by Crystal Dawn
“You invaded my pack territory, you stole from our businesses, you took advantage of my people, you probably killed all my managers, but you think I’m going to let you go? Not even if you leave and never come back. You won’t leave here alive.” JC threatened.
The man showed some fear for the first time. “I’m just an employee. I do as I’m told. Don’t you want to know who sent me? Wouldn’t you rather get the kingpin than the jester?” He asked.
JC calmed his wolf taking a moment to think. Without this guy’s information, he probably wouldn’t find the responsible parties any time soon. This was organized and the council was involved.
“What do you have for me?” JC asked.
“I know who is behind this and the council members who made the deal.”
JC’s mind began working. The unnecessary census that tied up so much manpower and supervisory time. He could track it back to the originators, but it would take time. “What do you want?”
“My freedom, a car, and some money to start over elsewhere.”
“Okay. Start talking.”
“It was the Scrazassi crime family. They made a deal with two council members so they could get a foothold here and in some other territories.” He spoke fast with fear now obvious.
“Who were the council members?” JC asked.
His mouth opened but all that came out was a gasp. The witch had returned to take out his former boss than disappear into the same smoke as last time.
“Damn it!” JC was pissed. They’d never find that damned witch. At least not on their own. He also had to send someone out to every community of wolves in his pack territory.
There was also an obligation to get the word out to other pack alphas who might have trespassers taking over communities in their areas. The informer had blown up in a magic storm his body turning to ash which rained down to the floor. JC was fairly sure that it was the crooked council members that had seen to the man’s demise.
It might slow things down, but it wouldn’t stop them from finding out who they were. Both Tyne and Damon would be excellent allies in the hunt for answers. Meanwhile he had to leave Tanner and a couple other guys here to begin sorting things out. These people deserved better than they had received.
The people he’d left in charge had been good, but this time those in charge would be great. They would also be capable of putting up a hell of a fight if someone tried to take them out. There were a couple badass brothers that had been former rogues. They’d been in the pack thirty years or more now. Neither were mated so they weren’t tied down.
He’d trust those two to handle most anything. That was good since the bar, grocery store, two factories, and a child care center were all owned by the pack or him personally. It made him angry all over again to think of how they’d been stealing from them for a year or more before they’d noticed. That crime family was going to pay. They had no idea what war was, but they were about to find out.
Tanner finally came in to see what was happening. Once he caught him up to speed, he was pissed too. “Why didn’t I get one of the artifacts?”
“We hadn’t thought of them yet. Now listen, you’ll stay here with a few of the guys to start settling things down. I’m going to talk to the Sanchez brothers to see if they’ll come here to take over.” JC explained.
“You’ll have to find replacements for them at their current jobs.” Tanner pointed out.
“They both have seconds that can step in. This is more urgent right now.” No one could argue. Once they got everything decided, JC and the others rode away.
He felt a little bad about leaving the guys behind in a strange place, but someone had to do it and he needed to be at headquarters to handle a hundred other things as well. There would be no more weak areas to be taken advantage of. They would establish two yearly meetings that all his managers would have to attend. That would prevent them from going missing for a year before it was discovered.
They’d just rested on their accomplishments and felt too relaxed. Just because they were predators didn’t mean others, even wanna be predators, wouldn’t try to take a bite of them. He planned to take this lesson to heart. No one was going to do this to him again.
It was midnight when they breezed into town in desperate need of a shower, food, and sleep. The bar was still open so they went there first. Everything was as it should be so they ordered their food with a beer. It came quickly like the cook knew they needed it right away.
“What happened?” Mitzy asked.
She sat down by them because it wasn’t busy right at the moment. “We had big trouble in Wolf Falls. Someone had moved in to take over everything. They were human, but had a magic user working for them. A trap was set, but luckily it didn’t work.” JC explained.
“You guys kicked ass?” She asked.
“We did, but we had some surprises. They really got rooted deep before we caught them. They killed off all my managers replacing them with humans.” JC observed.
“The locals didn’t notice that?” She wondered.
“They didn’t question it.” He admitted. That did bother him. He had an open door policy, but no one had bothered.
Mitzy snorted. It made the guys laugh. “You need to make them take some responsibility too. You can’t be everywhere.”
There was a lot of sense in what she said. Pack members should know better. What was going on there broke so many pack rules, but no one reported it. Something needed to change. “Why are you being so supportive?”
“We may not be seeing each other anymore, but this is still my pack. It belongs to each of us. We have privileges, but we also have responsibilities. One call could have stopped that in its tracks.” She observed.
“When you’re right, you’re right. How would you address it?” JC asked.
“You need to educate your people. Once they learn what is right, they’ll know when something is wrong. That’s when they need to report it. Humans have a city council. Some packs that are big like ours have the same thing. Senior wolves take a governing and advising role. They can’t overrule you, but they can stop bad things from happening or call you if people won’t listen.” Mitzy said.
JC liked her idea. With some work, it might help keep a takeover from happening again. Since he didn’t know many of the local wolves there, he’d need help to pick some. It would take work, but over time the situation would heal.
Right now they needed to eat before they went home to shower then fall into bed. Mitzy left them to eat going back to serve the customers. Once their plates were empty, they left the bar heading home. JC couldn’t deny he was glad when he was finally under the hot water letting it wash all his cares away. After that was done, he dried off then hopped into bed ready to sleep halfway through tomorrow.
He hadn’t really intended to sleep that late, but it was well after noon by the time he woke. Maybe the magic had drained some of his strength. The artifacts had to receive power from somewhere. Regardless, he wouldn’t get much done today nor could he find the strength to care. Fixing himself breakfast, he ate then went to his home office to begin making calls.
“Damon here.”
“Damon, I hate to bother you on your personal cell on a Sunday, but the situation is urgent.”
“Okay, tell me what’s going on!”
By the time Damon was up on the events that had occurred, he was angry. “I really thought we had all the bad ones cleared out. Maybe we’ll never get them all. You said the fake alpha said there was another pack dealing with this?”
“Yes, but he never said where.” JC admitted. “He started to tell me about the council members when he was destroyed.”
“I’ll call Zorth to see if we can track the magic male.”
“How will he do that?”
“I’m mated to a witch and I still have no idea how they do it. I’ve seen them track items or places where the spells were cast. It is possible he might be well known enough they might figure it out from your description. Zo
rth may want to talk with you or he may not.”
“Whatever he needs, I’ll try to help. This is important to me. They killed all my managers. I still can’t believe I never noticed.”
“You have a big territory. That makes it hard to watch it all. The other pack must have a big territory too. That will rule out the smaller packs. It’ll also be a pack with money, but not one of the vicious warlike ones. Maybe one of my computer monkeys can find a program to narrow things down. Thanks for calling me.”
Damon was gone. He continued to make calls for an hour before taking a beer break. This was harder than his usual work. It was also upsetting and made him feel guilty. JC wanted to talk to Tyne, but he was at a party for one of his employees. Must be nice. Tomorrow would have to do as far as talking to Tyne was concerned.
Drinking his beer while he thought wasn’t helping him come to any good decisions. He finished his beer then went to his office to do paperwork. Tanner called in to let him know he had everything under control. That reminded him he needed to talk to the Sanchez brothers.
Calling them, he got a hold of Jose. Explaining everything, Jose said he’d talk to Juan. They’d call him tomorrow to let him know their decision. Now he was going to watch a movie then get to bed. Tomorrow his new bartender would be arriving in the afternoon.
Chapter 4
Party On
The party was going in full swing. Some of the people she cared about more than anything were present which made her happy. Ariel and Blake were cooking up a storm. He was on the grill while she was doing some damage in the outdoor kitchen working up salads and vegetables for Blake to grill. Marissa and Damon were there helping out with the food.
Nearly everyone in her family could cook even the men. Tyne and Moe had just arrived bringing baked goods with them. Cupcakes, cookies, and what looked like a black forest cake. If it was, she was taking half of it to hide for tonight. She would totally pig out until she couldn’t even think. That was when the tears would flow, the ones she’d been holding back.
This was home to her. It had been all her life and home was where the heart was, right? Maybe she wasn’t going far away, but it was far enough to lose touch with the people and places that meant so much to her. She needed to pull herself together before anyone noticed her self-pity party. Oh, no! It was too late, Ariel was giving her the eye. She dropped what she was doing coming over to give her a hug. Moe added her arms so Marissa jumped in too. Pretty soon the group hug grew to include every woman there while the males stood back scratching their heads wondering what had started it all.
Males, of course, were clueless sometimes. They rarely picked up on the subtle hints that passed right before their eyes. Everyone stepped back now that Dez had the stuffing squeezed out of her. She didn’t mind, the love that had flowed from her cousins to her would help her through the coming days. So much change in such a short time was never easy.
They went back to the happy tone of a party to celebrate her trip, as if it was a happy occasion. That was better by far than for all of them to gather round her crying their eyes out. She would pretend, as they all did, that this was something she wanted to do forgetting all the dark reasons she was fleeing from her home and family. Tonight, after everyone left, she would have her ugly cry before putting all her doubts and worries aside to do what had to be done.
It wasn’t her intention to bring her family down to that sad level. Let them pretend everything was fine. She would face the future head on being brave since she had no choice. For three months she could handle anything. Meanwhile she would check out properties for someplace to have ready when she came back.
Damon was a complete sweetheart, he had negotiated a hundred thousand dollar finder’s fee for her in relations to the million dollars she had returned. She’d been too upset to even think of it. It would buy her a decent piece of property which would be in her trust fund’s name. That made it hard to track.
Meanwhile, people were leaving the party right and left. The guys that had taken the animals off, had disappeared. They had probably stayed to hang out at Ariel’s pack house rec room. They had darts as well as pool tables not to mention a real bar. There was even a play room for the kiddos. Ariel and Blake took good care of their pack.
She hoped the alpha, one she had heard had been around forever so was likely old and decrepit, took as good care of the Tulsa pack as they did their pack. Dez was considered a member of the northwest Missouri (Blake’s and Ariel’s) pack as were all white wolves not affiliated with another pack. Once they went wolf, a term used to describe their change, they usually joined the pack nearest them or the one their mate belonged to if they had mated. So far all white wolves had mated alphas, but not all alphas led packs. There were a few that were betas, not many. Some also were Wardens, Sentinels, or council members.
It was hard for alphas to be together in a pack without friction. Exceptions sometimes applied to close friends or relatives. That was because alphas were aggressive and dominant by nature, but close ties could overcome their nature. Older mated alphas also tended to have more control because mating kept them anchored.
“Dez?” A voice called shaking her out of her thoughts.
“Yes?” Dez asked. It was Ariel.
“We’ve loaded up most of the food leaving you a bit to have your own food party tonight and some more food for tomorrow. There’s a big piece of the black forest cake. Don’t make yourself sick.” She reached out to hug her tight. “It’ll only be a short while before you’re settled. I’ll see you soon no matter what happens remember there’s no place like home.”
Why had she said it that way? “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. I can handle three months of anything if I know home is waiting for me. Don’t forget to look for that perfect place for me to come home to.”
“I may have already found it. Three bedroom two bath two story on forty acres with the river running through it. The house needs some TLC, but nothing I can’t handle for you. It’s a bit further away, but it’s worth it for the water.”
“Now I can’t wait to get back when I’ve not even left.”
“It’ll all work out in the end.” Ariel said. Dez could only hope she was right.
Now the house was empty, everyone having said their goodbyes. Little was left to do with only a bit of food left for her to eat tonight and tomorrow. She’d leave after breakfast on Monday so she’d be gone before the tenants came around lunch. There wasn’t a part of this place she wouldn’t miss as soon as she left.
Dez still understood her poor choice would haunt her for some time. If she wanted a peaceful happy life, this was what she had to do. Hopefully by the time she was ready to come back, the major players would be in jail. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t still have to be careful, but maybe it would be easier to avoid notice.
Slipping off her shoes, she dropped into her favorite chair. It was just one more thing she was giving up. She reclined as she grabbed the remote then channel surfed. A documentary of ancient aliens caught her eye. This was something she never got to watch because she was too busy to watch much TV.
Maybe the regular schedule of a job would help her. She’d fallen asleep again right in the middle of the show. Aliens had visited her in her dreams. These weren’t the funny looking grey guys either. The aliens she dreamed about looked like shifters, the hot ones. Tall, muscular and they were hung like hell. At least her dreams weren’t letting her down.
Dragging ass out of her chair, she went to the kitchen for a snack. She was going to gain ten pounds this weekend the way she was eating. The promised cake sat there promising her endless delight to the last bite. Pouring a glass of milk, she accepted the temptation. It was gone in less than ten minutes even though she tried to slow her pace.
A walk was needed. It would give her a chance to see the farm so she could say goodbye to it every step of the way. Fucking Mickey! No more gorgeous underwear model types for her. She needed a man that looked like he could do an honest day’s w
ork. No, she should stay away from guys altogether. As if she could do that. If only she could find the right man. What were the odds of finding a man that was more than a good lay, one that had an honest job? Some of her cousins had found males like that. It was true that few found them the first time. Pack alphas seemed to be good guys most of the time.
Maybe it was the responsibility they carried. They had to put the safety and happiness of others first. Their sense of responsibility made them a better choice than the Mickeys of this world. Maybe the old guy would have a hot young son?
Continuing on her walk, she said goodbye to the animals she would leave behind. The woods, the fields, and the long paths she loved to walk would be there for someone else now. A tear ran down her cheek, but she wiped it away. There was little time for crying, but if she was going to do it, it could wait until she got home.
She needed to get home before dusk. Shadows didn’t used to scare her, but with Mickey after her, she saw danger in every one of them. There was still a good walk yet before she would be in sight of her house. It was okay because she was in good shape ready to make the trip back in a hurry.
The house came into view twenty minutes later. No need to stress, she was home free. The nerves were more than likely from the upcoming trip in the morning anyway. Dez had been to Tulsa several years ago. It had been a fun trip with her parents who were going to a business convention. She’d gone with them even sitting through some of the guest speaker’s stories. Some meals were included and she went along with those too.
When it was all done, they’d stayed for two more days having fun. It had been nice shopping and eating out at places she didn’t normally get to visit. The motel had been a high one with lights all the way up and around the top. That made it easy to find when they looked for it as they returned. She’d heard it had burned down in a fire years later.
She got through the night and finished up everything the next day. All her calls to friends and family so they would know she wouldn’t be here. It was hard not telling them where she’d be, but Ariel had said not too. The time had passed surprisingly fast. Now all she had to do was get through one more night.
