“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.
“Damn right. Wait until Dad sees this,” he said.
Councilman Forrest walked to the three men, his dominance was well beyond what Coral had let out. The students all backed up and exposed their necks, while the injured students could only roll over and expose their bellies to him as they held their injured body parts. “Clearly, not everyone is realizing the error of the ways they were taught,” he said as he stared them down. “No shewolf, regardless of dominance, is to be touched without her consent. What you just did was attempted rape! I could have you flogged, even executed for that!” He stared at the three men, looking disgusted as the first man peed himself. “Give me one reason not to make an example out of you!” One man was from the dissolved Bitterroot Pack, but the other two had been sent there from other Packs.
“Alpha, if I may,” Coral said as she turned and bowed her head to him. “I have a better idea, one that will be more effective than a flogging,” she said.
“And what might that be?”
“I think this one here said it best,” she said with a cruel smile. “Their asses are mine.”
He just smiled as he turned around. “Gentlemen, may I introduce Coral Nygaard, daughter of the Cascade Pack Alphas, and your new combat instructor. If you don’t want to join these three as her permanent punching dummies, I suggest you fix your attitude and do what she says.” The look of horror on the men’s faces was priceless, and Chase smiled as he stopped the recording.
“They’re all yours, Chase. I even got them to you early,” she said.
“Thanks, sis. You three, get them up and take them to the clinic. We wouldn’t want them to be out of action for tomorrow’s fun, would we?” They rushed to get the men, and he threw his arm around his sister as they walked out.
It was going to be a busy summer.
Rori followed the directions to the Manchester chapter of the Steel Brotherhood and was met at the gate by a prospect. “Have her put the motorcycle inside,” a woman said from the door, and he opened the gate then ran over to the multi-bay garage attached to the warehouse-like building. She parked her baby in the back. As she got off and removed her helmet and chaps, the heavyset woman was on her. “Welcome, child. I’m Howler, I’m head of the Steel Ladies here. Three Tequila explained everything, you’re safe here.” She gave her a big hug and looked at the Prospect. “Fill her tank, wash it then cover her motorcycle with a sheet,” she said as she led her away.
“Thank you for taking me in,” she said.
“Rori, you should know by now that the Ladies will always take care of their own.” She opened the door that led into the clubhouse; it was big, with a kitchen and bathrooms behind the long bar, pool tables and a bunch of booths and tables. She led her over to a table where three men were sitting over coffee and pancakes. “Rori, this is Bear, my old man and chapter President. His VP, Throttle, and his Master-At-Arms, Reaper.”
The three men stood, and instead of the handshakes she expected, each of them pulled her into a quick hug. They all sat down, with Rori sitting between the Bear and Howler. The names fit; Bear was a huge man, barrel chested with long brown hair and beard. Throttle looked like a racer, he was thin but strong, and Reaper? He just looked dangerous. He had curly black hair to his broad shoulders and dark eyes. “Have you eaten yet?” She shook her head no. “PROSPECT! Bring another plate and some juice for the girl.”
The President looked over at her. “When I talked to Mongo this morning, I told him I’d make sure you were taken care of. He was pretty shook up over what you told him, but I need to hear it for myself. What kind of trouble are you in, Rori?”
She had thought about how much she could say to him, and it was a little more than she expected. She started with her walk in the woods with her friend, how her friend was almost killed as they tried to take her and then they tried again at the hospital. “They called me Charlotte, said I belonged to them,” she said as her food arrived. “I don’t know why. I was adopted when I was one, I don’t know who my birth parents were. I talked to my Mom, we had to get out of there and disappear. The Police Chief helped with the judge, we changed our names under victim protection laws, sold the house and most of our stuff, then moved to Orlando to start over. That’s where I really started riding and painting, and I got involved with the Steel Ladies.”
“I saw the photos of your mural, you’re very talented,” Bear said.
“Thank you. Anyway, we left town thinking all was good, but I noticed someone following us near Madison. I got a good look at the driver, then didn’t see him again. He was a big guy, in his forties, and he stared at me for a second and I could feel his possessiveness. I thought maybe I made a mistake, that it was a coincidence.”
“It can happen. Sometimes a guy sees a woman on the road and takes an interest,” Throttle said.
“So we fast forward six months. A friend invites me to the Adirondacks where her family has a place for the Fourth of July. I ride up there with her and her father. We get to the house, we’re meeting people, then he shows up.”
“The guy from the road?”