Endangered Species

I unloaded on those three men, and by the time I finished my story? They were reeling.

I don’t think they knew just how big a fight they had to take this base from the Navy and Marine Corps. Most of them had hunkered down for a week or more after the solar flare. By the time they emerged, the humans around them were dead and dying. The men and women defending this place were at full strength.

They heard about Breeders from one who had been there. I told them about meeting Cole, my fight to protect the humans, and his betrayal of me by killing those women he ‘freed.’ I finished by describing Alpha Max’s attack. “He thought he could waltz in here and take what he hadn’t earned,” I told them. “He thought I was weak and helpless. He was wrong, and it cost him his life.”

“You killed an Alpha,” Brian said evenly.

“He was trying to kill me at the time. He knocked out my guard with one punch, shifted, and attacked. If not for my knives, I’d be dead right now.” The three men kept staring at me like I was an idiot or something. “What?”

Alpha William was the first to speak. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?”

Alpha Trent leaned over and put his hand over mine. “Alpha Max fought you in single combat and lost. Under Werewolf law, that makes you the new Alpha of the Renfro Pack.”

“You’re shitting me.” They looked as serious as a heart attack. “I’m not even a werewolf!”

Alpha Trent pointed to my arm. “Yes, you are.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “I’m not an Alpha.”

“Yes, you ARE,” he replied. “You kill an Alpha, and you become one.”

“What if Alpha Max had killed me? What would have happened then? Would he be the new Alpha of Brinnon Pack?”

Trent shook his head. “No, because you were still human at the time. Cole might challenge him in response, but that’s it.”

“No punishment for attacking me?”

Alpha William shook his head. “Until now, you’ve been a human who knows of our kind and hasn’t accepted the change. Killing you would violate Cole’s hospitality, but not werewolf law.”

“And if I didn’t kill him?”

William laughed at that. “Then we would. Forced turns of humans ARE against the law.”

I raised my good hand in half a ‘what the fuck’ expression. “So killing me would be fine, but biting my arm would be death? Do any of you see how stupid that is?”

William shrugged at that. “It’s always been that way.”

“I’m just saying, maybe your ways need to change a little? You saw what the world has become up there.” I walked them through the same mathematical exercise I’d done with Cole and his leadership about humans. “Every one of you brought your unmated males along in the hope that you’d see the same thing that the Quinalt Pack did. A month ago, I could have gathered two hundred plus human females in a room, and you’d be shocked if ONE was a mate of any of your men. I found Cole. Quinalt Pack found EIGHT. I’m pretty sure I slept through the festivities tonight, so what was the outcome?”

William couldn’t hide his smile. “I brought eight men with me, and four found their mates. We’ve never had more than one at a time in the past century.”

Brian broke out with a matching smile. “Nine and six for us. Three of the women are already in the process of shifting. One of those is the mate of my Beta! I hope she gets a strong wolf because my Luna needs the help.”

I knew he worried about the wolves being weak. They all did. They didn’t know my girls, though. They were stronger than those men think, just like I am. “How did your men do, Trent?”

“Seven for twelve,” Trent replied proudly. “Four are already shifting, including my Gamma’s mate. I’m a little worried about one, though.”

“Why?”

“She is in the group that wants to leave, and they want nothing to do with their mates.”

Shit. “Did she reject her mate?”

“She told him to go to hell and ran back into the room. Alpha Cole said not to press the issue, and I agreed.”

“He was right. I’ll talk to them when I can get out of this fucking bed.” That got them to smile. “You know I’m right; the Goddess Luna is doing something here. I couldn’t fill up a Freshman Chemistry class with the human females here, yet you find mates to fifty-eight percent of your single males in that group.” I was a math major, after all. “You can’t explain it otherwise. Every one of you is wondering how your pack is going to survive all this. The answer is right in front of you. Humans. Over half your men found mates in a small group of human females. How many of your females are unmated? How many of their mates are dead already? And how many mates are among the few remaining males out there?” No one could answer that. From their faces, they hadn’t even considered the implications.

I let them stew on that until the silence grew uncomfortable for me. “What happens now with Cole?”

Alpha Trent replied to that. “Alpha Edward filed formal charges against Alpha Cole. Unless he withdraws them, the Council has to hold a trial where Edward presents his case. By custom, as the senior Alpha present, I will preside over the trial. I need three other Alphas for the jury, and then we can proceed.”

“Are more Alphas coming?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Edward sent runners to each Pack, but we don’t know who survived or if any more are coming.”

“What if none show up?” They hadn’t thought about that. “We should get this over with so you can take your new Pack members home. Start after breakfast today.”

Trent looked at me quizzically. “We don’t have a jury.”

“You do. Didn’t you boys tell me I’m now the Alpha of the Renfro Pack?”

That dope-slapped them. “You’re Cole’s MATE, Angela! You can’t possibly be on his jury!”

“Then I’ll be the judge. I’ve watched a lot of courtroom dramas, and this can’t be that complicated. What is the alternative? Everyone goes home, and we resolve nothing? What does that accomplish?”

The three kicked it around for a while, but no one had better ideas. Travel was too risky anymore, and no one wanted to be away from their Packs again. “We’ll give it until dinnertime,” Trent finally said. “If no other Alphas arrive, we’ll do it Alpha Summer’s way.”

Alpha Summers.

Something deep in my brain liked that a lot.

The men left, and Cole came back in. The talk had taken a lot out of me, and my head was spinning. I closed my eyes as he pulled a chair up next to me. “Are you all right?”

“You mean, ‘Are you all right, Alpha Summers?’” He rolled his eyes at that. “What?”

“It’s nothing that has happened before,” Cole replied. “We’ve had Alphas die, and their Lunas took over temporarily. They never stayed in the position more than a day or two before they’d kill themselves or lose a challenge.”

“Will someone challenge me?”

“Not if we mate and combine the Packs first,” he replied. “Once your wolf comes out? The pull to complete the mating will be five times as strong. I know our human sides haven’t always meshed, but our wolves? They want their other half. We have to work things out, Angela. I’m sorry for what I did, and I’ll take responsibility for it in the trial. From now on, we need to be a team.”

His eyes were pleading with me. “How will it work? Will you respect me? Will we make decisions together, or am I to nod agreement and follow along like some doe-eyed submissive?”

That had him choking on the water he was drinking. “I can’t imagine you have a submissive bone in your body, Angela.”

“Alphas can’t be little bitches,” I replied. “What do we do about Renfro?”

He shrugged. “One of the warriors found his mate here, so he needs to stay with her. We should send one of our people back with him as soon as it gets dark. They can bring the Pack here.”

“Isn’t that a little premature with the trial and all?”

He shrugged. “They can’t stay where they are and live. Besides, I’m confident in the outcomes for both of us.”

“You broke Werewolf laws, and we all know it.”

He smiled and took my good hand in his. “And you are the only one who figured out the will of our Goddess. Werewolf law and tradition? It doesn’t matter what the rules say if Luna wants something else.” He leaned over and kissed me gently on the lips. It felt wonderful. “Doc is coming in, and I’m playing host for everyone at breakfast. I’ll see you later, Alpha.”

“I’ll see YOU later, Alpha.”