Endangered Species

“Alpha Cole is at the gate,” Lois told me. “Get ready to go.”

I ensured my sheathes had securely held knives, then covered them with my clothes. The other knives went back in the leather roll and then the bag. “I’d feel better with a pistol,” I complained.

“The other wolves would smell the gun oil on you. Custom is for the Alphas and their guards to disarm while meeting on each other’s territory. It shows faith and trust.”

“Not everyone, right?”

She smiled. “Everyone near the meeting does. Alpha Winters is perfectly safe here. He came in peace, and the Beta allowed him into the territory. Once the host extends his protection, it is sacrosanct.”

“What would happen if Alpha Cole attacked Winters and his men?”

“The other Alphas would band together and wipe out our entire Pack,” Lois replied. “The customs of hospitality predate the Werewolf Council and its laws. What is he worth if you can’t trust an Alpha’s word?”

Indeed. What would that word be worth if Cole lied just once? The Academy had an honor code. We did not lie, cheat, or steal. It was important because only leaders with honor were worthy of leading Sailors and Marines. A Pack should be no different.

We exited the room with the two guards flanking us. “What happens now?”

“Beta Chapman will stay with Alpha Winters while his delegation waits outside. The Alpha will go straight to the conference room to greet him. Unless requested otherwise, the two Alphas will meet in private first before any larger discussions occur. Since the visit was unannounced, his temporary absence is not an insult.”

“I mean with me,” I said. “Am I to be at his side or guarded elsewhere? Is Melanie standing by him as the Luna?”

“Alpha Winters requested to meet alone with Alpha Chapman and his future Luna. He knows enough of your situation from the girls who came to his Pack.”

This request had to make my mate nervous. I saw Cole leaning against the wall outside the conference room.. He caught my eyes, and I almost stumbled when I saw the intensity of his gaze. I yearned to be in his arms again, and Cole didn’t disguise his desire for me.

Damned mating pull.

I hurried my steps, my body responding to his presence subconsciously. I blushed as he pulled me close for a kiss. I was getting aroused, and sensitive werewolf noses would pick that up. Cole rubbed his skin against mine, refreshing his scent on my skin and placing fresh indents of his teeth on my bruised neck. “You are mine, and I will protect you with my life,” he told me.

“We shouldn’t keep him waiting,” I replied breathlessly. “Do you know what he wants?”

“We’ll find out soon. Don’t leave my side, my mate.” Cole opened the door and held it for me. He took my hand as I entered, letting the door close on its own. The man on the other side of the table stood up and smiled. He was tall, almost six-foot-five, lanky, with glossy back hair starting to grey at the temples. It was held back from his rugged face in a ponytail. The Alpha had majority Native American blood. “This is an unexpected pleasure, my friend. Alpha Edward Winters, may I present my mate and future Luna, Angela Summers.”

“It is my pleasure, and please, call me Edward,” the middle-aged Alpha said as he came around the table. I held out my hand, and he took it old-world style, bringing it to his nose and placing a kiss on the knuckle. “I’ve heard good things about you.”

“Please, let us sit and get to know each other,” I replied. There was a coffee service in the room, so as the hostess, I served both men before making my own. I sat to Cole’s right, took a sip, and smiled. “My guard tells me the Quinalt Pack lands are beautiful but remote. You must have had a long trip.”

“We are blessed to have vehicles that still work, and the roads didn’t get blocked in the remote lands of our reservation. The drive was uneventful until the last twenty miles or so. It is faster to run as wolves than to try and negotiate the roads in such populated areas.”

“I didn’t get much of a briefing on you. Your Pack lives in a temperate rain forest?”

He nodded. “We sit between the Olympic Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The mountains wring the moisture from the air like you wouldn’t believe. Twenty to thirty inches of rain in a month is common in the wintertime.” My jaw dropped; that was a shitload of rain!

“You live on tribal lands?”

He nodded. “My great-great-grandfather found his mate among a woman of the Quinalt people. He was the second son of an Alpha, those who joined him found mates among the tribe. Our Pack is tied to them by spirit and blood. The old ways are coming back in style,” he said with a smile. “The loss of technology will strengthen our people, not diminish them. It is a return to our traditions and heritage.”

“I am glad to hear you are holding up so well. Everything around us is collapsing. It is not a pleasant thing to witness.”

“I suppose not,” he said before setting his coffee down. “We will have time to discuss pleasantries later. This is not a social visit, Alpha Cole. The reports I received of your Pack’s actions are concerning.” He reached in his pocket and removed a letter. “I am filing charges against you for violations of Werewolf law in your treatment of your human captives. I have sent messengers to the other Packs, and the Alphas will arrive within three days to convene an Alpha Council to hear the evidence and render a decision.”

That couldn’t be good. “You are operating under old information, Alpha Winters,” I said evenly. “My mate has placed me in sole charge of the humans and their treatment. I have ended forced inseminations. Alpha Cole offered my fellow females the change, and dozens have accepted it. Many others have accepted membership in the Pack while they consider accepting the change at a later date. The ones who want to leave? We are letting them go in peace, with the ability to return if they change their mind. Everything changed with the solar storm, Edward. I am the voice for humans in the Pack.”

He nodded, looking at my neck. “Yet you haven’t accepted a wolf or your place in the Pack.”

“I feel the mating pull, but I have my responsibilities. I know that Cole is my mate; the timing of my mating is no one’s concern but ours.”

He looked away from me to my mate. “She speaks for you in this matter?”

“She is my mate and future Luna. She spoke to our leadership about the pitfalls of our path, a path that brought you here today. Two of your men have mates because we kept those women alive instead of killing them with the others. None of the men with you are mated, Edward. I am sure that is not accidental.”

“Should the unmated of my Pack find their mates, that would be a blessing from Luna. To remove them from a Pack that would mark, enslave, and breeds them? A double blessing.” He looked back at me. “It speaks to your strength that you were able to change the course of this Pack regarding humans. That does not excuse the laws Alpha Cole broke or the ones he continues to break.”

“My women are no longer slaves, Edward. They are Pack, and I am dedicating my efforts to helping them find a place in it where they can be happy and have a good life.”

“I am pleased with your changes, and the Council will consider them when determining their fate and the punishment for the two of you. You were not wrong to hold off on the mating. You are held responsible under Werewolf law as soon as you become a wolf.”

I didn’t understand; we were doing the right thing! “What exact violations are we being charged with?”

“Our laws are clear,” he said as he leaned forward. “Human mates are Luna’s blessing and should be turned. Those who learn of our nature must be turned or killed. No exceptions.”

My heart dropped. By forcing Cole to release the women who didn’t want to be here, had I doomed our Pack? “Surely you can’t hold us freeing the slaves against us!”

He shook his head, no. “Those taking the change are not the problem. The ones who you killed are not the problem. It is the ones that you offered the bite to and refused that are the issue. They still live; thus, they present a risk to us all. Their continued existence is the violation of werewolf law.”

That didn’t make sense! “Wait, these women have pledged their allegiance to the Pack! How are they a risk compared to those we let go?”

He snorted. “We saw the women you released on the way here. They must have thought they were home-free so far from your Pack House. Pistol shots at close range to the back of the head, Alpha Cole? Noisy, but effective.”

No.

Oh, HELL NO! It couldn’t be!

I looked at Cole and saw the guilt in his face.