Alpha Killer Ch. 26-30

He moved back, tugging at my arm. Leaning across the aisle, he put his head in Phillip's lap. The boy buried his face in his fur, his little arms pulling him tight. Just like with me, Snacks settled him down.

"It's pretty smooth, probably a good time to take him out of that seat and hold him," Teri said from behind me. "I'll get him for you." Snacks moved out of the way and Teri got up. She unhooked his harness and picked him up as he reached for her. "It's all right, little man," she said. "Sit with Mama and look out the window!"

She passed him to me and I sat him on my lap, letting him look out the big window. "See how high we are," I said as I held him on my knee.

"Clouds pretty," he said as he looked out. There were puffy cumulus clouds above us.

"Very pretty. That looks like Elmo," I said as I pointed.

"Elmo?" I nodded. "That looks like boat." He settled down as we played our game, and when he tired of that he sat in my lap and leaned back against me. "Why you mama?"

"Well." How to ruin a boy's life in thirty seconds. "I'm your mama because you grew inside my tummy for nine months. You're my baby boy," I said as tears went down my cheeks.

"I'm your baby boy?"

"You are," I said as I gave him a hug. "I love you, Phillip. I have always loved you."

He looked at me, looked down at my belly then back to my face. "Mommy?"

"I couldn't take care of you when you were born, and your Mommy and Daddy kept you. I never stopped loving you and thinking about you. You're my love," I said. I wished I had my wolf, she would have been able to reach his wolf and bond him to me. I didn't know if he felt anything. I was jealous of Teri for having a family bond with him I couldn't ever have.

"I'm hungry."

I kissed his head. "I think Aunt Teri might have something. When we left that gas station, it looked like a kid had found a hundred-dollar bill and had been let loose in the candy section." I smirked as she tried to defend herself.

"I got more than just candy, but don't drink too much. This plane doesn't have a restroom." She reached into a bag under her seat and pulled out some food. "How about some cookies?"

"COOKIE!! COOKIE!! Mumm mm mmm COOKIE!" He held out his hands and she handed him an open package of miniature chocolate chip cookies. "Fank you."

"You're welcome, baby." She showed me the bag, I picked Twinkies. "You could have FOOD, you know."

"I like Twinkies. Got anything for my Snacks?"

She pulled out some Slim Jims and took one out of the plastic. Snacks was already looking up at her with begging eyes, and when she handed it to him, he snarfed it up in about two bites. She quickly fed him the other as Phillip and I laughed. He pointed at him. "Shift, puppy, shift!"

Snacks just leaned over and licked his face.

"We can't do that around humans," I reminded him quietly.

"You're human," he said with a huff.

"I used to have a wolf like you, but I got sick and my wolf died," I said. "I miss her, just like I missed you."

He looked at me for a minute, then hugged me around my neck. "Wolfy says he loves his mama," he said.

"I love him too." There was no stopping the tears now.

I held him until the pilot told us to buckle up because we were going into turbulence. Teri put him back as sat in my seat and watched. She was so good to me, so good to him. I could sense how badly she wanted a child of her own.

We landed in Clarksville and taxied to a stop outside the terminal. The airport wasn't busy, and when the pilot put the stairs down a woman was waiting for us. She was dressed in a white sundress and wide hat and looked like a human in her forties. Snacks bounded down the stairs and ran to her, licking her and rubbing against her legs as she told him to settle down.

Phillip put his arms up for me, and I unhooked him and lifted him to my chest. He hugged me around the neck as I walked down the stairs. It was hot and humid, uncomfortably hot, but I didn't care. I stopped a few steps from the stairway, letting Luna Teri go first.

"Welcome to Texas, Luna Teri," the woman said as Teri reached her.

"Thank you for hosting me, Luna Patty. Can you believe it?"

"I know, it's so exciting! Come over here, dear, you're safe with us." I moved closer to the woman, who pulled me into a hug. "I'm Randall's mother Patty. This must be the little boy I've heard so much about?"

"It is, Luna Patty. Phillip, can you say hello?"

"Hi," he said before burying his face back in my shoulder.

"Come on, let's get into the Expedition before you guys melt from the heat." She led us over to the red SUV and loaded us up. She helped with the car seat while the pilot and Teri got our bags and loaded it. When we were all in place, she put the air conditioning on high and drove off. "It's about forty minutes to the ranch, but I bet you guys want to eat and use a bathroom," she said. "Anyone for a steak?"

Snacks raised his head off the seat and barked, making us laugh. "No dogs allowed," Teri said. "I'd love some dinner if you don't mind."

Dinner was good, and Phillip was sleeping again by the time we arrived at their house. The place was huge, but no one was around except her husband as we walked in. They showed us to a room, and it had a bed for me and a small bed next to it for Phillip. I got him undressed and laid him down.

I could do this, I told myself. I'd survived everything they could do to me and dammit, I was going to start living again.

Ch. 28

Alpha Justin Heranus's POV

Mount Shasta Pack Clinic, McCloud, CA

Six Years Ago

"Alpha, Luna, the Doctor will be with you shortly. Luna, please put the gown on and hop up on the exam table." The nurse left, vitals and history complete. I helped Rhoda into the gown and up on the exam table. Then I held her hand as we waited for the obstetrician/gynecologist to see us. There were only a few dozen Medical Doctors trained in the human and werewolf world, and Doctor Tara Himen was the only one specializing in fertility.

"I don't know if I can do this again," Rhoda said as she looked down at her toned stomach. She was still as fit and beautiful as she had been when we mated almost sixty-five years ago. She was everything I could have hoped for in a mate; strong, compassionate and loved by the Pack, supportive and loving with me. All those decades had passed, and we'd never been able to have a child.

It had all started normally. We mated, it kicked off her first heat and we hoped we would be one of those lucky couples that were blessed on their first try. She was disappointed when it didn't catch, but we knew we'd be able to try again in a year. The next year, nothing. After twenty years of disappointment, a year came where she didn't come into heat, then the next year it was back.

The failure to get her heat became more common, until it stopped altogether. Her last naturally-occurring heat happened in 1992. She was only a hundred and ten years old, way too early for a healthy Alpha female to reach menopause. After ten years of nothing, we were referred to Dr. Himen.

We had returned every year since then. Blood tests, X-rays, dye tests, nothing showed anything abnormal that would explain the lack of her cycle. Whispers started to travel among the Pack females about whether their Luna had been cursed to be barren. She withdrew into herself, avoiding social events and avoiding her friends.

We were getting desperate by the turn of the century. An Alpha couple that had no heir after this long was looked upon as being weak or defective, and challenges to my authority became more common. I'd defended my title more times in the last twenty years of my rule than I had in the first fifty. No matter what I said, Rhoda took it as her personal failing to not give me a son.

She tried diets, vitamins, special herbal teas and potions brewed by local witches. She tried working out, not working out, sex all the time, no sex, anything she could think of. Finally, ten years ago, Dr. Himen started experimenting with use of human fertility drugs to try and initiate a heat cycle for her.

It took a few years to find a treatment schedule that worked, and in 2008 she had a heat. I took her to a remote cabin, and we screwed like newlyweds. She would sit with her legs in the air for a half hour after every time we made love, then we would do it again.

She didn't get pregnant, but we had hope again.

The next year, the same thing happened. Then the next. Only once did she not get a cycle, but she never got pregnant from her cycles. The strain of it all was wearing her down, and was tearing us apart.

There was a knock, then Dr. Himen came in. She was a small werewolf female, only about five-two and was in her forties. She was very intelligent, and her Alpha had sponsored her college and medical school. She worked at a clinic in Shasta and held office hours at the Pack. "Alpha Justin, Luna Rhoda, how are you feeling today?"

"Disappointed," she said. "The pregnancy test came out negative again."

"It did," she confirmed. "The blood test was negative. Are you feeling any lingering effects from the treatment?"

"I've been having pains in my ovaries, but they are getting better."

She nodded. "That's not uncommon, as you know. It's a side effect of the stimulation the fertility drugs give you. Let's check them out to be safe." She wheeled over an ultrasound machine as Rhoda laid back on the table. A few minutes later she turned it off. "The treatments are taking a toll on your body, Luna."

"I can handle the pain," she said.

"I'm not questioning your motivation or your toughness, I'm telling you that your body is telling you to stop. I'm also telling you that the study is coming to an end."

"What do you mean," I said.

"You aren't the only she-wolf in these trials. The results have not been what we hoped for. No mated female has had a successful pregnancy since we started a decade ago. Last week I presented my results to the Alpha Council and our Pack Doctor convention, and the decision was unanimous. We are discontinuing the trials."

"THEY WERE MY ONLY HOPE," Rhoda cried. I moved over to her, comforting her as she saw her chances dwindle to none.

"I'm sorry, Luna." She didn't say anything for a while as I calmed my mate down.

"Is there any other option," I asked. "We are desperate, we have no heir and the Pack is becoming unstable."

She sat back in her chair. "The trials were not a complete loss. We did have a few unmated females, younger ones, who were able to use the treatment to initiate a cycle leading to pregnancy."

"A surrogate?"

"Not in the way humans look at it, no. We don't have the facilities or access to do in-vitro fertilization. No, the successes we had involved females who wanted to remain unmated but were willing to be impregnanted by another male in order to provide him an heir. Two were sisters to the deceased female mate, while the other was an Omega who volunteered."

"I see. The volunteer would have to take the same treatment to kick off a heat cycle without having a mate of her own?"

"Yes. If you think you can find a volunteer to provide you your heir, I can provide you with the injection schedule and the drugs you will need today. Your own Pack doctor will have to oversee the cycle, and I only have enough drugs left for you to try once."

"I'll take them," I said.

"I'll prepare what you need," she said. "I'm really sorry I can't do more for you," she said as she left.

She handed us the supplies and the directions, then we left the clinic and returned to our car. Rhoda started crying as soon as the door closed and didn't stop until we were on the Interstate. I felt horrible; my mate was hurting, and I could do nothing. I reached over and squeezed her hand. "We'll figure something out," I said.

She wiped her eyes. "It's not that easy," she said. "It's not just that you need an heir, you need a STRONG heir who can defend his position. You're not going to get that my mixing your bloodline with an Omega, especially one desperate enough to give her first born to the Alpha. He would be half hers, and where does that leave me? What if she wants to be his mother? I'll never be able to show my face again in the Pack if it gets out that you went to another woman to get your heir."

"I can find a way," I said. "They will accept the baby as ours alone."

"How will you convince the Pack it is mine when I don't smell pregnant, I don't look pregnant and I don't give birth?"

All good questions. "I don't know." She banged her head back against the rest. "I'll find a way. We will have a son, a strong son with Alpha bloodlines on both sides, a boy that is ours and ours alone. We will have that as long as you trust me and do what I say, no matter what."

"You'll fuck another woman, you'll do that to me knowing what it will do to me." She didn't believe me.

"I will do what it takes to ensure our son is born and takes over for me as Alpha of our Pack," I said. "I won't enjoy it, but I will do it. You will take the pain and thank me for doing it."

She looked out the window, not saying anything for almost ten minutes. "Do it," she said. "Don't tell me the details, I don't want to see her or have her around, just bring me my son."

Chairman Lewis Wolfe's POV

Eagle County Regional Airport, CO

Present Day

The plane taxied to a stop, and a few minutes later we were out the door. Our driver was ready, and we were on the road in minutes. Four cars trailed behind us with the Council Enforcers, while Carlos' two squad leaders joined us in the spacious Suburban. "Where are we at," I asked.

"Warriors from the Grand Mesa and Colorado Springs packs are going to meet us near the freeway exit. The Grand Mesa warriors will work with First Squad to search the Pack offices at the Copper Mountain resort. Second squad will come in from the west, while I and the Colorado Springs warriors escort you to the Pack House," Lead Enforcer Carlos said. "Once everyone is in place, we will sweep and arrest the leadership."

"Rules of engagement," Counsel Kendall asked.

"We are arresting, not invading," I said. "Warn them we have a warrant and interference with Council business is a punishable offense. Deadly force is only authorized for protection of yourself or others. Minimize casualties, make sure you are wearing body armor."

The directions were passed to all the men, and just off the freeway exit we started to link up. Six hours after we had landed in La Crosse and learned of the allegations, we were ready to go. I looked over at Carlos, he was dressed out in camo body armor and heavily armed. "Ready, sir," he said.

"Go, and may Luna protect us all." The four vehicles filled with Enforcers and Warriors led the way down the winding road towards the eastern edge of the Copper Mountain territory. Tensions rose as we approached, not knowing if we were detected or if they would resist.

"Through the gate, the gate was open and no guard was seen," the lead vehicle said over the radio we were using to coordinate the different Packs and Council teams.

"Squad two, through the gate, no resistance,"

"Squad one, in the office complex."

My vehicle stayed outside the gate for now, Carlos didn't want to risk me until the Pack grounds had been secured. I listened in on the calls, and it was clear that the people we were looking for were not here. "At the Pack House," my Lead Enforcer reported. "Senior official present is the Gamma. He has ordered the Pack to cooperate. Alpha, Beta and almost all warriors are gone, sir. The Alpha took them out more than four hours ago, and he hasn't heard from them since."

Shit.

Ch. 29

Alpha Clark's POV

La Crosse Pack House

My Pack was emptying out quickly.

I'd made a call to my closest ally, the Alphas of the Winona pack. When I told them what was going on, they immediately offered whatever help I needed. "Dan, I need two things quickly," I told him. "I have to evacuate my non-combatants until this is all over."

"Of course, send them to us, we'll keep them safe," Mary said. "I'd love to see Teri and the others."

"Teri's not coming, she's doing something else, but the others will come. They're packing now, they'll be leaving in fifteen minutes. I knew I could count on you."

"You know it. Can I send men?"

"Volunteers only, Dan, and have them bring their rifles." I quickly filled him in on the plan I had. "My Beta female will be in charge of the group, she'll call you when their convoy leaves. I have to go, it's a madhouse here."

"I'll call you when we cross over into Wisconsin," Dan said. I called two other Packs, in Arcadia and Genoa, and they volunteered to send about a dozen warriors each. I ran out to see off the caravan, and when I got back the warrant came across in my email for the arrest of Alpha Todd Aldridge. The letter attached authorized any Pack to apprehend him and hold him for trial.

I didn't have time for this, but I couldn't wait either. I forwarded the email to the Alphas of the Black River Falls and Wisconsin Rapids Packs, then called both of them in a group video call. "Sorry to drop this on you, guys, but I need your help." I quickly went through the evidence that we had implicating Alpha Todd in the abduction of Tania Stillwater, and my suspicions he had been involved in the deaths of the Alpha pair.

It took a minute for them to calm down enough to talk, and I heard furniture breaking in the background of Alpha John's office. The Black River Falls Pack Alpha had been friends with Alpha Johann since they went to camp together at age ten. "Handling this will be my pleasure," John said. "I just hope he resists arrest enough I can get in a shot or two."

Alpha Richard agreed. "I'll get on the road in ten minutes. John, we can meet up in Tomah and head west to the Pack lands. I never liked that fucker and I was right," he said.

"Thanks guys. I have to go, but if you could call me when you have him in your custody."

"I can do that," Richard said. "What do we tell his Pack?"

"Call them all into the meeting room and show them the file I'm sending you," I said. "Just make sure you have him cuffed, stuffed and out of there before his Pack sees what he did. You'll have to leave a Beta to take control of the Pack."

"The Council is investigating?"

"Yes, I've given all the information to the Chairman himself and the Counsel drafted the warrant. The Council Lead Enforcer will be in contact with you so his team can conduct a thorough investigation. Good luck." I closed the video call and emailed both Alphas the section of Tania's story of the abduction. The Tomah pack was going to have a mass revolt when they found out what really happened.

I almost felt sorry for him.

With everyone else gone, I went to speak with my warriors. They were gathered in the Pack meeting room, most gathered around a large topographical map of our territory. As soon as I walked in, conversations stopped, and they turned and bowed their heads to me in respect. "Gather round, gentlemen," I said. They all sat and faced the screen.

"What are we facing, Alpha?"

All I had told them was that we had information a Pack was planning to attack us that evening. I laid the whole thing out. The arrival of Talia Stillwater, also known as the Alpha Killer, with her younger sister. The revelations about how Alpha Todd abducted her and handed her over to be raped and bred. "The man who did this, the man who took her son from her and left her to die, is Alpha Justin Heranus of the Copper Mountain Pack." The anger boiled over, they wanted blood. "The Council is on its way to arrest them, but Talia got to them first. She snuck onto their land and took Tania's son and the Luna and brought them back here. Both are gone now, but someone told Alpha Justin where they are and he's on his way with about twenty of his warriors."