Consequences

Erica’s POV

I drove my Mini Cooper back to the Pack House garage and parked it before going back to my room which I shared with two other girls. Michelle was waiting on my bed for me. “What did you do?”

“Nothing I will tell you,” I said.

“Is she alive?”

“Barely.” I took a quick shower and changed to make sure no scents would follow me to dinner, but there was no hiding my scent in the woods. In her room I could claim it was residual from last night if they didn’t go in there right away. Michelle followed me to the dining room, which had been decorated in celebration of the new Alpha for the Tomah Pack.

My stomach churned as I watched Alpha Todd come up on the elevated front table with the Alpha Council and the visiting Alphas and Lunas. Chairman Andreas said a few words of congratulations, ending with everyone raising their glass in a toast to his new position. Alpha Todd then addressed us all. “Thank you for joining me and the Tomah Pack as we usher in a new age of peace and prosperity. I would like to acknowledge the help of the Alpha Council in this difficult time, as well as the support of the surrounding Packs. I look forward to continuing the alliances that our Pack has always treasured.”

I noticed that the LaCrosse Alphas were not smiling at that, in fact they were glaring at him. That alliance would not be easily repaired after what had happened to Talia, and what he said about searching for Tania. I sent to Michelle privately. “Now that Talia was no longer in the Pack, would anyone bother to look for her sister?”

“Alpha Todd won’t. She still has the Alpha bloodline and if mated to an Alpha, could challenge for the Pack again.” She shook her head. “Do you see all those sluts trying to get Todd’s attention? Word is he’s planning to audition Lunas every night, and his calendar is already booked weeks out.”

“Selene, I can’t believe they would fuck that,” I said.

“For a chance to be Luna, they’d do more than that. Bunch of bitches, and just wait until he starts traveling to other packs.”

We stopped talking as the dessert came out, a turtle cheesecake that was to die for. I was halfway done when I felt eyes on me; looking up, the Alpha was staring at me, livid. People started moving away from me as he stood. “ERICA CONNALLY, COME HERE,” he growled.

“Oh fuck,” I said as Michelle looked at me in horror. I got up, walking forward to the table. His dominance washed over me and I dropped to my knees, showing my neck in submission.

“Erica, what did I order when my challenger was banished?”

I looked up at him, shaking, and somehow found my voice. “You said no one was to speak her name or help her in any way, and anyone who did would be guilty of treason.”

“And what did you do?”

“I packed some of her things and left them for her outside the territory, sir.” There were gasps in the room as they realized what was happening. I was as good as dead.

“And if someone helped her?”

“They would be committing treason, Alpha.”

The room was silent for a few moments. “The last thing I wanted to do to start my reign is to deal out punishment, but the first thing YOU did was to commit treason. Warriors, strip her and take her to the punishment pole.” The men moved forward, claws ripping off my clothes with little regard for the skin under them as I shook in fear. Michelle ran forward, but I shook my head no; this was my choice and my punishment.

I was led out of the room and the entire Pack followed, along with the guests. My legs started to give way in my fear, but the men just lifted me so my feet barely touched the ground. The pole looked to outsiders like a flagpole, but it was anything but. My hands were tied together with the rope before they were pulled high, lifting me up onto my toes. The warrior tied the rope off, leaving me helpless. “Relax your body, struggling will make the pain worse,” he said as he stepped back.

The Alpha came close as I sobbed. “For the crime of treason, Erica Connally will receive twenty lashes before she is branded and cast out.”

I started to cry harder, hearing others cry and plead for mercy, but it was not to come. The Alpha unfurled the whip; it had silver dust imbedded into it, slowing the healing and increasing the pain from each cut. I closed my eyes and tried to relax, but when I heard the whoosh of air and the crack, it took a second for the pain to explode in my mind and all other thoughts ended.

I screamed in agony.

The second was on its way before my scream ended, and they kept coming. Pain mounted until I couldn’t scream any more, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. I didn’t even recognize when it was done until he was next to me again. He was holding a metal brand, heating it with a propane torch until it glowed red-hot. “Treason against a Pack is one of the worst offenses a wolf can commit. Death is too good for a traitor; instead, we mark their cheek so all who see them know what they are and why they are rogue. She will live the rest of her life in fear, running from Packs, being beaten or used by whoever wants to, trusting no one and not being trusted. She is the lowest of the low.” He grabbed my hair, holding me tight to the pole before the brand was pressed to my left cheek.

I must have passed out, because I woke up in a man’s arms. My back and buttocks were aflame from the whip, and my cheek ached from the brand, which was followed by rubbing in silver dust so it would scar badly. I opened my eyes, I was cradled to a broad chest, his arms supporting my legs and my neck. I took a sniff and recognized the scent, I had visited the LaCrosse pack with Talia and Tania before. “Alpha Clark?”

“You’re safe, child,” he said. “We’re almost home.”

I didn’t understand, I was rogue and branded with the ‘T’. There was no Pack that would take me in. My life was over, no man would ever consider mating me now. “Home?”

“After you were branded, you were taken off the territory and dumped in the same place Talia was left. I wish I could have stopped it, but an Alpha off his territory has no power, and the Council was never going to interfere with an internal Pack affair like this. You were foolish to do what you did, Erica. Brave but foolish.”

“Talia was… Talia IS my friend,” I said.

“Your loyalty to her is why I came to get you. Some of the men were already talking about coming out to find you later; rape of a rogue is no crime, even if underage. We said our goodbyes and grabbed you on the way out. If you wish, you may join our Pack, but we will have to keep you out of sight until things settle down.”

“I would like that,” I said. He pulled out a knife, cutting his finger before saying the words and touching his hand to my still-bleeding cheek. I felt the Pack bond snap into place; I was lucky. “Thank you,” I said before I fell back to sleep.

Randall Meechum’s POV

Suphur River Pack, 3 days after Tania’s rescue

“If she’s your mate and you don’t want to reject her now, you might after you read this stuff,” my father said. “I called the Alpha Council and requested all the information they had on her, and they sent me this.” He tossed me a jump drive.

“What did you tell him?”

“Part of the truth. I told him you called me because a woman who matched Talia’s description came up in an investigation you were doing, and you needed the background to track her down. He was very eager to share the information and reminded me the reward is doubled if she is captured alive. He hopes that you will be able to do this outside the human system.” I started to growl at the thought. “The Council does love their spectacles. After all the damage she has done, there would be a line of Alphas wanting to take part in her execution.”

I was gripping my chair, and my nails were starting to come out as my wolf reacted. “Stop that talk, love, you’re stressing his wolf,” my Mom said as she stroked my back. I pushed the wolf back, taking deep breaths.

“I will find her, but I will kill her myself before I let her be turned over to them,” I said.

“She might kill you first, son. Don’t underestimate her, ever. James Baldwin once said, ’The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.’ James never came across a woman like this.”

I just shook my head. “How can that be? She’s what, twenty years old, female and weighs maybe a buck twenty.”

“And she’ll kill your dumb ass before you know what is happening. Didn’t the FBI teach you anything? The ones who are scared are unpredictable, but the ones who aren’t scared are dangerous. Her life changed, she’s faced death and she just doesn’t care if she lives or dies. Add in that she somehow became a highly trained killer, highly proficient with guns, knives and hand-to-hand combat. She’s killed three Alphas and another two dozen high-ranking werewolves in just the last three years. Hell, the Council’s direction is not to go after her at anything less than platoon strength.” Damn. A platoon was thirty men. Could she really be that dangerous?

“I know what you’re thinking, bro, but you’ve been away from this for a while. Dad’s had me coordinating with other Pack Betas for years, and every meeting we have we talk about her.” Dallas looked over at Bear, who just nodded. “Our standing orders to the Pack are to observe and report, until we can get every warrior and Beta we have around her. We’re not underestimating her, ever.”

It was a lot to take in. “All right, I’m tired and cranky. I’m going to clean up and get some sleep. Dallas, can we talk in the morning?”

“We’ll talk again after you’ve had a chance to review the files,” my Dad said. “Go. The rest of us need to talk about what this means to the Pack.” I got up, kissing my Mom’s cheek on the way out, and closed the door behind them.

If this was a shitshow for me, there could also be blowback onto my Pack. I was stuck in a minefield without a map. Heading for my room, I tossed the jump drive on my desk and took a long shower.

A long COLD shower, followed by bed.

I woke up just after six and went down to get breakfast. “Morning, Randall,” my Mom said as she saw me come into the kitchen. “You get any sleep?”

“Like a baby, waking up every hour crying,” I said with a smile. I clapped my brother Bobby’s shoulder as I sat at the table, he was the only sibling living at the Pack House who my Mom would cook for. “You’ve looked at the stuff and I haven’t, what are your thoughts,” I said.

“I think we’ve spent far too much time thinking about what the Alpha Killer has done and too little on why,” he said. “She’s never explained her actions, she just shows up, kills them and leaves the cards behind.” To make sure the Council knew who was responsible, she always left behind an Ace and King, usually on the body.

“I’m pretty sure it was her sister she took out of the hotel,” I said. “No one saw her, but from the interviews with the other girls we freed, she went through a living hell. Do you think she blames those Alphas or the Council members for what happened to her sister?”

“It’s possible. There is a whole year after she was expelled from her Pack where she was not heard from, ending when the first body showed up.”

Mom put some eggs, bacon and toast down for us, and I ate and thought about what he was saying. One thing was certain, I wasn’t going back to work today. I sent a text to my boss and Detective Carl letting them know I wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be in today.

By three in the afternoon, my bedroom had turned into the nerve center for my investigation. I had pulled in some white boards from the Pack school, and my computer and printer were put into use. I had divided the walls into sections from each attack, focusing on the potential motives for each. I had a whole section devoted to her sister’s disappearance, and another on the missing year; that one was pretty much empty. Photos, statements and ideas were put up everywhere.

“Whoa, you’ve been busy,” my father said as he came into the room.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in,” I said. “I’m going to need more time.”

“You called in to work today, right?” I nodded. “You’ve probably taken hardly any sick time, and I think you might have come down with a bad case of viral pneumonia. I’m pretty sure Doc will give you a note saying you can’t go back to work for a couple weeks.”

He was right. I had a lot to do if I was going to find my mate and figure out a way to keep her. “I’ll send another text tonight,” I said.

“You’ll have any support you need from us, son. I can’t say I’m thrilled at who Selene has given you for a mate, but we don’t get to pick it, we just have to trust she knows what she is doing. I would only ask one thing in return.”

“Anything, Dad.”

“When you decide if you want to accept or reject her, give me a call. The outcome of your decision will affect far more than just you, and we have to manage it either way.”

He was right, of course. “I promise,” I said.

Two days later I had more questions than answers. I decided to go back to the beginning, to learn about what she was like before she became the killing machine she is now.

I didn’t want to go to the Tomah pack, because I didn’t trust the Alpha. When I looked at the case through an investigator’s eyes, it looked like an inside job. I didn’t have any evidence, but when I looked at motive and opportunity, it came up to the same person.

Who was in charge with the Alphas gone, was trusted by Tania, and benefited from the Alphas racing back to the Pack? Todd.

Instead, I needed to talk to her family and friends. The top of my list was the person who had suffered the most from her disappearance, her best friend Erica. Dad made the call, and I pulled out the next morning, setting my GPS for Lacrosse, Wisconsin.