The Unexpected Ch. 02

Saturday was a whirlwind for Madison. Charles tried not to work this weekend, so he had two full days to spend with his daughter. They had breakfast together with several of his betas; spent some time discussing more trivia about pack life; and walked around to see more of the campus.

He introduced her to the pack by bringing them all together for a quick meeting. Then throughout the rest of the day they met with smaller groups for a more personal introduction. There were at least fifty people in the pack and the ratio of male to female was skewed toward the male gender.

No one said a word to Madison about the possibility of her being illegitimate, but it was clear by the glances and hushed tones of people talking that they doubted her. Who could blame them, Madison thought. She would have a hard time believing it if the roles were reversed. Hopefully the results came today, sooner rather than later. It was really nerve racking to wait.

Dinner was served one of the large dining rooms in the main house. There were a dozen betas included and sitting around the lengthy table. Food was piled high, enough to feed an army.

When Charles cleared his throat and stands up, the whole room goes quiet. He again introduces Madison and then pulls an envelope out of the breast pocket of his jacket. Holding the paper up in the air, he announced that the paternity test confirms that Madison is his daughter. The room bursts into applause while Madison silently breathes a sign of relief.

After dinner most everyone sticks around to help clean up and mingle. Madison is standing next to Charles when Rome approaches. He asks for permission from the alpha to ask Madison out on a date. Charles grants him permission but reminds him that it is Madison's choice as to whether she accepts. Madison find Rome attractive, I mean who wouldn't want to worship a Roman God, yet she is hesitant to say yes. Dating has not been her friend in recent years. She decides that one date can't be bad, so she accepts for the next day. Charles cuts in to tell them that it will have to wait another day because he has plans for his daughter on Sunday.

The plans for the next day required Madison and a group of the betas to get up and go down to the docks. Charles has planned a group outing which consists of taking a boat ride to his private island so they can have some fun and get to know one another. All the sleepyheads pile in the fifty foot yacht and find a comfortable spot to lounge around. Charles captains the vessel to the island.

The day turns out to be quite perfect. The sun is high in the clear blue sky, but it is not overly hot. Wolves by nature are hot blooded, so warm weather really makes them sweat.

They play guys against girls volleyball. Since the men outnumber the women, they have to rotate in and out while the girls play straight through without having subs. Madison has always been athletic so she is able to hold her own with the other women, but the men still win. The losers end up having to run into the cold water with all their clothes on, including shoes.

After the game and playing around, they have a large barbeque. Madison finds herself surrounded by men as the other women are off in their own little cliché. Rome notices her observation and tells her that women tend to stay away from the men unless they are in heat. Usually this is because the men are cranky and irritable. He tells her that they are currently talking about how jealous they are that she is getting along with the guys. Then a rock flies by and hits Rome in the head.

"Shut up Rome!" one of the ladies yell.

Rome laughs as he feels the fresh wound bleeding on his cheek. Madison watches in awe as his skin quickly seals up and vanishes. She always had a good immune system and healed quicker than everyone else, but this was amazing.

The sun started to set and Charles announced that it was time to pack up and return home. After the boat was reloaded and all passengers were on board, Madison asked Charles if she could take the wheel. Being more than pleased with her interest, Charles gladly turns over the helm to his daughter, the Navy EOD technician.

Most of the crew is sleeping in the cabin while Madison steers the vessel. The sun has not fully set so there is a low level light shining across the water. This is her favorite time of day just before dusk when the world is settling in for the evening.

Gazing off toward the horizon, Madison sees another boat not far off. Her keen hearing allows her to hear a woman aboard the other boat scream. She is not able to focus in on what the woman said, but she can tell that it was a distress call. She calls a lower ranked man to take over the helm. Before he has even put his hands on the wheel, Madison jumps ship.

The man freaks out and yells out "Woman Overboard!"

Charles is instantly there looking to see which idiot fell out of his boat. He is shocked to see Madison in the water and she is swimming away from the boat.

"What happened? What did you say to her Alex?" Charles demands from the young man that is steering the boat.

"Nothing sir, honest. She called me over and asked me to take the wheel for a second. The next thing I know, she dives overboard and starts swimming." Alex responds with a shaky voice.

Charles again looks off at Madison and sees that she is headed in the direction of another ship. Not knowing what is going on, but trusting that his daughter would not just up and leave, Charles radios the U.S. Coast Guard. He focuses in on the other boat and can hear that there are several people arguing with each other. It sounds like a hostage situation. He relays this information to the USCG and they inform him that they have a boat nearby charting a course toward them.

Every pack member on the boat is now watching Madison in action. She pulls herself up into the other boat and moves stealthily around the deck. She sneaks up behind a man who is standing on the bow alone. Tapping him on the shoulder, when he turns she punches him with a hard right knocking him unconscious. She pulls the deadweight toward the anchor locker and covers him with a tarp found folded up on the deck.

Then Madison maneuvers herself around the starboard side and she slips into the cabin and out of site. Charles is listening intently since that is all he can do from his vantage point. He is not happy about his little girl risking her life but he realizes that this is what she does.

The USCG finally shows up a few minutes later and then embark on the vessel. Most of the men head into the cabin while two circle round to the bow. There is a gunshot and a loud scuffle. Several people are yelling loudly and a woman screams. Charles doesn't think the scream was his Madison, but he focuses on trying to get to the other boat as quickly as possible.

By the time he nears the other two boats, Charles sees Madison comes out of the cabin covered in blood. She appears to be walking under her own power, but he jumps on the boat and grabs her up. She insists that she is fine, but warns him that there is a large silver fishing dart sticking out of her right calf. He is careful to stay away from the silver as he gingerly moves her to his vessel.

Two men are handcuffed and escorted to the USCG vessel while a third man, the one Madison knocked out, is carried aboard. The captain from the USCG yells over that he will be in touch with Madison to fulfill all his paperwork requirements. She may also be needed to testify if there is a trial. Madison nods as Charles guns the boat and they quickly depart.

Everyone on board is a buzz. They are asking Madison about all the details about what happened and how she got shot and how she knew there was a problem. When they find out about her day job, some of them start asking about bombs and explosions and other things she has encountered. Madison tries to answers the questions, but she is losing a lot of blood and is getting very light headed.

Charles has Madison in his arms as the boat approaches the dock. He jumps off before it is even tied off and runs Madison to the infirmary. Doc is prepared for her since Alex called ahead with the news.

Madison is still conscious although barely. She is laid on her left side on top of the steel table. Doc takes some surgical pliers and pulls on the dart. It doesn't budge. Madison is gritting her teeth in pain. Charles asks her if she wants pain killers and she shakes her head.

"Just get it out!" she grunts.

"I'm trying to get it out but it is in there pretty solid." Doc replies.

"If I pull it out, can you fix me then?" Madison asks impatiently.

Doc tells Madison that if she can get the dart out of her leg, he can easily take care of the internal damage it has caused. Madison grabs the dart with anger and pulls it out of her leg while a large scream permeates the room. As soon as the dart is out, Madison passes out and drops the dart to the floor.

A slight pinch wakes Madison and she opens her groggy eyes. In a chair beside the bed, Charles is sleeping. Madison gently nudges him and he smiles when he sees she is awake.

"Hey there little warrior, how are you feeling?" Charles asks in a husky morning voice.

"I've been better." Madison jokes. "Did Doc patch me up?"

"Yes, he put quite a few stitches in your leg but said that you were healing as he worked. Looks like you did inherit a little something from me after all." He tells her proudly.

"I have always healed pretty fast, well not as fast as I saw Rome heal the other day, but fast for humans. How long was I out?" Madison asks while pulling her leg out from under the covers to investigate the damage.

"Just a few hours." Charles replies. He looks down at his watch. "It is 5AM now."

"Oh." Madison says as she looks over the large bandage around her leg. She can't see anything without unwrapping it and she doesn't want to ruin the doctor's work. "You didn't have to spend the night here on that chair. I am sure your neck and back are killing you."

"I don't mind. I wanted to make sure you weren't alone. Consider it makeup for all the years that I missed." Charles said and he squeezed her hand. "You were quite impressive yesterday. The whole campus is talking about what you did, including taking that dart out of your leg. Good thing you are not allergic to silver. That could have killed you."

"Mom had me tested for every known allergy when I was younger. I didn't understand why at the time, but I still remember all the scratch marks up and down my arms and legs. I am officially not allergic to anything on this earth." Madison said.

"Mind telling me what happened out there?" Charles asked with a slight bit of hesitation.

"Three pirates were trying to hijack the vessel. They had bound and gagged the husband and were in the process of raping the wife. I got to one on the bow and took him out easily. The other two were slightly harder. I was able to get a few good hits in on both of them. I heard four bodies board the vessel and was hoping it was the USCG. Switching my focus on the meaner looking guy, I started pounding on him. That left me open. Before the USCG could get to the second guy, he had the dart gun in his hand and had fired it. It nearly pinned me to his partner. That would have been fun, eh?" Madison said.

"Impressive. You are a remarkable young lady. Of course, if you ever do anything like that again, I will have to ground you to your room for life." Charles chuckled. Part of him was kidding, but the other part was serious. He did not like watching her writhe in pain when the dart was in her leg. His wolf nearly came out and killed everyone in the room around her, but no one would ever tell her that.

Doc came in and checked on his human patient. He was pleased with her progress and agreed that she could leave the infirmary. Charles carried his little girl up to her room and made sure she was all situated and comfortable. She refused any pain killers but agreed to stay in her bed until Charles' business day was over or call someone if she needed anything.

After work Charles went back to Madison's room. She was sitting up reading one of the wolf history books. Her coloring looked much better and she said that she was feeling better too. Charles asked if she felt up for having dinner with the gang. Madison told him she would do anything to get out the room because she was going stir crazy.

At dinner time, all the betas made a point to swing by and say a few words to Madison. Some wished her health and some congratulated her. Most of them just wanted to see how she was feeling. Both Madison and Charles appreciated the efforts and sentiments.

Sometime during that night, Madison wakes up and decides she is still hungry. She considers calling someone for help but decides that she can do it on her own. She hops down the stairs and makes it as far as the living room where she collapses on the couch to take a break. While resting, she flips on the television and ends up watching the movie "Commando", one of her favorites. It is an action flick, so she mutes it to avoid disturbing anyone.

Rome is coming back from a run and sees Madison on the couch. He asks if he can join her but then teases her when he realizes there is no sound. He assures her that the bedrooms in the main house are far enough away that no one will be bothered. Plus, most of the betas are out hunting so that leaves very few people actually in the house.

When the movie is over, both get up to leave. Rome offers to help, but Madison's pride won't allow it. He heads off to his bed as she hobbles off to the kitchen and finds a popsicle. She has not had such a treat in months since she has been on active duty with the Navy.

Also coming back from the run, Aaron finds Madison in the kitchen and reprimands her for not seeking help. The alpha will skin someone if he sees her. Aaron insists on helping her return upstairs to bed, but again her stubbornness won't allow it. She hops up one step at a time with Aaron following behind her trying not to laugh. After the first flight of stairs, Madison finally concedes and allows Aaron to carry her up to her room.

When they reach her door, she tells Aaron that he can put her down and she can make it from there. He ignores her and proceeds to enter her suite. She needs to change her bandages so she asks for him to take her to the bathroom. He sets her on the counter and grabs the first aid kit. She lets him change the wrap on her leg. It is still oozing blood from the stitches and is still swollen. Once the wound has been cleaned and rewrapped, Aaron lifts Madison to take her to bed. She insists that he not put her on the bed because she does not want her wound to ruin the sheets. Aaron sees that on the far side between the bed and the wall, Madison has set up a make-shift bed on the floor. He is not happy but agrees to set her down on the floor.

Aaron is surprised to see that Madison is not taking advantage of her new found father's fortune. When she showed up everyone thought she was just seeking his wealth. Even after the blood test confirmed her as the daughter of Charles Chase, everyone including Aaron, believed she only showed up to take her inheritance.