Treasure Ch. 01-05

The invaders tore through the border defenders like one of those posters that cheerleaders hold up for the football team to run through before the game. In seconds, over fifty bloodthirsty wolves had ripped the throats of ten Pack members and left them bleeding into the pine straw that lined the forest near the edge of the lake. The Alpha looked at what was coming and knew it was hopeless. "Get back to the Pack House, defend it to the last man!"

Wolves started running for the large house in the middle dozens of smaller homes and cabins. Women and children ran or were carried into the basement, where the safe room was. In her home, the Luna was pulling on a sling, them wrapping her baby girl in blankets before setting her in it. Everything could burn, she would die tonight, but their daughter had to survive to carry on her line.

"Luna!" Cheryl was still in the building, she was a nanny trainee just turned eighteen who had been cleaning up the kitchen when the alarm came.

"Cheryl, what are you doing? Get to the safe room."

"It's too late, Luna." Through the windows of the Alpha's House, wolves were pouring out of the woods a half mile away at a full sprint. They would have to beat them to the Pack House, and there wasn't enough time to reach safety any more.

"Follow me." The Luna raced down to the basement, Cheryl on her heels. Moving aside a bookcase on hinges, she opened a door that led to a tunnel. "This leads to the garbage cans at the back of the property. Take her and run, run east until you reach the Oxbow Lake Pack. Let them know what happened to us."

Cheryl looked up as the Luna took the sling off and put it around her neck. "What about you?"

She set her jaw. "I'm not going down without a fight. Go." She practically shoved Cheryl into the tube, then closed the door and slid the bookcase back. Racing upstairs, she grabbed a shotgun from the cabinet just before the door was busted open. She cursed her pregnancy, only two months after she had delivered their first daughter, because she couldn't shift.

The short-barreled pump shotgun belched fire once, twice, three times before it fell to the floor. While she had been blasting at the five wolves in the front, one had run in from the kitchen behind her and knocked her to the ground. The black wolf's jaws clamped down on her right elbow, and loud crunches accompanied her screams as she tumbled forward. Wolves surged through the undefended door, one grabbing her left forearm and pulling while others attacked her legs. The wolves kept her on her stomach, unable to fight their combined weight.

"Hold her," the command came from outside, and a man came through the door. He was huge, his head almost touching the doorframe, his shoulders having to turn sideways to enter. He stepped over the dead wolves on the porch and looked down with disdain at the woman on the ground. She looked at him, fury showing on her face. "Your mate is dead," the man said as she finally gave up her struggle, her broken limbs bleeding onto the glossy wooden floor. "Your Betas, your warriors as well. Your safe house is surrounded, it's defenders lay dead or dying on the grass outside it."

"You won't get away with this, Todd." She spit at his feet, the bloody mix not quite making it there.

"I warned your father what would happen if he turned down my proposal, and he should have known better. You refused me, but your daughter will not be able to. Where is she?"

"Fuck you."

He just laughed. "A couple years ago, that was the plan. Find her." The men not holding her shifted and started to go through every room in the house. Their ears and noses would defeat any hiding place, he knew that. Todd casually walked over and sat down, unconcerned with his nudity as he looked at the bloodied young woman he had once courted.

His men that had gone to search the house came back, shaking their heads. "The kid isn't here, Alpha."

Todd just nodded. "The bloodline rights are to be mine, Luna. Turn over your daughter now and I'll spare the ones in the safe room."

"Never. My family line is not going to mix with your craziness."

"Fine." He looked at the wolves holding her in place. "Break her arms and legs and leave her here, then burn the house. The rest of you, with me. The truck should be here in a few minutes."

"MAY LUNA CURSE YOU AND YOUR LINE TO ETERNAL HELL," the woman screamed as her femurs were broken, leaving her helpless on the floor. "You'll never have her."

"She will be mine." Todd turned and walked out, as a man ran in with a can of gasoline from the garage. He started shaking it around the room, soaking the furniture and drapes. When it was empty, he tossed it aside and took the matches from the top of the fireplace. "You never should have rejected him," the man said.

"You never should follow an Alpha like that," she replied. The match was struck and tossed, the gasoline flashing to flames immediately. Before he was out of sight, the room was engulfed in flames. It took a minute for her screams to be overcome by the roaring fire.

The men were gathered around the entrance to the safe room, a reinforced-concrete room in the basement of the Pack House. "Beta, how long to take it down?"

All the men bowed their heads as Alpha Todd came to the front. "The door can't withstand the blowtorch, boss. I'll get through this in an hour." Men were already hauling equipment down from the trucks that had just arrived out front.

The big man walked to the door and banged on it three times with his large fist. "This is Alpha Todd Blackstone. Your Alphas are dead, your mates as well. Open the door in the next two minutes, and you will live as Omegas in my Pack, but you will live. Your young will grow and find their mates, maybe you will find love again. No one can know what the future holds except ME. And I promise you that if this door is not opened in time, we will come in and take what we want and leave your dead bodies in there for the rest of time."

Inside the room, huddled in the corner, the women of the Pack put their heads together. "You've heard the stories," one said. "The Blackstone Pack is horrible, their Alpha a monster." She switched to the link while rocking her young child on her chest. "You'll live, yes... live to be raped daily and watch your children be taken from you and turned into monsters like him. I'll never give myself up to them."

Heads nodded, tears were wiped away. "I'll kill my own children before I let them be captured by that man," one said.

"Me too," said another. One by one, the eighteen females in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

"May Luna forgive us for what we need to do now," the first said.

Forty-five minutes later, when the door was finally breached, all Todd and his men found was a pile of bloody corpses. The child they sought was not among them.

Cheryl moved as fast as she could through the narrow tunnel, careful to keep the baby from banging into the walls. It wasn't easy, her jaws had a good hold on the sling, but her back was scraping the top and the sling was inches above the bottom. The emergency tunnel was built of 24" concrete sewage piping and had been buried underground for four hundred feet until it came out in a culvert near the lake. She reached the end, stopping and using her wolf senses to look for danger.

The air was full of smoke and the smells of strange werewolves and blood. No one was near, so she carefully pushed the grating and was relieved when it hinged open from the top. She crawled out under it, setting her precious cargo down on the rocks before grabbing it with her teeth, making sure it closed again quietly. With all these fighters around, she couldn't be spotted now.

She waited a few seconds, making sure she was in the clear, then picked up the sleeping child and started moving quickly and quietly along the trail near the beach. The clear, cool night was illuminated by several of the houses burning brightly, including the Alpha's. Men, dozens of them, and trucks were parked outside the Pack House. She could hear their laughter as they plotted the final destruction of her home and her Pack.

Cheryl moved quickly, glad she couldn't cry as a wolf. She had her first shift a few months ago, so her senses weren't as highly developed as an adult. If she let her guard down, they both were dead.

The farther she got from the house, the faster she ran. It was when she heard the howls behind her, the howls of a Pack on a hunt, that she knew her escape had not gone undetected.

She pushed her body hard through the forest, but she was no match for mature trackers who could run for days and had the noses of bloodhounds. The men were getting closer, and her neck was screaming in pain from holding the baby as she ran.

She saw lights up ahead and waited in the woods until the car passed by on the seldom-used county road. She wasn't going to make it, she could hear them only a few miles behind her. Making a choice, she put the baby down by the side of the road, then turned and raced back the way she came.

A mile or so later, she stood at the top of a granite ledge, the best defensive position she had seen during her run. It was only six feet above the pine straw and dirt of the forest, and her heart pounded in her chest as she saw the group for the first time. Warriors in their prime, running hard on a trail that was easy to follow. Raising her head to the full moon above, she let out her best war cry and prayed to Luna for a good death.

The warriors fanned out, making sure she had no escape. They stopped twenty feet away, and one shifted. "Young one, come with us and you may live."

She sat down, looking submissive, shivering in fear and baiting him to come closer. He was three times her size, and his chest and arms bore the marks of countless battles. He smiled, seeing her coat and getting a smell, she was newly shifted and unmated. She would make a good addition to their Omegas and help birth the next generation of their warriors. "It would be easier if you just came with me," he said as he reached for her scruff.

She moved with lightning speed, snapping up and grabbing is thumb with her teeth. Biting down with all her strength, she held on to the digit as she was jerked up off the ground. A large fist collided with her chest, knocking the air out of her and breaking several of her ribs. She bit down on the thumb until it came loose in her mouth. "YOU BITCH," he said as he tossed her thirty feet, her body rolling to a halt in front of his men.

She shifted, moaning in pain, her body trying hard to catch a breath over the pain of her ribs. "Kill her," the Blackstone Beta said, then he started looking for his missing thumb. Picking it up, he put it in his mouth and shifted, running back towards the house to find their Pack Doctor. Two men left with him.

They cut her throat and tossed her body into a shallow ravine. "Come on, let's get back to the others," one said and they all turned back the way they came.

On the side of the road, the little girl woke up, her little arm working free of the blanket and reaching for the moon high above her. "Oooon," she said with a laugh.

Ch. 2

The motorcycle powered through the turns of the county road, never going straight more than a mile or two before the next lake or river would force it to change direction again. The 1999 Harley Ultra Classic Electra Glide's twin cam 88 engine roared through custom pipes as Mark accelerated out of the turn. The headlight of the touring bike cut through the darkness of the northern Minnesota forest as he grinned to himself. He loved his new ride, and after a hard season of riding, it was time to garage it and get the snowmobile ready. "I love this road," he said over the helmet intercom to his wife of twenty years behind him.

"Two more days and we're expecting six inches of snow," Dawn replied as she pulled herself closer to his back. The motorcycle was built for comfort, not performance; the second seat was six inches above his, allowing her to see over his right shoulder as her chin rested on his shoulder. Every bit of clothing they had with them had been put on to combat the dropping temperatures of the late fall night. It was right on the edge of being too cold to ride, if Mark would ever admit to that. "I'm glad we don't have to work tomorrow, there's a bunch of stuff to do around the house before it snows." Dawn was a nurse in the oncology ward at a Duluth hospital, while Mark was a State Patrol officer based out of there. They had met at her work when she was a student nurse and he was a rookie, bringing a drunk driver in for a blood test. It was love at first sight, and they were married three weeks later.

"Gives me a chance to fire up the leafblower," Mark said with a grin. "You can compost the plants." Although it was only the first week of October, the North Shore of Minnesota was famous for rapid weather changes. The seventy-degree weather that prompted today's long ride to Ely was a one-shot. Tomorrow it would struggle to hit fifty, the next day it wouldn't get above freezing. "I can't wait to hit the hot tub when we get home."

"I can't wait for you to make love to me in the hot tub when we get home," she purred as her hand slid down to his crotch. His mind flashed to all the fun the two had been up to in their marriage, the small tub on their private porch saw lots of action. Soaking and sex were their favorite post-ride activity. "But no fun while you are driving." She pulled her hand pack up quickly to his flat stomach. "Safety first, you know."

"You're playing a dangerous game, woman." He was the luckiest man in the world, his wife still had the sex drive she had found when he took her virginity on her wedding night. He didn't know many men his age who still got it five or more times a week, even with Viagra and their third wife. He'd hit the jackpot on his only play. "You're right, though. I need to pay attention or we'll end up hitting a deer before we get out of these woods."

He leaned into the next turn, accelerating out of it, when he spotted something in the road. "Possum" is what he thought as he hit the brakes, moving into the other lane to avoid the roadkill. "DA FUCK," he exclaimed as he got a closer look, locking up the brakes and skidding to a stop just past the naked baby sitting in the middle of the road.

Dawn was off the motorcycle as soon as it stopped, running back in her boots to the child who was playing with a pine cone. Picking her up, she quickly looked her over. "Look around, her Mom must be nearby."

Mark pushed his motorcycle to the edge of the road, put the flashers on and the kickstand down, then grabbed a Maglite out of the cargo carrier. "Is she all right?"

Dawn had already zipped down her motorcycle jacket and opened her hoodie sweatshirt, placing the girl close to her chest before zipping back up. "She seems fine, just cold. What's your name, sweetie?" The girl just leaned into her, her tiny hands grabbing her t-shirt as she snuggled in.

"Found something," Mark said as he picked something up from the side of the road. The baby sling had the blanket partially inside still after the girl had crawled out. He brought it over to his wife, who put it around her neck and wrapped the child again before zipping up as best she could. "I'm going to look around, maybe there's a car in the ditch or something."

"Fine, I'm taking her back to the bike to call 911," Dawn replied. She got back and opened up the storage compartment, fishing in her purse for her flip phone. Opening it up, she cursed the spotty cellphone coverage. "I've got no bars," she said.

Mark jogged back, shaking his head. "There's nothing here, and we didn't pass any houses or cars. We need to get ahold of the local Sheriff."

"She needs to be checked out at the hospital, too," Dawn said. "She seems all right but who knows what happened. Who abandons a baby in the middle of nowhere?"

Mark pulled her back to his chest. "I don't know, but she's ours to protect right now. Be careful not to crush her as we ride."

"You drive slow, there's a baby on board here," Dawn replied. She got up to her seat, then Mark fired the big bike up and started down the road. They didn't see anything after a mile, so he accelerated back to normal speed.

It was almost twenty miles before they stopped and got a cellphone signal. The 911 operator was shocked, no one had reported a missing baby. Dispatch sent a Sheriff's Deputy to meet them, and Dawn climbed into the back of the heated patrol car while Mark followed with the motorcycle. With lights and sirens, they made the sixty-minute drive in forty.

The ER staff took her from them, and the Deputy took their statements. Other patrol cars had scoured the road and ditches where she was found, and nothing was turned up. He took the blanket and sling they found and put it in an evidence bag, then left them alone in the waiting room. "How could anyone dump her by the side of the road like a piece of trash," she cried into his shoulder as they waited.

"Some people's trash is other people's treasure," Mark said. "I've seen some weird stuff in my life, but I have to think God put us on that road tonight to find her. I was going to head back to 61 for the easy drive, but something in my head told me to take the long way instead."

"Do you... I mean, if they let us... would you?"

"Adopt her?" He looked into his wife's face, an infection had rendered her sterile and they didn't want to use a surrogate. She had thought she was all right with being childless but watching the other couples in their families with their babies was never easy for her.

"I think you're right. She's our Treasure." The door opened, and a Doctor came in with another woman, smiling when he saw Dawn. "Doctor Jenkins, is she all right?"

"She's fine," he said with a smile. "No signs of frostbite, lungs are good, just a little hungry and dehydrated but we're taking care of that. She's very lucky you found her, on a night like this she could have died within hours."

"Where is she," Mark asked. "Can we see her?"

"She's being placed in emergency foster care," the woman with him said. "I'm Melody Thompson, with Child Protective Services. She is going to remain in foster care until we find the mother, or she is declared abandoned and adopted out."

"We want to adopt her," Dawn said.

"What do we need to do?"

She handed Dawn her card. "Unless you are already licensed for foster care, you can't do anything right now. The law requires a baby to be declared abandoned before parental rights can be terminated and the baby is eligible for adoption. Six months has to elapse without the parents being identified before the court can rule that way."

Six months. Six months with strangers, moving around in the system. "How can we proceed?"

"If you're serious, get yourself certified for foster care. Once you have that, you can petition for her to be placed with you, and that strengthens your adoption case. Nothing is for sure, though. Healthy babies are in demand."

Dawn just nodded, her head already going through the motions of what they would need to do. "I'll call you in a day or two to check in. Could we visit her?"

"I'm sorry, you have zero legal status here and we can't reveal the location of the foster care."

Dawn looked at the Doctor, holding back tears. "Can we at least say goodbye to her?"

The social worker nodded. "I don't see a problem with that, but you have to leave before the foster parents arrive. They will be here at five." She looked up at the clock, it was just after two in the morning.

"Come on, I'll take you back, Dawn." She nodded her thanks and followed him to the exam room, where a nurse was holding Treasure as she drank juice from a sippy cup. As soon as the girl saw Dawn, she squealed in happiness and held her hands out to be picked up. Doc nodded to the nurse, and she handed the baby over after Dawn had sat in the chair.