Claiming Treasure Ch. 31-35

Instead, he left with me when I figured out it was Spider Monkey who had hacked the Council server. My mate Ron was thrilled to be leaving Banff. He didn't trust the Council as far as he could throw them, especially with his pregnant mate.

I was reviewing the external transmissions when a file caught my eye; it was being sent to a server number I recognized. I pulled the file up just before the program tried to delete it. "Look into this program," I said as I saw the activity. "I'm going to see what this is."

It was an audio file, about two minutes long. A woman was singing "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel, and not singing it well. "Did anyone just sing The Boxer," I sent to the Pack.

"I did," Charlize said. She was one of the Omegas.

"What are you doing?"

"I was cleaning the Alpha's offices," she told me. "I didn't know anyone was listening."

"Stay there," I told her. "Come on, we've got a problem." I led him up the stairs as I told Ron and Brian my suspicions. It didn't take long before Brian found the bug on the underside of the desk. "Leave it for now," I said. "We'll tell the Alphas when they return."

"Where is the transmission being sent," Ron asked.

"The Werewolf Council server."

Ch. 34

Alpha John Coffey's POV

Banff Pack House

I felt two more bonds break as I headed down to the computer room. In the two hours since the email from that bitch Coral had come out, I'd lost thirteen members of my Pack and counting. Closing down the borders hadn't worked, as some of the guards left and told everyone where to go. They'd loaded up their cars and left before I could stop them.

I'd issued an Alpha Command to the Pack, forbidding any of them from leaving. Beta Rick had replied with a "Fuck You, Ass-hole," in a 'Terminator' voice before he and Teri broke the bond and left the Pack. It was unfortunate, but Alpha commands only worked while their wolves recognized you as their Alpha.

I burst into the computer room, scaring Lisa Funk as she sat at her terminal. With Brian Steele leaving the Pack and the hack issues over, Lisa was now in charge of the computers for both my Pack and the Council. "What can I do about this," I asked. I handed her the email one of my loyal Betas had received.

"Two hours ago? Sent to individuals? Not much, Alpha. All the recipients would already have it downloaded into their computers or their phones. I can block the sender's email if you want."

"Do it."

She took the sheet and opened a program. "It won't stop them from calling friends in those Packs or using other emails. Hell, they don't even need to respond. All they need to do is show up at one of the Packs." She looked up from me. "If you wanted to slow it down, you'd have to sever all email and phone communications, like we had when the server was down. Even then, people can spread the email they've gotten around."

I couldn't afford that; it would cut off the surveillance we had in place. "No. You're right; we shouldn't be chasing the mosquitoes when we need to drain the swamp." I walked out of the office, thinking about the best way to do it. "Dad, we need to talk about Alphas Coral and Rori, they're draining my Pack of people," I sent to him.

"Come to my office," he replied.

I arrived a few minutes later, finding Councilman Nathan Kirk sitting in one chair and the Council Doctor, Viktor Andromeyev. The Doc was older than dirt but still sharp as a tack, and I had to wonder why he was here. "Sit down, boy," Dad said. I nodded respectfully to Kirk before taking the remaining seat. "What's going on with your Pack?"

"This email was sent a few hours ago. Rori and Chase are openly recruiting members without the normal transfer process. They believe them when they say they'll be accepted, so I've had thirteen already drop their Pack alliances and leave. I can't stop it," I said.

"How bad are the losses?"

"Three low Betas and four Warriors, plus family," I replied.

"You're doing better than Monongahela," Councilman Kirk said. "Matthew just called; he's lost nineteen of his wolves, including his senior Beta."

Shit. "Our other allies?"

"I haven't talked to them yet," the Chairman said. "I'm assuming something similar is happening there."

This was a nightmare. As soon as the early ones reached Blue River, they'd call back and bring even MORE wolves with them. "Well, how do we stop it? Fucking Blessing talk is all over the place. I've got loyal wolves who haven't conceived leaving me over this fantasy that being in one of their Packs will help them get pregnant!"

"The whole thing is a personality cult and random chance," Doctor Viktor said. "There's nothing you can do to improve your chances of conceiving; the odds are consistent. These Packs are getting a hot streak, but it will all even out over time."

"You may be the only one who believes that, Doc," I said. "Rori kept her Pack since two-thirds of the world's Alphas believe she carried Luna's blessing." I looked over at my father. "The horse is out of the barn with these transfers, so fighting them won't work. We need to take away the attraction. Coral and Rori have to go."

"That is true, but we have a bigger issue. This came in earlier today."

He hit a button on his computer, and a voice played over the speaker. "That's our trailer. And our truck. I bet that's Vic, bringing Heather her stuff." It was Rori, I'd recognize that bitches voice anywhere.

"Who are the others, then?" Alpha Carson.

"Human friends. He's probably not sure of the reception he'll get." Alpha Chase.

"Good, you can give him the bag." Rori.

"Give Vic some units of blood. We had planned to let Vic change her when the rules changed, and she wasn't pregnant. Heather just proved that Mom and baby should survive a bite if they get werewolf blood in time. If Vic has the blood, he can keep her alive until one of our Packs can help." Chase.

"I've instructed Doc Myers to put it together with the IV and instructions. I'm going to meet Vic and get Heather's stuff." Carson.

"Too bad she can't ride her Harley until she gives birth." Rori.

"At least she'll have it here. Come on, love, let's go say hello." Carson.

Dad paused the recording as we all wrapped our heads around what we just heard. "That's IMPOSSIBLE," Doctor Viktor said. "You cannot change a human, the bite is fatal every time!"

"I know Heather got bitten in the attack, my source confirmed it. Somehow, they used our blood to change her, AND THEY DIDN'T LOSE THE BABIES," the Chairman yelled. "Do you realize what this means? Pack transfers don't mean SHIT if you can make werewolves by the busload!"

"If she changed and survived, it's been a little more than a day since the bite," Kirk said. "They could raise an army in weeks!"

"And they might be already," Dad said. "Heather wasn't planned. I'm sure they didn't want to risk losing the twins and shifting while pregnant is an instant miscarriage. They said they planned to let Vic change her when she wasn't pregnant, which means Heather wasn't the first."

"Frank Grimes," Kirk said. "He shouldn't have survived that neck wound, and he's with Carson's mother. I bet she changed him, using our blood to spur healing."

"It's been tried and failed before," Doctor Viktor said. "Giving a human our werewolf blood causes the change fever. In some cases, a shift begins, but in all cases the human could not withstand the stress of a shift. It's a hundred percent fatal."

"How do you know?"

"The late Alpha of the Ossoro Pack in Russia, his Pack Doctor experimented during World War Two on injured soldiers. He gave up after the first sixty died."

The Chairman looked at him. "How did you find out?"

"I was that Pack Doctor, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps she was not bitten at all."

I shook my head. "This was recorded without their knowledge?" Dad nodded. "They had no reason to say what they did if they hadn't successfully managed multiple changes. We have to find out what they did to make it work."

"I agree," Councilman Kirk said. "The knowledge of how to safely change humans would be revolutionary. In the wrong hands..."

"Like the hands it's in now," the Chairman said.

Kirk stood up and started pacing. "Exactly. In a week, they would be stronger than our combined Packs. In a month, they could destroy us. The Blessing shit was a long-term problem; even if they bred like rabbits, their wolves wouldn't appear for sixteen more years." He stopped and looked out the window. "Call the other Council members into emergency session. We need to act now."

"We have enough to convict Carson and Rori for aiding and abetting a Council fugitive," I said. "Send Enforcers to confine them!"

"We don't have the time or the support," Kirk said. "We would have to confine them to their Packs, and it would be weeks before a trial. We had Rori pleading guilty, and the World Alphas did nothing; why would they do something now because she helped her old Beta? There are plenty of Packs whose allegiance is no longer to the Council."

"It's not the Alphas you need; it's the Pack Doctors," Viktor said. "Arrowhead has Alpha Chase, but they also use Doctor Olson from Oxbow Lake to help. Cascade Pack is Doctor Myers. I'm sure both of them were involved in these changes. If you want to stop them, you need to kill the Alphas and the Doctors. If you want the power for yourselves, you'll need those Doctors to tell me how to do it."

"Arrowhead and Cascade are our priorities," Chairman Coffey said. "John, I need you to gather as many warriors as you can in Seattle. I'll send some Enforcers with, and get Denali to send people too. Nathan, get your boy to send warriors to Minneapolis to meet the rest of the Enforcers. Have him get Katahdin to help. I don't know if we can trust any of the others."

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Nathan, you have five minutes. I'll get the other Council members on videoconference."

I left immediately, calling my Beta to meet me in my office and giving him my instructions. "How many do you want to send," he asked.

"Everyone except your mate," I said. "Arrange transportation to the airport and lodging near Sea-Tac airport in Seattle, since we have to wait for Denali."

"Weapons?"

"I have a contact who will supply us with what we need. He has 24/7 delivery service." The illegal guns weren't cheap, but they aren't traceable.

"Yes, sir," he said as he left. I made the phone call to the Denali Pack. Alpha Alan Robertson was more than happy to help with the 'Rori problem' as long as the Council would back us. "Don't worry about that," I told him. "They've gone too far this time."

"Good. I hope the Council dissolves their Packs this time," he said.

"If they don't, we'll put good men in their places. The balance of power gets restored, and this Luna crap will end. I'll see you in Seattle tomorrow morning, at the Crown Plaza Seattle Airport," I said, my Beta having informed me of where he'd reserved rooms. "We'll bring the toys."

"See you then," he said.

My father called me back to his office thirty minutes later and handed me a piece of paper. "Under the Emergency Powers section of the Council Bylaws, I am ordering you to arrest Alpha Carson Nygaard, Heather Rhodes, and Doctor Myers. If any of the others listed are still there, arrest them too. Deadly force is authorized to execute the warrant after one warning." I looked at the list; it included Alphas Rori and Chase, Alpha Coral, Alpha Sawyer, and Doctor Olson.

My hands shook a little; we were going to cut the heart out of our enemy. "And if the Alphas resist?"

"Kill them," he said. "No excuses. I want them in my dungeons or the morgue by tomorrow night."

"I understand, Mr. Chairman." I walked out of the room with the paper I needed to get my revenge.

My Beta had been busy, and two hours later, I was at the airport with thirty-one of my men. Only the Beta knew what we were going for, and I could tell they were nervous.

The next morning, I met with Alpha Robertson. He brought twenty-six men, and it took a lot of rental vans to carry us all. We drove southeast from Seattle, stopping at an empty trailhead for the planning. "The Werewolf Council has issued an emergency warrant for the arrest of Alpha Carson Nygaard on charges of experimenting with humans, and aiding and abetting a Council fugitive," I said, continuing with the rest of the reading. "It is our duty to carry this out. Alpha Carson and his allies must be stopped before his activities expose us all." There were some heads nodding, others were shocked at the news, while some had already figured out why we were here. "We go in fast. Alpha Robertson and I will be at the main gate with five men from each Pack and the Council enforcers. The remainder of Denali will be here with your Beta," I pointed to a spot on the map opposite the main gate. "The rest of Banff will divide here and here, on either side of the main entrance. The Council Enforcers will notify the guard of the warrant as everyone else moves in wolf form to meet at the Pack House. We will drive there and take control of the prisoners."

"Rules of engagement, sir?"

"Once the gate guard has the warrant, kill any who resist, including the Alpha. Under no circumstances is the Pack Clinic to be attacked. I need Doctor Myers alive."

There was some murmuring about that, but it was over quickly. "Move into your position and report to your Alphas. Go time is noon, we'll catch them at lunch."

Everyone loaded back up into new groups to be dropped off at the rally points. No one noticed that one of the warriors had slipped away into the trees.

Ch. 35

Alpha Rori King's POV

Arrowhead Pack House, Alpha Offices

"Alpha, I think you should take this," my secretary said as she poked her head in the door. "He said it's an emergency."

"Thank you, Ophelia," I said. I picked up the phone, confident now that the offices had been swept clean of surveillance. Beta Ron had moved the device we found to his office, where he kept up the illusion in fake phone calls that I was still out of town.

Chase, Vic, Spider Monkey, and I had arrived late last night. We'd assigned every extra Pack member to help listen to and categorize the saved phone recordings Spider had gotten from the Council and Pack servers. It was taking a while, but they were making fast progress. If they heard anything interested, it was bumped up to the Betas. Two dozen listeners were a lot faster than a distracted Monkey.

"Alpha Rori," I said.

"Alpha, this is James Bremerton, I am, I mean I was, a warrior in the Banff pack."

"Are you requesting admittance to my Pack," I asked. We'd been getting phone calls, emails, and people just showing up at the gates constantly since the email was sent out.

"Yes, Alpha, but I bring a warning for the Cascade Pack. The Council has issued an arrest warrant for Alpha Carson, and we're here to get him."

"I know about the warrant. Hang on." I opened a link with my mate and my Betas. "A Banff warrior is on the phone; he told me his Alpha is moving to arrest Carson. Listen in." I picked up the phone again. "Go ahead, James."

"Last night, Alpha John had all of his Warriors and all but one Beta fly to Seattle, that's thirty of us. We met this morning with Alpha Robertson, who flew in with twenty-six Denali Betas and Warriors. We're just outside Cascade Pack territory now, moving into position to attack at noon. They wanted Alpha Carson, Alpha Coral, you and Alpha Chase, Heather Rhodes, Doctor Olson, and Doctor Myers. Deadly force is authorized to execute the warrant after one warning, and if you refuse to go, they are to kill you. This could be a bloodbath." He paused. "I can't do it, Alpha. I didn't want to leave my Pack, but I can't go against the Goddess either."

"You don't have to." I took down his cellphone number and gave him a website and a passcode. "Stay out of sight and log into this in twenty minutes. Thank you, James."

"I've already sent a warning to our allies," Chase said. "Carson already replied, as did Michael."

I opened the link to the entire Pack. "CONDITION YELLOW," I broadcast. "We have information that the Council is using Packs to attempt to arrest your Alphas and Doctor Olson. There is no immediate threat, but prepare all defensive measures and observe." The Pack leaped into action; the actions practiced over and over until they were habitual. In minutes, the entrances would be closed off and reinforced, non-combatants would be in the Pack safe room, and everyone else would be at their defensive positions. Beta Ron had assigned the eight new Warriors we'd taken in to shadow our own, so they would end up reinforcing existing defensive positions.

"I didn't think they would move that quickly," I said.

Previous Night

During our flight home, I'd gotten a call from Councilman Yakov Baronsky. "What can I do for you, Councilman," I had said.

"You can tell me what human experimentation you are involved in," he said. "The Council just met in an emergency session. They presented evidence you are using werewolf blood on humans."

I froze, but then I should have expected this. At least our goodwill with the Beloretsk Pack led to Yakov calling us to ask, instead of just rushing to judgment. "We weren't experimenting, sir. It just happened. When Frank Grimes got attacked, he needed blood. All we had was werewolf blood, so that's what he got."

"Doctor Andromeyev insists that werewolf blood doesn't work."

"It doesn't, not on its own. We figured out how to pull the victims through the change. We've only used it when necessary; the knowledge is too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands."

Yakov started to laugh. "The Council said the same thing, right after they listened to a recording of you talking about how you needed to get Vic a bag of something, and Chase said to give him some blood. I don't suppose Carson knew his office was bugged."

"Not at the time, but we found it shortly after. Millner had a mole in the Pack, too. Well, I don't trust the Council after all I've been through lately. No offense, of course."

"The Council voted to arrest you. They said they want to bring you back to Banff to stop you, but I don't trust them either. Once they know how you're doing it, they will kill you like they killed Millner." He was right. "You should think about going public, Alpha. The Council isn't all-powerful."

"We'll talk about it, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the call."

"Protect yourself, Alpha. You've made lots of enemies."

He hung up, and I turned to Chase. "What should we do?"

"We need to have Frank and Colletta in on this decision, and they're in Chicago." He sent them a text. "We have some time, so let's get Sawyer working on strategy. The Council cannot remove an Alpha from his land unless convicted, and we're not going to let them take us anywhere. With the time to prepare a defense and gather the Alphas for the jury, we have weeks."

Present time

The Pack leadership had assembled in my office ten minutes after making sure our defenses were ready, and no immediate threats existed. "What do we do next," Chase asked.

"Councilman Baronsky recommended we go public. We need to do something before we have a couple of dozen barbarians at the gate," Chase said.

"I'll call for the removal of the Council," I said. "This has to end."

Beta Ron shook his head. "Coffey's a slippery bastard; he'll blame Millner for everything. We need more than just bugging the offices to get rid of them."

"They want to be able to change humans," Teri said. "What if we gave that to everyone?"