Treasure

Since Rori couldn’t shift and Chase was being insanely overprotective of his pregnant mate, the start of the run was delayed a few moments. Donna wasn’t going to go, but Coral shifted back and talked her into it. “You really should, it will be fun. Keith said he would take you, and if you don’t want to do it anymore he’ll bring you back.”

“Please, Mom. I’ll be fine, Chase here is probably going to make sure I don’t drink any caffeine or alcohol, I don’t lift anything heavier than a fork and I get my rest,” she said as he nodded. “I’ll help them set up the party instead. Go have fun.”

“Oh, all right.” Coral helped her get up on her mate’s back and settle into place before she shifted again. Alpha Michael howled the start of the run, and Donna squealed as Keith took off next to Coral’s wolf. She buried her face in the thick fur of his neck for a few seconds before she looked forward. “Oh my GOD,” she yelled as they followed the other wolves into the forest. It took a few minutes to get used to it; the wind in her face was like riding a motorcycle, the motions were like riding a horse. She learned to lean with him and shift her body as he ran up or down hills. Hunting groups broke off, heading deeper into the Pack lands and national forest in search of game. As the group thinned, they moved closer to the front where Alpha Michael and Luna Margaret were taking everyone in a big loop back towards the pack house.

Forty minutes after they left, three dozen wolves entered the Pack House yard. “That was fucking amazing,” Possum yelled to her husband as they trotted back to the house. “It’s different that riding with the Club in formation, but the same too? Lower to the ground, all the wolves around, it’s exhilarating!” Rori, Chase and Roadkill met them by the clothes cubbies, where the lone human was staring at the front of the house. Coral shifted and grabbed a shirt. “It’s just naked people, Roadkill. Nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“You forget I’m married to a Steel Lady now. There are consequences to looking at naked women I’d rather avoid.” He helped Possum off Keith’s back, then kissed her deeply as the others shifted. “You hungry? I’ve been helping out on the barbecue pit.”

“I can smell that,” she said.

Roadkill led the group as they headed into the dining hall, where the smell of food was amazing. “Their barbecue pit is huge, we need to do something like that at the Clubhouse for big parties. It’s made of concrete block, four feet across and twenty-four feet long. They said they’ve done six whole hogs there, that would be freakin’ epic.”

“That’s a lot of food.”

“They have these things, they trap the meat between four-by-four-foot stainless steel frames with big handles. You lift the whole thing to flip it, and you wouldn’t believe how much wood and charcoal they have going out there. They were doing fifty whole chickens at a time on the frames.”

The buffet line was piled with food, timed to be ready at our arrival. As guests, they went through early and filled their plates. Donna was shocked the werewolves could eat the mass quantities of steak, chicken, ribs and venison present, then she found out there was more still cooking. It wasn’t just meat, either. Corn, salads, hot dish, green bean salads, pretty much everything you’d have at a summer cookout was done here too. A separate twenty-foot-long table was loaded just with desserts. “Eat up, baby, you’re still recovering,” Roadkill said as he put another rib on her plate.

There wasn’t any head table, all the tables were in long rows. They found an open space on the bench and sat down. Colletta and Alpha Carson, her middle son, joined them across the table, soon followed by Chase, Rori, Keith and Coral.

Seating Colletta and Donna together was a recipe for disaster, Rori and the others quickly learned. The matings were the key for werewolves, and those were done in private. When the couple emerged, there would be a recognition of the mates by the Alphas and maybe a special dinner or party, but that was it. If they got married, it was only for human interactions and legal reasons and there wasn’t anything to it.

Donna had been dreaming of her daughter’s wedding for seventeen years, and her excitement was infectious. Colletta soon caught on to the idea, having missed her youngest son’s mating. Donna insisted that she needed a Club wedding, even though Chase wasn’t a member of the Brotherhood. She was a Steel Lady, and that was enough. “Of course, if you’d prospect to the Club it would be perfect,” she said as she looked at him.

“There isn’t a Chapter up here, and I have responsibilities to my Pack,” Chase said. “I love the Club, they’ve been so good to Rori and I, but prospecting isn’t happening.”

“It’s too bad, I’d love to see a Chapter here,” Rori said.

“The whole North Shore has great riding, it’s just such a short season,” Donna said. “Of course, we have smowmobiling too. You guys HAVE to do that with your new Pack, you have all that land plus the lake!”

“We will, Mom. I’m pretty sure our Pack budget is going to include lots of toys.”

This caused Keith to perk up. “We really need to think about what we want now, so we can fit it into the construction plans. When you think about what you want the Pack to have, what are you thinking? Are you going to have people buy their own stuff, or have common Pack vehicles?”

This got Rori thinking. “Well, I want a Pack that has fun, and that other Packs want to visit. I want to be able to host dozens comfortably, hundreds if we include tents. I want campsites, RV hookups, I want boats and jet skis and ATV’s available to use. I want the Brotherhood to come here too. I don’t want to lose the friends I have, and I know they would love to fish and ride up here. Maybe we could host a rally for the Club up here one summer.”

“That’s a lot of infrastructure,” Keith said. “Think about it more like a resort and less like individual houses. You will need dozens of boats, jet skis, ATV’s, snowmobiles, ice houses, even extra motorcycles in case people fly in. Then there is security, you can’t run wolves to the border with all the people around. That means miles of ATV trails, cameras and snowmobiles just for that. It’s going to be expensive! Your cylinder index is going to be off the charts,” he said with a laugh.

“Cylinder index?” Colletta was looking at him funny.

“It’s something Joe Soucheray says on the radio, it’s the total number of cylinders in your possession and a measure of your manliness.” The others laughed. “What would make sense would be to have a bunch of shared Pack vehicles available for checkout, then if someone wants their own gear, they can keep it in their house or garage.” They all nodded, it made sense. Rental boats and motorcycles were functional, not fancy.

“Make all of the Pack vehicles the same models, and you make it easier to do repairs and stock spare parts too,” Roadkill said. “It’s the same thing I do in my trucking company, everything is the same model, same engine.”

Keith nodded excitedly. “Exactly. Now think about all that you have plans to buy, and what that is going to require beyond just buying the stuff. You need storage, maintenance, parts, boat lifts, repair bays, mechanics, gas pumps, trailers, desk people. It’s everything a big resort would have to have, just to maintain the equipment and have it ready to go. I think we need to have a storage facility well back from the lake, and a place closer by the dock where we can have the covered storage and shop facilities.”

“Shit, that would be a blast to run,” Roadkill said. “What you’re looking for is kind of like our Clubs do with a garage, but it wouldn’t be just motorcycles.”

“You want it?” Rori looked at her stepfather, he hadn’t caught on to what she was saying. “Look, we are doing this, and we are going to need someone who can manage the operation, train the staff, get it all going. Look at my Pack, Dad! We’ve got the four of us in charge, then about two dozen women coming out of bad situations who were mostly cooks and maids. We’re going to have to interview and bring in a whole bunch of werewolves to fill out the Pack, and there’s no one to train them. We’re going to be building huge facilities if you include the Pack House with the kitchen, then add in the utilities and roads and security and everything else.”

“She’s right,” Chase said. “Packs usually have a couple of Betas or senior werewolves to handle facilities, kitchen and housekeeping, accounting and finance and other tasks. You’re both part of our Pack now. If you moved up here we’d put you in a position that you are suited for, like being in charge of all this,” he said. “And you, Mom, you’re a nurse! I don’t want to be the only one here with medical training. Someone has to design, build, equip and staff the clinic that each Pack needs to have. You’d be a great choice for that, having me available for times when more help is needed. You guys could really help us, and be around for your grandchild.”

Possum looked at her husband, her hand on his arm. “You’ve got your business, I can’t ask you to leave that,” she said.

He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. “I built my business, I’m proud of it, but it’s not what defines me and its not as fun as I thought it would be with all the paperwork. It isn’t as important to me as you are, or as our family is. Frankly, I’m getting older and I could stand a change. I could sell it tomorrow and we’d never have to worry about money again. Besides, this sounds like a lot more fun.” He kissed her as she looked up at him with tears in his eyes. “Of course, we’re keeping a place in Florida. There’s no way I’m staying up here all winter.”

“OK,” she said. “I can be a nurse anywhere.” She looked over at Rori. “We need a cute little house on the lake, close enough for the grandchildren to come over and visit when I bake cookies, and a boat and dock so he can take them fishing.”

“Deal,” Rori said with a big smile. Having her Mom around would mean so much to her.

“We need to go back home and take care of things,” Donna said. “I don’t know how long it is going to be to get his business sold and take care of everything else.”

“You can work on the design of the facilities and the ordering of supplies remotely,” Chase said. “We’re not going to be able to start construction until April, so that gives us some time for everything. Email and Skype will keep you up to speed.”

“We’re pushing the General Contractor hard to minimize the construction time after we can break ground,” Keith said. “We’re using lots of Structural Insulated Panels for the houses and the Pack House. All the components are built inside during the winter, then shipped and craned onto the foundations when ready. The walls, ceilings and floors come in fully insulated with electric and utilities already in, it saves tons of time later. We can also look at standard steel buildings. That’s the beauty of starting a Pack from scratch, we can do whatever we want.”

“Our goal is to have the Pack moved before Memorial Day,” Rori said. “It’s aggressive, but we’re going to focus on the Pack House and a few houses first, then work through the others.” They had been looking at ideas with the architect, and it was exciting. The buildings would look similar, with environmentally-sound materials and energy efficient designs. They would have green roofs with steep pitches due to the snow loads, lots of windows looking out onto the lake, and cement siding that was fireproof and mimicked cedar wood. Green trim would tie it all together.

“I could do April, especially if we visit a few times along the way,” Roadkill said.

“Now, when would we have the wedding? It can’t be too late, you’re going to be due in July and there will be so much going on with all the construction,” Colletta said.

Rori grimaced. “Soon, I don’t want to look like a blimp in my dress.”

“Christmas break,” Donna said as she bounced in her seat. “We can have it at the clubhouse in Orlando, and you and your Pack can come down and escape winter for a while, have some fun,” she said. When Rori looked skeptical, she just laughed. “Yeah, because bikers would HATE it if you showed up with a couple dozen hot single women looking to party,” he said.

“Mom, these women have had it bad. I’m not sure a biker party is what they need.”

“Fun is what they need, honey. I’ve talked to them. Do you know some of them had never left their Pack lands at all? That some of the women who were enslaved didn’t have a day off until Alpha Todd was killed? Shit, girl, they could all need a trip to Disneyworld. Let them go to the beach, ride on the back of a motorcycle, see the world a bit. Trust me, it will be good for them.”

Rori looked at her mate, as he was the expert on mental illness. “We’ll have to be ready for any problems, but she’s right. They have already made so much progress just being away from where they were traumatized, and they deserve a vacation.”

“You talked me into it, Mom,” she said with a smile. “You and Three Tequila can do the heavy lifting, and just Skype with me about the decisions?”

“Of course, honey.” She leaned over the table and hugged her daughter. “This is going to be so much fun! I wish we didn’t have to go home tomorrow.” They had called her in sick, but she needed to get back and Roadkill needed to get back to his business.

They finished the big meal and had desserts, then the party started to break up as people went to their rooms or back out for a run. The dessert table was left open, as hunters were returning after taking down and devouring their deer and found room for pie. It was the perfect ending to the big gathering, and Rori made sure to find Alpha Michael and thank him.

“Alphas, do you have a minute,” Chairman Coffey said as he caught Rori, Chase, Sawyer and Ashley in the hallway.

“Yes sir,” they said, following him to the conference room.

They sat down after him, and he handed them a folder. “We’ve been digging into the property that you found Donna in down in Jupiter,” he said. “There was a safe in the house, our men got it open and all the documentation was in there. It’s not a Pack property; it was actually purchased in 2001, just a few months after the Arrowhead Pack was wiped out, by Councilman Forrest.”

“His share of the payoff to let him attack us,” Rori said.

“Yes. Craig’s death won’t be reported for another couple days, officially, and he has left behind signed and notarized documents selling the property to you, Rori. You will have to get the papers filed and pay the taxes, but you can now own it thanks to our documents group. You also get the vehicles, the titles were kept in his private safe.” The Council and Packs kept people employed creating fake birth and death certificates, allowing werewolves to shift identities when their slow aging would become apparent. They also did a lot of work with estates, making sure properties transferred to the new owners.

“Congrats, little sis, you own a beach house,” Sawyer said.

“One I’ll never use because Mom was held and raped there,” she said.

“Sell it and buy something else,” Ashley said.

Rori looked over the paperwork for the four cars; she would never drive a Lamborghini or Porsche, it wasn’t her style. “If no one objects, I’d like to sell the cars and divide the proceeds among the people who did so much to save my Mom. Equal shares for the Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale chapters, a share for all the other Chapters that responded, and a share for Spider Monkey.”

“That would be great, one of those cars could almost make a down payment on a house down there,” Sawyer teased.

“That’s it, we’re still working on everything else. Erich had money stashed everywhere, we’re planning to recover as much as we can and divide it among the victims we’ve identified and their families. Whatever you find in the Pack or the Forrest name, keep in your Pack,” the Chairman said. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you all, and I look forward to seeing you again.”

“Going to bed,” Rori asked.

“No, catching a plane. I’ll sleep on the way back to Maine.” They left the office and the Alpha pairs returned to their rooms for a well-deserved sleep.