Abandoned Treasure

Nathan Storm’s POV

Shell, Wyoming

Saturday, December 22, 2007

“Staring out the window won’t get Jade here any faster.”

I looked back at Isra and shrugged. “She was supposed to be here an hour ago.”

Isra went back to icing the chocolate cake. “It’s a long drive, and the weather isn’t great. She knows to be safe rather than fast.She misses you just as much.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” I replied. “Why hasn’t Jade called? My wolf is about to take over. He’ll sit by the road and chase her like the mailman all the way home.”

“And I’ll tie you up in the backyard if you even THINK about shifting. Jade won’t call here on a phone unless it’s necessary. The National Security Agency monitors everything, and Goddess knows who is listening in.”

She wasn’t kidding about that.Rogue wolves and cat shifters are fanatics about security since anonymity is our only protection. All it takes is one slip-up, and Pack warriors could be at your door.

One stop for a burger took my Carol from me.

Having Jade at school, away from my protection, drove my wolf bonkers. New mates rarely separated like this because of the stress. In my Pack, newly mated warriors were not sent outside Pack lands for a year because the separation distracted them too much. Having Jade home for Thanksgiving made it worse when she left again. Video chats and text messages on Isra’s computer weren’t enough to ease the longing to hold and have her in every way.

To make things worse, she planned to stop by Art’s place near Garden City, Utah, and check in on him. He wasn’t answering his phone, and she was worried something bad happened.

I paced in the living room all night, not even stopping to eat dinner. My gut was in knots as midnight passed. “Maybe she stopped for the night,” Isra said as she came up behind me.

“She would have told us,” I replied.

“Please, Luna, let my mate be safe,” I prayed.

“Relax, baby, I’m almost there,” she replied in my head.

“WHERE ARE YOU!”

“I’m five minutes out. I’m sorry I’m late, but things took longer than expected. Tell Mom I’m all right.”

Isra had seen my face and knew I’d been linking with her daughter. “She’s close,” she said as she sat down, relieved.

“Yeah.Jade’s fine. I’m going to let her in.” I slipped on boots and a jacket before heading out into the cold. I headed for the gate, pulling it open as her Explorer’s headlights illuminated me. She pulled through, stopped, and was out of the car before I had the gate shut again. Jade leaped into me, her arms and legs wrapped around me as our lips met. The kiss continued for a long time before we came up for air. “I missed you, baby.”

“Not as much as I missed you,” she replied. “Come on, we need to talk.” I followed her up the driveway, opening the hatchback and pulling out her luggage as she hugged Mom.

I brought her things to our bedroom while Mom served her a late dinner. “Why are you so late,” Isra asked.

“Art is gone,” she replied. “No trace of him, and his scent is almost gone from the land. He hasn’t been there since before my heat.”

“You’re sure?”

Jade nodded. “I shifted and ran the perimeter to be sure. It took me a few hours to empty his refrigerator, clean his house, and clear his driveway. His woodworking shop looked like he’d finished for the day and swept. He had a half-dozen chairs in various stages around.” Art made hand-carved rocking chairs for a living. “The note we left was still on the kitchen counter, and I left a new one just in case, but?”

“You think he’s dead,” Mom said softly.

Jade nodded. “Whoever did it didn’t know where he lived. I didn’t smell any wolves but Nathan and no other cats. There weren’t any scents nearby or in Garden City, either.”

“That’s three in the last month or so,” Isra said.

“Three?”

She nodded. “Three weeks ago, a werecoyote den in Missouri got wiped out. All four family members are dead. Wolves killed them and burned their bodies to ash, but the scents don’t lie. It was Council Enforcers.”

“Pack Wolves wipe out coyotes all the time,” I said. “My pack had kill-on-sight orders for them. What was the second one?”

“A black werebear in Michigan was shot with a rifle and left for dead. A friend found his carcass on his land last week. We aren’t sure if it was a poacher or foul play.”

I thought about it for a minute. “Any wolf scent?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean much. It rained and snowed before Jeff Hastings froze solid. The attack could have been weeks ago.”

“Hunters?”

Isra shook her head. “Hunting season ended in October in the upper peninsula.”

“One is a data point, two is a coincidence, but three is a trend,” Jade said. “What are they saying on the message boards?”

“News of Art’s death will shake things up.”

Jade pushed her empty plate aside. “Thanks, Mom. That satisfied ONE appetite.” Jade stood up and gave her Mom a hug I’ll apologize in advance for all the noise we’re going to make.”

Isra shook her head. “I’d tell you to be careful, but he already knocked you up,” she said with a smile. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Maybe the afternoon if you can’t sleep with us going at it like cats and dogs,” I grinned.

“Try to keep the screaming to a minimum.” Isra gave me a kiss goodnight before walking to her bedroom.

As soon as the door closed, the clothes started flying off. I was stiff as a fencepost already, and my mate was ready for me. She put her arms around my neck, I grabbed her ass, and we moved until Tab A aligned with Slot B. I was balls-deep in seconds, both groaning in pleasure.

“NOT ON THE TABLE, I EAT THERE,” Isra yelled through her door.

“Time for bed then,” I growled. I bounced her as I walked to her bedroom, making her mewl in pleasure. I laid her back on the sheets, standing bedside with her legs around my waist. I pounded her hard for a few minutes, powering her to one orgasm after another. When I felt myself getting close, I moved her legs to my shoulders, held her thighs tightly, and picked up the speed.

“Nathan FUCK, so fucking deep, it’s so gooooood,” she moaned as she thrashed under me. “Pound me into the mattress.”

“Are you sure it’s all right?”

“Our baby is well-protected,” she said as she squeezed me tighter. “Give it to me, baby. I’ve missed this cock.”

I wasn’t going to last long our first time. I pushed Jade’s knees back to her shoulders, leaned forward, and went to town. The fleshy smack of my hips into hers, the squish of our combined fluids, and her constant moaning filled the room. “I’m going to cum,” I said a minute later.

Jade pulled a pillow over her face and screamed into it as a massive orgasm broke over her. I held on for two more strokes before going deep and flooding her with a month of pent-up seed. Her greedy sex wanted it all, and I was light-headed when the last spurt came out.

I collapsed on top of my much smaller mate, holding the connection as I rolled until she was on top. I could feel our combined juices leaking onto my balls and thighs as we recovered from Round One. My hands moved up and down her back, making her purr in contentment.

Five minutes later, I was hard again, and she was riding me like a cowgirl.

We only got a few hours of sleep before my alarm woke me up for morning chores. I headed for the bathroom. When I got back, Jade was pulling the sheets off the bed. “What’s with all the dog hair?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “My wolf liked sleeping under the covers with his nose in your pillow,” I replied. “He had a tough time with you gone.”

“It was difficult for me, too.”

“Shower?”

I shrugged. “I like being covered in your scent, and it’s not like Mom doesn’t know what we were doing all night. I’ll do my chores while you do laundry and help her with breakfast.”

“And after breakfast?”

“I’ll need to renew your scent on me,” I said with a grin. Jade hugged me, her hand reaching down and wrapping around my hardening cock. “If you start that, the livestock won’t eat on time.”

“MINE,” she growled into my chest.

“Always.” I smacked her ass, making her yelp before she went into the bathroom. I quickly dressed and put the sheets in the washer before heading out. Isra was already up and working on the pancakes. “Did you get any sleep?”

She shook her head no. “I don’t have to worry about my baby being happy. I think you rang her bell a dozen times last night.”

“Fifteen or so,” I said with a grin. “It’s hard to tell when they run into each other.”

“Chores. Now.”

It took me a half hour to get them done. Breakfast was on the table when I walked in. I sat down to a plate filled with pancakes, a sausage omelet, and hash browns. After some small talk, we got down to business. “What are we going to do about Art?”

“I updated the message board this morning about what Jade found out,” Isra said. “If nobody else has seen him, it’s safe to assume he’s gone.”

“Fucking wolves are the worst,” Jade sneered. “Present company excepted. I like fucking your wolf.”

“The question is, what do we do about it,” I said.

“What can we do about it? Start a war? We don’t even know what happened to Art,” Isra said.

“What can any of us do? We’re just two cats and a rogue wolf. We’re dead if we try anything.”

Isra nodded. “They have numbers and organization, and we’re scattered everywhere. It’s a losing proposition taking them on.”

I picked at the food on my plate as we discussed the problem. I was staring at a piece of sausage when the idea came to me. “Intelligence,” I said. “We’ve been looking at this all wrong.”

The two cats looked at me with confusion on their faces. Jade touched my hand. “What do you mean, baby?”

“You guys are talking about raising an army to go after the Packs. That will never work, and you know it. The different species don’t trust each other. You’d be lucky to raise groups of each kind and get them to work together because they won’t take orders from another kind. The lack of cohesion dooms any Army before the first shot. Plus, it’s impossible to hide a major fight from the humans. If they find out about werecats and werewolves, we’re ALL dead.”

“So what do we do?”

“We fight an insurgency,” I replied. “It’s like Afghanistan. The US troops were gathered in bases and outposts, too numerous to take on directly. The enemy was everywhere, hiding among the population and picking the times and places to attack. Hit and disappear, and they dragged it out for decades.”

Isra looked concerned. “The insurgents lost a ton of people, Nathan.”

“There aren’t as many wolves as troops, and there is lots more land to disappear in,” I replied. “The best part is that we can stay dispersed yet coordinate our actions. All we need is a general agreement on what to do and how to do it. Demonstrate to the Packs that you can retaliate at will, and it’s a whole new dynamic to come after us.”

Jade wasn’t convinced it would work. “They will wipe us out.”

“You can’t go off half-cocked,” I said. “We need agreement, intelligence, and cooperation.”

“And how do we get that,” Isra asked.

I pointed at myself. “Former Pack Warrior and insider who has visited multiple Packs and knows the people.” Pointing at Jade, “Computer expert.” I pointed my finger at Isra. “Respected werecat with contacts across the country. We’ve got what we need at this table. We can convince the others to participate.”

“How?”

I laid out my plan over the next thirty minutes. “Isra, your part is key. You’ll convince the others to help with money and knowledge. We need a database of all the Packs. I want to know their people, businesses, homes, jobs, hobbies, EVERYTHING. I want to know them better than the Council does.”

Isra looked into my eyes. “And how am I supposed to convince them to do this?”

“By offering something they don’t have now. We create an information exchange for the exclusive use of independent Were. Everything is encrypted, identification numbers are used instead of names, and we are the intermediaries in all transactions. If a werecoyote in Nebraska needs identification, we can get that anonymously from a wereleopard in Florida. If you need to leave quickly? We arrange transportation, safe houses, and support. If you need to get someone a message, we do that anonymously. If a local Pack is harassing you, everyone finds out, and we pick a weak spot to respond while you disappear.”

“How is that different from the message board?”

“Everything is anonymous and secure because you deal with the exchange, not directly between parties. The financial transactions are untraceable, and only we will know the codes.”

“That makes US a target,” Jade said. “What if they get ahold of the database?”

“You figure out a kill switch, so it’s gone before they get to the computer,” I said. “Computer security is your area.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What I do best. I’ll stay hidden, build the databases on the framework Jade designs, and handle the transactions. We take a small percentage to cover our costs. I can stay hidden and still support my family.”

Jade slid into my lap. “What do we call this system you’re planning to build?”

I thought for a second. “It’s all-seeing and all-knowing. We’ll call it The Oracle.”