Chapter Nine - A Picture or a Thousand Words

It had only taken a few more hours for the two Rogue girls to wake up feeling perfectly fine. They had been able to heal themselves completely, not needing the parental bond to help at all. Mother Luna had said it would be safer for David to wait and see rather than jumping right in, just in case any of them still had traces of the toxin on them. Neither of the girls remembered anything about their poisoning, even after they were told the words that Lia had mumbled as she’d fallen back to sleep. No matter how many times they went over it, nothing seemed to indicate how the women had been poisoned. The Rogue sisters knew what wolfsbane looked and smelt like, as well as how to handle it safely, but neither remembered having seen it that day. It wasn’t one of the things they’d been in the attic to collect.

Jake sat in a chair by Liana’s bed, as far away from her as his wolf would allow. He didn’t want her to wake up and be scared by seeing a stranger beside her bed. His wolf had argued that they were mates, not strangers. Jake kept reiterating that Liana didn’t know that yet, but his wolf refused to listen to him. His wolf was very angry with him, but that was tough. Sometimes he needed to think with his human side and his wolf would just have to suck it up.

His eyes kept drifting over to the old woman, Selene. Her heart rate still seemed to be fluctuating wildly. Fast and hard for a few minutes, then so slow he’d think it was about to stop. The sound was making him extremely anxious. At first, her wolf had tried to take over so she could heal faster, but it had never managed a full shift. Her head would shift, but the change only went down as far as the scaring on her neck, giving her a human body with a wolf’s head. When her face turned back to human, fur would sprout in shaggy, random patches over her body and then fade away. For a little while, her limbs and body had been fully wolf, though a very mangy-looking one. Unfortunately, that transformation also stopped at her scars, leaving her with a wolf body and tail with a human face, hands, and feet. Nobody seemed to know if that was an effect of the scaring, the poisoning, or the combination of the two. The only consensus the healers could come up with was that the effort of constantly trying to shift was doing her more harm than good. Many lone wolves had been brought to try to link with Selene’s wolf and ask it to stay dormant, but none of them had been able to. Apparently, even though they could all link at will with any other lone wolf, as well as with any strange wolf that they held steady eye contact with, very few of them had ever had any contact with Selene’s wolf. Her wolf hadn’t seemed to be willing to communicate with them now either, but after Marie Rogue had tried to talk to her Selene had stopped her partial shifting and was still laying, completely human, under a blanket on her cot.

His pack was also growing curious about why Liana’s wolf wasn’t taking over to heal her. The lone wolves had all just shrugged it off, which left his pack even more curious. It seemed odd to them that a nearly adult werewolf wasn’t shifting to heal. The lone wolves all obviously knew that Liana had never shifted, but fortunately they seemed to be keeping the information to themselves. His pack members could smell her wolf though, so they didn’t think her human, which was good. She was laying still and quiet, her breathing and heart rate normal and steady, it was just a matter of waiting for her to wake and find out if there was any neurological damage. Hopefully, she would be healthy, normal, and able to shift when the wolf moon arrived. He also hoped she could shed some light on what had happened to get them all to this point.

Jake heard Mark walking up behind him but didn’t turn to see is Beta. They’d been friends since they were pups, but for the last few months, Mark’s attitude had been annoying him. For the last three days, Mark’s attitude towards the Lone Wolves and his questions about Liana’s suitability as a Luna was really putting distance between them. There was no way Jake wasn’t going to reject Liana unless she refused him. He was even willing to wait if it took months for her to scent him as her mate. First, he knew she would have to come to terms with being a werewolf, and there was no way to know how long that might take her. Mark was the only werewolf he’d told about Liana’s upbringing and the reaction had not been a positive one. His negative feelings on the issue were part of the reason Jake was ignoring his Beta. He had felt Mark trying to link with him for over an hour now but had been avoiding it. He didn’t need any of the man’s negative comments at the moment. His presence here was definitely not appreciated.

Mark stopped behind him, still trying to link with him, but Jake still refused to open his mind to the man. “You’re going to have to stop that,” Mark said out loud, his voice tinged with annoyance. “If the pack was threatened I’d have to be able to contact you fast. On top of that, there are some things that should not be spoken about openly.”

“I know your feelings about my mate and I don’t want to speak with you at the moment. Disrespect for my Luna and her kin will not be tolerated. I may need to find another second.” Even without the full link, Jake could feel the shock and then anger of his long-time friend.

“I won’t apologize for being cautious and putting the pack's safety and security about all else, even my Alpha’s mating call. I’m glad I’ve been reluctant to simply accept these loan wolves. I’ve been doing some searching and found enough information to know my concerns aren’t unfounded.” He stepped up beside Jake and dropped an envelope on his lap. Here. I’ve been trying to show you this info all afternoon, but you won’t link so I printed it off. Some of those werewolves are criminals, and some of them are wanted to stand trial. Some of the wanted ads in that file are for missing pack members, either runaways or presumed abductions, and have rewards attached. One looks a lot like your mate, which must be what her gran looked like when she has stolen from her mate eighteen years ago. There is a one million dollar reward for her safe return, Jake.”

Jake opened the envelope and fished out the photographs. The top one did look an awful lot like Liana. It even described the scarring on her neck and wrists, which surely had to mean it was Selene. He’d never heard of a werewolf that had been so grievously mistreated.

“We’re not turning her in Mark.”

“The hell we’re not,” he replied, “that money could buy the pack a lot of land. We could probably expand all the way to the ocean!”

“What do you think gave her those marks on her neck and wrists, Mark?” His Beta didn’t answer. “That so-called mate of hers kept her chained and bound with silver -”

“You don’t know that.” Jake leaped to his feet and grabbed Mark by the throat, lifting him from the ground and dragging him backward until he could pin him against the wall.

“I’ve only heard bits and pieces,” he growled out, “that much is true. But if there is any chance the man offering to buy her back caused that kind of damage to a she-wolf, any chance at all, his mate or not, we are not sending her back to be tortured. Any wolf being treated that way would run. Nobody would have had to steal her, she would have gone willingly with any wolf, or escaped completely on her own. Especially if it meant protecting her pup. She had every right to leave him. Every right to break that bond, if there ever really was one.”

“You don’t allow forced mating, Jake but most packs do. You can’t go dictating -”

“She is here now!” Jake roared. “On my land. She is kin to my mate and I will protect her!”

“You know nothing about her! About any of them! I’ve spent the last few days doing research on them Jake, they aren’t as innocent as you were led to believe. You’re blinded by the mating instinct and not looking after the pack.”

“They have my protection until I decide otherwise.”

“They’re not ours to protect. That old woman is not ours to protect.”

“Her daughter is mine. I will protect what is mine, and any of her kin who want my protection.”

“Then you are a fool,” Mark hissed out, “you’re not putting the pack’s well-being first. The pack above the individual Jake. Always. Even above the Alpha and Luna. Ensuring the safety of this pack is our first priority. Not the lone wolves, not this weak old woman who can only partially shift, not even your wimpy, wolfless mate.” Jake straightened to his full height, keeping Mark pinned to the wall, a menacing snarl echoing around the room.

“Are you challenging me, Beta Mark?”

“Not yet.” Jake stared at the man for a moment before removing his hand from his neck.

“Until you do you will respect my authority and treat Liana as though she is already your Luna. You can stay in the pack house, for now, old friend. But you are no longer head of pack security.”

“You can’t do that!”

“I am still the Alpha. It is done.” Mark stepped away, the shock obvious in his expression. “Dylan, Ryan, and Blake have all been informed that the level of Beta is temporarily suspended and I have linked with all Gammas ordering them to report directly to me until I say otherwise. You can stay in the pack house. And I mean IN the pack house, Mark. Do not leave the building.”

“Am I under arrest?”

“Not yet. You are right about one thing, I can’t focus well with my fated mate fighting for her life, so you are under suspicion until I have settled things with this current distraction and can think more clearly. Be warned that if anyone threatens the safety of, or actually injures a single one of the lone wolves we have met I will assume it was your doing and you will be tried accordingly. That includes contacting anyone about rewards.”

“Am I confined to my rooms or simply to the house,” Mark growled in his displeasure.

“Just to the house for now, but if our guests are injured in any way...”

“Yes Alpha,” Mark said with a slight bow of his head. “You’ll understand then if I stay close enough to keep watch on them.”

“You will leave them alone,” Jake snarled in response.

“I am not the only member of our pack to distrust these newcomers, these lone wolves as they call themselves. If I am to be the first wolf you suspect in the event that they are harmed then I must be allowed to keep an eye on them to be certain they are not.”

“Fair enough,” Jake agreed reluctantly. “With the exception of my mate and her mother. I will protect them, you are to stay away from both of them.”

Mark glanced between the two unconscious women, his lip curling in distaste. He looked back at Jake, keeping his eyes lowered in a show of submission as required to his newly removed position. “Understood Alpha,” he said clearly before he turned to leave the room. Jake could sense it wasn’t all he wanted to say but was glad the man had held his tongue enough that no further action was required.

Jake went back to scoop the pile of papers off the floor and looked through them a little more closely. There were a few others he recognized. Some were Canadian wolves, others American, one apparently from Italy, which he found interesting. None of them had any infractions that could be really considered a danger to this pack. The most recent was from five years ago when a male had mated with the Alpha’s daughter against his wishes. It doesn’t mention how the girl felt about that… It could be a fated mate and the father simply had other plans for the girl. Some packs still treated females as property of their male relatives, a practice that should have been abandoned long ago. There was no mention of if the woman had left the pack as well. If both of them were now Lone Wolves that would certainly clarify the issue in this case. The only crime that would indicate a lone wolf who might consider threatening a pack was one who had been banished from a pack out west over twenty years ago. A wolf, once named Al, had a tiff with the Alpha’s son and lost, he’d been banished and not seen since. It doesn’t say if he was aiming to claim the position of Alpha, just that he was banished after losing a fight with the Alpha’s son, which could mean he was angling for power but didn’t have to. They could have been fighting over a mate, or a piece of the kill, or really anything at all. Twenty years later he’d be a much older wolf, not likely a threat no matter what the original reason for challenging the Alpha’s son. The image of his human form looked like a young version of the werewolf Jake knew as Jasper. He seemed a confident but quiet character with no discontent evident in his posture.

Selene’s picture was an old wanted poster with the words “Whereabouts unknown. $1,000,000 Reward for safe return to mate.” written across the top. “Possibly pregnant. Another $5,000,000 reward if the pup is also safe and proves to belong to her mate.” Mark hadn’t mentioned that part. Jake looked down at Liana. There was no way anyone was going to take his mate. Not even if the man proved to be her father. Jake walked over to the fire and tossed the stack of files burn. He’d have to be careful now. Did any other members of his pack know what Mark had discovered? He’d ordered his Beta not to mention that Liana couldn’t shift, but he hadn’t even known Mark was digging up info from the past so hadn’t told him anything he found was to be confidential. For $6,000,000 a lot of werewolves would be tempted to turn in two strangers, no matter what their Alpha wanted.