Part 9

I'd left earlier than the men, making my way to the local bookstore before any possible crowds; not that there were a lot of crowds until the leaves turned in the fall. But I was hoping to keep my purchases fairly anonymous, and as I hadn't spent a great deal of time in the town proper I was likely still classified as one of 'those people' from up at Stonehaven. I picked up two books, asked for a plastic bag to tote them in, even though I was generally adverse to such things, and made my way slowly over to the café. I timed my arrival there for the same time as LeBlanc had been instructed to meet Nick out at the industrial site. I ordered a tea, and a good breakfast (my second of the day) and took out one of my books. What to Expect When you're Expecting stayed in the bag, I started in on a book on Mythology. I knew Clay would probably laugh at me for having bought it, he probably saw the thing as of no more use than a primary school text, but it was something. Marsten had said 'archetype', and so I had looked it up. I'd found Joseph Campbell, and his ideas of what he called the Monomyth, that all myths came from a common source, and I hoped in his books I might find a trace of mine. By some luck the little local bookseller had one of his books, I took it as a good omen and picked it up. It felt good to use my mind again, to remember when I had been a student, when I had worked transcribing things for Clay, when I had a future. I kept my phone in my pants pocket so that I would hear; or rather feel, when it rang to tell me things had gone well.

I had a second cup of tea and flipped to chapter two. The door opened and closed a few times, the tinny bell jangling each time. I had sat facing it, and I have to admit glancing up each time. After about a half hour the café seemed to come to life, or rather to be emptied of it. A number of cellular phones went off in a sequence that could not have been coincidence. Some people, obviously in law enforcement hastily paid bills and left en-mass. I heard sirens begin, and more in the distance; something that left me quite concerned. I stayed where I was though, and just watched a little longer, as curious as all the other civilians in the place. After a while it was easy to pick up the gossip from the whispers. There was a fire just outside of town, in an old building. It wasn't hard to guess what was going on, especially as my phone finally buzzed. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to answer it as the door opened and I saw a face I had prayed that I would never see again.

Victor Olsen.

The bright red, wiry hair, the freckles around his nose and cheeks and the dark, penetrating eyes that he practiced making look innocent were all still there, even after all this time. He stared right at me, I was not naïve enough to believe that this was a chance meeting, not when Daniel Santos in his ill fitting suit and skinny tie walked in right behind him. I made a move for my phone, but not fast enough as Victor slid into the booth right beside me, and Daniel directly across from me.

"Still as beautiful as I remember." Victor whispered. I looked at him with abject hatred. He smirked. "But with that fire in your eyes, I remember that too." He leaned in, the stench of him assaulting my nostrils and raising the simmering nausea in my gut. "When you lied on the stand about seducing me."

"Get away from me." I said, very low and very slowly.

"You put me away for ten years Elena. When all I did was give you what you asked for."

I had never, could never, forget what he had done to me. Lured in a child with the promise of friendship, rabbits to play with, with kindness. Everything that turned into the foulest words, and unwanted attentions, innocence stripped away, and then to be blamed, to have the world told that I had encouraged it, that my shorts and tee shirts had been alluring, that my smiles and laughter had beckoned him, that my child's body had asked for his touches.

Testifying against him had been the loneliest experience of my life. Certainly the court appointed psychologist had been there to reassure me that I was doing well, but when it was done I had been dumped back with foster parents who never quite believed that I hadn't somehow brought the hell upon myself. Alone, no follow-up care such as would have been insisted upon now. No one knew this about me. I had never shared this building block of my life with anyone. Not Logan, himself a psychologist, not Clay, my lover, not Jeremy, my Alpha, and now he was here in Bear Valley, threatening to lay this secret bare for my whole family to know. I felt Victor's hand move to brush mine.

"Don't touch me." I hissed, pulling my hand away.

"Now Elena, we wouldn't want to make a scene here, would we?" Daniel admonished me. "Besides, I understand all the Police are currently busy at some kind of fire scene."

Damn it, he knew what had been done to his property, and likely his Mutt.

"What do you want Santos?"

"You just pass on to Jeremy that what happened today isn't about to dissuade me."

"So you admit that you're creating Mutts, and that you are trying to depose an Alpha through subterfuge?"

He smiled a practiced greasy smile at me. It wasn't intimidating at all; it looked so out of place on his pasty face with his $8.00 haircut. I laughed at him.

"You don't have the balls to face him yourself, so you pick out the worst scum you can find to do it for you. How long do you think you'd last as an Alpha?"

"A very long time my dear, especially with a host of loyal companions and you breeding children for me."

"Loyalty is earned, not bought, not stolen, not forced. You are a little man, and you will die a little man."

That took the smirk off his face.

"I told you she was a firecracker, didn't I?" Victor piped up, sliding his hand on the bench seat towards my thigh.

Under the cover of the table I curled my right hand into a claw, and closed my eyes for just a moment as I let my dual nature take over, extending my fingers, turning the nails into hardened points. I dug them into the back of Victor's hand, sinking into the soft spot between the bones, tearing at the flesh as he winced and bit his lip with a little yelp.

"Now don't make a scene Mutt. You wouldn't want to attract any unwanted attention would you?" I said a syrupy sweet voice. "Besides, no Police, right?" I glared at Daniel as I pushed my hand further downwards towards the padded seat. The blood was starting to pool around my claws. I could see how uncomfortable he was becoming.

"I think you should both get up and leave now." I was taking charge.

Victor seemed prepared to do just that, but I held him firmly in place, feeling his flesh just yielding to me as he tried to pull away. But I wanted something else from Daniel.

"And I think you should give up these pursuits of yours Santos. You will never have the Alpha seat, and you will never have me."

"Never say never Elena."

"Never." I reiterated slowly. Then I let my hand change back to my human one, effectively releasing Victor. "I will kill you the next time I see you." I whispered to him. "Slowly." It was encouraging to see him pale (even further) at that promise. He wrapped a napkin around his wounded hand and scowled at me. I just smiled. Both men left without another word.

Only when the door closed and I was sure they couldn't hear or see me, did I let my shoulders drop with a long breath, wrapping my arms around my belly with a terrible shudder. I texted Jeremy to come and get me because I was certain I wouldn't be able to drive.

Clay and Jeremy showed up, asked no questions, and took the keys to the Jeep I had driven down in, Clay swinging up into the driver's seat while I piled in beside Jeremy in the black SUV. He put his hand over mine, which helped to steady the trembling I had been fighting so hard to contain. The touch was reassuring, everything about him was reassuring, even the new abrasion on his left cheek, the bloody knuckles, and the smell of smoke in his clothing. I settled in behind the tinted glass and closed my eyes, forcing calm on my racing heart. I didn't remember the ride home.

Everyone assembled in the kitchen; once the men, my family, had washed and changed, and thrown smoky clothes in the washing machine. There was no sense of elation amongst them, only a grim tension that I knew had to do with the stories we had to tell, perhaps specifically the one I didn't want to tell. Antonio settled me with a glass of water (I'd had far too much tea already that day), and glasses of scotch for those who wished to imbibe. He left the bottle on the center of the farmhouse table. It was empty by the time we finished.

Antonio told me what had happened at the industrial site, much of it what I had suspected. LeBlanc had come in search of his trophy, had put up a piddling fight against a full pack of angry wolves, and his body, what was left of it, had been set on fire along with the building. The scrapbook has been left in the building as well, with the hope that if it survived it might give law enforcement a clue towards who had killed the town girl. What they made of his demise no one really cared, the death of escaped serial killers rarely got much more than a cursory glance, and even if there had been witnesses, how could they blame a pack of animals? That story finished, it was my turn.

"Daniel has a new Mutt. And I know him."

Saying it out loud was horrifying, I couldn't look at any of them in the face as I did. I stared straight at the table, memorizing the patterns of the wood whorls as I spoke.

"I was eight." I began.

Clay didn't, couldn't contain his emotions, he cursed, he snarled, he clenched his hands into fists and pounded the table. Logan went pale, Nick looked as though he was going to cry, as did Antonio, I could see both of them trying to reach for my hands, holding theirs back out of fear of my reaction. Jeremy, my Jeremy was still, the muscles and tendons in his forearms and hands corded, shoulders tense, jaw locked, a thousand and one thoughts behind his beautiful eyes, the chief of which was murder. When I fell silent Clay burst up from the table.

"I will kill him myself, I will find him right now and rip his head from his body."

"Not alone you won't." Jeremy's voice was quiet and even, frightening in its sincerity.

"Both of you. Listen to me." Antonio stood, moving to block the path out of the kitchen. "This is what Santos wants, he wants us unhinged, not thinking clearly, reacting to his pawns, it will be his opportunity to take us apart, piece by piece."

"I will not suffer this criminal to live." Jeremy was barely under control.

"A series of murders in Bear Valley will not go unnoticed, not by the locals, not by the Alpha council. We have to be smart about this."

"What do you suggest?" Clay fairly spat out the words as he paced back and forth around the table.

"Santos has to die. But not here."

"So we need to get him to leave Bear Valley? How?"

"We have something he desperately wants." Antonio looked at me.

"Oh no, no, I will not use Elena as bait again. Her life is too valuable." Jeremy answered. I tried to reason with him.

"We can't spend the rest of our days hiding out in this house Jeremy. Santos will send Mutt after Mutt here to wreak havoc, we'll be exposed, and the Alpha council will strip you of your title. We'll have to run, or be subject to a new Alpha. You know what will happen to me, and to the baby. We have to do this. We don't have a choice."

"We'll find some place where a few new wolves won't be noticed, something rural, but close enough to medical facilities just in case." Antonio looked at me. "Jeremy, you have to stay here, be the Alpha, and be away from this business. Let your soldiers handle it."

"I can't do that."

"You have to, you have to be able to say that you have no idea what's happened to Santos if you are questioned. And those of you who go, you have to get him alone, no one else can witness what happens to him. No trace. Leave the business and paperwork to me, I can put him on the other side of the world no matter where his body finally rests."

No one doubted the sense of Antonio's plan, or his skills. But no one wanted to do what was needed either. No one wanted the Pack split, not then.

"Where?" Jeremy finally asked, breaking the vocal silence.

"Clay will take her back to the mountains. Nick will follow. It's an easy place for a person to get lost and to never be found. We know that Santos will be watching them, if he thinks it's only Clay and her he might get over confident."

"I don't like this."

"Then you'll hate this even more. If Santos is made to discover that Elena is pregnant, and tries to attack her, Clay and Nick will be well within their rights to kill him."

"You're right, I hate that too." Jeremy's fists were knotted, the abrasions turning white with the pressure.

"She won't be able to hide it forever, better we control that news than someone else."

"I'm strong now Jeremy, I don't know if I can change, but I can still fight. I'm not going to be able to do that in a few more weeks. We should do this soon." Again I tried to make him see reason.

"And what about Olsen?"

"Santos will keep him close, especially if he thinks that it gives him a psychological advantage over Elena. Dump his body in a mountain lake. No one will miss him."

"No." The word echoed in the kitchen.

It was the first time I had ever heard Jeremy disagree so vehemently with Antonio. I felt shock, and I wasn't the only one.

"No." Jeremy repeated. "Elena is part of my Pack, she is pregnant with my child. I will be the one to defend her, no one else." I could see Clay bristle at the declaration.

"It can't be done here Jeremy, you can agree to that can't you?" Antonio was the only one who dared speak in response.

"Yes, I can agree to that. Your idea is sound Antonio. But Elena and I will go. We will make our stand. I have to do this, otherwise how do I prove my worth as Alpha if I let others fight my challenges?"

"You can't go alone." Antonio asked.

"Fine, you can follow us after a day."

"We can't take a chance with your life Jeremy, please." I was not above begging him.

"And I will not take a chance with yours Elena, nor with the baby you are carrying who might one day be Alpha. We end this now."

There was nothing else to be said, no other arguments to make. Clay stormed out of the room, frustrated but not about to challenge his Alpha again and risk another dismissal. Jeremy wasn't at all phased by the action it seemed; but of course he had known Clay for a very long time and I imagined that such outbursts were not uncommon.

"How long to get things organized Antonio?"

"Give me a day."

"Then tomorrow you and I," he looked at me and reached for my hands, "are going shopping for a crib and some baby things."

The idea of a family dinner hadn't appealed to anyone, not that it was said out loud. Clay was nowhere to be found, I assumed that he had gone out for a run, and Nick had gone after him, hoping to talk some sense into him, or keep him from doing something stupid. Antonio was in the office sorting out a place for us to stay that met his conditions. I warmed up some leftover soup and took a chunk of bread into the front room, wanting to surround myself with familiar images of Jeremy's art, and of Clay's artifacts. The furniture was comfortable, and the scents as familiar as any good memory. The soup calmed my frozen insides as well as the surroundings, and I tried not to think about how it might be one of the last times I saw that place. Only weeks earlier I had wanted to flee, and now I could not imagine being any place but there. I could blame some of it on the pregnancy, on the hormones. I had taken my book with me and was reading as quickly as I could over the parts of the pregnancy I had missed in my ignorance, recognizing things that I had experienced and written off as something else. It was really a way of keeping my mind off of other things; so many other things that could have stolen my sanity just then.

Jeremy

Clay

The baby

Victor

Santos

I finished the first four months worth of reading, which only added to the stress since there were so many tests and appointments I had never had, and was not likely to get to have. Even though I had Jeremy, I really was on my own with this child. I made a mental list of the few things I could pick up at the drugstore when we went into town; prenatal vitamins chief among them. Then I started thinking about a crib, and about what color bedding we should get, and about little clothes. For a minute I did get lost in the happiness most women get to experience as they make their plans. For a minute before I started to wonder if I would live long enough to even have the baby.