Saint Ives Whelan Chronicles Ch. 17

SIW : Christopher Saint Ives -- Whelan.

Thanking the usual suspects for their time and support, Asylumseeker, JazCullen, the guild. Another thanks for my loyal readers. You'll be glad to know I'm over halfway done with the next chapter. For now, enjoy the read!

Mokkelke

Chapter Nine : Ending Things.

Blinded by the rage he felt, Adam leaped up and directly went for Frank's throat, the one who had set his eyes on Bronwille the night they assaulted her. Ed and Chris each went for the other men. The brothers had decided that they wanted to keep Jack alive at all costs, the one who had casually revealed most from their hidden agenda.

Chris told his brother, a second before they attacked, that he would take care of Jack, hoping that in the middle of the fight he cold port him away and secure him. He knew he'd reveal his new trick this way, but he was already planning on telling Ed and Adam afterwards.

Ed made a beeline for Howie's thigh, sure he could bite him there and incapacitate him. His aim wasn't to kill, it never had been. In this case however he wouldn't mourn the fact if he failed. From what little they'd overheard, these three weren't rogues at all but had been ordered to bring in fresh blood to a shrinking pack and it didn't matter how they brought in the females. Knowing a woman should be treated with respect, their conversation had sparked his anger.

Suddenly the camp exploded in a mix of growls and popping bones, indicating the three men were shifting to their wolf forms once they saw the three massive wolves attacking them.

They recognized the scent from the dark brown one. Seeing him there with the other two, they all realized instantly they were in for the fight of their lives.

Adam surprisingly missed Frank by an inch, but that didn't stop him from knocking him over. Uncaring that Frank was mid shift, he launched another attack at the man's throat. Frank got up and tried to avoid the impending assault, only able to take a single step before he felt the sharp canines rip through his shoulder blade, fracturing it. Giving a painful yelp, he tried his best to shake off the big wolf.

Remembering their earlier fight, Frank knew he wasn't a real match to this wolf, so he had to trick him, letting the wolf think he had the upper hand. Feigning submission to the larger and stronger wolf, he dropped down, giving another yelp as he landed on his obviously broken shoulder. Baring his throat, the darker wolf didn't hesitate to clamp down and reinforce his dominance.

Seething with anger deep inside, Frank did his best to stay still, letting the other man think he had won, and was now hoping the wolf on top of him would show mercy for his fast surrender. The grip on his throat became firmer. Still Frank kept quiet, but then he felt the canines pierce his skin. A not so feigned whimper escaped the second he realized his little gamble of tricking this wolf had failed miserably.

Frank had hoped on mercy and once he'd been released had intended to strike the big wolf in his stomach. He couldn't even get a kick in now. The other wolf had anticipated every possible move and wasn't interested in fighting. His only intent was to end his life. Frank knew he'd lost the second he felt a canine rip open his jugular and his warm blood started flowing out with every fast fading heartbeat.

Shifting back, Frank tried to cover the wound, applying pressure. At the same time the other wolf released him and shifted too. No wonder I'm no match to this dude, he's a fucking SEAL, he realized with wide open eyes as he saw the familiar tattoos.

Adam pressed a finger into the wound, stalling the blood flow for only a little while.

"You know, you little piece of shit, I don't kill for fun nor joy, but when you touch a woman the way you lot did that irks me. What really pissed me off was that you were assaulting MY mate," he whispered in Frank's ear in a stone cold voice, devoid from any emotion.

Frank tried to reply but only some incoherent gurgles came out of his, now, blood filled mouth.

"Then you didn't even have the guts to stay and fight, but ran like the little scared dogs you all are. In any other fight I would finish you off fast, swift and clean. Merciful even. But not this time, you deserve every slow second of agony as the life slips from you and you realize what a piece of shit you have been," Adam ended his whisper, at the same time removing his finger.

The blood started pumping out faster with the pressure gone. Adam stood up and gazed at the man lying in front of him, clutching at his throat, fighting for every little breath he was still able to get. His attempts grew slower as the puddle of blood under him soiled the forest floor. Then his eyes glazed and simply stared at the clear sky above them.

Adam didn't feel proud of this kill, it went against his very nature, despite his long army track records. His wolf did feel satisfied, they had avenged their mate. Crouching down, he closed the man's eyes, his only visible sign that he, despite everything that had led to this fight, still respected a dead man.

Standing back up, he looked around and frowned. He only saw Ed battling with Howie, no sign of Chris and Jack, the third man. Shifting back to wolf, he sent out a message, glad the brothers had decided to keep their mental link open to him. Chris, where the hell are you?

I'm securing this little piece of shit so we can interrogate him. I took him out of the clearing. That way the women can stay there when we question him, Chris replied.

Ok. I see Ed is having fun with his prey. Mine's already dead. I'll go check on the women. I'll leave them tied for now until we're done questioning the little piece of shit you have with you.

Sounds like a plan. Just keep an eye on Ed, he's usually not the fighting type, but once he gets going, his dark side tends to show. I'd hate to clean up his mess, Chris sent back.

Copy that. I'll intervene if needed.

Turning around, he watched Ed battling the other wolf. Seems he's already playing with him, Adam thought to himself before he walked past them, towards the women under the makeshift shelter.

Luckily they were both still passed out. Pressing two fingers against their neck, he checked their heart rate and breathing, both seemed calm for the moment and they weren't lying in a too uncomfortable position. Deciding to leave them both as they were Adam turned back towards the fight behind him.

Adam had never seen Ed fight before. To him he always seemed to be the most laid back of the three brothers. Now it was becoming clear that Ed did have a darker side to him, one not many had witnessed before. Chris had told him about a few things that had happened in the past, but somehow they never seemed to match Ed's persona. He stood corrected now.

Ed had jumped the man, first going for his thigh. During that moment the man had shifted to his wolf form. Releasing him, he circled the wolf, then jumped at him again, biting him in the shoulder. Ed released him again, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, his canines bared and a constant low growl emanating from his chest.

That was how he played his game, he jumped in, would bite and retreat. Repeating this process until the other one wasn't sure where he'd be bitten next. Ed could keep this game up for a long time. It'd been ages since he'd been in a fight and a content shudder traveled through his spine.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Adam watching him. That told him that Adam's target was already taken care of. Letting out an annoyed huff, he realized now was not the time to play, they had other things to take care of. With a loud snarl he expressed his unsatisfied need for a good rumble.

Turning towards the bleeding wolf, he made a short sprint, knocking the other one over. Without much care he clamped down on the throat and gave the wolf a second to surrender. All he got in return was a loud groan and the start of a struggle. Wanting to end this swiftly, he simply bit down hard and shook his head, breaking the other wolfs neck in the process.

With a loud snort he released the dead wolf and shifted back.

"Bah, now I get the chance to fight and all I get is this wimpy excuse of a dog. Would have thought with all their big talk they at least would prove to be a challenge. Our pups fight better than these miserable creatures," he said as he dragged the back of his hand over his mouth, trying to get rid of the blood on it.

"I had the same. Mine thought he could trick me into believing he surrendered. He was wrong," Adam agreed.

Ed looked around. "Where is Chris?"

"He's around, just don't know where," Adam replied.

Chris, where are you? And that pitiful excuse of a wolf? Ed sent to his brother.

I have him tied up to a tree. I'll be over to come and get you two. I don't want our little interrogation happening in the camp so as not to wake up those women. The less they see and hear, the better, Chris answered.

Turning sideways Chris looked at the unconscious wolf. He was glad he had spotted some rope before he had ported them out of the camp. Their struggle was brief and not even a real challenge for Chris. When the other wolf was knocked out, Chris had focused on his surroundings and concluded the others were still in mid-fight. He took the chance and ported himself to the ropes and back, so he could tie him up.

This wasn't an easy task, crappy fighter or not, a werewolf was still strong. Chris had to come up with a way of making it impossible for the wolf to shift back and break the bonds. Chris spotted a large tree not far from where he ported them to the first time. With a low growl he had dragged the dead weight of the wolf over to the tree, wrapped the wolf around it and tied the front paws together with the back ones.

In wolf form this wasn't an uncomfortable position, but it would be if you tried to shift. He could only hope this particular one had at least one working brain cell because all the others seemed to have reverted back to caveman proportions.

Circling around the tree, he took a good sniff of the tied up wolf. Chris couldn't pinpoint it, but there was a hint of familiarity to his scent, as if he'd smelled it before. Back in the camp this one was big on the talk, but he wasn't impressed with how easy he'd won their little tussle. It was like he didn't even try to fight back and just acted a bit before giving in. All this told Chris there was a lot more going on than they could imagine.

Giving the wolf one last push to check if he still was out cold, he turned, shifted back to wolf and went to retrieve his brother and Adam. When he entered the clearing it was evident that Ed and Adam had tried to cover up the two corpses and hide them from the woman.

"I'm a bit disappointed. It looks like none of them knew how to fight. Where's the challenge in that?" Chris said after he shifted to human form.

"I'm right there with you, bro. It's been a while since we had a good fight," Ed chimed in.

"How are the women?" Chris directed to Adam.

"Still sleeping it seems. Think we can leave them here while we question the other one?"

"Should be ok. Even if they wake up, we'll know that quickly enough and if they wander away, we can track them later," Chris answered.

"So, up for a little Truth or Dare?" Ed asked.

"No better time for it, he must be coming around by now," Chris answered.

The two men followed Chris as he led them a bit further away. It wasn't long before they came upon the tied up wolf who was indeed coming to. Standing next to each other, they all looked down at the snarling beast. Chris crouched down and locked eyes.

"You have two options. First one is you shift and we'll redo your bindings and you'll answer our questions. Second option, hmm well, maybe there isn't a second option, you will tell us what we want to know, one way or the other. But let me introduce myself first. I'm Christopher Saint Ives -- Whelan, the name ring a bell?" Chris told the squirming wolf in front of him.

Suddenly the wolf went quiet and still, acknowledging that he knew what that name meant.

"The other one is my brother Eamonn," Chris said, using Ed's birth name, "and a friend of ours, Adam. I think you remember him, don't you? The one that kicked your butt a few days ago. Sounds familiar? Or need a reminder? So are you going to shift and answer a few questions?" he went on in a stern, emotionless tone.

The wolf whimpered and shifted to human form.

Chris nodded towards Adam, who immediately knew Chris wanted him to restrain the man so they could redo his bindings. Repositioned, he now sat with his back against the tree, hands tied behind him, legs bound around the knees and ankles.

"Ed, you want to start this?" Chris asked his brother.

"With pleasure," he answered as he turned to wolf. "Jack is your name if I remember correctly. Now tell me, is this the first time you've been in our territory without approval?"

Jack shook his head.

"The first time you took women?"

Again "no" was the reply.

"You think you can get away with this unharmed and unpunished?"

Jack whimpered.

"The cat got your tongue? Not feeling so brave now?" Ed went on.

"Let me tell you what you are going to do. You are going to tell us how long you've been trespassing on our land and territory and then you're going to tell me how many women your pack has kidnapped so far. You're going to tell me why. If you can answer all of these without us having to beat it out of you, then you'll be pretty much unharmed. Punishment will still be decided upon by the Council. And guess who leads it? Our eldest brother Dominic, I'm sure you know him, right?"

"First question. From which pack are you?" Ed started asking.

"I'm from the MacLachlan pack," Jack stuttered.

Chris froze when he heard that name.

Handle this with care, brother. I think the shit is going to hit the fan. I will explain more later, Chris told his brother. Inwardly he cursed. Things couldn't have gotten more complicated. He started wondering how mad Richard's father really was. Sending out his puppets to kidnap human females to keep his numbers up. It was outrageous. Then he wondered how he was going to tell Mia and at the same time tried figuring out a way to tell Ed their involvement was far from over.

Chris saw the little nod his brother gave him, acknowledging his message.

"How long have your pack been coming to our territory?" Ed asked.

"Ten years."

"How often did you come?"

"Once a year."

"With how many?"

"Never more than three."

"How long did you stay?" Ed went on in a clipped voice.

"Never more than a week."

That could explain why their presence wasn't detected. Many people go missing throughout the year, two or three more aren't so easy to pick up on, sadly enough, Ed conferred with his brother.

Still doesn't explain why they were so close to your club. It's swarming with wolves, Chris replied.

"What did you do to them, once you'd taken them?" Ed questioned Jack again.

"It's obvious what they did, Ed. Two of them are laying right over there and you know what they did to Bronwille," Adam jumped into the interrogation.

"I know, Adam, but I want to hear it from our little friend here," Ed intercepted his outburst. Focusing back on Jack, he simply tilted his head, indicating he was expecting an answer from him.

"I didn't touch the women, I'd only touch the one truly meant for me. Frank and Howie," Jack whispered as he shook his head, "They didn't care. I told them not to, that we're supposed to wait until we're back on pack land. We're only meant to retrieve a female, bring her back and turn her in front of everyone."

"And how did these two end up in this state?" Ed pressed on.

"I told them to leave those women alone, but they wouldn't have any of it. The night before we were supposed to take the last woman, Frank lured me away. When we returned I found them like this. Howie's twisted mind got the better of him and he had his kind of fun with both," Jack replied in shame.

"Fun?" Adam roared, "Their bruises and the bloody stains they both have, tell me another story. If what you lot tried to do to Bronwille is any indication, I can only imagine what that little bit of fun really was. They look beaten and seeing they're barely dressed you lot raped them as well." Adam was getting really angry again.

He growled when he felt a hand clamp over his shoulder, only to realize a second later it was Chris.

Calm down, my friend. We'll get to the bottom of this and resolve this situation so it will never happen again. Let Ed finish his questions and we'll take it from there, Chris tried tempering his friend's angry mood.

I'm going to check on the women. If I stay here that piece of shit won't live for very long. He's that dumb to be led on, even the woman he'd picked for himself got abused and he didn't do anything, he just let it happen!

I know Adam, we'll get to the bottom of this. Go check on the women, but do pass your car first so you don't scare them too. Being naked is our second nature, but it's not to them, Chris reminded him.

I know, won't take me long. Get everything out of him that you can. I've had my vengeance but this can't continue to happen, this pack must be stopped at all costs, he said before he shifted and ran away.

Chris turned back to his brother, who still was crouched down the same way as when they started their questioning. Out of the three brothers, Ed was the better one to lead an interrogation. Nick was very good at assessing situations and take actions accordingly. If it wasn't for his pre-occupancy with Fran right now, he'd be here doing the same thing. Chris was actually the odd one out. He did his job as Beta, but he actually preferred to keep any kind of violence to a minimum.

This being the very reason, and the knowledge he could explain it to them later, that he opted to port this one away and not give in to that familiar hunting and conquering nature of his wolf side.

"How much time do you still need, Ed?" Chris asked, wanting this to be over.

"Not much longer," Ed replied without moving. "So Jackie, boy, why were you ordered to take these women? And where are they supposed to be taken to?"

"Our pack is vanishing, we needed new females to bear our pups. Our Alpha sends some of us away once a year, to bring back new females to mate."

"And what about true mates?"

"He doesn't care about that. He just wants to enlarge the pack, he doesn't care how."

This Alpha really seems to be one pain in the ass, Ed told his brother.

You don't know everything yet. Just wrap this up, so we can move this one to a holding cell under the mansion. Then I need to talk to Adam and you. This is far from over yet.

"Where is your pack located?" Ed asked, knowing this to be a futile question, packs were obliged to divulge the boundaries of their territory and they already knew which pack he belonged to.

"It's on the North side, a day's drive," Jack replied evasively.

"So let me recap. Your Alpha thinks just because his pack is dwindling he can send out pack members, let them invade another pack's territory without them knowing, kidnap women to use them as breeding stock and he thinks he can get away with it?" Ed summed up.

Jack stayed silent, but nodded affirmatively.

"He may have gotten away with it for a time, but that time is over as of now. When this gets put in front of the Council he won't have a pack left!" Ed roared, for the first time showing emotion.

Hold it brother, don't mention the council. Remember I still have to talk to you. This needs to be settled outside of Council attention.