Treasure Ch. 21-25

She put her phone back down. If they could get into her phone, they could track her. She would leave it here, she could always buy another. Her hand went to the necklace she was wearing with the tracker. Had they hacked into that? She unlatched the chain, a gold one she had chosen after the silver chain had broken. She left the tracker next to the phone.

She went into the bathroom and froze again when she looked in the mirror. Streaks of blood were on her face, into her hair, but she couldn't take the time for a shower. She checked her naked body, which hurt like after a hard workout in the muscles, and her bones and joints ached. She went to the bathroom then washed her hands and face.

Her bag was sitting set on the dresser, her leathers next to it. She quickly dressed in her black jeans, chaps, boots, a dark T-shirt and her leather jacket. Her wallet was still in the inside jacket pocket, but her keys were missing. It looked like no one had taken her cash or cards, and she still had her identification.

Good.

She put the rest of her clothes in her bag, then walked quietly over the carpet to the door.

It was locked. Of course.

She walked back across the room, looking out the windows. They overlooked the large lawn in front of the big house that she remembered, but she had to be on the fourth floor of the brick structure. Below her was a crushed-rock garden with thick shrubbery, trimmed into perfect shapes. Checking the windows, she unlocked one and slowly pushed it up. It moved without making too much noise, and she waited a few minutes before she moved again.

The bag she tossed out, it landed in the bushes and then a soft thud when it hit the ground. Again she waited, not hearing anyone raise an alarm, before she dared move again. There was little in the guest room to use, so she stripped the king-sized bed and brought the two sheets over to the window. Tying one to the other would give her enough length to make the drop without killing herself, she thought. She brought a ladder-back chair over, attaching to the middle. She slipped pillows around the feet and back of the chair, hoping it would deaden noise when it wedged itself against the window frame, then piled the rest of the pillows and the blanket underneath it. Taking one last look, she put her legs out the window and pulled the sheet tight until the chair was holding her weight.

Moving down hand over hand, her feet holding her back from the brick, she moved past the dark window on the third floor and got just below one on the second floor. She held onto the knot at the bottom of the second sheet, her eyes picking out a landing spot. She took a deep breath, pushed away from the brick with her feet and let go.

The drop was about twelve feet, so she landed with her feet together and rolled to her side. Her legs, hip and shoulder each took some of the impact as she rolled, but nothing broke. Standing to her feet, she picked up her bag and ran for the garage that was nearby. She stopped when she reached the door, looking for a way in, but it was locked. She kept going along the garage doors to the far end, then smiled.

The covered roof held motorcycles, including hers, and it had her key in it. She lashed the bag to her seat and turned the key, making sure it had gas and was ready. She wondered if they were tracking her bike as well, so she took some time to feel around for anything that didn't belong. Sure enough, under the tail light she felt a box about two inches square. It came off with a tug, it was held in place with a magnet and had a short wire coming off of it. She attached it to the motorcycle next to her, then straddled her ride.

She knew she would only get one chance at this, and it was a long ride to the road and freedom. Taking a deep breath, she fired up her Harley, put it in gear, and took off down the driveway.

By the time she hit third gear, she could hear shouts of alarm and in her mirrors she could see lights turning on. She felt something pressing on her head, a voice saying "no come back" but she pushed it away and kept accelerating. It would take her more than fifteen minutes of driving fast on the winding private road to get to the gate, and if she had another attack she would crash.

She almost thought she was getting away when she saw movement in the woods ahead of her. At first it was a flash of fur in her moving headlight, then when it was closer the moon revealed what it was. Wolves, two of them, running hard to intercept her on the road ahead. She dropped down a gear and accelerated, but they had the angle and by the time she reached them, the two were standing on the road and staring her down.

Rori slowed, she didn't want to hit them, she loved wolves but had no intent of becoming their meal. Coming to a halt, her headlight shined on the two, their eyes glowing as they started moving slowly her way. To her amazement, both of them stood on their hind legs and moments later, two naked men were on the road instead. "What the FUCK," she said out loud.

"Rori, come back home, you belong with us," the big guy on the left said.

"NOOOO!" She dropped it in gear and accelerated, leaning on the horn. The men jumped out of the way as she accelerated past them. When she looked back in the mirror, they were both gone. A few minutes later she reached the main road and accelerated hard. There was no way they'd catch her now.

Tears flowed down her face as she pushed herself to go faster. They knew who she was, where she was, and had gained the trust of her and her mother. If they hurt Jenny, they might hurt Mom to get to her.

She couldn't go back home. Ever.

When she got to the Interstate, she made her first choice. They would expect her to head south towards Albany and home, so she went northeast towards Burlington, Vermont. She fell in with some riders, figuring riding in a group would attract less notice. When they stopped for gas, she topped her tank off and asked where a phone store was. An hour later, she had eaten a big breakfast and had a burner phone in her hand.

She sat on her bike outside the store, contemplating her next move. If they used trackers and wanted her enough to plant a friend, they would probably be monitoring her phone too. Digging into her wallet, she found the card she was looking for. She dialed Three Tequila's home number and waited nervously for an answer. The Steel Ladies promised to help her, and the President's wife was the one to talk to. "Hello?"

"T, it's Rori King. I'm in some trouble."

She heard rustling in the background. "Oh no. What's going on, child?"

She heard Mongo in the background, and she said "Rori's in trouble." "Rori, can I put you on speaker? It will save me the trouble of explaining everything to this big man later."

"I guess so." The phone changed and she heard movement in the background.

"What kind of trouble," the deep voice asked.

"I was up at Ashley's family place, we got there yesterday morning. I woke up early this morning, naked in a strange bed, with no memory of how I got there."

"SONOFABITCH! I'LL FUCKING SLAY THEM," Mongo said.

"There's more," I said. "They had the code for my phone and sent my Mom a text message while I was out. I also found a tracking device on my motorcycle." She could hear T starting to cry as Mongo continued to rage under his breath. "They've been after me for months, they say I belong with them. One of the men I saw there, I'd seen him before. When we left our last house, we did so under the Victim Protection Program. New identities, papers, everything, we moved to Florida to disappear because these men kept trying to take me. I got away again, but they won't stop." She paused as she wiped a tear away. "I need a place to hide out."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm at a mall outside of Burlington, Vermont."

"Talk to my old lady while I look up a friend's address," he said.

Three Tequila's raspy voice came back on. "Did they hurt you? Did he... I mean..."

"I don't think so, I'm not sore there. They had me locked in a fourth-floor room, it's hard to know what they planned for me," she said. "I tied sheets together, crawled out the window and took off on my bike."

There was noise as Mongo came back into the room. "Got a pen, Rori?"

"Ready."

He gave her the address of the Steel Brotherhood chapter in Manchester. "You ride straight there and ask for Bear, he's the Chapter President. I'll call him and give him a heads up, but he and his old lady will make sure you're taken care of and will get you home."

"I can't go home, Mongo. These people won't stop, I need to disappear and stay that way."

He thought about it for a moment. "This have to do with that Victim Protection thing?"

"Yes. It's better I don't say anything else."

I heard a sigh. "They don't hand those out unless they are needed. Go see the Bear. I'll ride to your house and let your Mom know what happened. The Brotherhood will keep you safe, I give you both my word on that."

"Thank you," she said as she started to break down a little.

"Don't thank me yet, that chapter probably wants some artwork done. You'll earn your keep."

She laughed. "Thank you both, I'm so glad I met you."

"Us too. You stay safe, Rori." He hung up the phone and looked at his Old Lady. "They fucked with the wrong girl," he said with a growl as he dialed a number.

Ch. 25

Alpha Martin surveyed the room in barely-controlled fury. The bed was stripped, a sheet tied to a chair that sat on top of a pile of pillows and blankets. The sheet was still out the open window, and everything Rori had brought with her was gone except her phone and a necklace. He picked up the necklace, his sharp eyes picking up the edge of a cover. Playing with it for a moment, he found the latch and popped it open, exposing the button. He read the writing, then put the cover back on. "All she left was her phone and this GPS tracker, which her Mom probably got for her." He had to give it to his niece, she was clever.

He turned to the guard, who was looking at his feet and shaking slightly. "How does a girl wake up, get dressed, strip the bed, open the window and jump down and the guard RIGHT OUTSIDE HER DOOR doesn't hear her?"

The man risked a glance up, then quickly looked back down. "I fell asleep, Alpha. It's my fault."

"It is. Report to the Gamma for the search."

"Yes Alpha."

He turned to leave, but the Alpha caught his arm. "You better hope we find her unhurt, Roberts." He nodded and ran off. He looked over at his Beta. "Is the border guard ready?"

"They will be, sir. The patrol pair is responding to the access road now." His eyes glazed over as men reported in. "We have a dozen men in vehicles and motorcycles in pursuit, but she had a four-minute jump on the closest guy. She's pretty fast on that motorcycle, they won't get to here in time to keep her off the main road."

"Make sure they are cautious with her. The last thing we need is for her to crash her motorcycle trying to get away from us." The Beta walked off, and he sent for his father to meet him in his office. As he walked out of the guest room, he searched for her family link and tried to call her back, but the connection was shut down after a few words. Her mind was figuring out how to block him, and since he wasn't her Alpha, he couldn't force his way in.

He got to his office, pouring himself a drink before sitting behind the desk. Rebecca came in, she was worried and sat on his lap to calm him as he tried to figure out what to do next. "We'll get her back, love," she said.

His Beta came in, and he didn't look happy. "Bad news, boss. The border patrol got there before she did, but they couldn't stop her. She blew right past them."

"Dammit!"

"Worse than that. They got on the road in wolf form, and that got her to stop. They shifted in front of her to talk, and that's when she screamed and accelerated past them. It's my fault, sir. I didn't warn them not to shift in front of her human side."

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, pulling his mate to him and sniffing her hair to calm himself. "The pursuit?"

"Too late to see which direction she went. We are sending men in all possible directions, but they won't catch her on that Harley of hers."

"What about the tracker Nathan put on her motorcycle?"

"It's working fine, she must have found it because it's attached to Cooper's motorcycle now. That cost us valuable minutes before we figured it out." He laughed a little. "I gotta hand it to her, she's smart and gutsy."

"She's alone, scared, and knows about us being werewolves. What if she talks about it? She could expose us all. It's a freaking mess."

They waited in the office for an hour, but she had disappeared into thin air. He called Ashley into the office. "Ashley, where do you think Rori would go if she wanted to hide?

Ashley composed herself, she felt terrible that her friend was in danger now. Sure, she had been an assignment, but they had become close friends. "I'd hope she would call me, but I'm not so sure anymore. It was my idea to come here," she said guiltily. "She'll call her Mom or Grandma. I don't know anyone else she would trust outside the Steel Brotherhood."

"We've still got surveillance on her family, and Nathan's still down there in Florida. Beta, send some men down to her motorcycle club and keep an eye out for her. If they fly down, they should arrive well before she does. Have them capture her as soon as they can, then bring her back home."

"Wait, you're going to take her against her will?" Ashley was shocked at her Alpha.

"We have no choice, Ashley. She could expose us, and her wolf NEEDS us. She's getting stronger, and it only takes once where she shifts in front of people, or in front of a camera, and our secret is out. She needs our help, we can ask her but it's for her own good."

"On it, boss." He left the room.

"We have to get out ahead of this in case she tries to claim we held her captive," Charles said. "We have to tell her mother she had an episode, and when she woke up she ran."

"Ashley's father should do that," Martin said. "He was in charge of their trip. I'll call the police." He picked up the phone and dialed 911. "Yes, I'm reporting a missing person," he said. "Her name is Rori King, sixteen years old, red hair to her shoulder blades, five-foot-five and a hundred and twenty pounds or so. She was visiting from Orlando, Florida. She disappeared last night, she climbed out of the guest bedroom window and left on her motorcycle."

The person on the other side talked for a bit, and he clenched his teeth. "I understand you don't take missing person reports until they have been gone 24 hours, but this isn't a normal girl," he said. "She has a history of mental illness, including violent outbursts and blackouts. They are controlled with medication, but she didn't take that with her. We're concerned about her well-being." He listened a while longer. "Thank you." He gave his address and told her someone would meet the officers by their mailbox.

"You sure that's the right play, son? Bringing the human authorities in?"

"Dad, we need their help. They are the only ones who can find her now. Besides, what are they going to know? She came up here on vacation with us, had a psychotic blackout, then disappeared from her room by climbing out the window. We haven't done anything wrong, we're just concerned for her safety," he said. "Once they find her, we have a chance to get her back."

It was just after sundown when Coral's motorcycle turned onto the long drive leading into the grounds of the Bitterroot Academy. Chase followed her as they wound their way up the hills until they were finally parked in front of the sprawling Pack House. He got out as his twin sister was stretching, no doubt sore from the long ride. A man greeted them at the door. "The Omegas will take your luggage to your room, please follow me. The Councilman would like to see you immediately."

They followed him to the top floor, down a hallway to the double doors. "This the Alpha's old office?"

"Yes. Councilman Forrest is the Alpha here. You are aware that all staff will temporarily join his Pack while serving here?"

"We are." It wasn't something any loyal Pack member wanted to do, but it was important for their job. Only with a Pack bond could they communicate and work effectively as a unit. They reached the doorway and the door opened for them. The pair walked in front of the desk, standing at attention. "Chase and Coral Nygaard, reporting for duty sir."

"As ease," the older man said. He smiled at the twins from the Cascade Pack. The change of Packs took only a few minutes to perform. "Chase, you are to report to Doctor Phillips at the clinic for 0600 sick call. Coral, you will report to the Head Combat Instructor, Beta Carlson, after breakfast."

"If you don't mind, sir, I'd like to check the barracks for the trainees first, undercover."

A smile came over the old man's face. "I think that is a hell of an idea. I'll let Beta Carlson know you'll be late. Get settled in and get some sleep, I'll see you at breakfast, 0700 in the main dining room." He went back to his work, and the two walked back out with their guide.

They parked their vehicles in the garage and headed up to their rooms; they had been given adjoining rooms on the second floor. "See you in the morning, Coral," he said as he hugged her goodnight.

"Be ready, you'll have your first patients by six-thirty," she said as she went into her room.

The next morning, Coral was dressed in a cleaning uniform and went into the student barracks. She was placing fresh towels outside the shower room and pushing a cart with soiled clothes ahead of her. She had gotten up at four, meeting the Omegas in their quarters before breakfast. Their lack of dominance might make them easy to bully and reluctant to report things to the leaders, but they knew exactly where the problems were. Coral had her dominance tightly bound and knew what to expect.

Most of the younger men gave her a smile and some even thanked her, but when the three approached her after the others were gone, she knew it was on. "Hey, you're new," the first one said.

"Damn good looking too. You know how you'd look even better," the second asked.

"No... sir," she replied nervously as they herded her into the corner of the room.

"With my dick in your mouth," he said with a smile.

"I got dibs on her ass," the third said.

"Come with us," the first one said. He reached for her left forearm, and Coral was done playing the victim. Grabbing his right arm, she pulled him off-balance towards her. Her right fist slammed into his throat, and her knee followed up with a wicked shot to the groin.

The other two suddenly realized they had made a severe error in victim selection when she let her dominance out. The aura slammed into them just before her feet did; she spun and back kicked the third man in the chest, sending him flying into the opposite wall. The second man tried to punch her, but she ducked the blow and spun low. Her right foot slammed into the side of his left knee, caving it in and causing him to scream out in pain. He dropped his hand to his injured knee, leaving his face open. Coral jumped and spun, her foot smashing into his face and knocking him silly.

The third mad got up and tried to scramble away, but a well-placed kick to his ribs knocked him down. He screamed as the bones broke, then laid back trying to catch his breath. "That all you got," she said to them as the other students gathered in the hallway. The three men cowered from her, fear in their eyes. "You disgust me." Their moans were the only things heard in the hallway until a slow clap started. Coral looked up to see Chase standing there, cellphone in hand, with the Councilman and a furious instructor beside them. "You get that on video," she asked her brother.