Chapter 21
Briana
I don’t know how he knew what I needed, but everything seemed so much clearer now. My wolf and I were in harmony. We wanted to submit to Patrick, and yet we understood he was elevating us up to his level since we were submitting.
Fucking pronoun problems again. I sounded schizophrenic but I was fairly certain I was sane.
It was a good thing he got me sorted out, though, because we ended up with most of his new Pack at his house when we arrived later that evening.
Patrick had bought his house with an eye towards it being a gathering place once he was Alpha, which was good because it meant the kitchen was part of the great-room, so I could cook and be a part of the conversation.
As I cooked, I imagined tearing the bar out and redoing some cabinets. The food-bar was intended to be a barrier between the kitchen and living area, but if we got rid of it and put a short island in where the kitchen table is, it would open things up more. It also felt like the stove area should feel like an ancient hearth. A kitchen should be the heart of an Alpha’s home, and it wouldn’t take much to make it happen.
Partway through my musings, I realized I was renovating Patrick’s home in my head as if it were my home. I think in that moment, I let go of the stress I felt over things moving so fast.
This was either going to work or it wasn’t, but so far it was working and we’d probably do more damage by forcing it to slow down than by going with the flow.
One of the new Pack members was telling Patrick he’d just discovered his son was having sex with a young lioness. The son was seventeen and the lioness was sixteen.
Patrick looked to the son, “Do you love her?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Has she told His Majesty?”
“No, and please don’t tell him!”
“You know I have to. It would’ve been better if you’d gotten permission ahead of time. Both of you know the rules.”
“She’ll be in trouble!”
Patrick looked to the boy’s father. “Do you want to call His Majesty, or would you prefer I do it?”
“You know him better, just be sure he knows I came to you, please?”
* * *
Patrick
I nodded to the boy’s father and texted:
YM. Please call me at your convenience.
I didn’t use the Drake Security encrypted app, so the YM was short for Your Majesty. This should let him know it was supernatural business, and not a friendly chat.
I looked at the floor a few seconds to put my thoughts together, and finally met the young man’s gaze. “You know the Pride leader owns every female in his Pack. The local Pride is run by the Amakhosi, so you have to be even more careful. He doesn’t expect every female to be his and his alone, but they aren’t allowed a relationship unless he gives the okay. If you don’t have permission to have sex with one of his females, you’re challenging his ownership by doing so. You’ve landed yourself in deep shit.”
“It isn’t fair! I love her!”
“Who in the fuck told you life would be fair?”
My phone rang, I saw it was Nathan, and I answered with, “Your Majesty, I’m sorry for interrupting your evening.”
“What’s up?”
I briefly explained the issue, and he said, “Randall has allowed me to punish both teens together, in each other’s presence, when we’ve run into this before.”
“I can’t imagine Randall gave you carte blanche.”
“No. He said if he’d handled the punishment the boy would’ve been bedridden for four to six days and would’ve had a helluva time changing for his next full moon. He told me if I got into it and the situation warranted a greater punishment, he’d need to be brought into the session.”
“And you feel punishing them in each other’s presence further pushes the point home?”
“I do.”
Yeah, I’d imagine it would. I looked to the boy’s father, he nodded, and I told Nathan, “I’ll deliver him to you sometime tonight, and you’ll let me know when I can retrieve him?”
“You’re home?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll send someone to retrieve him. Please have him packaged and ready. Also, make sure his father knows I appreciate his coming forth. If I find out the girl’s parent or parents were aware, they’ll suffer my wrath as well.”
The boy was about to run, so I used my energy to push him to the ground as I finished the conversation with Nathan. Briana felt what I was doing and went downstairs, so she had a dozen of my extra-heavy-duty zip-ties ready to hand me as I ended the call.
I put his hands behind his back, strapped his wrists together, and pushed him forward so he landed on his stomach. I quickly strapped his ankles together, lifted them, and strapped right wrist to right ankle, and then left wrist to left ankle. I put another strap just above his elbows and brought his arms together there as well, and did the same above and below his knees.
At his first complaint of the position hurting, I went into his head and took away his ability to speak. An Alpha can override the will of his wolves, and I used the power. I didn’t intend to use it much, but this situation called for it.
I looked to the rest of the room. “We have good relations with the Pride and I intend to keep it that way. If a lion harms a wolf, I’m certain the Amakhosi will take care of the situation to our satisfaction. In this case, one of my wolves has challenged the King of the fucking Lions, and while I won’t let him slaughter my people over it, it’s only fair he be allowed to answer the challenge himself.”
I sighed. “We’re a small Pack, but I hope we can grow into something larger. I want us to be a family.” I looked to the young man at my feet and told him, “When you’re young, parents and situations dole out consequences. If you touch a hot stove you get burned. If you get caught playing video games in the middle of the night when you’re supposed to be sleeping, you lose all access to video games for a while. As you get older, the school and teachers also hand out consequences. Eventually, you deal with the police when you break the law, and you deal with supernatural enforcers when you break supernatural rules and laws. At seventeen, you’re about to learn a hard lesson. I hope you take it to heart and show more respect with your actions in the future.”
“You earn respect by showing respect,” Briana said behind me. I turned to look at her and she said, “Sausage balls will be ready in twenty minutes, I have a cheese platter ready now, and I just put seven huge casserole dishes of chicken parmigiana in the oven.”
I smiled at her and looked at the men and women around me. “Briana’s my mate. We’ll be running the Pack together. You’ll show her the same respect you show me, and you’ll treat her word as mine.”
“She ain’t Pack.”
I looked to the elderly grandfather with a smile. “She’s recently turned and still under her Maker’s domain. She has exceptional control long before she should.”
“Everyone knows my story, don’t they?” she asked.
Most nodded their heads, but not everyone, so she said, “My dad was born a wolf, but my mom was still human when she was pregnant with me. It was assumed I’d be a wolf, but she never came out. She was there, she just didn’t…” She shook her head. “I arranged to be bitten. It didn’t take the first couple of times, but it finally did. I was raised to be a wolf, and I finally am.”
“We have another issue to discuss, though it’s one I can’t speak to until I hear from The Abbott.” I explained about Frank’s little otter shifter and why I was waiting to hear from Abbott. “So far, no one has come to myself or Randall to express their desire to sever ties to the Pack and become lone wolves. I won’t make a decision of what to do with them until I know their culpability.”
I handled a few more issues before the two young lions arrived, and I let them in and pointed them to the hog-tied young man. One of the lions leaned down, propped the boy’s bound wrists and ankles on the lion’s shoulder, and stood as i
f he were carrying a large purse instead of a werewolf.
“His Majesty expresses his thanks for making him aware of the situation, and hopes the Pride and Pack can continue to work together to resolve issues.”
I shook the young lion’s hand, and the two of them left.
When Abbott finally called, I told him, “I have a good percentage of the Pack present, and with your permission I’ll take your call in their presence so we can all hear the outcome of your investigation.”
“Every man knew, and all but two women knew. Frank’s number Two was given as a gift to one of his men, and she died six months after being gifted to him. She was a deer, and it sounds like she had a heart attack while she was being whipped.” He sighed. “Two of the men were threatened against telling, and three of the women were too afraid to tell, but wanted to. I’ve kept everyone with me, including the two women who didn’t know. I’ll be selling everyone who knew and wasn’t frightened into secrecy, and you can work with me to place them if you’d like. How do you want to deal with the others?”
“I’d like to interview them myself. Either in your presence so you can be sure they tell the whole truth, or somewhere else if you can compel them to answer fully and honestly.”
He gave me an address and told me he’d be available there until dawn, and I told him I’d let him know when I was on my way.
I hung up and looked to the men. “Those who knew and approved of the slaves will be sold as slaves, and the proceeds from the sales will go into a trust fund to care for the river otter. If she can be rehabbed enough to be set free, she’ll have funds to help get her started in her new life.” I sighed. “The Abbott and I agreed to this from the beginning and that part isn’t open to discussion. However, this is our Pack, so I’d like to hear input about how to handle the others. The final decision rests with me, but if none of you will be comfortable sharing energy with the others, I need to know this up front.”
I sat back and let them tell me how they felt. I occasionally asked questions to bring them back onto topic, but otherwise I let them have a nice roundtable discussion.
In the end, the consensus was to trust me to make the best decision. If I thought someone deserved a place in the Pack, the other members would do their best to make it work.
Briana managed to feed everyone without interrupting the discussion. She put her own two cents in occasionally, but for the most part followed my lead and listened to what our people had to say.
Our people.
We hadn’t planned how the evening would go, but the two of us had done our parts to make it work. We’d led as a team. I’d trusted her to do her part, and she’d let me do mine.
“We make a good team,” I told her as the final person drove away.
“We do, and now we go talk to people who knew someone was being used as a sexual slave, and did nothing to stop it.”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
Chapter 22
Briana
Patrick didn’t ask my opinion after we’d heard everyone out, but he didn’t have to.
To the people who’d stayed quiet under duress, he assigned what amounts to community service. They’d have to find ways to help others. Mowing a yard for an elderly neighbor, cooking a week’s worth of dinner for a coworker going through a family emergency so they’d have one less thing to worry about, or anything else to help their fellow man. He wanted a minimum of ten hours a month, but expected them to reach five hundred hours in four years. They’d have to do a lot more than ten hours a month on some months to reach it, and he was clear they wouldn’t like the consequences if they didn’t keep up with their numbers. He was also clear this was to help people who weren’t friends and family. If their neighbor was their sister, they’d have to find another neighbor to help.
“Any of you could’ve gone to Randall and let him know. Randall would’ve protected you, and all of you should’ve known the option was available. I understand your fear, but I’m disappointed you didn’t step up and fight for someone weaker than you.”
Patrick had no pity for the others who’d known. I applauded internally when he told Abbott, “Everyone who used one of Frank’s slaves sexually gets sold into slavery. For the others who knew…” He looked at them, then back to Abbott. “Since we know exactly how many years each has known and done nothing, I’m inclined to offer them for periods of indentured servitude to match the time they allowed another to be enslaved.”
Abbott’s smile was more than a little creepy, and he must’ve caught my impression as I thought it, because he looked to me and asked, “Do you have anything to add?”
I shook my head. “I agree with Patrick. This is one of his first major decisions, and it should act as a deterrent while showing him to be fair. It’ll also show he worked with you, because everyone knows you’re entitled to issue a swift death to those who hold slaves in your territory.”
“I believe we’ll handle the indentured servitude locally. A vampire friend has moved into my territory and left his slaves at another residence since I don’t allow them here. I’ll offer to let him purchase the short-term contracts as a goodwill gesture. He won’t want them all, but it’s likely I can find local people who’ll want the others. I believe it’ll be good for their peers to occasionally see the slaves being treated as such.”
Indentured slaves often sell for as much or more than slaves who’re sold outright. An indentured slave’s freedom depends on his fulfilling the terms of his contract. If it can be proven he doesn’t, then the time doesn’t count toward his servitude. Most outright slaves purchased at auction must be kept in cages and shackles, whereas one working off time can often be trusted off their leash once they’re through half their contract.
“Can we let Mira see them in their new situations? Would it do her good to know they’re paying for the way she was treated?” I asked.
Abbott smiled at me, and this time it wasn’t creepy. “I’ll trust Bran’s judgement, but we can certainly bring it up to him.”
* * *
I’d made the decision to commit as much as possible to the relationship in the short term, but I felt as if I needed some time on my own to figure out what I was willing to commit to long term.
My energy was so mixed in with Patrick’s, sometimes I wasn’t sure where my thoughts ended and his began.
I needed some time away from him, but I worried he’d be upset when I told him.
Still, it was important, so I did my best to explain on our drive home from Abbott’s.
“I think I need to spend some time at Maggie’s. If you need me for something important, I want you to let me know, but…” Shit, I wasn’t saying this right. “I love you. I’ve committed to you in ways I didn’t expect, but I need some space before I make any more commitments. This isn’t about me pulling away, it’s about me taking some time for myself so I can be sure of my decisions.”
“You want the rest of your seven days alone?”
“Can you come to me the morning of the last day so we can talk everything out before we go to Randall?”
“Will four days be enough for you to figure it out?”
“It’ll have to be, won’t it?”
“I don’t like it, but I can sense your energy enough I understand.”
I was just into my freak-out because I’d told him I loved him and he hadn’t said it back when he pulled me to him. “I love you, too. It bothers me that the first time you said it was when you were explaining why you need time away from me, but I’m glad we’ve said it.”
Chapter 23
Briana
I came wide awake at five in the morning on my last day. Tires crunched on the dirt road, and then on the cedar embedded into dirt where the cars parked in front of the old farmhouse.
I recognized the sound of Randall’s truck, and my stomach rose into my throat. I slid into jeans, a bra, a t-shirt, slipped my feet into some shoes, and met him on the front porch.
“I assume you’re packed?” he said as I
came out the door.
“I can be in about ten minutes.”
“You don’t have ten minutes. Let’s walk into the woods.”
“I’m supposed to have until tonight!”
“You had until today.” He walked down the steps and around the house, and I followed him across the back pasture into the woods. He wasn’t in the mood to be disobeyed, and I instinctively knew I didn’t want to start this conversation out by refusing a direct order.
We walked a half mile to a little clearing and he turned to me as he stopped. “What’s your decision?”
“I was supposed to be able to talk to Patrick this morning. We haven’t spoken in days while he gave me time to myself so I could be sure. I need an hour with him before I give you my decision, please.”
He crossed his arms. “Be your own wolf, Briana. Decide.”
“I won’t oath directly to you. I was intending to probably oath to Patrick, but… shit! This isn’t supposed to happen this way!”
I almost expected him to react with anger at my impertinence, but he calmly told me, “I can’t let you oath to him before you oath to me. You’re telling yourself he’ll be your Alpha and not me, but you’re avoiding the fact you’ll still be one of mine if you oath to Patrick. I need you to acknowledge my place in the hierarchy, which means I won’t let you oath to him until you’ve given me your oath first.”
I crossed my arms, realized how it looked, and uncrossed them. “I need to talk to Patrick. You can be across the field from us to make sure I don’t oath to him first, but I need to talk to him.”
I’ve seen Randall punish his people before. I’ve also seen him punish lone wolves before.
I’ve never felt it, though, so I wasn’t sure what was happening when he somehow reached inside me, grabbed my wolf, and ripped her through me and out. It was like I was a reversible shirt he’d flipped inside out. I was still in my human brain, but on four legs without the skill to move them. Or, perhaps it was the jeans and t-shirt hampering me. Or a combination of everything.
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