Artiface of Strength Ch. 11

"Hello Tristan," a voice said as he was slowly and painfully making his way back to consciousness.

"Mmph," He responded, the inside of his mouth tasting as though he'd fallen asleep under a chicken coop.

Laughter pealed from the Lady's lips as she handed the disorganized wolf a silver chalice filled to the brim with ice-cold water. "Here... drink this. It will help, eventually."

Tristan gratefully took the vessel and began the long and painful process of rehydration. At any other time, he would have bolted down the water, but it wasn't every day that he was in the presence of his Goddess. He tried to maintain a dignified pace of slaking his thirst and ignoring his insanely pounding headache, while simultaneously trying to show the proper respect for his deity. But evidently, trying to juggle all of this at once must have been too much for him, because as he winced in pain, the Lady giggled.

"Did you try to drink all of it by yourself, Tristan?"

Jumping to his feet, Tristan swayed for a moment as he fought off a wave of nausea, but he still managed to offer the chalice back to the Lady, saying, "No Lady, I didn't drink it all; there is some left for you!"

She giggled again as she waved off his offer, "No, drink it all, you'll need it. What I meant was... did you try to drink every bit of the alcohol in the entire Clubhouse all by yourself?"

Tristan groaned again before answering, "I've had a couple of very bad weeks Goddess, and I think it will only get worse on Monday. I thought that maybe I could out drink him at least. All of my plans have sort of disintegrated since he showed up."

The Lady smiled encouragingly and said, "Have you considered the idea that she wasn't right for you?"

"Lately, that idea has been kind of hard to avoid, but now I'm at a loss. I'm not sure what I should do next. Can you, at least, tell me how William did on his venom challenge?"

"Okay Tristan, but you are not going to like it very much. Here take my hand and I will give you back your memories of everything that happened around your body tonight."

Without hesitation, Tristan reached out and let the Goddess take his hand in her own. As the visions flooded into his mind, he saw himself fall to the ground, and he saw William torch his own bees and remaining standing. Then he saw himself being dragged out of the Clubhouse and deposited into the parking lot by Oliver and Stan, but more importantly, he caught sight of the armed infiltration teams and the fact that they had video cameras.

His eyes shot open and he released the Goddess's hand with a start. "I have to get back! I have to protect my pack!"

The Lady's eyes smiled as she gently said, "Tristan, your life has been completely knocked from its foundations, and yet, your first instinct is to deny yourself and to instead protect your family. Tristan, you will be their Beta, and if you stay true to yourself, you will find your mate as well.

"But the humans... I need to get back and warn everyone!"

"You will wake when you wake; maybe you shouldn't have let the old coyote dose your bees with morning glory seed."

"He did what?"

"He sent you to talk with me; he finally figured out how to do it."

"So I can't kill him?"

"The Lady laughed again before saying, "He gets a lot of that, and no Tristan; you can't kill him. Besides, he likes you. I think he sent you to the Principal's office for a pep talk."

This finally brought a smile to Tristan's face.

"So," the Lady said, "You must have a few questions."

~~~

Florence had burst from Clubhouse and dashed directly into the surrounding forest, running as if her life depended on it, and in a very real way, it did. If William was to prove to be a fit mate, he'd have to defend her; and to defend her, he'd have to be able to catch anyone or anything that might run her down. This was non-negotiable for any wolf; their animal natures required no less of them. Any pups that a bitch bore would have a better chance of survival if their father were able to lay his life down to defend them—and this chase was the test to see if he qualified.

Now, the outcome wasn't really in doubt; Florence had already realized that the Goddess had given her a true gift when She had given her William. Flo knew that Will would willingly run himself to death before he'd let her get away from him, and in a very tangible way, this knowledge was part of her undoing. Her anticipation... her eagerness at the very idea of being captured caused a wave of lust to positively pour from her. Even if William hadn't been faster and stronger than his mate, she was inadvertently leaving him the widest trail that any wolf had ever followed.

Florence understood that changing directions would be pointless, even counter-productive. If she veered off at an angle, he'd just take a direct path to her and save the distance. So instead, she ran directly south, gaining elevation as she ran farther and farther up Whiskey peak. Unfortunately for Flo, as she gained elevation, she lost cover as there were fewer trees to conceal her.

William was chasing Florence without any pretense or subtlety. He ran as if his fur was on fire and Florence the only water that would quench his lust. And as he ran, he continually sent her promises, filling her head with a steady stream of visions from their past liaisons, image after image of Florence being taken, memories of her screaming in ecstasy and begging for more. He let it be known. This time, he was going to run her down. He was going to take her wherever he caught her. He was going to breed with her and most of all, she was going to enjoy it, and she was going to want more.

Florence gasped as she received these images, causing all of her rational thought to dissolve into a haze of smoky arousal. Her preoccupation caused her to miss a step, but she ran on. If he was going to catch her, he was damned well going to earn her.

As the rest of the pack came storming out of the Clubhouse, there was a moment of shock when, Jarrod Walters, the video operator, saw what he believed to be dozens of dogs emerge from the isolated building in the forest above Whiskey Lake. The man had been on duty the entire night and had only witnessed men and women entering the building earlier that evening. And even though the man did not immediately make the connection that there was an almost identical number of 'dogs' leaving the building as there had been humans entering the Clubhouse, the security analysts would catch that fact the next day when the video footage was examined. He never took his eyes from his monitors, although he did reach for the special phone that he kept on his belt.

After dialing the number, Jarrod waited for his contacts to answer the call, which they did after exactly two rings. The video man gave a brief report. "Feed 603x, National Security implications".

"Report acknowledged. Out."

The phone went dead and the video operator continued his work, doing his best to keep the fast moving 'dogs' in the frame. He knew that he'd still have to prepare some sort of report for his ostensible employer, Burton Waters; but as yet, he had no idea what he would tell the man. He'd have to sit on any report until he got directions from his real superiors who worked in Homeland Security. He was so intent on keeping his cameras on the main pack that he never saw William catch Florence.

There'd been no subtlety to the catch- none whatsoever, William simply ran her down with a single-minded intent. His eyes were glowing gold and his animal was in control; he reeled her in as quickly as he was able. His need to catch her, to fill her, to breed with her, it was all that he still knew. Now possessed by something much more primal than humanity, he'd kill anything in his way. He'd destroy any wolf who denied him access to Florence without a second thought. He would have her.

Florence was not thinking clearly either. Her human side was always somewhat tenuous to begin with, and now it had dissolved into a pool of animal lust. She was sopping wet, and she dimly realized that she was nearing exhaustion. She had been sprinting since she'd fled the Clubhouse; she had not been running at a marathoner's pace this time. She knew that if...no, when he caught her, that she'd have zero reserves of strength remaining. There was no way that she would be able to fight him off, and the thought of what he would surely do to her was making her even more feral. She was drenched; the fur on her back legs was completely sodden. She was panting from exhaustion, and more importantly, from need.

When she broke through the tree line and hit the rocky peak of the mountain, he made his move. He sprang for her, and he didn't miss. His weight bore her to the ground, and as he bore her to the ground, he buried his teeth into her shoulder and controlled her movements. He growled from the very pit of his soul, a growl of need, but more than anything else, it was a growl of command.

Submit! You are mine. Your body is mine. You will have no other wolf; I will have no other but you!

His teeth buried in her shoulder, she was only allowed to turn her head part of the way, but it was enough for her to see into his eyes, and she saw that they spun with lust and control. She could also see that her blood dripped slowly from his teeth, so she did the one thing that made sense to her. Florence did the only think that she wanted to do; she raised her tail and gave her body to him.

He took her, burying himself within her. There was no resistance to his attack; she had never been this wet before. They stared into one another's eyes as he began to thrust into her.

It wasn't long before her eyes began to roll back into her head and she thought to turn her head forward as she gave into the sensations of their joining. But he would have none of that, "Look at me!" he commanded. Again, she found that she had no willpower to resist him, and she fought to stay with her mate for a little while longer. She began to whine in pleasure as she continued to fight her body's responses.

He controlled her. Every single time that her eyes would begin to roll, he'd thrust into her even harder, demanding that she share her being with him, to lock eyes with him as he continued to wring every last moan from her body. Then he did something that he'd only done once before, his cock knotted within her in the way of the wolf, and she was lost, losing control as her orgasm hit her with a fury that she had never believed possible. She howled with a shriek of guttural emotion, letting loose with the very last remnant of her strength as William began to pump jet after jet of his seed within her.

The pack had gathered in the space around where the mates were joined in ecstasy, circled around the lovers, they too began to howl. They were wolves and they instinctively knew that leadership of the pack would be changing before long. When William began howling along with Florence, Jefferson visibly shuddered from the power that William was unleashing upon the mountainside. Even John had a momentary impulse to bow his head to what he was experiencing.

"Oh Goddess...what are they?" Carol sent to Beth.

"Ja-mul says that this is their time now," but she said no more as she too was overcome by her urge to howl in celebration.

Looking down at the monitor, General Cleary gasped, "What the holy Hell am I looking at?"

The two intelligence men did not respond right away as they had already seen the footage several times and they knew that the most important part was coming. Cleary gasped again when many of the 'dogs' began to shift into one or another of their forms.

After overcoming his initial shock, the General asked, "this was last night?"

"Yes general," the senior man responded. "We didn't believe what we were seeing at first. Quite honestly, we thought that we were being hoaxed. It took us this long to authenticate the reality of this. Believe me sir, this is real. We don't want it to be, but it is."

"If it isn't, you realize that all of our careers are over."

"Yes sir, we will be out the door so fast that it won't even hit us as we pass through."

"You are 100% sure?"

"I wish that I wasn't."

General Cleary glanced over to his aide, "Call the White House, and may God have mercy on our careers."

~~~

Tristan's eyes opened slowly, so very slowly. He'd never actually realized that wind blowing over one's body could be painful, but then again, he was pretty sure that even his hair hurt now. He knew that he had to report in though, so despite the pain, he made himself rise. Unfortunately for his stomach, even though he had made sure to move slower than an elderly nun, it was just too much. He was immediately struck by waves of nausea and he painfully emptied his stomach onto the parking lot. Oh Lady, dying would be a relief, he thought to himself before he gave up any attempt to stand and decided to mentally send his report to the Alpha while he lay there quivering.

John took Tristan's report silently, allowing his most conscientious, if extremely hung-over wolf tell his story in his own time, and at his own pace. Tristan didn't bother to apologize for his condition; he well realized that a good percentage of the pack was probably in the same situation as he was currently. Instead, he informed his Alpha of everything that the Goddess had said, and then promised his Alpha that he'd be back on duty as soon as he could stand without assistance.

John didn't wait; he never doubted his Beta for a moment. He immediately scrambled his entire pack, ordering everyone to arm themselves and disperse. There was no panic and no obvious sign of alarm from anyone. The entire pack donned dark clothing and faded into the surrounding forest, all of them, armed with more than claws and teeth.

"William," John sent.

"Yes Alpha?"

"Go and get your Beta; he's still in the parking lot at the Clubhouse. Evidently he's having trouble with standing on his own."

"Yes Alpha."

John then pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial.

"This is Jefferson." Jeff replied as he answered the call.

"How's the negotiation going with the humans?"

"We were done an hour ago."

"What?"

"They took even less than our opening offer; I'll tell you about it later when there is more time. I was close enough to the compound to hear you scramble your pack. How bad is it?"

"Armed infiltration team carrying cameras Jeff, this is as bad as it gets. The Lady says that war has come."

"We knew the day would come eventually, John."

"Alert every pack. Hide the women and children. Get the warriors ready."

"Yes my Alpha!"

"Cut it out, Jeff. We are equals."

"No, we're not, and you damned well know it! War has come and every Alpha in the Americas will be following you into battle."

John sighed and cut the call with a, "may the Goddess protect us."

Some twenty minutes later William and Florence arrived in the Shunkaha parking lot to rescue Tristan. They'd brought him food, weapons, and most importantly, lots of water to drink. Tristan took the water gratefully and began the painful process of rehydration. He looked up at Florence and William and croaked, "I hear that you cheated in our venom challenge, my Alphas."

William couldn't help himself, he barked out a laugh. This only caused Tristan to wince and to moan out a request for William to laugh more quietly. Florence, on the other hand, had been a bartender for years and was more used to seeing a wolf with a heavy hang-over. She didn't cut him any slack, she bore in with a "So...you are going to be our Beta?"

"According to the Lady, I am. I knew better than to argue with her."

"So you are this hung-over on your first day of duty?" Florence snapped.

"Oh come on Florence, everyone in the..." he said before seeing that she had a large smile on her face, as well as a hand out to help him to his feet.

"Come on, my Beta," William said with his own hand out, "John says that we need to ghost."

Tristan took William's left hand and Florence's right and let his new Alphas hoist him to his feet, and the three wolves faded into the forest.

They had not been moving long when Will's cell phone chimed the tone that he'd long thought of as 'the bitch tone'.

"Answer it Will." Florence said. "It's not your fault, and it may be part of all of this. I will kill her later."

William grumbled but he pressed the screen and replied, "Yes, Liz?"

"Daddy says that you need to call him as soon as possible. We are at the Sacramento residence."

"How are the kids, Liz? Is there an emergency?"

Elizabeth sat in her parlor with Florence Billington's file spread across every bit of her desk, not that it contained nearly enough data for Liz's liking. There were copies of Flo's tax records, a social security number and some school transcripts, as well as some documents showing that she had inherited a small amount of money when her parents died some thirty years earlier. It all looked unremarkable and perfectly authentic, it should, Jefferson's people were very good at creating false identities.

Liz knew that she didn't have much to work with, so she took a chance. "Daddy says that you are sleeping with another woman!" Tristan immediately winced and Florence set her shoulders tightly upon hearing Liz's words. Sometimes having wolven hearing was something less than a blessing.

"Yes Liz, her name is Florence and she is the adopted daughter of our target. We are attempting to work out a deal, something to keep this whole enterprise out of court."

"Are you sleeping with her?"

"Liz, we've been apart for almost two years. We've been legally separated for over a year; why would you care?"

"I'm not done with you yet," Liz said with a snarl.

"Liz, you don't want me; you want some version of me that lives only in your head. The real version of me does nothing but piss you off, because you can't control it."

"So you are giving up the kids in favour of your bitch?!"

"Liz, I love the kids more than my life itself, but the best thing that I can do for them is to show them how to be true to themselves. I will always make time for them, and they can have every second of my time when I'm not on assignment, but if you make it impossible for me to see them, then that's on you, not me. Tell your loving father that I'll be in to see him soon, and to have my termination papers ready."

"You are quitting?"

"That would depend on what he has to say Liz, but let's be honest, I doubt if he will back down."

"Daddy back down? Don't be an idiot!"

"Yes Liz and the apple fell directly under the tree."

"You are making a serious mistake," she hissed.

"Maybe, but I got some good advice the other day. A very wise person told me to be true to myself and to always do the right thing. I think that I'm going to try that for a change."

The phone went suddenly dead. William merely shrugged and put it back in his pocket. "Okay pack," he said with a sardonic grin. "John ordered us to ghost, so this three wolf pack is going to ghost to Sacramento. Your Alpha has something to finalize."

The three of them were miles away by the time that four P.M. arrived and the military vehicles rolled into the compound through its unusually wide-open gates. Beth, John, and Ja-mul were the only ones on hand to greet the humans as they swarmed across pack property. They sat quietly, drinking lemonade, as they watched several hundred heavily-armed soldiers fanning out through the entirety of the compound.

The soldiers quickly found that every door in the village was standing wide open and that every set of drapes or blinds were likewise, standing open to permit full visibility and full access to the interlopers. What the soldiers did not find were any wolves, or even any people with the exceptions of John, Beth and their Shaman. The place was as quiet as a graveyard.