Claiming Treasure

Chase Nygaard’s POV

Arrowhead Pack Clinic

Lunch hadn’t happened, and dinner approached as I continued my vigil at Rori’s side. The placental tear had partially healed, and the blood flow had stopped. That was the good news. The bad was that she had lost a lot of blood along the way.

I had a cloth and a bowl of warm water, cleaning the blood from her fur as she slept. I kept glancing at the monitors, one for my mate and one for my baby, the only sounds in the room. I squeezed the bloody cloth out over the bowl and kept up my work.

I could see our son moving around inside the tight ball of her abdomen, just forward of her hind legs. This morning, Rori’s abdomen showed a baby bump. In her wolf form, it was more of a baby bulge. I looked up at the fetal monitor, relaxing when I saw his heart rate hadn’t changed. He just wanted to move around. I put my hand on her belly, causing him to still. “How’s my little guy doing,” I said as I moved my hand over him. He was head down, and I felt a leg kick as he started moving around again. “Are you going to be a born soccer player like your Momma?”

He kicked again. “He’s a midfielder, he’s got a strong leg,” Rori said as she stretched. “Is he doing all right?”

“You’re both doing fine,” I replied. “The bleeding has stopped, and your placenta is healing. You need to rest and eat.”

“I could eat half a deer right now,” she replied.

There was a knock on the door, and I recognized Possum’s scent. “Come in, Mom,” I said.

She opened the door, holding a tray of food and a few bottles of milk. Rori’s tail started to wag as the smell of braised beef filled the room. “I brought you some dinner, but don’t eat it too quickly.”

“I’ll feed her,” I said. She handed me the metal bowl, filled with chunks of beef and gravy. “Nothing for me?”

“You’re going to eat in the dining room and reassure the Pack, plus you have all kinds of work to do with the guests leaving and the problems at the front gate,” she said. “Go on, ruck off. I can take care of my girl.”

The problem with having humans in your Pack, especially in-laws, is that you can’t Alpha command them. She pretended I was in charge in front of the Pack, but I knew I had no choice here. “Mom, why don’t you feed her while I eat and grab a quick shower?”

“Good idea, son.”

I leaned down and kissed Rori’s head. “I’ll be back in an hour,” I whispered.

“Take your time. The Pack needs you, and I can’t do anything but rest.” She licked my hand and turned towards her Mom, who was sitting on the edge of the bed with the food. I left them and walked out the door.

FBI Agent Lana Black got up from the waiting room, where she was talking with some females from our Pack. She stood and followed when I walked out of the treatment area. She got up and followed me into the early evening sun, where Vic was waiting outside with Senior Agent Allison Cook. “We need to talk,” he said as he started walking with me towards the Pack House. “Our reinforcements will be here in twenty minutes.”

“Reinforcements?” Lana looked over at Allison in confusion. “What reinforcements?”

“We can’t depend on the FBI or the Sheriff to protect our Pack and keep the peace in the long term, so we’ve called in some good friends of ours to help,” Vic said. “I expect between twenty and fifty members of the Steel Brotherhood will be here today, with more arriving tomorrow.”

“You think it’s a good idea to insert a biker gang into a volatile situation?”

“They’ve helped us before, and they are a CLUB, not a gang,” I said. “Who’s coming?”

“The National charter put out the call for anyone who could come up and help. I planned to organize the help like last time. I’ll put some at the entrances, and some at the beach.”

I nodded; the idea was to have them as a buffer. It would let us separate those known werewolves from the video coverage from potential crazies. “Issue rifles and pistols from the armory to those who need them. I want at least one boat out on the water at all times, occupants with recognized carry permits in Minnesota. Nobody goes past the vehicle gates armed, leave that for the police,” I said. “Agent Cook, I’ll need you to warn law enforcement they are coming and what they are here to do. They will be on my land at my invitation, and none are felons or prohibited from possessing firearms. They wouldn’t be in the Club if they were.”

“My boss will want to check that,” she said nervously. “He’s going to want to stop and check.”

“Lacking probable cause, he has no standing. A permit isn’t required to carry a firearm on private land, and we will carry in a manner that doesn’t threaten law enforcement. Make sure he knows we aren’t asking permission, we’re warning him of our intention to use an armed show of force to deter any attacks on the Pack.” We’d been through this before. “If he has any questions, he can contact our Pack Lawyer, Ralph Emerson. Anything dealing with coordination can go through the senior person at the main gate, or through one of you.”

“I better talk to them in person,” she said as she turned around.

“You’re going to go from naked pool parties with werewolves to pool parties with werewolves and bikers,” Agent Black asked.

“We haven’t gotten that wild around humans, though I’m sure a lot of the single guys would appreciate it,” I said. “I’ll put out the word.” Opening the link to the entire Pack, I updated them all at once. “Our friends from the Steel Brotherhood will be here soon to help with security. We need to prepare rooms and plan food for up to fifty for the next week. The pool is swimsuit-required effective immediately. In the meantime, the previous restrictions apply. Unless you are in a spot like between the Pack House and the Clinic that is out of sight of lake and borders, anyone who shifted at the road is to stay out of sight. Use the tunnels between buildings. Also, all windows facing the lake or the borders are to keep shades down, or drapes pulled shut. We don’t want to give any snipers a free shot. Vic will be adjusting the security watch schedule and changing assignments as our help arrives, so direct any questions to him.” Vic lowered his head as he opened the door to the lower level of the Pack House for me. “The ban on wolf forms outdoors remains in effect. If you need to shift, do it inside where no humans can see you. I’m proud of you all and what you have done, Arrowhead Pack. That is all.” I repeated what I’d said over the link to Agent Black. “Anything else I might be missing?”

“Arming up and surrounding yourself with bikers isn’t going to make people understand you or accept you,” she said. “It makes it seem like you have something to hide.”

“You’re right,” I said. “I have an idea.” We went up to my office to make some calls.

Rori King’s POV

Arrowhead Pack Clinic

I felt much better after eating some food and taking a nap. Doc Olson woke me up as he did another exam, and he told me I was doing fine. I needed to rest and heal, so I put my head down on the pillow and closed my eyes.

“Rori, are you up for visitors? The toddlers are restless, and I have a big favor to ask.”

“What?”

“The Dateline NBC people are here, and I’d like to grant them an interview with our family. Vic and I think it would help to humanize us and what you did out there.”

“Can we trust them?”

“So far, the network has been balanced in the coverage. Colletta agrees that we need to get out in front on this, before the anti-weres gain momentum.” Possum had mentioned the ‘anti-weres’ as a collection of people coming out against our integration into human society. They ranged from openly violent to uncomfortable in their views on us. “I’ll bring one reporter and a camera crew in, and we can do the interview with the babies next to you.”

“Some interview, what am I supposed to do? Bark?”

“I can translate, and we can use blinking or something for yes/no questions.”

“Fine. Send someone in to change the sheets and brush my fur out. I have to look good on television.”

“You look breathtaking all the time,” he said.

“Suck up.”

“True. I’ll get everything set up and see you in fifteen minutes.”

A minute later, one of the Omegas came in and changed the sheets with Doc’s help, then pulled out a brush. I moaned in pleasure as she groomed me, but growled when Doc got up to leave. “Mom should stay since she’s a human. Tell Doc he’s stuck here too, in case they have medical questions,” I sent to her to pass on since Doc wasn’t our Pack.

There was a knock, and a beautiful reporter walked into my room, followed by her camera crew. “Hi, I’m Tandy Roberts,” she said as she came closer, holding her hand towards me like one would if greeting a dog. I sniffed and licked at it, my tail wagging. I was pleased she wasn’t afraid of the Big Red Wolf. “Your husband is outside with your toddlers. They are SO cute! We thought it would be good footage to watch them come in to see you. Chase said they see you this way a lot.”

I nodded my head and looked towards the door. The cameraman set up behind me, the sound guy holding a microphone up high. “We’re ready,” I sent.

The door opened, and my boy and girl came running in as fast as their little legs would take them. “Mommy!” Mom lifted Cheryl to the bed while Chase picked up Mark. Both of them moved towards my neck, hugging me tight with their tiny arms. I smelled them both, licking their necks as they giggled. Chase came and sat in front of my baby bump, protecting it from their legs.

The interview took almost an hour, and I thought it went well. The nannies took the toddlers after the first ten minutes, leaving me with Chase, Donna, and Doc. It took a few minutes to convince her that I was speaking through Chase; finally, I had Chase leave the room and had her whisper something in my ear, then Chase came in and told her what I said. We covered a lot of topics; Pack life, growing up as a human, finding my mate, the history of the Arrowhead Pack, and our relationship to the Steel Brotherhood. I made sure to talk about my friendships with humans and my vision for the future.

There were some uncomfortable topics, like when we talked about the changes in Pack leadership over the last few years as we cleaned out the bad Alphas. I let Chase sum it up. “Any group that remains isolated and unaccountable, where powerful people make their own rules, is rife for abuse. Rori and I started this Pack with those who had suffered at their hands, and we have pushed for change. We think that openness and friendship will help werewolf and human alike.”

Chase was allowing them to interview Pack members and tour our grounds, so they packed up and left. I was tired again, so after Doc got me a bedpan to do my business, I was happy to sleep.

Chase Nygaard’s POV

Rear Tunnel Exit, Arrowhead

One of the hot topics that the film crew wanted to cover was the health of Deputy Mark Brighton. He had spent most of the day resting and eating as he recovered from his ordeal, with Luna Kathryn by his side the whole time. The two were like any new mates, totally besotted with each other. Mark hadn’t shifted back yet, and his mother was getting nervous. The crew interviewed all of them, with me interpreting for Mark as

Since he was my Pack until he completed the mating with Luna Kathryn, I asked him if he would mind the crew filming his shift back. That was what brought us to this scene, in between the shifting house and the woods. The first shifts in each direction could be painful, but after that, they were painless. Kathryn shifted into her grey wolf to lend support, and we talked him through the change. Since they were filming, we’d placed a thin sheet over his black wolf; he wrapped it around himself as he stood. “That was wild,” he said.

Kathryn followed him back into the shifting house, where his Mom had brought his uniform and equipment. The two of them emerged a few minutes later, hand in hand. “There’s one thing missing,” I said as I stood with his Mom.

“Yes, his family should be here,” she said.

“Jessica is here?” He looked around. “She’s in Virginia.”

“She flew in this afternoon,” his Mom told him.

“And they just arrived,” I said. “Come on, let’s go meet them.” The three of us, joined by the reporter and camera crew, walked towards the low hill that separated us from the road to the front gate.

“Boss, you shouldn’t walk down there,” Vic said.

“I’m in a group with a Deputy and an FBI agent, I’ll be fine,” I sent back.

“Hold up.” We waited a minute until he ran out, handing me the vest. “Put it on, Alpha. Rori will beat my ass if you get hurt.”

“What about them?”

“The protestors aren’t interested in shooting cops.”

Buttoning my shirt as we walked, we headed for the gate. I recognized and greeted a few of the Steel Brotherhood early arrivals, who were set up just behind the vehicle gate. Agent-In-Charge Smallwood was talking with Senior Agent Cook up by the Command Post; by his glare, he wasn’t happy with me. I turned my head to a red minivan, where a woman in her early twenties got out of the passenger door.

“JESSICA,” Mark yelled as he ducked under the vehicle arm with Kathryn following behind.

“Hi Mark,” she said as she hugged him. “You’re all right? And you’re a werewolf?”

“Never better, and yes,” he said. “Jessica Prinz, may I introduce my fiancé, Kathryn Robertson. She is the Luna of the Denali Pack in Alaska.”

Her eyes got wide. “Luna?”

“Senior female. My son is seventeen, he’s the Alpha, and the two of us will help him grow into the job.”

“It’s all so wild,” she said as she hugged Kathryn. Stepping back, she looked at her big brother. “I brought you something. Come on.”

As we walked towards the van, we heard a loud bark. “Max?” Mark moved faster as the vet helped the injured German Shepherd down to the ground. “MAX!” Their reunion was a happy one, although Max took a few sniffs before he settled down.

“Your scent has changed,” I told him as he hugged his dog.

“He smells a lot different to me, too,” Mark said. He took the leash, and Max sat at heel for him, with his shaved shoulder and the white cone of shame. “He’s going to be all right?”

“He will take six weeks to heal, and then he should be able to resume duties,” the vet said.

Mark scratched his ears as they stood there. “Six weeks. We’ve got a lot to talk about, Kathryn. My job, our mating, our future.”

She leaned into his side. “Nothing needs to be decided tonight. Come on, your sister must be hungry, and the buffet is still going.”

They returned to the Pack House while Agent Black and I escorted the television crew back to their van. There were about a hundred protestors, enclosed behind police barricades across the road from our entrance. To reach the press, we had to walk on the other side of the street. A half-dozen officers surrounded me as they yelled and cursed at me while the cameras rolled. I smiled and waved at them, which enraged them more. Finally, we reached the area the Sheriff had allotted the press vehicles. At least a dozen reporters handed me their cards, begging me for the same access the Dateline crew received. I promised I would consider options for tomorrow, but tonight my wife and I would rest.

It had been a long day.

The officers escorted me back towards the command post where Agent Smallwood was waiting for me. “I want those bikers OUT of here tonight,” he demanded.

“Those bikers are my friends and guests,” I replied evenly. “I believe I made that clear to Agent Cook before she came out here.”

“You’re provoking the protestors and stoking fears,” he said. “Pull them back and disarm them, or I’ll do it for you.”

“Get a warrant, then,” I said. “We’re private citizens on private land, well within our rights. You worry about the crackpots down the road.” I turned to walk away. Agent Cook looked at her boss for direction; he motioned for her to follow, so she turned towards me.

I got an urgent send from Warrior Lance. “Alpha, does the FBI have a sniper at the top of the hill, to the right of the green and white house? I saw a scope flash.”

I relayed it to Smallwood. “We don’t have sniper assets in place,” he said. “County SWAT left earlier this morning.”

“GET DOWN,” Lance shouted into my mind. I grabbed Agent Cook as I dove for the ground, pushing her under the rear overhang of the command post. I heard a loud CRACK and thump as the supersonic bullet passed through where I had been standing and into the side of the trailer.

“MOVE,” I yelled as I pushed her farther under, scrambling after her and forward to where the wheels would give us some protection. There was a second shot, this one from the direction of the Pack House.

“SNIPER DOWN,” Lance sent.

“SNIPER IS DOWN,” I yelled at the officers who were still scrambling for cover. “Send units to the green house up the hill there.” I looked over at Allison, who was looking at her hands. “Are you all right?”

“Scraped up,” she said. I could see and smell the blood on her palms, and her right knee was bleeding under the torn dress pants.

“Crawl out the other side until they get the scene secured. These idiots don’t want you; they want me dead.”

“Thanks for getting me out of the way,” she said as she crawled farther back. Any gun battle you walked away from was a good one.

One of the deputies who had taken cover behind the command post saw her and pulled her up. I stayed out of sight until the officers got to the scene and verified the shooter was dead. He was a man in his forties, carrying a scoped deer rifle. “Come on out, Chase,” Agent Cook said.

I rolled to the edge and stood up, dusting my clothes off. “Well, that was fun.”

“Come on. I need to interview your shooter before my boss decides to take him to the field office in Duluth.” I didn’t want my people leaving our territory. I whistled to the Brotherhood guards taking cover near the gate and waved for them to get me. One of their SUV’s was let through, with a few armed men driving. They stopped next to us, Agent Cook pushing me to the center of the back seat before getting in next to the door. She was breathing slowly and deeply, trying to deal with the adrenaline dump from the shooting. “I’ve got to say, Chase, this is the most exciting babysitting job I’ve ever had.”

I snorted. “You haven’t watched my toddlers yet,” I replied.