Treasure Ch. 71-75

The next week flew by for most everyone at the Oxbow Lake Pack except the men held in the cells awaiting trial.

Sawyer and his team had completed their interviews and were putting together their case. He was working long hours, then coming back to Ashley and spending all night loving her. By Saturday night, she put her foot down. "You can't keep this up, and you have to be ready for trial on Monday," she told him as they cuddled in bed. "Tomorrow is a rest day. If you're not done preparing yet, you won't be."

"But my team, they..."

"They will rest as well," she told him in a voice that let him know how serious she was about it. "They have been working just as hard as you have." Her hand snaked down under the sheets, finding him she started running her fingers softly along his well-used length. "And you have been working hard." Her fingers encircled him as he started to stiffen under her touch.

"I think you are right," he said as he pulled her on top of him. "I've been," he kissed her, "working," he ran his lips down her neck as she moaned, "and I'm very hard." He moved her hips and she slid down his length. She started to ride him slowly as he moved his hands up to cup her breasts. "You're amazing," he said as the sensations of their lovemaking started to overwhelm his rational thought.

She kept up the slow pace as she leaned forward, her boobs swinging in front of his face. Taking the hint, he took a nipple in his mouth, sucking and nipping it before switching to the other. She arched her back at the feeling which sent tingles straight to her core. As they built towards their peak, she sat up and started slamming down his long cock until the smack of their flesh together filled the guest room. "Sawyer, I'm... I'm..."

"Cum for me NOW," he said as he grabbed her hips and pulled her tight. She screamed and came around him as he shot another load into her. They couldn't talk for a while after it was done, she just laid on his chest and caught her breath. Finally, she looked up at him as his flaccid cock fell out, their juices flowing onto his legs and the sheets. "How long until you can be hard again," she asked with an impish grin.

"My Luna, woman, I think you've worn me out!"

Ashley laughed and kissed him. "It's your own fault, an old man like you seducing an innocent young virgin like me," she said as she batted her eyes.

He growled and smacked her ass. "Old man? I'll show you," he said. He spun her to the side, going to his hands and knees over her as his wolf pushed forward. He moved down her body, taking a deep smell from her core and lapping at her swollen lips. "We can sleep in since I'm not working." He shifted his tongue, so he could reach farther into her depths. He'd show her the advantages of a mature wolf.

He woke before her, looking over at the clock he could see it was just before noon. He tried to get up, but their limbs were tangled in the sheets and she woke as he tried to extricate himself. "May as well get up if you want lunch," he said as he sat up and stretched.

Ashley looked over at her mate's back, covered with the healing scratches and bites from their activities last night. Her wolf was thrilled to have him as a mate, and her human side was falling hard for the caring and strong man he was. While he was working, she was spending time with Margaret learning about the duties she would have as a Pack Luna. With all the people around, Margaret needed all the help she could get. "What do you want to do today," she asked him as he walked to the bathroom.

"My wolf needs a run," he said. "And he'd like to get you alone and take advantage of you."

Her wolf loved the idea. "That would be fun," she said. "Rori is taking her architect and the general contractor she's hired out to the building site today to go over the Pack House plans and a few of the houses. Maybe we can tag along, then go for a run while they are busy."

He sent a request to Chase over his family bond with him, and they finalized the plans over lunch. Rori was bringing Parker Thompson, who had designed the Banff Pack House, out to the site. They had been talking over Skype for a week, going over ideas and looking at existing designs. Eight of the Omegas were coming along too. None had seen their new Pack lands yet and were excited to walk around the site. Chase was staying behind, working with the Council on the trial preparation, and Coral and Kevin were up in Grand Marais packing up his apartment.

There was only one General Contractor in the area who could handle such a project, and he was meeting them at the access road at two. This was going to be a large project; the main facility and the first ten houses were working to an initial estimate of five million dollars, including the new road and extending utilities. Rori and Chase had worked with their lawyer, Ralph Emerson, to set up a corporation called Arrowhead Vacation LLC using the money from her inheritance. The corporation was set up to ensure the continuation of the Pack if something happened to the Alphas, and it provided a public front for the development work. After all, you couldn't just tell people a werewolf Pack was moving into their neighborhood.

Rori walked out with her group as three large passenger vans were brought around. She looked down the porch and saw Colletta sitting there, wrapped in a blanket and staring out at the woods. She told everyone to wait and walked down to see her. "Mom?" Colletta looked up at her, she had been crying and her eyes were full of pain. "Mom, come with us. We're going to look at the place we're going to build our houses, we can show you where Chase and I are going to live. Please, I need you." She knew the appeal to her as a mother and grandmother would do the trick; Colletta stood up and folded up the blanket, bringing it with her.

Sawyer and Ashley were taking his SUV, as they would be returning separately, probably after dark. They all loaded in, and twenty minutes later, they were parked at the lot near the ruins of the old Pack compound. "Wow," Sawyer said as he stepped out of his car along with everyone else. "You'd never know it was here."

The group exited the cars and walked to the gate that surrounded the clearing. It had taken three days to fill the foundations with rock and gravel, then bring in black dirt and level the ground. The weather had held long enough to get the nursery plantings in and install a deer-proof fence. In the spring, the native wildflowers and grasses would come in, along with the flowering crabapple and fruit trees. "It's going to be beautiful when it grows in," Ashley said.

"I hope so," Rori said. "I plan to commission a memorial next year, and this area will be a park where our children can play, and we can pick fresh fruit and watch our pups chase butterflies and hummingbirds. Something good out of all the bad." She looked at the girls and waved them down towards the water. "Come on people, Parker and I will show you the areas we've staked out for the buildings."

Sawyer smiled as his mother, sister-in-law and her Pack mates ran down the hill, and he gave his beautiful mate a grin as they moved away. "Let's get nekkid," he told her.

"Naked?"

"Nope, Nekkid is naked with naughty plans, and I have plans for you my love. I'll even give your wolf a head start." He took her hand and a waterproof bag, and they walked around the memorial and over the hill to a place hidden from the lake and the parking area. They stripped and placed their clothes in the bag, then he zipped it up. "You ready," he asked her as she bounced in excitement.

"You certainly are," she said as she looked down at him already hard. "You have to catch me first." She shifted into her wolf, a beautiful grey coat with black socks and stomach, and took off through the trees. There was a lot of land to play in, and she ran parallel to the lake so she wouldn't get trapped against the shore. She felt free, and her happiness mixed with her lust went over the bond to her mate.

Sawyer shifted into his big wolf, pacing back and forth as he counted to a hundred. His wolf was raring to go chase her down and take her hard and fast. Wolves loved the chase. They had been very active sexually, like all new mates, and he prayed they were one of the lucky couples who got pregnant quickly. His mind knew it might take decades, though.

As soon as the count was complete, he was off like a shot. His mate would give him a good chase, but he was an Alpha Male. He would catch her, dominate her, knot her and pup her.

Ten miles away, another pair of wolves were trotting through the Northwoods forest. Steven and Connie were running side by side, their bodies touching occasionally as they moved down the game trail they were following. They were on unclaimed land just north of the Arrowhead Pack lands, since he was still a rogue and not allowed on Pack lands without permission. Their week since finding they were mates had been difficult for them both; Connie still pulled back when he moved towards her, and Steven was having trouble holding his wolf back from claiming her fully.

She had bitten his neck yesterday, allowing them to communicate mentally, and that had been a huge leap of faith for her. Things were better for them in wolf form, because her wolf trusted her more than her human side.

Steven had been shocked when she shifted, she was much larger than he expected for an Omega. Sleek and powerful, mostly black with some white patches, she had a strength to her that had been hidden, and a dominance that was starting to peek through. "How did you hide your size from your Pack," he asked. "They would know at a glance you were no Omega."

"I was under Alpha orders to never shift," she said. "I haven't shifted since I was thirteen."

"How? How could you go so long without without your wolf pushing forward? She's no Omega."

She stopped running, and he turned back and nuzzled her neck as she sat down. He curled up on the fallen leaves, and she laid her head over his neck and let out a breath. "I was born in the Bitteroot Pack. I never knew my father. My mother was a beautiful woman, and one day she went into heat and ran off with her mate into the woods. The old Alpha, Todd's father, he scented her and his wolf decided he wanted her. He killed my father and took her." She settled into his neck, seeking the tingles and comfort of the developing bond. "She would have killed herself, except her wolf wouldn't let her since she was pregnant. She died when I was ten. The Alpha, Todd's father, moved me in with the Omegas and they raised me. Nobody knew who had fathered me at the time, but the Alpha knew I was his as soon as he saw me shift, and that is why he kept me hidden. When I first shifted, he ordered me back to human form. He put Alpha command on me; I was never allowed to shift into my wolf again. He made me an Omega and told me that I would either be an Omega or dead. He told his men that if I ever resisted or attempted to show dominance, I was to be beaten within an inch of my life. I learned quickly to submit. I was traded to the Cascade Pack Alpha when Alpha Todd took over the Pack. I was twenty."

"Alpha Theo had you?"

"In all ways." Steven was shaking with anger, he was barely holding back from rushing to the Oxbow Lake Pack and killing Theo himself. "I came over as a slave, no Pack rank at all. I was assigned to the Alpha's quarters and kept apart from everyone else. I had a tiny room next to his bedroom, so I would be available to him at any time. He hadn't found his mate, and he used me instead. Decades passed, he got tired of me and took a fancy to a much younger wolf. He traded me back to Bitterroot six years ago."

She let out a huff. "I had no status when I returned to my home Pack; I was with the other slaves, but it was a better life than under Theo, because I was only raped occasionally instead of daily. When the Pack leadership was killed, I had nowhere to go. I never told anyone the full story; what am I supposed to say? I had been raped and enslaved for decades. I kept up the Omega act because it was the safest place for me. When I had a chance to leave, I grabbed it." She snuggled in as he whined. "I don't know how to handle you, Steven. Whenever a man would move towards me, it was either to hit me or fuck me and either way I didn't want it. I'm sorry"

He would have said something, but he heard the pounding of paws coming fast. Jumping to his feed, he stood protectively over her as his nose picked up the scent, not just of a wanted rogue, but of insanity. "Tell your Pack it's Will Nygaard and he's gone feral," he said as he ran forward to protect her from the threat.

Will was huge. His mouth was frothing, his eyes were red and he was snarling as he spotted them. Steven couldn't contact anyone else without a Pack link, so he couldn't call for backup. He had to stop him before he could hurt anyone else.

The two wolves crashed into each other and tumbled to the ground, snapping and snarling at each other. Blood and fur flew as the two wolves fought, but even a well-trained Beta couldn't withstand a feral Alpha for long. There was a howl of pain as Steven's left back leg was broken, and the injured wolf was left bleeding as the Alpha started running for the Pack again.

Steven shifted back as Connie ran up to him. He was bleeding from multiple bites and couldn't run, but he knew he wouldn't die from these wounds. "Go," he told her. "He's headed right for Alpha Rori and your Pack Mates at the lake."

Connie looked at him and howled a warning, then took off at full speed after the feral Alpha. She sent a mental update to Rori and the rest of her Pack, and they made sure the Oxbow Lake Pack and all the others Packs found out.

Rori relayed the warning to Sawyer, and his reply made her blood run cold.

"Shit, Rori, we're just north of you and we just mated, I'm still tied to her."

"Pull out, Sawyer, he'll be there in minutes!"

"It's not coming out, and I'm helpless here," he told her.

Rori ordered her Pack mates to return to their vehicles and get the hell out of there. "What are you going to do," Parker asked as she pulled her clothes off.

"I'm going to protect my brother and his mate," she said. Shifting into her rust-colored wolf, she took off along the trail they had left. Colletta also shifted and ran after her, but the older female was not near as fast and had been weakened by the erosion of the mate bond.

Running faster than any other wolf could, Rori crested the hill just in time. Sawyer and Ashley were trying to fight off a feral Alpha while he was still knotted inside her, and it wasn't going well for them. She came flying down the hill and slammed her shoulder into his chest as he was tearing a chunk out of Sawyer's flank. Will went flying, and she placed herself between him and the pair.

Will rolled back to his feet, letting out a loud snarl as he scented his new opponent. His eyes got wide as he recognized the bitch that started it all, the one who he blamed for taking away his wife and family.

A feral Alpha was a worst-case scenario because they had all the size and strength of their bloodline and they felt no pain. The bites that he had sustained thus far hadn't slowed him, and he attacked without mercy.

Rori was fast, avoiding the worst of his attacks, but she was in trouble. She was fighting for her life when Colletta entered the fray.

Colletta leaped onto his back, her teeth tearing into his neck as Rori went after his front leg. He tried to buck her off, but Rori's bite held him down. He ignored the pain in his neck and the crunch of the bones in his front leg and drove his teeth into Rori's shoulders, biting hard and shaking. Rori whined as her back was ripped open and blood sprayed from the wound. She let go of his leg, she had hurt him but Will was still able to spin and throw Colletta off of his back.

The two females got to their feet and circled the Alpha, looking for an opening. Will charged Rori again, and the injury slowed her just enough she couldn't dodge him. He knocked her to the ground, ignoring Colletta as she jumped onto his hindquarters and bit down. Rori's neck was exposed and that was all he needed. His jaws opened, and he bit down hard on her neck.

Rori was in trouble; she had gotten a paw into the back of his mouth, and that was the only thing keeping her from getting her throat ripped out. He let go, looking to shift his bite to do just that, when another wolf smashed into him.

Rori watched the as the black wolf grabbed his throat, ripping a big chunk away as he was knocked onto his back. Colletta was tearing into his back leg and keeping him from getting up and Connie was going back for his neck, so Rori dove for his exposed stomach. Her teeth and claws ripped into the soft tissue, splitting him open and scattering his guts onto the dirt.

He was fighting for his life now, but the three women were too much for him. Connie shifted and this time her bite tore through his artery as she ripped a bigger chunk from his throat. The three jumped back, knowing the wounds were fatal they didn't want risk further injury. They watched as he bled out, his eyes glazing over before he let out a groan and his heart stopped.

Rori and Connie looked at each other, and she limped over to comfort her shocked Pack member. Colletta, who had just watched her mate die, sat back and howled her grief to the bright fall sky. The next time she howled, the two joined her in the chorus.

It was over.

Ch. 72

Sawyer walked slowly into the courtroom the next morning, his neck still bandaged and a cane in his hand. Instead of his normal suit, he was wearing a black warm-up suit over a loose T-shirt and shorts. Ashley walked alongside him, her left arm in a sling and wearing matching clothes. Both had spent the night in the Pack Clinic, recovering from injuries and embarrassment. They had been attacked at the worst possible time for a pair of wolves, when they were tied together after wolf sex.

Given their inability to separate from each other, they had done reasonably well in holding off Will until help arrived. The Clinic had been full; Alpha Rori and Steven were still in there, while Connie and Colletta had been released last night. The new Council, as well as a worried Chase, had talked to all of them as they were treated on-site and rushed back to the Pack Clinic. Rori had made Chase stay at the lake, along with the architect and some of the Omegas, to finish the discussion with the General Contractor. "I'll be fine," she had told him and everyone else who suggested they delay the site visit. "I want us to be moved in to our new homes by the Fourth of July, so there's no time for any delays. Get your ass out there and meet with the contractor before he takes some other job."

The Council told Sawyer that the trials could be delayed until he recovered, but he refused. "Chairman Coffey, my team and I were ready before what happened today, and we will be ready tomorrow. We have people here for the trial from every Pack, and they shouldn't be inconvenienced because of a few wolf bites on my ass. If you will grant me some leeway in terms of dress, I'll suffer through the trial because these men still breathing is an offense to me and my wolf."

The Council nodded, they understood his need for closure. "Your showing up for trial is enough, don't worry about the suit," Coffey said. "I also congratulate you on your new position. The challenge no longer being necessary, you are the rightful Alpha of the Cascade Pack and the Council recognizes you as such."

"Thank you, sirs," he said. He had talked to his younger brother Carson after he had been patched up, and he had agreed to be his Beta. Both had spent time talking to their mother, who was not doing well after the loss of her mate. She was spending the day with Rori in the hospital, where her new Pack was helping her deal with the pain of the broken mate bond. They would not leave her alone until she was out of danger, many widows committed suicide in the week following the loss of their other half.