I made a new appointment with the hand surgeon for the coming Friday, and we put our plan into place. I handed the keys to my truck over to one of the Pack warriors, and he pulled it up to the front of the Pack house while I watched from my room. One of the female warriors had been in my room for the past two hours, having her hair dyed and styled to match mine and wearing my clothes. The resemblance was good enough to fool people who didn’t have a long look, especially behind the tinted glass of the back seat as she got in.
The truck was followed by a panel van filled with another eight warriors, and every one of the people in the two vehicles was heavily armed. They were on high alert as they left the Pack lands; the last attack had included ten wolves and a human, and if they were to try again it might be more. The human involved knew nothing of werewolves; he was a member of a motorcycle gang in Denver and had been recruited to play a part.
For a price I paid, he spilled the beans on everyone that he had seen and what he had been told to do. They had given him two autoinjectors filled with wolfsbane and sedative, enough to knock both the men taking him out without them being able to mind link a warning. When they were out, he had called 911 back and called off the ambulance, saying the man was refusing treatment. He had been paid $25, 000 for his help, and I gave him more to get his confession recorded.
From his description, I knew who the ringleader was now. Stephen Tanner, first son and Alpha heir of the North Shore pack. I hadn’t seen his wolf, so I couldn’t tell if he was the mysterious black wolf or not. If he was, I had no idea why he didn’t kill me; I wasn’t his mate, he already had his, and he knew I was human. If it wasn’t him, then he was dead and Alpha Scott Tanner had lost all three of his sons to me.
I couldn’t believe he let his own son be skinned and burned with our garbage; the man truly had no honor.
Something about that made me smile inside. The man who ruined my life in the search for power now may have no heir. I hoped that was the case, because he would ruin his own daughter’s life now. She would be forced into a mating, with someone her Father picks from another Pack, someone who could take over as Alpha. I wonder who would hold their hand over her mouth to quiet her screams while her ‘mate’ bites her against her will, then takes her virginity?
That would be poetic justice after what she did to me.
Two other vehicles were then prepped in the garage, and I was ushered into the back seat of an older Ford Explorer with Remi, Renee and Doug. A second panel van would follow us, filled with Pack warriors. We were about ten minutes behind the first two vehicles as we headed for Billings, and the drive was uneventful. If there was anyone out to get me, they weren’t doing it now. I smiled as I thought back to the conference call where Doug put the fear of Luna into the four alphas.
We pulled into Billings in the early afternoon, stopping for lunch at the Bull Mountain Grille. The food was good, but I missed the days when I had a werewolf’s metabolism; the days of the 24 oz Porterhouse were over for me. I had a very good New York Strip, cooked medium rare as I couldn’t stomach a bloody steak any more either. Stupid pregnancy hormones.
The appointment with the doctor didn’t take that long. I had scanned and sent him my records earlier in the week, so he knew what had happened. He checked the wound and verified it was healing up and showing no sign of infection. He had me try to move it, but that was still beyond my ability, as was being able to sense pain, heat or cold. “Don’t worry about that, it all takes time,” he said. “The surgery attempts to bring the nerves together, but they will take time to reconnect. You are likely to have phantom pains, muscle twitches, and difficulty moving it for the next year or two.”
“How long until I know how much function I’ll get back?”
“We’ll have a better idea in six months. Your thumb was pretty chewed up, I’m not as optimistic as I am when there is a clean cut. Dr. Andersen did a good job, but we’ll just have to see what happens.” I was crying in Remi’s arms as he left; we waited until I was cleaned up before we returned to the rest of the family in the waiting room.
We headed to the Mall to get some shopping done. Renee had begged me to help her with her Christmas shopping, so we (along with some trailing security escorts) hit the stores until we had found the perfect gifts. I asked one of the guys to take the bags back to the car while we waited in the food court for everyone else. After some pizza and ice cream, I turned Renee over to her father while Remi and I went shopping for maternity clothes and gifts for her children.
We finally headed for the Big Horn Resort, and as soon as we had our rooms Renee was changing and begging me to take her down to the small waterpark. We had adjoining rooms with her parents, and the rooms around us were filled with our Pack warriors. I was glad the Doctor had pronounced my wounds healed enough that I didn’t need a bandage, but I still had a protective plastic splint over my left hand and thumb. I changed into my suit and was about to knock on the door when Renee stopped me.
“Don’t bother,” she said, “they are busy.”
“Well, I’m just going to invite them to come.”
She laughed. “Oh, I think they’ll both be coming soon, and without us.” I turned a little red, clearly she could hear what I couldn’t. “Come on, our escorts are waiting.” We stepped out into the hallway and the three male and one female warrior were dressed and ready to head down. We turned more than a few heads along the way as the well-built adults escorted us down. Two hours later, I dragged myself back to the room as Renee was carried back, falling asleep, by one of her guards.
The next week was busy as it was leading up to Thanksgiving and I had schoolwork to catch up on. The free time I had was spent on research; I set up files on each of the Alphas on my list, along with Olivia and Carol, as they were my main targets. Sub files on each folder I set up for their children, Pack leadership, business and properties. I searched government records, company statements and property tax bills. Then there was the personal stuff! You would be amazed at what information was available on the Internet, and then what people would put on Facebook and other social media. Pretty soon, I had a list of their friends, business associates and neighbors.