have to.”

She sat on the floor next to the bed with her container of vanilla, and I launched into my story. I didn’t stop, and they didn’t ask questions. Everything I went through since leaving Orlando came out over the next hour. When I finished with the events of today’s trial, we were all a mess. “Allison, can you take the things back down to the kitchen,” I asked my friend.

“Of course,” she said. After giving me a big hug, she gathered it all up and took it to the cart waiting outside.

“I couldn’t say this next part with Allison here; she’s Pack, and I don’t want it getting back to Carson,” I said.

“What is it, baby?”

“He says he loves me, but that can’t be the case,” I said. “I watched the trial, and I’ve talked to enough werewolves now to know. Every wolf wants his mate, and I can’t be the mate for one,” I said as I laid back on the bed. “Greg proved to me that love isn’t enough.”

“Greg was an asshole,” Mongo said as he clenched his fists. “He was older, and he should have known better.”

“Greg is twenty-five. Do you know how old Carson is?”

“I don’t know, thirty?”

“Eighty-seven.” Their jaws dropped. “They live a lot longer and age far slower than we do after their wolves emerge when they are about seventeen.”

“Wow,” Mongo said. “And he’s the middle boy.”

“It doesn’t matter. Everything is different for werewolves; they are superior to us in every way but fertility. The only reason the Council granted my stay of execution is to birth werewolf babies.” I rolled over and put my head on Three T’s leg. “I figured it out while I was watching the trial. Carson took me out of Arrowhead, maybe because we are friends, maybe to protect his little brother, maybe because he didn’t agree with what they were doing. Once I was gone, he realized how much trouble he had gotten in. None of those reasons would allow him to stay in power. Telling the Council that his wolf claimed me as his mate was the only way to get away with taking me from them. He doesn’t love me; he can’t. I barely know him.” I wiped a tear away. “I’d be dead right now without him. I won’t run, because I don’t want him hurt. I’ll have my babies, I’ll hold them in my arms, and I’ll let him turn me over to them.”

“NO!” Mongo jumped up, pacing by the bed. “There has to be a way out of this. I can’t lose you, baby.”

“I’m tired of running, Mongo. Too many people want me dead, and I don’t want more people to die because of me. I’m a danger to everyone around me, especially to my babies.”

“It’s not your fault!” Three T’s face was shocked by my words.

“No one I love is safe as long as I am alive. If I have to die to save my babies, I will.”