The Porch Wolf Ch. 51-Conclusion

Olivia Lawrence's POV

We loaded up into the three vehicles and joined the line of cars departing the parking garage of the Georgia Aquarium. I was nervous about Leo and Adrienne; now that the case was with the jury, anything could happen.

I didn't know what I would do if they were found guilty and executed. Leo was a friend before he was my Alpha; I met my mate through him, and he was a better father to me than my own. Vicki loved Leo and Adrienne and would be devastated if her Alphas died.

"Where do you want to eat," Luna Carolyn asked as she pulled her phone out.

"My Sharkbait here likes her meat," I said with a smile. "If she stays awake long enough."

"You won't find steakhouses open this late, it's mainly bars left open," Donna said. "Would pizza be all right? There's a good place nearby."

"PIZZA!" Vicki was clapping her hands together.

"Sounds like a winner," I said. Bonnie got on her phone and gave Anita directions to Max's Coal Oven Pizzeria, which was only a few blocks away. The smell of sauce and cheese had my mouth watering before I even got out of the car. "I'm still getting used to how much more I can smell and taste now, much less see," I said.

Our protective detail had sent a man ahead to check out the place, and when all was good, the group of us went inside, and the hostess sat the six of us at a long table in the center. Our guards took a booth near the entrance. We ordered five large pizzas and talked about what we'd seen tonight. Five minutes after our drinks arrived, my phone buzzed.

And buzzed.

And buzzed again.

And it wasn't just me; all of us, even the Lunas, were getting text messages at the same time. "Oh no," Bonnie said.

Anita's face was pale. "What are we going to tell Vicki?"

"About what," I said. I hadn't started reading the texts yet.

"Leo collapsed in court. He's had a heart attack," she replied.

"We have to get back there," I said. I waved at the waitress. "We've got an emergency, can you box up the pizzas and put the drinks in to-go containers?"

"Of course, Ma'am."

Luna Bonnie tossed a hundred-dollar bill on the table as the others downed their drinks. "Use the bathrooms before we go, we're not stopping," she said.

I took Vicki's hand and pulled her towards the bathrooms. "What's going on, Mommy?"

"Leo's in the hospital, and we need to get back to him," I said.

She stopped, making me halt, too. She looked up at me, her eyes watering. "Unky Leo is sick? Will he be ok?"

I bent down and wiped her eyes. "I don't know, baby. We're going to take our food and drive fast to see him, and we can pray together that he's all right." Vicki liked praying with me for people; her little face took on a determined look. "Well, come on, we have to go!" We did our business, all of us did, just in time for the pizzas to come out. Luna Bonnie and Mark grabbed them as we took our drinks, and in minutes, we were back on the road.

As Mike pulled onto the freeway, I unfolded a napkin to put on Vicki's lap and put a few pieces on one of the paper plates for her. I got my slices and ate while I was catching up on the text messages. Word of his heart attack had spread through the Pack like wildfire. Brent was helping Luna Susan back at the Pack, and he had sent out several group texts, and a few more to me. I dialed his number. "Brent?"

"Oh, Liv, are you all right?"

My voice was breaking as I talked to my mate. "I don't know. Have you heard anything?"

"No, we're in Atlanta. Some of the Lunas took us to the aquarium, so we would be out of the way."

"That's for the best," he said.

"I'll call you if I hear anything else," I said. "We're on our way back."

"I love you, Liv, and tell Vicki I love her too."

"I love you, Daddy," Vicki said in between bites of her all-meat pizza.

"I love you too, Sharkbait." He hung up the phone, and I went back to eating.

"Don't look at your phone, Liv," Anita said to me as I heard Bonnie gasping behind me. "And don't react to this." Oh crap. "Leo's dead, Liv. Massive heart attack, he never had a chance."

"No," I said. "Oh, God!" I looked back at Bonnie; her eyes told me she knew. I shook my head no as I pointed at Vicki; she didn't need to know right now. "How long until we get back there?"

"Just under two hours if we don't get pulled over," Mike said.

I sent Brent a text saying I'd heard, and we were heading back as quickly as we could. "IS THAT A GOOD IDEA," he responded.

"THINKING NOW. BYE." I turned the phone off, not wanting Vicki to get a glimpse at the screen, and not wanting the constant buzzing of all the messages. "What do we do now?"

"It's going to be hell on Adrienne, but she has her son and his mate there with her," Mike said.

"We left because we didn't want the uncertainty of what would happen to Vicki if Leo died," Anita said. "We're going right into the fire."

"And the Lunas aren't stopping us," I said. "We have to get away from them."

Anita was panicked. "And go where? They'll be looking for us at the airport and back home."

"It doesn't matter right now; we need to get rid of our escort first." We drove for a few more minutes while he thought about how to do it. It wasn't going to be easy; we had a car with two warriors in front and back of our own, plus two Lunas inside. We had to lose the escorts, then get the two out of the car.

Vicki polished off half a pizza before her eyes started to close. I used the wet wipes on her face and hands as she was falling asleep. With the long day and the food, she'd be out for hours. "Vicki's asleep."

"I've got an idea, be ready as we approach these exits. The timing has to be perfect, or I'll go to the next one. Anita, have your knife ready in case Bonnie tries to stop us. Liv, reach forward on my left side, and take my knife. Keep it hidden; when I tell you, you have to use it to keep Carolyn from stopping us."

"I'll be ready, love."

I watched the miles go by anxiously as we drove east on Interstate 20. We were in the left lane of the freeway, moving at over eighty-five miles an hour when the next exit came up. "Hold on tight," he said as we pulled ahead of a semi-truck in the right lane. I grabbed the handle and braced myself as he suddenly swerved in front of the truck, barely making the exit ramp. The minivan went right to the edge, almost rolling over before he got it back under control. It worked; the trail car couldn't react in time and couldn't use the right lane. They would have to turn around, and that gave us precious seconds.

"What are you DOING," Bonnie said.

"Stay quiet and do nothing," Anita said as she pressed the knife to her throat.

"Don't move," I warned Carolyn. I had my left arm around her neck, the knife poised at her throat as I hugged the back of the passenger seat.

"Don't do this! We are trying to help you," Bonnie said.

"Forgive us if we're a little hesitant to trust the Council right now," I said.

Mike had made a couple of turns, pulling into a McDonald's. "I think we lost them," he said. "Ladies, get out."

Carolyn opened her door, and I moved into the passenger seat as she got out. Mike pushed the button for the sliding door, and Anita made sure Bonnie left too. "It was a fun evening," Anita said. "Go, Mike."

He pulled forward even before the doors closed. "Toss the phones, they'll use them to track us," Mike said. I handed rolled down the window and tossed it into a drainage pond we were passing. We got out onto the city streets, heading away from the freeway. "We need to get rid of the rental car. Sooner or later, they'll report it stolen or get someone to hack the GPS."

I got on the minivan's navigation system and found the closest National Car Rental location that was open. We headed south until we picked up 407, heading southwest of Atlanta until we arrived. Mike turned the rental van in while I waited by the curb, a sleeping Vicki still in her booster seat. Anita rented a mid-sized car and helped me load Vicki into the back as Mike returned. He pulled out of the lot and back onto the road.

"Where to," I asked.

Mike just shook his head. "Worst case, the Council uses all its resources to come after us. Rewards, wolves sent out to look at likely places, stakeouts around our Pack and our families. We have to avoid detection and wait it out," he said. "Two, three weeks, maybe more. When we make contact with someone in our Pack, it's in a driveby using a mental link. Until then, we can't have ANY contact with anyone."

"What if our Pack isn't around by then?" If Leo was rogue, who knows what might happen to the rest of us.

"Then we won't be able to hear anyone on the Pack link," he said.

"South," I said. "They will expect us to head home."

"Anyplace in particular?"

I thought about where we might go that was away from wolves. I'd love to go to Disneyworld, but werewolves visited theme parks too. It wasn't like you could hide a five-year-old with the Alpha mantle. It needed to be out of the way, remote, and with some room for us to let our wolves out.

Anita poked around on the navigation system. "Let's head towards Montgomery, then west to Texas," she said. "No one will expect it."

"Fine," he said. "We don't have any clothes or anything."

"Leo gave me a debit card with access to an account he'd set aside for us. We have enough money to make it a month if we have to. Drive through the night, we'll take shifts," I said. "We can stop at a Wal-Mart in the morning and get clothes and stuff."

It was a good plan. Get far away and stay out of sight. "Get some sleep," Mike told us. "We'll be two states away by morning."

Ch. 52

Luna Carolyn's POV

I watched the minivan pull away from us in the McDonald's lot, pushing down my wolf's desire to go after them and make them pay for threatening us. "Call the guards, I'm calling my mate," I told Bonnie. She dialed one number while I dialed another. "Lewis, it's me. Liv and the others kicked us out of their car and drove away after learning Leo was dead."

"Shit." I heard him talking to some of the others. "Sanders will be back soon, and we'll talk about it. Have the guards pick you up, and I'll call you back. Are you all right?"

"Shaken up, but all right. We got kicked out at knifepoint after almost crashing the minivan to get away from our escort." I heard his growl at knowing that we were in danger. "We should have expected it with the news of Leo's death. They don't trust us, love."

"We haven't given them a good reason to trust them. I love you, baby."

"I love you too." I'd just hung up when one of the guard cars pulled up, and we got in the back. Bonnie had told them the last direction we'd seen the minivan going, and we headed that way. Five minutes later, it was clear they were gone.

Lewis told us to come home, so we got the cars back to the freeway and drove east. "Dammit, they took all the pizza with them," I said as my stomach growled. One slice just wasn't enough.

Alpha Anthony McInnis' POV

Once we got to the room, I called my Betas to join us. "Keep the illusion going," I told her. When the Betas arrived, I switched to the link. "From now on, only mental communication. Pamela, I need you to stay here, and I need them to guard you. Things are going to get bad out there tonight, and I don't want you anywhere near it."

"What's going on," my Beta asked.

"I can't divulge that now," I told them. "The doctors needed to sedate Mom; when she wakes, she's going to need our help."

"I can't imagine how tough it will be to lose her SECOND mate," the Beta female said. "We'll do everything we can."

"I know you will. I'm going to head down and figure out what is going on. I'll keep in touch." I kissed Pamela deeply, then walked out. My wolf and I hated lying to my packmates, but the illusion had to be complete, or it would be for nothing.

I headed downstairs to the entryway, where most of the Alphas and Betas were gathered and talking. Chairman Sanders came in and called for quiet. "The trial will not restart tonight, even if the Jury returns a verdict," he said. "With one defendant dead and the other sedated, we will resume no earlier than tomorrow morning. The Single Wolves Reception will start in twenty minutes. All unmated females are to report to the Gymnasium, and all males line up outside the East entrance.

"Twenty minutes to scratch and sniff, no trial until the morning," I sent to the three in our room.

"May Luna bless some with their mates," Pamela said.

"May Luna rescue them from awkward moments," I replied. I'd only attended one. It was when I turned eighteen, and I found Pamela partway down the line. She was twenty-two, and it was her fourth.

"You never knew the disappointment that came with being alone at the end of the night," she said.

"I'm the luckiest wolf in the world. I found you my first try," I said. I closed the link and started walking around, keeping my eyes on Alpha Mark. He didn't have much time to talk to her; since Brenda had rejected John as her mate, both of them had to attend the Scratch 'n Sniff. I watched as Mark caught Brenda's eye and walked away. She followed a minute later.

Chairman Steele walked up to me. "I need to speak to you in private, Alpha McInnis," he said.

"Of course, Mr. Chairman." He led me out of the room, but instead of heading upstairs to the offices, we went downstairs. He led me to a door marked "SECURITY CENTER." A guard was waiting, his gloved hands holding a collar. "Let him put that on, and then you can come in," he said.

"You're silvering me?"

"We can't take any chances that you will link to someone and ruin the operation."

"Love, I'll be out of touch for a while, don't worry if you can't link me."

"Is everything all right?"

"Of course. Love you." I turned around and let the man attach the silver-core collar. He closed the locking mechanism and slid the cover over it. The metal was dipped in black plastic, so it didn't burn my neck, but it cut off my wolf. I didn't like it a bit.

"Come on." The guard opened the door, and we walked in. "The wires are working well?"

"Perfectly," the guard Captain said. "We have audio and video from this camera hidden in his tie, and audio backup from under his shirt." The room was full of screens showing the installed security cameras, but the main screen showed what Alpha Mark was seeing. "We have officers surrounding the area, far enough back not to raise suspicions." Mark was walking into the woods surrounding the main compound. He found a small clearing and sat on a fallen log. It wasn't long before Luna Brenda Petersen arrived in her cocktail dress and handbag.

"You wanted Leo dead, and he's dead. I want my money."

"How did you do it?"

"That's not your business, it's mine," I said.

"It is my business if it can blow back on me," she said.

He paused. "Fine. I used a poison ring. He barely felt the poke, and the toxin causes cardiac arrest after ten minutes or so."

"Poison can be detected, Mark! They can find it in an autopsy," she said. "I've got a claim in on his heir. If they figure out Leo's death was murder, I'm the prime suspect."

"And that's why you pay a professional. Fifty thousand dollars, in cash, now."

"I don't have all of it here. I can transfer the balance, or have it delivered to you after the summit." She pulled her purse around, reaching in and taking out a wrapped stack of bills and handing it to him with her left hand. "Ten thousand."

He reached down as she came closer, taking the bill. The next moment, the camera was moving around, and we saw a flash of a silver knife. "BITCH," he said.

"MOVE IN AND TAKE HER DOWN," the Captain said to his men.

The camera recorded the last moments of Alpha Mark's life; the camera showed the knife plunging into his heart before he fell to his knees. The last thing it showed was the pine straw as he fell face-down onto the forest floor.

The security controller shifted to one of the bodycams of a guard responding to the scene. They arrived twenty seconds after the order and surrounded a shocked Luna Brenda. "You're under arrest for murder," one of the men said as he pointed a rifle at her. "Drop the knife and get on your knees."

She looked around frantically, but there was no escape from this. The bloody knife was still in her right hand, her body covered in Alpha Mark's blood. "I can't," she said. Before anyone could react, she slammed the silver knife into her heart.

"GET A MEDIC HERE," one of the men shouted as they rushed forward. A gloved hand removed the knife and placed a handkerchief over the wound. It was hopeless; silver prevented clotting, and the bleeding wouldn't stop without surgery. Brenda's eyes glazed over, and her body went limp before the medics arrive. We watched as they worked on Brenda for a minute before the men sat back. "She's dead, Captain."

"Bag them up and bring them to the morgue," the Captain replied. "Send guards to arrest the mates and Betas until we can find out how much they knew about this."

"Fuck," I said. Brenda and Mark had avoided a public trial and punishment, and I was pissed.

"It's not that bad an outcome," Chairman Stevens said. "Brenda was going to die, but we would have to spare Mark for making the deal. This way, both are dead, and we can deal with the cancers in their Packs."

I let out a breath. "What about Leo?"

"In the morning," he said.

"Everyone thinks Leo is dead," I said. "That was all to set up this trap, and that's over. Can we tell the truth?"

"Not a good idea, sir," the Captain said. "We don't know if any of the other Stillwater or Marengo Pack members were involved yet. We need to complete the arrests and conduct interrogations. The safest place for Leo to be right now is dead."

"I agree," Chairman Sanders said. "We will reveal at the start of the trial in the morning. Anthony, it goes without saying that you can't say anything about this."

"Of course, sir." I thought for a moment. "People are going to notice the two are missing, and the arrests of the Pack members. We have to tell everyone something."

The Chairman thought for a minute. "A private dispute between the Packs turned deadly. The Council is investigating," he said. "Captain, I need an edited copy of the video, including the aftermath, for the morning."

"Yes, sir," he said.

I had one more thought. "Mr. Chairman, the Miesville Pack members must be frantic about Leo's death. Can we tell them?"

"They are in Atlanta right now; they visited the aquarium with two Council Lunas. We can inform them when they return, as long as they remain isolated from everyone else."

It was the best they would get. I could only imagine what Olivia and Vicki, wolves for less than six weeks, would think about all this. All they knew was Leo and Adrienne, and you could see how much they loved him.

Sharkbait must be inconsolable.

The guard removed my collar before I left. "Baby?"

"You're back, thank Luna," Pamela said. "What happened?"

"It's over, but I don't want to tell you any details until it is revealed. Sorry about the link block, he had me silvered until the operation was over. I just got out."

"Are you coming back?"

"No. I've been asked to help oversee the scratch and sniff; why don't you join me? The Betas are released."

"I'll meet you downstairs in ten. I have to get ready," Pamela replied.