“That’s a long ride for you, Dad,” Ashley said. “Straight through it’s a good eighteen hours.”
“We don’t need to go straight through. Let’s make an adventure of it, take some rides through the mountains, see some of the sights. The more comfortable she is with us by the time she arrives, the better.”
“It’s a solid plan. Invite her and let me know if it works. Once she is safely isolated on Pack lands, we can show her our true nature and draw her own wolf out.” The Alpha ended the conversation, and they looked at each other.
Ashley just prayed to Luna it would work. She really liked the younger female, and this was going to change everything in her life.
The next week, the three riders left their Orlando development for the Clubhouse. The Steel Brotherhood club was making a run to Charlotte, where they would attend the wedding of a former member of their charter who had been transferred to a new job. Having the Club with them part of the way, and Ashley’s father the rest, helped to ease Donna’s worry about Rori’s safety.
Rori was just glad to be out on the road, with her freedom. It had been almost three years since the attack that left her isolated and doubting her own sanity. Being on her motorcycle was like therapy for her, and she felt better this past week than she had in a long time.
The Club got on the road just after seven in the morning on Saturday, getting on the freeway and heading north at high speed. The three stayed near the back of the formation as they rode two by two in the fast lane. The trip was close to five hundred miles, a long run, but they did it at speed in nine hours including stops. Ashley was in bad shape by the time they arrived. “My back is killing me,” she said.
“That’s why crotch rockets are for drag racing, not cruising,” Rori said. “You’ll come over to our side eventually.” The two girls and her father were introduced to the local members, who were just as welcoming as the ones back home. The wedding was fun, and one of the Club members put them up for the night at their home.
They took their time the rest of the way, averaging two hundred miles a day. On July 3rd, they turned left onto a paved private road that wound into the Adirondacks. It took them another twenty minutes before they broke out of the trees into a clearing, with a huge hotel-like house surrounded by smaller A-frames and log homes. When they pulled up in front of the stairs at the imposing house, Rori’s excitement level was through the roof. “Wow,” she said as she pulled off her helmet, “This is quite the place.”
“Thank you,” a man said as he walked down the stairs, a beautiful blonde at his side. “Welcome to our home, I am Martin King, and this is my wife Rebecca.” Rori smiled at them, something inside her told her she was safe, that she could relax.
Then a man came out of the doorway and her eyes met his. “Welcome home, Charlotte,” he said with a smile.
It was the same man she had seen outside Madison. He called her by the same name as the men in the woods, the ones who almost killed her friend.
They had found her.
She screamed, turning to run back to her motorcycle but the pain in her head knocked her to her knees. She fell to the ground in agony, and the last thing she saw was the older man looking down on her before the blackness came.
“She’s going to shift,” Martin said as his Pack members gathered around Rori. She was rolling on the ground, holding her head, trying to fight it off. “Get her clothes off,” he said as he grabbed her leg, pulling off her boot. The others helped as the young girl stopped screaming and fighting. They had just pulled off her jeans when her bones started crunching, and a few seconds later, her wolf was in her place.
“She’s beautiful,” Charles said as he looked at the rust-colored fur as she tried to push herself to her feet. Sleek, smaller than a male Alpha but still good size for a female juvenile, with bright eyes trying to take in what was around her. “It’s all right, Charlotte, you’re safe.”
Her eyes got big at the word “Charlotte” and she turned and bolted for the trees. “Shift and follow her,” Martin said as he started to pull his own clothes off. Ten seconds later, five of them were in their own wolf forms, tracking the fleeing wolf. “PATROL, we’ve got a new wolf, rust colored and scared. Do not engage, observe and report only.” He got confirmation from them, then he slowed down a little, growling as Charles tried to run ahead of him before sheepishly slowing and moving back behind him again. “She’s frightened but she’s safe on our lands. Let her wolf run herself out.”
Ashley chuffed as she ran behind her leaders. “Alpha, I hate to break it to you, but if you’re waiting for her to get tired, you’ll give up first. Here I’m considered one of the faster females, and she’s a gazelle compared to me.”
He considered it, they were losing ground to her quickly. “You’re right, the more we chase the more frightened her wolf will be. Ashley, take your Dad east, station yourselves on the south side of the lake. Dad, you go west, cover the forest road. Rebecca and I will continue to trail her.” They broke off, heading their own ways, as he gave directions to other Pack members. A few minutes later, vehicles were heading out to get ahead of them and reinforce the border.
The plan he sent to everyone was simple; don’t challenge the frightened wolf, just use your presence to herd her in a big loop back towards the Pack House. As long as she stayed on their land, she’d be safe from humans and cars. Martin looked over at his mate as they ran hard down the trail Rori was following. “Ashley wasn’t kidding about her speed,” he said.
“She will be a strong wolf, I expected nothing less of your niece,” she said as she breathed hard. They got to the top of a hill and paused for a moment; a flash of red on the next hillside gave away their target. “She’s slowing.”
“Let me try something.” Sitting back on his haunches, he let out a howl of greeting. Rebecca saw the wolf stumble, then go to a halt as she listened to the voice of her people. She howled back, her voice filled with confusion, then ran over the crest of the hill again. “That got her attention at least,” he sent.
“Can you link with her?”
“She’s not Pack yet, we haven’t done the ceremony.”
“Still, she’s family. Can you find that bond?” She took off down the hill, he followed as he sorted through his brain, searching for a link that was not his own Pack.
Finding it, he gave it a try. “It’s all right, my niece. You are among family, no one will hurt you here.” He heard a pained yip up ahead, but heard nothing back on the bond. They were starting to get close to the border. “Patrol, we’re a mile from the border and two miles west of the lake. Set up a picket along the border, push he east and south until we can use the lake as another line. Herd her towards Ashley.”
They caught another glimpse of Rori, still running hard and increasing her lead on them. Martin was glad he’d sent men ahead in the Jeeps to reinforce the wolf on border patrol here. As they got closer, they could hear the howls of the patrols as they made themselves known to her, forcing her to change her course to her right. The men were well trained and coordinated, driving her like they would a herd of deer in a hunt, never getting too close and never letting her get around them. They pushed her in a big circle as she reached the lake and was forced south again.
“Let me try something,” Ashley said as they moved out from their position to intercept her friend. She sent her plan to her Alpha pair.
“Form a containment circle with the lake on the east, spread out far enough not to frighten her but close enough you don’t leave gaps she can run through,” the Alpha said. “She’s got to be tired, Luna knows I am.” The border was twenty miles from the Pack House and they had run most of the way at a full sprint.
The Pack members, over thirty of them now, followed their Alpha’s call and formed the circle to keep her from escaping again. The Alphas Pair reached a hill that overlooked the lake and stopped there to rest and see what Ashley could do. Her plan was simple; she was Rori’s friend, her wolf would recognize her and hopefully stop and listen. They could see her grey and black wolf standing near the beach, waiting for the rust-colored wolf to reach her.
Ashley stood tall, tail up in wolf form, and yipped excitedly as her friend ran around the edge of the trees and onto the field leading to the beach. Rori stumbled as she saw the new wolf, her paws scrambling to bring herself to a stop. Ashley put her front paws out, keeping her tail and back end high, and yipped excitedly like a puppy wanting to play.
Rori’s wolf didn’t know what to do. She stood there, breathing hard and staring. Her ears could hear the pounding of paws around her from her pursuers, and when she raised her nose she could scent many strange wolves. One scent she recognized as her friend, some others from earlier, but all made her nervous. She started looking around for an escape route, then back to the grey and black wolf.