Savior, Alpha Ch. 05

In their room, Emily pinned Lorna down. "Lor, what happened? Why didn't you come in to see Anne?"

"It's just... I...," Emily looked at the sad memory in Lorna's eyes and opened her arms to her love.

Lorna fell into them, her eyes wet. "Something pretty bad, huh?"

Lorna sniffed, her voice rough. "It was a few years ago. Lonny and I were out running around when we came across a dead deer. We smelled the bear, of course, but he wasn't there. I, I dared him to go in and take a bite." Lorna took a deep, ragged breath. "Well, he thought about it for a bit and looked around. I stood back away and he went in for a bite. He got a mouthful and turned around, chewing, when the bear came out of the bushes at him. I couldn't warn him in time. He couldn't get away. He tried to fight but the bear was so big."

"Oh, sweetheart." Emily was rubbing her back.

"I ran away. Got some of the males to come back. They drove the bear off but Lonny was in bad shape. We got him back home but he died an hour or so later. The blood, the smells, just make me..."

"Sh. Sh. Sh. You don't have to explain anymore. I'm so sorry. Lonny was your younger brother, right?"

Lorna nodded against Emily's shoulder. "He was... just a kid." The tears fell down her cheeks, wetting Em's shoulder. Her breath hitched. "It was my fault!" She started sobbing. "And... now... seeing Anne... just..."

"It's OK, love, it's OK. You don't have to go in there if it makes you uncomfortable." Emily took Lorna's face in her hands. "This wasn't your fault. And, really, neither was your brother. He didn't have to do it."

"But, I dared him."

"You didn't force him to. What happened to the bear?"

"A rug in my parents' room."

A couple days passed with no change in Anne's condition. The women were getting worried and Ethan even moreso.

Before he left for the new moon meeting, he did two things. The first was that he found Emily and thanked her for her help that day.

"Ethan, there's something I should tell you."

She looked a bit guilty. He took a deep breath. "What is it?"

"You remember the fight you two had here?"

"Which one?"

Emily smiled, a bit sadly. "When you found out she had slept with someone and tried to get her to tell you who it was?" Ethan nodded, closing his eyes. "Um. It was me.

"Emily. She's not going to die."

"But..."

"Besides, I already know."

Emily looked at him, surprised. "She told you?"

"No. No, I think she intended on taking that one to her grave." Emily sucked in a breath. He took her by the shoulders. "She's not going to die. I figured it out when you and Lorna moved in. She wasn't even surprised, so she must have known about you. And I remember she smelled like you." Emily nodded. "I had originally thought you were helping her cover up the male's scent but, between you and Lorna and the way she talked, I reasoned it out."

"Is it.. Are we alright?"

"Em, if I thought there might be a problem, I would have fought her more about letting the two of you in."

"You weren't very happy about it."

"Not in the beginning. It just seemed so wrong to me. Blame it on my upbringing. But she was right." A pause. "She was right when I accused her, too. She wasn't my mate. I had no real hold on her. But it hurt, because I wanted her and I wanted her to want me, too."

"I think she was scared."

"That's what Beth said." He looked at her a bit more closely. "Did you enjoy it?"

Her eyes clouded a little at the memory and she smiled. "Oh, yes. She smells so good. And she..." She realized what she's just said and shook herself, a little frightened.

"Did she?"

"Um, yeah, she said she liked males better but she did."

"Good. I want to ask you for a favor." Emily nodded. "You know how she gets towards the end of her pregnancies?" Another nod. "If something.. If I'm not around, could you help her get some relief?" She looked at him. "Please?" She nodded. "Thank you." He squeezed her hand and left a confused and concerned Emily behind.

Next he assembled the women who had been caring for Anne and told them to stop it, or try to, if she seemed to be miscarrying again but that the second attempt would be the last.

The council

Ethan and William left together for the new moon meeting.

William told him that Matlin was currently leading the council. The leadership was rotated among the packs. Dylan was surprised to see William walk in with Ethan.

Dylan sneered. "Where's your 'Alpha'?"

"Anne is not well." Was Dylan a part of it?

The council took care of its usual business. Ethan had decided to wait until the end of the meeting to bring up his questions.

"Before I close this meeting I'd like to find out if any of you know the whereabouts of five members of my pack. They went missing 3 or 4 days ago."

Ethan replied quietly. "I know where they are."

"Ethan? You've seen them?"

Fists clenched, Ethan rose slowly from his seat. "Tell me you didn't send them, brother."

"Send them? To you? Is that what you mean? Where are they?"

Ethan examined his brother's face for any sign of deception. He said, flatly, "Dead."

Dylan's voice raised as the others looked between the two brothers. "How? What happened?"

"Tell me you didn't send them."

"I didn't send them, Ethan. Tell me what happened."

"They came onto our range and attacked us. Ryan and another male held me down while the other three challenged my wife."

One of the others interjected. "So your 'Alpha' was challenged, what of it?"

"Three of them? This wasn't a challenge; they wanted her dead. This was a plot to kill my wife! And maybe me, as well."

"You look... undamaged."

"Ethan. What happened to my pack members? What happened to Ryan?"

"The McKennas killed one of them. I killed Luke. She killed three of them. Three of them. What other Alpha has ever had to withstand such a challenge? None of them! Hell, most of you have never fought a challenge at all! What makes you any better than her?"

"I know you've all got it in your minds that she's not capable, that she can't lead, because she's female, because she's human. But Anne has just proven that she's worthy of leading a pack. That she deserves to be recognized as Alpha."

They were all silent for a moment.

Dylan spoke again. "She killed Ryan?"

"Yes. He waited until she had fought and killed the other two. Until she was tired. And then our brother, coward that he was, stepped up to challenge her. And she killed him, too."

The room remained quiet as the others took this in. "The virus tried to kill us, was close to eliminating our kind. Women like Anne were brought into our society, the council proposed it, demanded it, to allow us to survive. This kind of bigoted infighting will kill us as surely as the virus would have. It has to stop. I'm sick of her being a target because of some misguided thought that she's not fit to lead. We all know Alphas whose mates, or mothers, steered the pack through them. It's time that we recognize how strong some of our women are."

Lacy Riordan spoke up now. "Ethan? How is Anne? Isn't she pregnant?"

As he turned to answer her she saw the pain in his grey eyes. "Yes. The attack came now because she's pregnant. Ryan told me that as he held me down and forced me to watch. He meant to kill both Anne and our baby. He meant to destroy our pack. If she hadn't killed him, I would have. One or the other of us would have been dead." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "She's hurt, unconscious, but she's alive."

"These males have nothing to gain by attacking her or killing her."

"They gain a pack."

"You don't understand, do you? The pack exists only because of her. If she were gone it would disintegrate. She's the thing that holds them together."

"How many challenges have there been?"

"Counting these three, seven. The first ran off."

"So she's killed six challengers?" He sounded incredulous.

"Yes." He looked at the assembled council members. "Think about it."

"She was brought here, changed, to strengthen us. Her great grandsire was one of us. She should be welcomed back as a long lost daughter."

"Speaking as one who deserted his own pack."

"I left my pack, not my kind."

"It's a happy coincidence that it was Devon McKenna who brought her to us. The qualities in her that have made her a good leader would have gotten her killed had she been brought into almost any other pack. From what I've heard of her behavior in the initial months following her capture, not many but Devon would have tolerated her actions."

"You're making it sound as if a human female is our, what, our savior?"

Ethan blinked at the statement. "She is. They all are."

Objections now began in earnest.

"How was it that the McKenna pack was able to repel the mighty Matlin pack when they came to steal her? It was her knowledge and ingenuity that bolstered their defenses."

William nodded. "It's true. I was there. She directed the work."

"Who can deny her contribution to our kind from the children she's borne?"

"It was she who first divined the turn of the virus to kill the males."

"Once she accepted her life with us, she's done nothing but attempt to make things better for us."

"Our father died, Devon killed him, because of her."

Ethan shook his head. "Our father's obsession cost him his life. He trespassed on the McKenna range, more than once. He started to rape a mated female, with pups, in her own compound. Took one of her pups! We should be better than this!"

"She ran from them! I was there."

"Not the second time. And the first time only because of how headstrong she is and, apparently, because she wasn't told of how some of the rest of you would act, or treat her."

"Do you have a proposal? Or do you intend on continuing to harangue us because your wife was injured by her own folly?"

Ethan released a sigh. "She's proven herself as Alpha. She's led the Winters pack well. She's killed seven males who have threatened her."

"Wait, you said she killed six as a result of the challenges."

"That's correct."

"Then who was the seventh?"

Ethan stared pointedly at his brother. "You were there."

Dylan's eyes seemed to bulge from their sockets as he realized what Ethan must mean. "You're kidding. You can't be telling me she killed our father?"

"She did. And, three days ago, she killed three males who challenged her. While pregnant. Who among us is that strong? No other Alpha has had to pass that kind of test in my memory. It is her sons who lead the McKenna pack; her strength also shows there."

"Tell me, now, why she can't be recognized as Alpha of our pack. Give me any kind of valid argument and I'll shut up."

"By tradition all Alphas are male. By our own tradition."

"Then it's time we start a new tradition. The human world continues to change around us. They adapt, they change, they have become even more numerous. They're beginning to crowd us out. If we remain hidebound, we will die out, as surely as if the virus had killed us. Like all other animals, we must adapt, to survive."