“This document states that upon losing the agreed upon contest, you relinquish all your personal holdings in regards to this mountain, not entailed by federal, state or local control, to the winning party. Both Alphas promise to have no further contact as individuals or on behalf of their pack.” She passed out copies to the Alphas, their Seconds and the four Witnesses. “Read them carefully, please.”
The document was simple and clearly stated as she’d requested. They didn’t need anyone’s request to consult council.
“Marshall, are you sure you want to risk all this?”
The man looked genuinely concerned and Elizabeth understood that this pleasant faced man was Max’s former Alpha. Marshall nodded and the man shrugged. “So be it.”
“We both agreed to it,” Marshall said. His look dared Everest to say otherwise.
The militiaman looked to Creepy Eyes. “I see no reason not to sign, Calvin. It’s more than what you wanted.”
Everest threw his hand out and pointed at Elizabeth accusingly. “It isn’t the signing. It’s this woman has no rights here. She has no right to ask for anything. She needs to learn her place.”
“She isn’t asking for anything, Everest,” Marshall jumped to her defense. He looked at Mr. Idaho. “These are my terms. She merely arranged for the paperwork, Roger.” And back to Everest. “Sign it or forfeit.”
The Witnesses said nothing, but the wolver who looked uncomfortable in his ill-fitting suit, took out a pen.
“Give it here,” Everest snarled. He snatched the pen from the man’s hand.
He scribbled his name so fiercely Elizabeth thought the paper might tear. She waited until Marshall and the others signed before she withdrew the other papers. She handed them to Marshall with a wink.
“Would you like me to show them the map, Alpha?”
“Please,” he said, “And while you’re at it, you can explain these.” He spread the papers out while she opened the map so that both her version and Everest’s could be seen together.
‘Of course, Sir,” she agreed meekly. Idaho seemed to appreciate her subservient attitude. “These are the personal holdings of the parties involved with verification through local tax assessments and land offices. The yellow areas are those of the Alpha Goodman. The green ones belong to the Alpha Everest.”
Elizabeth moved closer to Alpha Idaho, so that when Creepy Eyes leapt to his feet and lunged at her, it was Idaho who stepped forward in her defense.
“It’s a lie. These lands belong to the Double W, not to me. And look at this. Look at it! That’s not Rabbit Creek territory. It’s a postage stamp of land.” Everest turned to Marshall. “You put her up to this. The bitch would do anything you asked.”
This wasn’t going the way she planned, but Marshall, bless him, fell right into step with the current situation. He didn’t deny his participation in her endeavors, but he didn’t lie. Patiently, quietly, as if he didn’t want to frighten her, he spoke quietly.
“Tell the Alphas Smythe, Norton, Morgan, and Goodman,” he nodded to each Witness in turn, “Exactly what you did.”
She looked at the four Witnesses and then at the floor. “I called my mother’s lawyer, who was also my stepfather for a time. I asked him to research the holdings of Marshall Allan Goodman and Calvin Bingham Everest. I told him that they each showed an interest in me and I wanted to be sure they were who they said they were. I told him I was only interested in their interests in Rabbit Creek and the surrounding area.” She pointed to the papers on the table. “They’ve all been stamped, sealed or notarized. I didn’t know what they would show until I opened them just now.” She glanced at the three small yellow outlines on the map.
Marshall shrugged. “Rabbit Creek is an incorporated township and the land is held by individual owners. What you see is what I own; my home, the Home Place, a spot up on the mountaintop along with the land surrounding them. I have, in the past, owned or purchased land or houses and held them until a pack member could raise the money for purchase. The mill and other businesses are held jointly by the wolvers who work there. I receive a salary and a share of the profits. The mountaintop is held in trust for the use of the township and reverts to the state should I have no son or daughter to manage the trust. Because everything is owned by members of the pack, we consider this our territory, but in a court of human law, it isn’t.”
“You’ve been busy, little brother.” Charles frowned, but Elizabeth could see a glint of humor in his eyes.
“I never wanted the land to come between my children.” Marshall stared Everest in the eye. “You can have my land, but you can’t touch my pack.”
Calvin Everest poked the green spots on Elizabeth’s map. The table thumped beneath his finger. “These lands are held in the name of my pack.”
“The name on the deed is yours, Calvin, not the Double W.” The Canadian Alpha, Norton, spoke for the first time. “What are these areas here?” He pointed to the plots marked with green hash marks.
Elizabeth consulted her papers, though she was pretty sure what it meant. “These are lands the Alpha Everest hold jointly… with the Alpha Goodman, uh, Charles Goodman.”
“Wait just one damn minute.” Charles stepped forward. “That’s a business deal. That’s the future of Crystal Springs Development.”
“It is,” Elizabeth smiled sweetly, “And when, ah, if Marshall and his pack win the battle tomorrow, you two will be partners.”
That earned her a scowl from both brothers
Chapter 39
Elizabeth didn’t spend the night alone. At Marshall’s request and with the Witnesses agreement, there were two wolvers, representing both packs, posted at both the front and back of the Home Place.
It didn’t matter. She couldn’t sleep anyway. She paced and prowled about the tiny house until she was sure she’d worn another inch off the floors.
Finally, when the sun was already rising over the trees, she sat in one of the chairs by the fire and fell into a fitful slumber punctuated by dreams of blood and high pitched animal screams and pack members pointing accusing fingers in her face.
She’d done the right thing, she was sure of it. The only way to deal with Calvin Everest was to win decisively, humiliate him in front of his pack and send him home with his tail between his legs. If his wolvers were anything like those in Rabbit Creek, they’d know what went on at the meeting; know that they weren’t fighting for their pack but for their Alpha’s personal gain. Maybe, just maybe, that would affect their morale.
The worst of the nightmares was the one in which Marshall became so concentrated on the battle for his pack, that he forgot the Chase and Elizabeth was left alone and at the mercy of Creepy Eyes. She awoke from it screaming with four wolvers staring at her.
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” She shooed them back outside, furious at having her fears so blatantly displayed.
She wasn’t fine. She was terrified. She’d done as Maggie demanded and never let it show, but it was there all the same, clawing at her back like a demon from hell. There was no way to negotiate the Chase. The rules were cut and dried. After her role in the negotiations, as angry as Creepy Eyes was, Elizabeth knew she would suffer punishments beyond imagination if he won the Chase. As if being forced to mate with him wouldn’t be enough.
It was early afternoon when Maggie arrived with Max and Gwenna and Lara to help her to dress. They tried their best to make it a festive occasion but their jokes and laughter fell flat. There was nothing to laugh about until Marshall won the Chase and Elizabeth was their Mate.
She bathed and shampooed as instructed and Lara dressed her hair. When Elizabeth saw the pile of bits and pieces gather from the woods that would serve as decoration for the tight French braid, she cringed. She was, however, delighted with the result. With her crown of evergreen and berries and her simple white shift, she looked like a woodland nymph. The white sandals, she refused.
“You can’t expect me to run in those.” She pointed to the delicate shoes.
“How can anyone party at a time like this?”
“It shows the other side we’re not afraid of the outcome,” Max explained.
“And the games get the men loosened up and excited about the coming battle,” Lara added. “Don’t seem like the Double W is doing much, though.”
“They party after the victory.” Gwenna was the only one looking worried. George had been chosen to fight and she was afraid he’d be singled out because of the last conflict.
Elizabeth gave her a hug. “There’ll be twenty-nine others fighting beside him. George will be fine.”
“It’s not the battlefield that worries me. It’s the twenty wolvers we can’t account for.”
“They’ll find them, Gwenna,” Lara assured her, “And if they don’t, we will. And then we’ll make them pay.”
Elizabeth was surprised by the number of children running around the grounds of Marshall’s house. Boys laughed and played and fought mock battles with each other, running one minute on all fours and battling on two legs the next. Maggie assured her that all under twelve would be removed before the battle began. The rest were considered old enough to learn what being a wolver meant. Elizabeth wanted to object that twelve was too young, but boys changed to wolvers at fifteen and were expected to carry their share as soon as they reached a man’s full height and weight. And young women needed to know what was expected of their men.
Little girls greeted her with offerings of flowers and treats. There was no doubt in their shy smiles. She was to be their new Mate and Elizabeth tried to draw their untainted confidence into herself.
Marshall walked among his people, nodding, laughing, slapping backs and participating in games his ancestors had brought with them from Scotland so long ago. She watched him coach Junior and his friends as they tossed the caber, a long pine pole, and the young men’s looks of pride when he praised them.
He wasn’t allowed to touch her or talk to her, though his surreptitious looks told her he wanted to. Elizabeth understood. If Marshall was allowed contact, Creepy Eyes would enjoy the same privilege and neither of them could tolerate that. It was just as well. Marshall’s show of relaxed self-assuredness inspired her to maintain her own. She refused to let Creepy Eyes win this battle of wills.
She greeted the members of the Rabbit Creek Pack with smiles and thanks for their blessings and goodwill. They almost made her believe this was a normal mating, a wolver wedding celebration.
When the lowering sun reached the trees, all festivities stopped. A few chosen women loaded children into trucks and drove away. They would wait together in the church for news of the battle. The remaining women helped their men undress. There were a few short kisses and hugs. The wolver women did their best to hold their emotions in check. Those chosen to fight entered the field normally reserved for the Percherons. Marshall was one of the thirty. There would be no kiss for him.
Thirty Double W fighters marched out from behind the house and onto the field. Calvin Everest wasn’t one of them. He followed them, strutting in his naked glory, tall, barrel chested and slightly greying. He wouldn’t fight beside his wolvers. He was saving himself for the Chase and Elizabeth hated him for it.
There was no sound as the opposing packs faced each other across the field. The wind stopped and even the small sounds of nature ceased as if they knew something terrible was about to happen. As the last of the sun disappeared, a flash of brilliant, blinding light swept the area and the women stood alone, surrounded by wolves.
A great roar and howl went out from the field as the two sides charged. The center of the field exploded with the boiling collision of sixty wolves ready and eager for battle. There was no hesitation on either side. Snarls, yips and growls blended into a ferocious hum as wolves lunged, dove and leapt, open jawed with teeth bared. Individual combatants fought each other or rallied in groups to fight off others. It was hard for Elizabeth to tell one pack from the other in the remaining dim light, but as her eyes adjusted, she was able to recognize a few. She caught sight of Marshall several times only to have him disappear into another tumble of fur and teeth.
The women and surrounding wolvers watched in quiet and anticipation as the battle raged until a scream of pain rent the air after a full half hour of battle. The crowd erupted in a communal gasp and yips of frenzied excitement. First blood had been drawn.
The smell or sight of blood had its effect on the combatants as well. Elizabeth didn’t think it could possibly be, but the fighting escalated to the point of ferocious fury. She saw the barrel chested George hurl himself over the heads of the others to catch the flank of another leaping wolf. The two fell in a tumble of fur. There was a scream of pain and then George arose, lifting his muzzle to the darkened sky.
A cry from one of the women drew her attention to a skirmish at the corner of the field. One lone wolf, tail to the corner post, held three attackers at bay, but it was clear his slashing efforts would only delay the fatal outcome. The attacking wolves were working in tandem. Two would strike from either side of his head while the third would grab at the hind legs in an attempt to hamstring the wolver.
Elizabeth crammed her fist to her mouth as she remembered how close she’d come to that same fate. But this victim didn’t run as she had. He stood bravely and fought. Defeating one, another would lunge until finally, one sank its teeth into the lone wolf’s rear leg. The injured wolf spun to get away. Though dragged off his feet, the attacking wolf had his jaws locked on the leg and would not let go.
The other two moved in, circling, waiting for their chance to pounce on the exposed throat of their thrashing victim. Elizabeth wanted to close her eyes against the coming slaughter, but she couldn’t. She tasted copper against her tongue. Her teeth had pierced the skin of her knuckle.
She felt a heavy shove against her thigh and she stumbled to the side. A wolf with a darker saddle over its grey sides; Creepy Eyes, she realized when he turned his glittering green eyes toward her. In his wolf form, he couldn’t speak to her, but his curled lip and snort of approval said it clearly enough. “Challenge us and you die.” She turned away from him and back to the wolver who was willing to make that sacrifice for his pack.
From the center of the bloody melee at the center of the field, a great silver head raised up and howled. Marshall! He leapt straight up, soaring over the tangle of wolves below and charged for the corner of the field. He caught the first of the circling wolves under its belly and tossed it into the air with his head. The move exposed the vulnerable underside of Marshall’s neck and the second wolf sprang quickly forward. It wasn’t quick enough.
Marshall’s neck twisted at an impossible angle and with an agility that was amazing to watch, his body spun after it and caught the second wolf mid leap. He twisted again and tore into the second wolf’s throat, cutting off the scream. Without pausing, Marshall twisted yet again to dive at the third who had released its hold to fight off this new threat. There was no circling, no vying for position. The third wolf fell to the power of the silver wolf’s jaws.
Marshall stood, facing the battling throng, ready to defend his injured packmate from any new threat until the injured animal crawled to safety beneath the fence rails where wolvers and women surrounded him to give him aid. Their great silver coated Alpha plunged back into the fray.
There were more screams of pain. Elizabeth could see a few bodies lying prone on the field, their heaving sides proof of life, while several wolves limped their way to the sides. Rabbit Creek Pack was giving quarter. The Double W would not.
Marshall and his wolvers were fighting for their existence as a pack. Their opponents’ goal was death.
A small body brushed by her and she saw it was her new friend, Bobby, only ten and too young to be here. Elizabeth reached out to stop him and send him into the house, but he’d already sidled up to one of the large wolves who stood by the fence. It was one of the Witnesses, though she couldn’t have said which one.
“Kind of like soccer,” Bobby said, sounding completely innocent and fascinated by the battle. “I mean with sending in subs for the players and all.”
The Witness’ head whipped around and he snarled. Bobby took a step back, but didn’t retreat. “I’m just saying, is all. Nobody told me you could substitute for injured players.”
The Alpha wolver gave a small yip and Bobby pointed to the opposite side of the field. “I was over there hiding in that big oak so I could watch. I’m not supposed to be here, you know,” he said confidentially. “A couple of injured wolvers came off the field and others ran on. Don’t know if they’re ours or theirs, just didn’t know you could do that. Can’t ask my Alpha ‘cause he’s out there doing battle, so I figured I’d ask one of you. Alphas know all about this stuff, right.”
The Alpha snarled, not at Bobby but at the field. He trotted away to nudge another Witness and they both took off at a full run around the fence line. Bobby grinned at Elizabeth.
“I told you me and Marshall would be looking out for you and the pack.”
Elizabeth kissed the top of his head. “You, young man, have just become my hero. You knew the Double W was cheating, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t lie, ma’am.” The little imp shrugged. “I couldn’t see who it was. But it had to be the other guys. I gotta go now.” He held up a slingshot. “I got more work to do.”
“No cheating, now.” Elizabeth was afraid of what the boy might be planning next.
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