Order of Protection Ch. 23-27

We had to take a chance. "I would appreciate your help in making the arrangements, Alpha Heir," I said. "If she has this power, she needs to learn to control it. If you trust this witch, bring her here."

"I will contact her immediately. Meanwhile, I've asked for a cot to be placed in her room, and a room here at the Pack House is available for you as well."

I looked over at Brian. "I'll take first watch, you get a shower and some sleep and relieve me later," I said.

We all shook hands, and Gamma James escorted me out. "Your bags have been brought to your room, and there will be a change of clothes in the bathroom attached to the clinic room Jessie is in. I'll have the kitchen send over some food for you."

"Thank you, Gamma." I had to ask. "Tell me, what do you all think of Beta John having a human mate?"

"We trust Luna knows what she is doing," he said. "The wolf is never wrong."

"True, but in this case, I can't figure it out. First human, now a witch, when do we see a wolf out of her?"

"I trust the Beta will figure it out. He's got lots of time to think about it in prison." He laughed a little as we walked across to the clinic. "Poor guy. He gets out, only to be deported while his mate is still in the States."

"We will do all we can to help John without exposing our nature," I said. "She's scared enough already, and now we have to explain her priest was a witch." And Idea came to me. "Do you think the Father could have bound her wolf with magic? Hidden it so deep she can't shift and we can't scent it, but it is still there to reach out to John's wolf?"

He didn't say anything, I could see he was linking. "It's as good a theory as any. When the witch comes tomorrow, we will ask."

"Whatever the Coven asks for, if we can help, we will." I opened the door, I could smell her scent in the building.

"Our Pack will take that burden; you know how delicate relations can be between Packs and Covens, and I doubt they will want to involve others. In the end, it is John who benefits, so we will pay." I reached the room, looking in she was sleeping still.

The monitors were all beeping away, and the nurse looked up at us. "The cot is set up, there's a chair there and the food will be here in a few minutes. You have time to shower," she said as her face scrunched up a little. I guess all that travel gave me that 'not so fresh' smell.

"Thank you." An hour later, nothing having changed, I laid down on the cot and went to sleep.

Patrick's POV

I was mentally exhausted after spending all afternoon talking about law, politics and leadership with the former Lunas. The women were sharp as hell, wise and patient; I had no doubt a detailed report on my strengths and weaknesses would be compiled from these interviews. I was tired of sitting and talking, my wolf wanted out and my human side wanted to hit someone. I was more comfortable in the ring than the conference table.

"There is one more part of the assessment left," Prudence said as she gathered her notes. "A combat test, to be administered next. You will spar in human and wolf form. My mate informs me they have a next and a senior Beta, along with two Alpha heirs, who have volunteered to spar with you."

"All at once or one at a time," I asked, thinking about the Kstovo initiation.

"One at a time. Come, we need to take you to the gym." I smiled as I got up, at least I'd get to have some fun. Walking into the gym, I grabbed a pair of shorts and headed to the locker room as I ignored the crowd forming around the sparring area. When I came out, the Council and the Alphas, plus a number of other lower ranking members, were waiting for me.

Konstantin came over to me and clapped my shoulder. "I volunteered to be your second," he said as we walked towards the crowd. "Standard rules apply, fight to yield or cannot continue. No shifting, no lethal blows."

"Sounds fun. What's the order?"

"As the person being evaluated, you get to pick the order of opponents and the fighting form. And guess what- Yuri's beta, Shura, is one of the four. He's a champion boxer, so you should fight him in wolf form even though he's a big fucker that way too. Pick him last, the evaluation only goes until they have an idea of your skills, so if they are satisfied you won't have to fight him."

I looked over at the four men; Shura was the scariest, a true heavyweight boxer with a lifetime of experience. The other Beta was more my size, while the two Alpha heirs were a little bigger than me. "No. Dad always told me to pick the biggest, meanest fucker and fight him first. You're still fresh, and he has no idea how you fight."

"If he hits you flush, it's over. Use your speed and don't box him, use that fancy shit you learned," he said.

"Konstantin?"

"Yes?"

I handed him a was of cash. "See what kind of odds you can get on me winning in the first minute, and take them." He smiled at me, linking to some of his Pack mates. I walked into the center of the sparring area, turning to face the Council and bowing my head. "Thank you for this opportunity to demonstrate my skills," I said to them.

"Next Beta Patrick, these men have volunteered to spar with you. The bouts will alternate between human and wolf forms, and continue until we are satisfied we have evaluated your skill levels. Fights are to yield or unable to continue, no lethal blows allowed. Are you ready?"

"Yes Council Chair."

"Then choose your first opponent in human form."

I looked over at Beta Shura, he was leaning against the wall like I was not worth his time. "I call out Beta Shura." He looked shocked, then he smiled as he walked into the ring. I stole a look at Alpha Viktor, Mischa was by his side and I winked at her. She smiled and mouthed "I love you" before I turned my eyes back.

The betting was going fast and furious behind me, werewolves loved to fight and this looked like a mismatch of epic proportions. Standing next to him shaking hands moved the betting line even farther from my favor. Shura just looked at me like I was a fool. "I vill break you," he said.

"Go for it." Council member Hans was the referee, and he gave the signal to fight. I took a boxing stance, hoping to draw him into thinking I was fighting his style when I wasn't. I danced around him, tossing a few jabs he swatted aside. He had both a size and reach advantage, and all the confidence in the world.

Instead of a fist, I extended my left fingers, held tight together, and used the extra distance to jab quickly at Shura's eye. I didn't catch it good, but it was enough to get him to turn his head away. Stepping forward with my right leg, I brought my left up to kick him in the nuts while he was focused on my hands. He groaned and bent over, and I took advantage by bringing my right knee up to his ribs twice in a row while I held his hair with my left hand. I heard them breaking, right before I brought my right elbow down hard on the base of his skull and knocked him the fuck out.

There was a collective gasp in the audience as the big man crashed to the ground. Alpha Hans pushed me to where Konstantin was waiting, then went down on his knees to check Beta Shura. He lifted his arm and it dropped back to the ground. "He's OUT," he said.

"Did you even break a sweat?" Konstantin tossed me a towel and I wiped my face off.

"Nope." I opened my arms as Mischa jumped into them, and I swung her around before kissing her deeply as her Pack members whistled. "Like that?"

"You were amazing," she said. "Twenty seconds."

"And twenty-to-one odds," Konstantin said with a big smile.

"We both bet big on you, my love. We knew you could do it." Mischa hugged me again.

"Thank you, baby." I watched as Beta Shura was loaded onto a stretcher and carried off, a very pissed off Yuri following him to the clinic. I dropped my shorts and immediately shifted into my grey and black wolf, nuzzling up against Mischa before trotting out onto the sparring area again. The three remaining challengers were waiting for me; I picked one of the Alpha Heirs, and he shifted into a sleek grey wolf a little larger than me.

"Fight is until unable to continue or yield. If one of you gains a grip on the other's throat, I will call the fight. Understand?" We both nodded our heads. "Have a good clean spar. Fight!"

We circled each other, I'm sure he was a little more nervous after seeing my first fight. He charged me, and I spun away to my right, his teeth cutting my left flank as he went by. I continued the motion, leaping onto his back and biting hard on his spine just above the tail. He howled in pain as my teeth crunched his spine, causing his rear legs to collapse on him.

I jumped back as his teeth spun back towards me. With both back legs disabled, he laid down and exposed his neck, unable to continue. "Winner, Next Beta Patrick." I trotted over to my shorts, shifting and pulling them on before going back out into the ring.

The Council members were discussing things as the rest of the audience tried to figure out what was going on here. I'd just cut through two opponents like a hot knife through butter. Finally, Chair Francois walked towards me. "We have completed our evaluation, Patrick. Thank you, gentlemen, but we will not need your services tonight," he said as the two remaining men visible relaxed. "The farewell feast begins in an hour. I look forward to seeing you and your mate there."

I showered, changed back into my clothes and walked out. A crowd was waiting to congratulate me and talk about my fighting styles, but I quickly moved on after thanking them. Konstantin handed me a wad of rubles, smiling as he handed another to Mischa. I took Mischa's hand as her family and Pack followed. I had no doubt in my mind I had proven myself to be worthy to be by her side as Pack Alphas.

Ch. 25

Beta John's POV

I laid back in my bunk, a few minutes after lights out. My head was still going a million miles a minute; the Russian lessons I was taking were not enough to calm me. My wolf was not happy with me, he was tightly chained in the back of my mind right now. He wanted his mate, he wanted to run, to hunt, to howl at the moon, and we could have none of it.

"Я тебя люблю - I love you," I whispered to my Jessie, wherever she was.

Today at visiting hour I didn't see Alpha Larson, instead I had a visit from my lawyer, Charles Thompson. Since he was my legal representative, we got to meet in a room free of cameras and out of sight of the guards. I was still shackled, so I couldn't shift, but at least we were able to talk. "What brings you here, Counselor?"

"Your case, of course. I wanted you to know I've been in contact with the Prosecutor about some new developments in your case." He pulled a newspaper article out of his briefcase and slid it over.

Madison, Wisconsin

Police announced the arrest and indictment of Todd Ruttman, 21, of Eau Claire following an officer-involved shooting last this weekend in the alley behind the End Zone Bar and Grill in Madison. The officer was on foot patrol in the area when he investigated a woman screaming from the alley. "On arrival on the scene, the officer found the suspect hunched over a woman whose clothes were torn and who was fighting to get away. The officer ordered him to freeze, and when the suspect turned towards the officer with a knife in his hand, he refused repeated orders to drop the weapon and was shot twice when he turned back towards the victim. Mr. Ruttman was charged with felony sexual assault, kidnapping, and assault charges. His wounds were not life-threatening and he has been remanded to State custody. The victim, whose name has not been released, was treated for multiple injuries but is expected to make a full recovery."

"I'd like to buy this guy a case of Scotch," I said with a smile. "And I should buy him some shooting lessons. He should have put two through his worthless heart."

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't," Charles said. "As you can imagine, the optics of this are not good for the State. People understand now that he was a sexual predator, and that makes the sentence you were given seem a little unfair under the circumstances. I've gotten Assistant District Attorney Dawkins to agree to a recommended modification of your sentencing to time served, the remainder of the sentence suspended. You'll still be deported and your guilty plea to the felony stands. If you break the law in the United States again, the remainder of the sentence comes back, no parole. That won't matter if you aren't here. We have a court date in two weeks with the judge who sentenced you. If he agrees, you could be released and taken to the airport for return to Scotland."

That would be amazing. I can't do anything in here, I thought. "They'll go for it?"

"You're just costing them money, and so far, you've been a model prisoner." He glared at me. "And you will STAY a model prisoner until the court date, won't you."

"I will do anything for my mate, you know that," I said.

"I'm counting on that." He stood up and pounded on the door, yelling for the guard. "Keep studying, and you'll be home soon."

Larry's POV

Brian relieved me in the room a little before six, and I dragged myself to the Pack House for breakfast. I walked through the door of the dining hall, and immediately I was escorted to the Alpha table where Sean was already up and eating. "Good morning, Brian. Sleep well?"

I smiled before rolling my head on my shoulders, my neck cracking a few times as I did. "Cots aren't wolf size," I said.

"Is she still sleeping?"

"Yes, Doc should be by shortly, but no change from last night." It tore at me that I couldn't do anything.

"I'll call Miriam this morning and ask her to come out," he said. I didn't have any other ideas, so after breakfast I went back to the room, took a shower and went back to bed. I woke to a knock on the door. "Pack Warrior Larry, the Alpha Heir said the Coven Leader will arrive in an hour. He asks that you get lunch and meet them in the Pack Clinic," the voice said.

"Thank you," I said as I rolled out of bed. Dressing quickly, I ate and joined Brian in her room. She was laying on her back, hands folded over her stomach on top of the sheet. The beeping of the monitors was the only sound in the room.

"Doc says she's physically doing fine, she's still healing from the blast but there isn't any reason he can find that she is unconscious," Brian said. I looked at her, the IV needle in the back of her left hand, the urine bag hanging off the side of the bed. I put my hand over hers, she was warm but didn't respond.

A few minutes later, Alpha Heir Sean and Doc Connell entered the room, trailing behind a five-foot-nothing dynamo with flowing white hair. "Oh my," the woman said as she came to the bedside. "It's been centuries since there has been something like this."

"Like what?"

"A magical exhaustion," she said. "She's been out since yesterday?

"Yes, about 22 hours now," I said. "Thank you for seeing her."

She nodded and pulled some crystals out of her pocket, placing them around her body. "She has no idea of her power?"

"Not that we know of," I answered. I told her what had happened. Her eyes widened a little when I described what happened to the other car, and what Patrick had told me about what Father Kempechny had done after the blast.

"Her magic is old and powerful," she finally said as she collected the crystals. "White magic is about balance; we do not take, we direct and trade. This can be deadly to the untrained, as the energy is taken from their body. Her magic protected her instinctually, but at a high cost."

"She will wake up?"

"In hours, days perhaps. Her body needs to regenerate, then she will wake."

We didn't have that kind of time, the longer she stayed here, the more likely she would be found out. "Is there anything you can do to help her?"

She shook her head. "Not until she wakes, and then she needs to make a decision. The magic that was pushed into her wants to come out. She needs to be trained in how to use it properly, or she needs to give it to another. The next time it pushes forward without her control could kill her."

Sean looked at me, then her. "How much training are we talking?"

"Novice witches spend years learning our craft, and they have a fraction of the power she has been given," Miriam said. "The best thing would be to give her over to a Coven that can guide and train her."

"Um, that's not happening," Sean said. "She is the mate of a Beta of this Pack. He won't leave her in a coven."

"That's impossible, witches are not mates with werewolves," she said with certainty.

"She was his mate before she gained this power," I replied. "My theory is that Father Kempechny used magic to bind and bury her wolf in order to protect her after she was adopted by a human family."

Miriam put her hands on each side of Jessie's face and closed her eyes, her face strained with the concentration. "I can feel her wolf faintly," she said. "I've never heard of such a spell, but I suppose it is possible."

"Can you reverse it?"

"I don't know. It isn't magic I am familiar with. I would have to ask other Covens if they have heard of it. Still, magic cannot remove the wolf, only bind it tightly. The spell might have a way out built into it."

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

I sat down, trying to think. I had two problems now; I had to get Jessie out of the country without being traced, and I had to find a way for her to be trained by a witch if she chose to keep her powers. I'd read an article in a travel blog in the airport on the way to Russia, and it just might work. "Miriam, what would you need to train Jessie enough to be safe with her power, even if she didn't know how to use all of it?"

She thought for a few minutes. "A couple weeks with an experienced trainer, in a place with no distractions and no interruptions would do it."

"Would it be all right if that time included all-expense-paid travel to the United States along with your fee for such training?"

She smiled. "I haven't been out of Europe in decades, young man. If you arrange it, I'll go." She put her hand on Jessie's. "It's actually quite exciting, her power is so different from mine. Finding out what she is capable of will be like unwrapping presents, you never know what might be there."

The next morning, the four of us were exiting a car driven by Charles at the Scottish port of Grangemouth. He was the only one to know our destination, and he would keep our secret. I carried a sleeping Jessie up the gangplank of the grain carrier SS Marbacan, which was headed for Duluth to pick up a load of wheat to bring to the European markets. The transit would take three weeks, during which we would relax in our comfortable cabins and Jessie could learn about witchcraft, all without anyone being able to find or reach us. The middle of the ocean was the safest place I could think of for Jessie right now.

Miriam opened the door to their cabin; the beds look comfortable and had rails in case of bad weather. She turned the sheets down and I set her in place, tucking her in. Hopefully, she'd wake up soon. I returned to our cabin, where the Captain was waiting. "We need discretion in this," I told him as I handed him an envelope with some cash. "We are involved in nothing illegal, but we do need to prevent anyone from knowing we are on board until we arrive in Duluth."

"Discretion will be yours," he promised as he pocketed the cash. "Enjoy the voyage. You are welcome to eat with the crew, or we can have meals brought to your room. The exercise room, bridge, and decks on this level are all available to you. If you want to see anywhere else, just come up to the bridge and let us know."