Treasure

Chairman Erik walked into the Alpha’s conference room at the Bitterroot Pack House and sat at the head of the table. To his left were the two North American Council members, Craig Forrest and Royce Waterman. Together, the three would be the judges and jury of tonight’s trials.

He left the Adirondack Pack members downstairs, they would be witnesses only. On his right, the Chief Enforcer for the Council, Mark Trestman, sat with two Alphas of adjoining territories, Colin Friendt and Randall Wright. “The Alpha and Pack leadership have been secured, sir. All have been placed in the Pack prison, with our men and men from the Cascade and Rockies Packs as guards.”

“Good,” Erik responded. The two Alphas would be important, as the penalty for what they suspected they had done could be significant. “Colin, Randall, thank you for coming and for providing security. As you have no doubt been told, no Pack member thirty years of age or older can be trusted until cleared.”

“We understand, Mr. Chairman, and will do anything required,” Alpha Colin said. “Justice will be done.”

“This justice is going to be brutal and public,” Erik said. “The extinction of the Arrowhead Pack is the largest criminal act in five centuries. I hope you brought a lot of men with you, because we will need them for crowd control.”

“Our men are at your service,” Randall said. “We have already placed them under the command of your Chief Enforcer, except the men who are our personal guards.”

Erik looked at his watch. “We will eat dinner and begin the trials promptly at seven PM in the auditorium. The proceedings and sentences will be recorded, and copies sent to every Pack as mandatory viewing. This NEVER will happen again. Generations from now, this night will still be echoing through our people.” He stood and looked over to his Chief Enforcer. “Mark, we start with the Alpha. Trials will be held in reverse rank order. All Pack members over the age of thirty will be interrogated, any found to have participated in the raid will be immediately bound and silvered. Clear?”

“It shall be as you have ordered, Mr. Chairman.”

“Let’s eat then.”

At seven precisely, Chairman Erik gaveled the proceedings to order. The hall was packed, every adult member of the Pack and many other witnesses were present. The two cameras started recording as he motioned the crowd to sit. “The trial of members of the Bitterroot Pack for the attack on the Arrowhead Pack will now come to order. I am Werewolf Council Chair Erik Gruber. To my right is North American Council Member Craig Forrest, on my left is American Council Member Royce Waterman.” He let his dominance out; the two Council members could fight it, but no wolf below the rank of Alpha could help but submit. An entire room full of werewolves would have rolled on their bellies and exposed their necks if in wolf form, instead they lowered their eyes and bowed their heads. “THERE WILL BE NO DISRUPTIONS TO THE PROCEEDINGS,” his voice thundered. “No one is to speak unless addressed by the Court, and no one is to get out of their seats unless called or the proceedings are placed on break.” He pulled his dominance back. “Bring in Alpha Todd Blackstone.”

The doors in the back opened, and two rather large men started to drag a shackled and defiant Alpha Todd forward. The silver chains around his ankles kept him from walking, and his wrists were bound behind his back. The two didn’t care, they pulled him down the aisle past the chairs filled with his Pack members and enemies.

He was glaring at both as he stood in front of the table.

Chairman Erik had a strategy for this, based on the Adirondack Pack’s desires for justice. Instead of starting with the Arrowhead Pack, he charged him with Reckless Exposure to Human Authorities, a charge punishable by death. “Alpha Blackstone, how do you plead?”

“Fuck you.” He grunted as one of his guards delivered a vicious kidney shot that dropped him to his knees.

“Guilty or not guilty,” he repeated.

“Not Guilty,” he said as he caught his breath.

“Very well. Mr. Pike, the floor is yours.”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.” The prosecutor was a tall man, not thin but clearly not a warrior. “Law enforcement in Minnesota has an All Points Bulletin out for a 2015 Ford Expedition, Montana plates ZBB-087. This vehicle is registered to a shell company for Alpha Blackstone’s pack.”

“Why are they looking for it,” Councilman Waterman said.

“Two nights ago, two men entered the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. As they walked towards their target, they were identified by a human victim as the two who had attacked and nearly killed her in the woods. Law enforcement responded, and both were killed in a shootout.” He clicked a button, and the projector screens around the room showed a copy of the news article. He clicked again and the photos of the two dead men were put up, and gasps of shock went through the room. Both were of the Pack, one a Beta. “The Council and the nearest Pack, the Oxbow Lake Pack, have been working tirelessly to divert police attention from leads that can lead back to this Pack. The vehicle has been driven to South Dakota and set on fire already. The police did not get a clear photo of the driver, and our assets in the FBI are helping to ensure they never get one.”

“And how does this relate to Alpha Blackstone?”

“It was the vehicle he was driving, Councilman Waterman.”

“I see. Anything else?”

“Yes sir. In the first attack on the human, the two men were accompanied by a huge, black colored wolf or wolf hybrid. Alpha Blackstone’s wolf is solid black.”

“Alpha Blackstone, what do you say in response?”

He jerked his head up. “If my men weren’t such idiots it never would have happened,” he said.

“I see.” The three of them conferred. “Alpha Blackstone, you have shifted inside a populated city and engaged in criminal acts against a human, acts which could lead to the exposure of our kind. You have been found guilty. The sentence is forfeiture of your Alpha rank and twenty years confinement.”

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS,” he screamed as his guards forced him to the ground. “I’M AN ALPHA BY BLOOD AND THIS PACK IS MINE,” he continued as one of the guards placed his knee between his shoulder blades, pinning him down.

“We can, and we will, Todd Blackstone. We live by laws that are in place to protect our kind, and we all will suffer if men like you reveal us in your reckless acts.” Kneeling in front of him, the Chairman placed his hands on each side of his head and focused his wolf on what had to be done. The Alpha bond was stripped from him, and every Pack member in the room screamed as if he had been killed. They looked up, confused, their wolves panicking as they no longer had a leader. “It is done. Return him to his cell, we will return to him after we have dealt with the others.”

Todd was shaking, his wolf was in shock after having his position stripped from him. It was all his human’s fault; his greed had led to this, and with that his wolf retreated from him.

The next person brought in was the senior Beta, the man who had been left behind while his Alpha was in Minnesota. He was dragged forward and stood in front of the men, his good hand covering the hand that was missing a thumb. “Beta Miller, your Alpha bond is stripped, and any Alpha orders or directions you have been given are no longer in effect. You are to answer each question honestly and completely, do you understand me?”

The Beta shrank back under the dominance of the Chairman; his wolf would comply, even if his human side resisted. The truth would come out, that was how this worked in werewolf trials.“Yes sir,” he said.

Mr. Pike stood in front of him. “Beta Miller, on the night of October 9th to 10th of 2000, were you part of an attack on the Arrowhead Pack?”

“Yes,” he growled out, his human trying to stay quiet but unable to do so.

“What was the purpose of the attack?”

He fought, falling to his knees before his wolf answered. “Alpha Blackstone was furious that Luna Joanne had not been mated to him, and he set his sights on his daughter Charlotte. We were to wipe out the pack and take Charlotte, where she could be raised in our Pack and become his mate.”

The crowd was shocked or furious, but the Chairman’s command kept them from saying or doing anything. “I see.The Arrowhead Pack had eighty-seven members. How many did you kill?”

“Five,” he said.

“Women or children?”

“They killed themselves rather than be captured,” he said.

The three men at the table talked briefly, then the Chairman banged his gavel. “Guilty of murder, sentenced to death. Return him to the cells and bring the next man.”

The parade continued for the next three hours. The horrors of the attack were laid out for all to hear; the women who killed their own children and themselves in the safe room. The bravery of the young woman who stood up to a dozen Warriors and bit off the Beta’s thumb before being killed. The brutality of the sneak attack, and the dismemberment and burning alive of the Luna.

Of the fifty-eight men who had participated in the attack, fifty-one were still alive. The ones who hadn’t killed were sentenced to thirty lashings followed by lengthy prison sentences. The ones who killed were sentenced to death. Alpha Todd was brought back, he wasn’t even questioned before being declared guilty and being sentenced to death. Finally, Chairman Erik finished and the victim statements began.

Two hours later, the sentences started to be carried out. The twelve sentenced to be lashed were first, and the proceedings were moved to the indoor training field the Pack had built. The edge of the field was surrounded by ten-foot-high chain link fence, newly installed, and the bleachers were filled with all remaining Pack members over fourteen and the other witnesses. The men were chained to poles, and burly Enforcers with silver-tipped whips laid into their backs as they screamed until they lost consciousness. They were then cut down and carried back to the prison, where the wounds would heal but the scars would remain. They were the lucky ones.

Thirty-four men, the senior one being the Beta, were then brought into the field, their chains removed, and the gate locked behind them. They huddled together, trying to figure out what was going on as the Enforcers and Pack Warriors from the other Packs stood on the outside of the fences. The men carried cattle prods and spears, and anyone who approached the fencing was driven back quickly. The Beta looked around, noting five men were missing. “WHERE ARE THE OTHERS,” he said.

Chairman Erik turned on his microphone and gestured for quiet. “The four men who killed Luna Joanna, along with Todd Blackstone who killed the Alpha with silver and ordered the death of the Luna, are being given over to the Adirondack Pack. Their death sentence will be carried out on their lands, by their Pack.”

A cheer rang out as the wolves gathered understood what that meant; the death would be needed revenge for the loss of their daughter. They would not get an easy execution.

“As for you men,” he continued, “We debated the method and decided this would be the most appropriate. You will fight each other until only one remains, and that one will be granted a twenty-year prison sentence instead of death. Anyone who tries to escape the field will be shocked, stabbed or killed. Your only way out is to kill everyone else, there are no other rules. You may begin.”

The werewolves were shocked, and some responded quicker than others and shifted into their wolves, attacking the men next to them. In thirty seconds, ten lay dead or dying on the astroturf, while battles had started all over the field. Friends and family members sometimes banded together, but the real targets of their fury were the leaders that had planned the attack in the first place.

The Beta stood with two others, surrounded by a dozen wolves of lower rank. Their strength and skill was evident, but the numbers were against them and there was no way out for them. More and more wolves came over, joining in the attacks. Wolves darted in, tearing and slicing their backs and haunches until they were covered with blood. As their muscles started to fail them, they were open to attacks more often and soon they were helpless.

It only took five minutes for the senior ranks of the Pack to be wiped out.

The fighting continued for another thirty minutes, a bloody Werewolf version of a Battle Royale. Finally, one wolf stood alone.

The enforcers opened the gate, going around to verify all the others were dead. Medics went over to the survivor, they did what they could, but the wounds he sustained were too much and soon he died as well.

“Let this be a lesson to us all. The laws are clear, every one of these men knew what they were doing was wrong, but they did it and kept the secret for fifteen years. Do not mourn those who get what they deserve. They disgust me.” He took a moment to look at the entire crowd, then into a camera. “We as a people are better than that.” Chairman Erik turned and walked through the silent crowd and out the doors, followed by the Council members and the Alphas.

"And now the fun begins," Councilman Forrest said. "What the hell do we do with the rest of them."