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Artiface of Strength Ch. 01

By: SisterRobin



All of us become who we are because of what we remember-memories swirling around us... into us, creating our reality and driving us on. 

***** 

Once again she wondered why she had been putting this off. Sure, her life was stressful and her job overwhelming, but she'd sought both of them... hadn't she? So why had it been such a long time since she'd given in to her wild side and stolen some time for her wolf. Now she found herself five miles into her run and she could feel the stress just sloughing off of her soul like dead skin. The dirt under her claws and the sun shining on her fur was a blissful feeling. She was free for once; for her, these sensations were almost orgasmic in nature. 

Florence had known in advance that taking the responsibilities of a pack Beta would be tough, but now as she ran on, she was beginning to realize that maybe she had let the pressure of being the first bitch to earn the Beta rank overwhelm her. The fact that she was only just now starting to grasp this reality bothered her, but not nearly as much as she was annoyed by the fact that her Alpha had ordered her to go on this run. As usual, Alpha John Billington was way ahead of her. He'd been an Alpha for centuries and he knew his pack all too well. 

Now I'll have to apologize to the old bastard she thought to herself as she came to an abrupt stop after catching a faint whiff of a smell that shouldn't be here. Humans never came here; this was just too far off of their beaten trails. She was well aware that hikers would occasionally stray from the National Forest lands and into pack territory, but it was exceedingly rare for humans to be found this far inside their lands. After all, the distance from the park border is why she had felt safe to run as a wolf during the daytime in the first place. 

So much for my day off she growled to herself, before sending a brief report to her Alpha—"a human, deep within pack lands Alpha John!" 

"Investigate, but from a safe distance," he instantly sent back. "Be careful until you discover whether or not it is a hunter!" 

This exchange took but a moment and Florence was soon sliding up on the smelly human. "No... humans", she thought to herself. "Less likely to be poaching hunters grouped together like that, usually hunters fan out to try to scare up their game. They also seem to making quite a bit of noise, surely they must be hikers." 

Creeping yet closer, she heard a male voice call out some sort of compass directions, and a second male voice answer back immediately. 

"Odd, it sounds as though they are mapping something out," she thought. 

Slinking ever closer, Florence positioned herself to peek from the brush, finally seeing the two men. They were bent over while pounding survey stakes into the ground. She found that the first man, smelled like so many humans seemed to, cloaked in the aroma of old tobacco smoke and some sort of greasy food. He had probably wiped his lunch into his pants leg she thought disgustedly. 

She guessed the man to be in early middle age. Florence knew she was never very good at figuring out the ages of humans, they aged so quickly as compared to wolves. He looked reasonably fit however, despite his apparent tobacco habit-tanned and weather-beaten, the man clearly worked out of doors regularly. Florence pegged him as a professional surveyor. 

The second man was more interesting to the wolf. Younger, leaner, and better looking, he looked to be incredibly fit, more a product of martial arts training than of outdoor work and the sketchy diet of his companion. Tall and well muscled with jet black hair; Florence knew that she would be somewhat attracted to him if not for the fact that the man smelled more than faintly of the oil used to lubricate firearms. This smell said that he was definitely armed, but as he carried no rifle, he clearly was not a hunter. This man was seemingly out of place. He looked more like hired security than he did a surveyor's assistant. 

"Two human men surveying our land with surveyor's tools, one of them likely armed with a handgun," Florence crisply sent back to her Alpha before backing back into the brush and out of sight of the two men. 

"Good work; we are on our way. Do not, repeat do NOT engage them 'til we reach you... and yes, we are bringing you some clothes so you won't be left out of the fun, Flo." 

"Florence," she snapped back! 

The Alpha merely chuckled as he closed their mind link. "That'll teach her to call me the old bastard!" 

Turning and yelling over his shoulder, he called his main Betas, "Sam... Tom... Florence has run into some intruders. She says they are probably armed; grab some supplies and let's go!" 

Irritated, Florence growled quietly to herself and wondered if her Alpha had heard her earlier thoughts. "Surely, I was not broadcasting that loudly. If he brings me girly clothes, I'll make him suffer! That would be just like him to get even like that!" 

She knew that she wouldn't have to wait very long to find out. Aside from having to stop to grab a few supplies, it shouldn't take long for the three wolves to arrive. They would only have a couple of miles to run as they would surely make a bee line to her location, not traveling the same circuitous route that Florence had enjoyed during her run. 

While she waited, she kept her ears open and listened to the two humans as they worked, and while Florence was very well read, she lacked the formalized training in engineering that would allow her to understand what the two men were doing. Though, it did seem as though they believed that some sort of road was to be constructed along the path they were plotting. 

"Surely not" Florence speculated. "There is no way that Alpha John would allow a road to be built through the heart of pack lands! As it was, the Billington Pack had little enough peace from the constantly encroaching humans. It seemed as if the Forest Service was constantly airlifting injured or lost humans from their property and back to the Whiskey Lake Recreation Area. Florence hated the sounds and smells of their horrible helicopters. If I don't see another chopper for another ten years, it will still be too soon! 

Before she knew it, the three male wolves had arrived, both Betas wearing backpacks full of spare clothes, weapons, and medical supplies. John was somewhat obsessive about being prepared for anything. He, rarely, went anywhere not heavily loaded as if to face an angered herd of grizzly bears, or worse yet-armed humans. 

The harnesses that the wolves had worn had been developed hundreds of years before by Tom, shortly after he had been turned by Billington. Having spent his human life as a Patuxet war-scout, Tom never quite got used to arriving to battle without possessions in hand. The modern materials of polyester and Velcro still annoyed him, though he had to admit that they certainly were more versatile than the leather thongs and straps that he had originally designed so many years before. 

Quickly shifting back to human, Florence rifled through the packs and found that the men had brought her a pair of hiking boots with pink neon laces, pink Daisy Duke shorts, white frilly socks, and a white cropped tee-shirt with a logo that said, 'I do it doggy-style'. 

Her head snapped around to growl at John, but he studiously ignored her gaze, as did the two Betas—though the two didn't work as hard to hide their smirks. 

Yanking on her clothes, she wondered once again why she worked so hard to impress these three; they constantly bent over backwards to annoy her-rarely giving her a moment's peace. Not dwelling on this for long, she ignored her irritation and reported the conversation of the two humans to her Alpha. 

"Sorry about the clothes Flo, err... Florence. We couldn't resist, umm... I mean that all we could find were Beth's clothes." 

"Tell me again why it's wrong to kill one's Alpha," she snapped back. 

"Because I need to go talk to those two humans," he grinned while the four finished dressing. "Play the part of my girlfriend; try to look a bit vacant so they'll ignore you as a threat." 

"Wearing Beth's clothes, that should be easy," she snapped again. 

Sam chuckled and said, "See John, I told you... camouflage, it works every time!" 

"I will get even with you two if it takes a couple hundred years," Florence growled. 

"See Tom, I told you that she would be thankful!" 

Florence growled again, impatiently waiting for them to get back to business. 

They walked out of the trees making as much noise as was possible. Indeed, they made more noise than the humans usually did. John wanted to be absolutely sure that the two men heard them coming so they would not be startled into a thoughtless defensive position. 

As he made eye contact with the men, he said "Ah... hello gentlemen," as if surprised to be meeting them. "Are you lost? You guys are quite a ways outside of the National Forest. Did you lose the trail?" 

"Umm no... we are here to survey the area," replied the sloppier of the two men. 

John thought about that for a second and then responded, "Surveying the area; why would you be surveying the land here. It is private land. It isn't part of the park service." 

Florence listened to the exchange with only half an ear, her focus was on the second man-fit, clearly able to move at a moment's notice, and most assuredly armed, he would be her responsibility if things went sideways. If he reached for a gun, she'd disarm him if able, or kill him if not. She knew that she'd rather not kill the man if she could avoid it, as someone would surely come looking for him eventually, and that sort of thing tended to spiral out of control rather quickly. 

"Yes, that is true. This survey was paid for by the Burton Waters Land Management Group. I understand that they are interested in building a new road to the casino on the edge of the park." 

"There will be no road," John practically spat! All of the woods around you are old growth; they've never been cut, they've never been burned out. Not only is it important environmentally, but the owner likes it that way! He will make sure that it stays untouched by greedy hands." 

"Why are you so sure that he won't sell," the younger man interrupted. 

Florence found his voice to be remarkable; it stirred something within her. Once again, she hoped she wouldn't have to kill this man. The Alpha was right to send me on this run; clearly something is wrong with my head. I'm rarely ever even attracted to wolves from the pack, much less a mere human. They've never held any attraction for me at all. 

Curious, she leaned forward and attempted to scent the man, but all she could detect was the oily smell of the lubricant used on his gun, and the greasy smell of his companion, neither of which made her any happier about the situation. 

"Because I am the owner," John replied with a growl. "I won't be selling, and this land is all the riches that I'll ever require. Waters will never get his dirty hands on any of it! That man is a cancer; he fouls everything that he touches, and he won't be touching my land!" 

Billington paused just long enough to spit, spittle splashing onto the surveyor's boots. He then stared into the security man's eyes and said, "Get off my land...Now!" 

Not batting an eye, the security man splayed his fingers widely, and making no sudden moves, he slowly reached into his back pocket, removing his wallet with two fingers. Opening it in clear view of his adversaries, he pulled out a business card. "This..." he said, "is the contact information for our legal team. They will be contacting you. Make things easy on yourself; speak with them and listen to what they have to say." 

The Alpha took the card, his eyes never leaving the human's eyes. "Next time you sneak onto my land, bring more than a handgun, and please bring a shovel with you; it will make our job easier!" 

Noticing that the two men seemed nonplussed by his implied threat, John snapped, "Sam... Tom... Escort these men back to the park lands. Pull up every stake they've driven into our land. Burn them." 

"Mr. Billington," the security man said slowly, "I don't want to be your enemy, but Burton always gets what he wants. I don't like him any better than you do, but I've been forced to work for him, and I've seen how he works. He won't stop 'til he wins; he never does." 

John stared back at the man for a moment before replying, "Sir, you have me at a disadvantage; you seem to know who I am, but I don't know your name." 

"William, William Yazzie, this is my partner Philip Perry. We won't trouble you any further." 

"Yazzie? You don't look like a Yazzie, and I've never met one so far north." 

"My grandfather left the desert a long time ago. He claims that a vision led him here, although knowing my grandfather; he was probably just chasing tail. You've met Yazzies before? " 

Off to the side, Sam snorted, although he said nothing. 

"A few," John said, his face breaking into a grin. "Although it has been awhile." 

Obviously a bit perplexed, William responded, "Well Sir, I'm sorry that we've met under these circumstances; Phil and I will be on our way. Call the number on that card; it will make it easier for all of us." And with these words, William tipped his hat to Florence, gathered up his gear, and began walking back to the National forest area. 

The wolves made a point of remaining still for a few moments, standing silently and just watching the men walking away; using their superior hearing to listen into the human's whispered conversation. 

"Didya see her shirt Will? I was dying to ask her what I would have to do to be considered!" 

"Billington would have had your head! She must be his arm candy; you notice that she didn't say a thing." 

"Yeah, but what a way to go," the older man laughed. "That girl was smokin' hot... Doggy-style? Oh, I wish!" 

As the two men faded out of hearing range, the sounds of two meaty sounding punches were heard. Bent over in pain, Tom gasped, "What did I do? It was Sam's idea!" 

"Sorry Alpha," Florence snarled, not sounding a bit sorry. "But I wasn't going to wait any longer to get even with those two." 

John spared a quick look for his two Betas. "When you two get your breath back, shadow those two back to the fence. Pull up every stake. Florence... you go finish your run, and for punching my Betas, your punishment will be that these two will be buying tonight. Come thirsty." 

As the two crept away, Florence heard one of them mumble, "It was worth it," as the other wolf laughed quietly. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Later that night, Florence walked into the Whiskey Lake Roadhouse fully intent on drinking her friends into poverty. As a wolf, her tolerance for alcohol was prodigious, but fortunately for Sam and Tom, the bar was owned and operated by the Pack, so they just might get away with some of their week's pay intact. 

Heads turned as she walked through the door, dressed up country in her Wranglers and Ropers. She was in peak athletic shape and with curly dark brown hair hanging down past her shoulders, she was a vision. The humans who made up most of the Roadhouse clientele probably thought that the life of the party had arrived; the few wolves in the house mostly looked the other way- carefully avoiding any eye contact with her. Most of them had a scar or two with Florence's name on it. 

Her Alpha caught the look in her eye and mumbled to his seconds, "I hope you two brought plenty of money; she still looks pretty pissed." 

"I notice that she got rid of the shirt," Tom whispered back, before hurriedly standing and waving Florence over to their usual corner booth. 

"Oh, I don't think Beth will ever see that shirt again," Sam sent back to the other wolves. 

Florence strode across the room as if she owned it, barely noticing the bright swarm of neon signs or the sawdust and peanut shells under her boots. She'd been here many times before, although in truth, it had been awhile. In her younger days, she had swept the place out and refilled the peanut barrels every morning before heading off to school. Later in her life, she had tended bar and acted as the female bouncer before outgrowing that job too, as she had advanced within her pack. Catching the bartender's eye she waved for a pitcher and a bottle, then gestured at Sam to signify who would be paying. 

"Looks like the first round is on you," Tom snarked. 

"Oh, I have a feeling that there will be more than just one," Sam shot back. 

The bar maid showed up promptly saying, "One bottle of single malt, and one pitcher of brown ale. Florence, did you want more than one mug?" 

Seeing that Beth was on duty, wearing her usual outfit, little more than a few inches of lace held together by dental floss, Florence replied grumpily, "Hell no, let these two order their own drinks! Oh, and I almost forgot, Tom owes you a new set of clothes. The next time you are in the city, buy whatever you like and charge it to his account. 

Beth's face lit up; she loved to shop! "Oh thank you Tom," she said delightedly before leaning over and hugging his face, one large breast on either side of his nose. Giggling and heading back to the bar, she missed hearing her Alpha say, "There goes the rest of your paycheck!" 

"Shit, dressed like that, she makes more in tips than both of us put together, and now we have to buy her clothes too?" 

"You know that she'll be thankful, very thankful," Florence grinned back. 

"Well, there is that," Tom offered thoughtfully. 

"Okay, does everyone feel even now," John asked with a smile. 

Taking a long draught from her bottle of single malt," Florence said, "I'm starting to." 

"Yeah, the look on her face was worth it," replied Sam. 

"I'm thinking that I might come out ahead," Tom offered while watching Beth bend over the counter. 

"You're welcome, asshole," Florence grinned, seeing where Tom's gaze was focused. 

"So... can we talk business now," John stated, more than he asked. When no one contradicted him, he continued, "Sam, report on the two men." 

They walked directly to the fence line, Alpha. They didn't make any detours, although the older guy took a few notes and some photographs as he walked along, so I doubt if tearing out all those stakes will do any good. He'd obviously not given up on his job." 

Mmm, I didn't think that he would," growled the Alpha. "Those two seemed pretty cool and unflappable for a couple of working guys. Did you manage to catch their conversation as they walked along?" 

Sam's eyes flickered over to Florence for a moment before he responded, "Umm... not much." 

"Spill it," Florence growled, taking another long pull from her bottle. 

"They were quite taken with you, Flo." 

Florence merely growled at the use of her nickname, waiting for Sam to continue. 

"They argued about which one of them would have a better shot at you. The older guy, I think his name is Phil, he kept saying that Will wasn't even rid of the last one yet; why would he want another one. He said a fine young thing like you needed his experience, his steady hand, his umm..." 

"I think I get the point," Florence said dryly. 

"Yeah, but then that Will guy, he kept going on about your eyes. He said that he'd never seen eyes flash like that. I think he may have gathered that you were angry about something." 

"I wonder where he might have gotten that idea," she shot back sarcastically. 

Seeing his Betas headed back for a fight, John interrupted, "Did they talk about business at all, or was it all about dating?" 

"Not really Alpha. From the tone of their voices, I got the distinct impression that neither one of them could stand their boss." 


Artiface of Strength Ch. 01



"Tone Hell," Tom put in. "The profanity they used would melt paint; they clearly hate his guts." 

"So maybe they are not the enemy," Florence allowed. 

"They are as long as they still work for Waters," Billington replied. "But keep your eyes open; maybe we can get something out of them if they remain in town." 

"They are boss; they got a couple of rooms at the Hotel," Tom said. 

"Then they are likely to show up here for dinner. I guess they could drive down to the resort restaurant, but they don't strike me as the type for dressing up for fancy food. Besides that, it's a good forty five minute drive each way. Somehow I don't think they are gonna want to work all day and then waste more time driving." 

"So, it's up to Florence then," Sam replied with an evil grin. 

"What," she said suspiciously. 

"They do seem to like you," Sam said slowly 

"Oh, Hell no! The only date I have is with this bottle, and then the bottle after that!" 

"Maybe they will buy your next round, Florence; it would save Tom some money," Billington slyly offered. "Then he could buy Beth two outfits... and maybe some boots. Those legs would look awfully good in boots." 

"This is my frigging day off," she exploded! "You said so, in fact, you ordered me to take the day off! Then you said that my punishment was to let these two buy my drinks, and I'm not done drinking!" 

"So I'll owe you a day. How about next Friday," John said hopefully. 

Florence merely glowered at the three male wolves, as she watched them hurriedly stand up and flee out the back door of the roadhouse. "Flo, we're heading for the resort, there's no sense in failing to cover it too; they might show up there... Besides, we're hungry," John said before slipping through the exit. 

Florence grabbed her mug in an attempt to throw it at her Alpha, but the wolves had already disappeared. 

"I... can't...stand...men," she snarled to herself, as she nursed her whiskey. 

"Oh they aren't that bad," giggled Beth as she brought Florence a new mug fresh from the freezer. "Here, let me have the warm one before you decide to throw it at him. It wouldn't do any good anyway; they are out of range. So... how much should I put on Sam's bill," she said, changing the subject abruptly. 

"Charge it all to Sam! Plus my dinner, plus whatever else you can add; and give yourself a nice tip too!" 

Beth laughed again before asking if she shouldn't put some of it on John or Tom's tab. 

"Oh no you don't, not a chance. Put it all on Sam's tab. Tom will be buying you a new wardrobe and some Ropers too! Make sure that you spend his whole check; he thinks you are going to be thankful afterwards." 

"Not that I'm complaining, but why is he buying me clothes"? 

"He is replacing the clothes that he took out of your locker today, Beth". 

"But you brought those back; you even had them washed!" 

"He doesn't know that, so make sure that you don't wear any of them again until after you've gone shopping. It would probably cost you the new boots... and remember...you do not have to be thankful!" 

"C'mon Flo, it's not like I haven't done Tom before, or Sam either for that matter." 

"Well this time, just don't! Do that airhead face that you do; do it when he gets the bill. Then giggle and leave him hanging." 

"Like this," Beth grinned malevolently before all traces of intelligence fled her face, leaving a vacant moue in its place. She then giggled and brought her hands up to her cheeks as in astonishment. 

"Perfect," laughed Florence! "Those idiots won't suspect a thing! And don't go to Wal-Mart either; hit the western wear store; they charge more. 

Beth giggled again and said, "Oh honey, what did they do to you now?" 

"They made me wear your stupid shirt to meet a couple of humans who were intruding on our land. And now they want me to play bimbo and try to work the men for more information on what they might have been doing there." 

"Hey! I like that shirt!" 

"Yeah, I suppose. But would you wear it to meet a couple of humans that you didn't know-one of whom was reasonably attractive?" 

"Well... no." 

"Exactly, and now I have to play airhead and try to talk to them. Can you teach me to make that stupid face that you make and you'd better show me right now before I get to drunk to remember how to do it?" 

"Are you sure that you want to be drunk for this?" 

"I don't think that I could do it sober and still be able to look at myself in the mirror." 

"Oh come on Flo! You are a girl; embrace it! You said this guy was cute!" 

"No, I said he was reasonably attractive for a human...who smelled like a gun...and who had snuck onto our land, and might be an enemy of the pack!" 

"Like I said... cute," Beth laughed. "Bad boys are fun. It's not like you're gonna mate with him." Beth then batted her eyes suggestively and said, "Think of him as a rental". 

Despite her best efforts, Florence laughed and the two women soon put their heads together and began to plot. Florence wasn't the quickest study on the subject of Blonde 101, but after a few tries, she was able to project a bit of helplessness—even though it did make her growl a bit, but the two women knew that human's ears wouldn't pick up a wolf's growling anyway. 

After another pitcher of beer and an hour or so, Florence had stopped growling when she made what she was calling 'blonde faces'. It wasn't so much that she'd accepted her need to play the role, it was more a product of what she'd had to drink, a full bottle of single-malt whiskey and a couple pitchers of dark, rich ale. And while this was enough alcohol to drive the one hundred and twenty pound woman that she appeared to be into a coma, it was not quite enough to cause a wolf like Florence to begin to slur her speech. 

"You'd better get something to eat honey," Beth advised on her next trip to Flo's table. "I'll bring you another bottle, but you'd better have a steak first. You want a baked potato and salad with that, or just a plate of fries?" 

Glancing up at the front door, Florence said, "No Beth, hang on. Look at those two men who just walked in. Those are the guys. Maybe we can save Sam some money." 

"Think blonde," Beth whispered as she put on her welcoming face and turned towards the front of the roadhouse to greet the two men". 

At the other end of the room, William and Phil were standing in the alcove, allowing their eyes to adjust to the artificial lights of the roadhouse. Both men were extremely hungry, more in the mood for a quiet corner and a thick steak than they were for alcohol and revelry, although neither man would likely pass on those either. Taking a quick glance around the room, Phil spotted Florence in her booth eyeing them. 

"Two o'clock in the booth," Phil hissed quietly. 

Normally a wolf would have had little difficulty hearing this whisper, but with the jukebox thumping and the cheerful noises of the Friday night crowd in the only bar in the area, Florence hadn't a clue what the men were saying. She noticed that Phil was looking her way, but William seemed to be examining the bar off to her left. In reality, Will was peering out of the corner of his eyes, making sure to not turn his head and make it obvious where he was looking. He was well trained to not to show anyone his focus; his time in Afghanistan had taken care of that lesson. It wasn't that William was expecting insurgents to leap out from behind the bar and open fire, not here, in a small mountain town way off the beaten track and deep within the Pacific Northwest. Old habits die hard however, and he figured that an excess of caution never hurt anyone. 

Seeing that the only threat was a certain pretty brunette, he relaxed, giving Phil a somewhat jaundiced look before saying, "You put me in combat mode for that?" 

"She looks dangerous to me, dude," Phil grinned back. "I wonder where that Billington guy is. If she belonged to me; I wouldn't let her out of my sight! Oh hey, whoa...look what's coming our way now; that looks edible too. I think we're gonna like this place!" 

Now close enough to hear what the two men were whispering over the din, Beth grinned and greeted them with a friendly wave, "Welcome to the Whiskey Lake Roadhouse gentlemen. Are ya here to eat, to drink, or to dance?" 

Phil leaned into her and smiled back with a leer, "Ma'am, I have two left feet and a sore back, but if'n you'll dance with me, I'll give it a shot!" 

"Dinner first," William interrupted. "Can you find us a nice dark corner? Maybe over that way somewhere," he said while waving in the general direction of Florence's booth. 

Smiling back at the two men, Beth directed them to follow her, and set about leading them through the crowded bar, past a few empty spots, and then directly to Florence's table. She looked down at her friend and said, "Hey Florence, we're pretty full tonight; would you mind sharing?" 

"No we couldn't possibly..." William started to say, but the words were barely out of his mouth when Florence put the vacant look on her face and answered, "I was just about to order dinner guys, if you are paying, I'd be glad to share my table!" 

Not missing a moment, Philip crowded around his buddy and flopped down next to the young woman. Winking triumphantly at Will, he picked up a menu and pretended not to notice the look of annoyance on his friend's face. Realizing that he had been out-played, Will, scowling, sat across from Florence. 

Never in her life had men fought over Florence. She had flatly refused humans and driven off most of the wolves that had been interested in her. Although she had a few experiences with men over the years, she didn't know how to react to a situation like this. She didn't know whether to be annoyed or flattered, or maybe something else. Even though she knew it by heart, she hid behind the menu for a moment and pretended to study it, as if deep in thought over what to order. Suddenly she remembered that she was supposed to be a dim-witted bimbo tonight, a 'brunette blonde' if you will. Why should she react at all? Surely men fought over girls like her all the time, why should tonight be any different? 

Her nerves settled down as the three made small talk for a few minutes, discussing the menu and what might be good tonight. Philip confidently drove most of the conversation, frequently making a point to touch Florence's arm while asking questions about the bar and the small town, even requesting for her to tell him about the local countryside. Flo did her best to stay in character, keeping a vacant look on her face and ordering the most expensive things on the menu, while continuing to bide her time as the human men had a few before-dinner drinks. 

While they talked, Florence once again found William's voice to be arresting, even a bit arousing. She tried several times to catch his scent, but had no luck whatsoever. The two men had obviously showered after their hike in the woods, but Phil had seemingly followed that up by drowning himself in some sort of cologne. Florence thought it smelled like a gallon of Old Spice, and the aroma was overpowering; so instead of scenting William, she closed her eyes and just listened to his voice. She found herself sinking into it, letting it sweep over... and through her. It had a dark, silky rhythm that seemed to reverberate within her, slipping into her mind and coursing through her veins. When he spoke, it was with a cadence that seemed to match the beating of her heart. 

Noticing that the table had gone quiet, she shook her head to clear William's voice out of it and opened her eyes to see the two men staring at her, confusion in their eyes. Blushing, she quickly looked away. Neither man commented for a moment, which managed to extend her embarrassment even longer. 

The tableau was finally broken when Beth arrived to take orders for the next round. While speaking to the men, she placed her hand on Florence's shoulder and mentally sent, "Flo, I've never seen you blush... ever. I didn't think our Amazon could blush!" 

Her face filled briefly with panic, Florence sent back, "His voice, Beth; he speaks and I lose focus. I never lose focus... ever. I can't lose it right now; I have a job to do!" 

Speaking aloud again, Beth smiled at the men and said, "My break is coming up; can I borrow Florence for a minute? I'll send her right back; I promise!" Then without waiting for an answer, she turned to Florence and said, "C'mon honey, come with me to the little girl's room; I gotta share some gossip with you. It's good stuff!" 

Florence stumbled to her feet and quickly fled the table, not once making eye contact with either of the men. As the women disappeared into the ladies room, William looked at his friend and wondered if the girl had had too much to drink. "It seemed as she kept fading in and out." 

"She digs me, dude," Phil grinned back. "I told you that she needed my firm hands!" 

Will snorted before saying, "I still think she belongs to Billington, though she's not wearing a ring. You had better be extra careful bro'." 

Phil leered at his friend and said, "Careful is not a word that I intend to use with regard to her. Didya see that ass when she walked away?" 

"Dude, you are a pig!" 

Phil winked at his friend and began to make oinking and snorting noises. 

"Her eyes, Phil, did you see her eyes," William murmured, but Philip wasn't listening any longer. He had already moved on and begun ogling the pretty young singer that had arrived with the band that was currently setting up on the bar's tiny stage. 

Over in the ladies room, a different conversation was taking place. 

"Beth, I've never lost focus like that! Something about that man... Thank the Goddess that you were there to pull me out; surely I would have done something stupid by now." 

"Flo, for once in your life, maybe you should do something stupid. If that man is driving you that crazy, maybe you should try him out. Like I said earlier, he's only a human. Think of him as a rental. Use him, and then return him from where you got him." 

"I just couldn't, Beth!" 

"Why not, it's not like you're a virgin. You got rid of that over fifty years ago. I know you haven't let many wolves near you since then, but surely it hasn't grown back!" 

"I'm not like you Beth! I don't do the girly stuff. All I ever wanted was to be was a warrior; if I let the men sniff around me, I'll be risking my position in the pack. I can't be weak; I have to be stronger than they are!" 

"So this guy is perfect for you then. He isn't pack; there will be no struggle over position. He's human, so there's no way that he's your mate. Hell, go enjoy yourself for once!" 

"What about my mission though? I'm supposed to get information from them. Alpha gave me a job to do and it's important to the pack." 

"Tell ya what," Beth smiled, "I'll work the other guy. I think he is more my type anyway. Besides he'll probably talk more than your guy will; I'll just wave my girls at him and remind him that he owes me a dance. He looks like the type that'd spill his guts if I give him a handful." 

"Beth, he stinks. I think he drowned himself in that cologne he's wearing." 

The bar maid laughed for a moment and then said, "Yeah, I gotta cover that up somehow. Hey... I've got an idea. I'll 'accidently' dump a pitcher of margaritas on him; that ought to cover up the smell!" 

Florence laughed heartily and replied, "Just don't splash it on me; I don't want to stain my boots." 

By the time Florence returned to her booth, most of the tables had been pushed out of the middle of the room and into the corners. Seeing that Phil's focus was upon the band and thinking to put her self out of the coming splash zone, she slid back into the booth without speaking, isolating Phil in the corner where she had been sitting. It wasn't too long thereafter when Beth arrived with an overfull tray full of drinks, including several pitchers of beer and one of frozen margaritas. That's when the ladies' plan began to go awry. 

Like most bar bands, the one playing was loud, very loud. Because of the volume of the music, Florence never had a chance to hear Beth coming with her heaping tray of ammunition. And just as Beth leaned forward to begin the deodorization of Phil, Florence caught a brief flicker of motion in her peripheral vision, causing her defensive training to kick in. She spun to deflect the 'threat', driving her forearm out to redirect the projectile. She struck the bottom of the tray with a solid shot and managed to dump the entire contents directly into William's chest. The only part of their plan that went correctly was when Florence subconsciously brought her hands up to her cheeks and perfectly executed her 'blonde face'; And while it was a thing of beauty, no one actually saw her performance because now everyone was looking at Will. 

William, however, had witnessed Florence's speed. Shocked that this beautiful, yet apparently dim female had executed a defensive move that was faster than anything that he could perform himself, he froze just long enough to allow the entire contents of the tray to completely douse him, the crushed ice from the margaritas managing to slide down his body and settle directly into his lap. He suddenly realized that he'd only believed that he'd been cold in his life before this moment, he'd been completely unprepared for the sensation of flash frozen testicles. Leaping from his chair, he knocked it flying into the dance floor, while managing to miss the look on Florence's face. 

The chair, knocked into an extremely congested dance floor managed to drive a couple of dancers off of their feet. This in turn caused a bit of screaming, a lot of consternation and the singer to drop her microphone mid-song. The band stopped playing and the entire bar descended briefly into silence. 

Most of the bar's patrons were presented with the spectacle of Will dancing around while lowering his pants and trying to dislodge the ice that had sunk into his shorts. Phil then began to laugh, which broke the tension and the rest of the bar soon followed suit in laughing at the sodden, now somewhat exposed William. Abashed, Will realized what he'd done and hastily yanked his pants back up. This, of course, only caused Phil to laugh even louder. 

When the laughter had finally begun to quiet and the band was getting ready to play their next number, Beth smoothly leaned over the table far enough to give Phil a brief glimpse of her areolas, and sighed to William, "I am sooo sorry honey; I hope you can forgive me!" Then she turned her head to face Florence and suggested that she to take Will into the back office and help him clean up while she had a quick dance with the left-footed wonder. 

Phil grinned at his luck and got up quickly, taking Beth's hand and accompanying her to the dance floor, his eyes never quite reaching her face. Beth smiled naughtily when Phil leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Been a bar-maid for quite a while have you?" 

"Centuries," she responded. He had no way of knowing that she was telling the truth. 

After the two left the booth, Florence still bright red from embarrassment, grabbed William's arm and led him into the office area that was directly behind the bar. Closing the door, she directed him to sit down while she went to fetch some bar towels. William watched her walk directly to the closed cabinet where they were stored. He was briefly distracted by her backside when she bent over to pick up the towels, but he nevertheless realized that she certainly seemed to know her way around the back office. 

His eyes narrowing, he began to put things together. When she got back to his chair, he asked, "Where did you get your training? Even my sensei never moved that fast; and you can drop the dumb-blonde act too. I am not buying it; there is no way that an airhead could move like that!" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 01



"OK fine," she said as she began to blot at his soggy clothes. "I used to be the bouncer here; I've been studying martial arts most of my life. 

"You're fast! Honesty, I've never seen anyone who could move like that..." 

Knowing that as a wolf, she was much faster and stronger than any human, she had to be very careful here. It was abundantly clear to Florence that William was as observant as he was drop dead sexy, not to mention that he had already seen more than he should. Curious once again, she leaned closer and attempted to scent the man, only to be met with the overpowering aroma of warm ale, imitation citrus and cheap tequila. Irritated, she wrinkled her nose at his smell. 

Grinning, William said, "This is your fault that I smell like a bar room floor now. If you hadn't knocked that tray out of her hands, I'd still smell like a rose! What on Earth were you reacting to?" 

Flushing slightly, Florence looked into Williams eyes and said with a reluctant chuckle, "Projectile training... We train to deflect the unexpected and with all the loud music in there, I just never heard Beth coming. I caught a glimpse of something and just reacted. I've trained a long time to be able to do that, and it isn't the easiest thing to turn on and off, especially when it is loud and stressful." 

William stared back at her and asked, "What was the stressful part? Was it eating with the enemy or was it pretending to be an airhead?" 

Florence colored before responding, "The latter, and sorry about that. Beth convinced me to try it; she said I needed to have some fun, but I don't think I was very good at being a bimbo. I won't be trying that again!" 

He sent her a smoldering look before responding, "I'm pretty sure that I like you better like this, even if you are trying to drown me!" 

Startled, Florence looked down and saw that she was still ineffectually trying to dry William's clothes with the same towel that she had started with. Grinning with embarrassment, she tossed the towel aside and reached for a dry towel before continuing her efforts to dry his clothing. 

"So..." William interrupted, "I'm assuming that you work security for Billington? That shirt was nice camouflage by the way." 

"And you," she replied, "You work security for Waters... while disguised as a surveyor's assistant?" 

He sighed. "Well, not exactly. I am a qualified surveyor; I was a contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, but yes, my primary role is security. For some reason, Burton thinks this is going to get really ugly." 

"It is. John will fight this until he's dead! We will fight this until we are dead. It's our land! There are too many people encroaching on it now!" 

"Why is one road such a problem? Is Billington an environmental activist or something?" 

"Nope; now it is your turn to answer a question. We will take turns." 

William took a deep breath, pausing to consider his options. Looking into her dark eyes once again, he reached a decision. He knew that he wouldn't get anything further out of this fierce woman until he was willing to meet her half way. He held his hand out to shake her hand, "Quid pro quo?" 

"Done," she responded, reaching out to grasp his hand. When their fingers met, there was a flash, a visible spark between them, this one quite literal. Both combatants saw the sparkle and felt the flash quite clearly. The spark resembled the flicker caused by static electricity in a dark room, but this room was far from dark, and this shock had been far from unpleasant. No, they both found it to be warm and soothing, almost reassuring. 

Still grasping one another's hands, they simultaneously said, "What the Hell was that?" 

Stunned and confused, the two nevertheless finished their handshake and began sharing information one question at a time. Neither of them was at their best however, both still pondering the cause of the spark rather than staying on mission. William found himself sorely tempted to use his questions to ask personal questions about Florence, rather than on anything job related. 

For her part, Florence had the exact same problem; being more curious about William, the security man than about Burton Waters, the developer. She found it increasingly difficult to concentrate, wasting her questions on data that she could easily have inferred from previous queries. Irritated at herself, she shook her head as if to clear it. 

William gazed into her eyes and said, "You too?" 

"What the Hell was that spark," she replied crossly. 

"Let's see if we can make another one," he replied softly as he leaned in for a kiss. 

Not bothering to think about it, Florence leaned in, breathing deeply. But just before their lips could meet, they were startled by a loud discordant buzzing sound. Both of them leapt back into defensive postures, before realizing how ridiculous they looked, having been surprised by a simple pager. 

Florence felt overwhelmed, I was about to kiss that man, a human for Goddess' sake! I haven't kissed a man in years and I was going to kiss an enemy. What am I doing? Have I completely lost control? 

Clearly irritated at something, Will reached down and positively yanked the pager from his belt. Quickly reading the message on the screen, his anger seemed to morph into concern instead. "Damn it," he mumbled, "Can't she..." he said before belatedly realizing that he was speaking out loud and changing tack. 

"I'm sorry Florence, I have to take this; it's an emergency and I have no choice in the matter. He then quickly rose to his feet and said "Philip and I are staying in the Hotel for a few more days. We'll take our meals here. I hope you'll come join us one night this week. We haven't finished this... conversation." And with this, he nodded to her and sped out the back door and out of her sight. 

"No," Florence said slowly. "I don't think we've finished this."



Artiface of Strength Ch. 02



Saturday morning came early for most of the pack, but not for Florence. Down at the pack community hall where most wolves took their meals, breakfast came and then passed once again. Florence had been surprisingly absent; she had never failed to show for a meal, or a sunrise for that matter. She was always up before everyone else, pushing herself to be the best and making damned sure that she worked harder than anyone. 

So people talked, well... wolves communicated, even if it wasn't out loud. Most of them sent silently to one another, wondering about her absence. Generally wolves are incredibly open, even fearlessly rude creatures, but this was Florence they were dealing with, and she had very sharp claws indeed. Most of the members of the pack had scars... deep scars, scars with her name on them. Wolves being wolves though, they preferred the physical scars to the mental ones like the ones that afflicted Florence. 

Back in her cabin, all alone in her bed, she was deeply asleep face down in her sheets, still dressed in her jeans and boots from last night. She was completely dead to the world when the Alpha knocked on her door. There was no answer, and after waiting a bit, he knocked again, louder the second time, but again there was no response. He knew she was home, he was a wolf; he could smell her. 

Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and let himself in. Normally, John would have rather bearded a bear in her own den rather than face Flo's wrath, but he was the Alpha and it was his job when a member of his pack had a problem, even if she was exceedingly slow to admit that she did indeed have one. 

He took a quick look into her sleeping area and catching sight of the fact that she was still dressed in her previous night's clothing, he headed into her small kitchen area and began to rummage around, looking for coffee. It wasn't hard to find, she didn't keep much in the way of foodstuffs in her cabin. Why should she? She took all of her meals in the main hall. 

Finding the coffee, he looked at it doubtfully. It was old, really old. Do they even make Brim anymore? Not finding any better options, he blew the dust off the tin, found her prehistoric stovetop coffee percolator and began to heat the water. 

Through this process, Florence never budged. John was sure of this, he'd checked, deciding that she was still breathing and didn't smell like she was hung over. Maybe she just got in really late, he thought to himself. As the water began to heat, he found himself remembering the day when she'd been brought to him. She must have been about three years old at the time, although no one really knew for sure. She had been found just outside of the Billington land, living ferally as a wolf, and even after the pack had managed to catch her, she'd refused to shift for several months. When she finally did shift for the first time, they discovered that she didn't speak a word of English or any other language for that matter, evidently she had never learned how. 

As she'd grown, she'd eventually caught up with the cubs close to her own age, not that she had often spoken with any of them. She had never really fit in; nor had she ever made any close friends within her age group. Alpha John acted as her de facto father, but as his human marriage had ended badly and he'd then never found a mate in all the time that he'd been a wolf, Florence grew up without a mother figure. She had always opened up for Beth, but then again, Beth couldn't be described as maternal in any tangible manner. 

For years the pack had worked to discover Florence's origin, and with the paucity of packs within North America, it should been an easy task to find a pack with a claim to her; werewolf births were so rare, especially female births- and cubs were treasured beyond measure. John had made enquiries from the tip of Baja to the straits of Newfoundland, but no one had a clue about her parents or from where they might have come. 

Every pack he'd contacted had made the offer to adopt her and take her off of Billington's hands, but by the time he'd finally given up on the search, she had started to seem a little bit more comfortable. She had even begun to laugh occasionally, so he adamantly refused to send her away. She had always been a mystery, but she was his mystery, and he was determined that she'd turn out better than his own children had. 

Startled out of his reverie by the sound of perking coffee, he headed back into her kitchen and began looking for a cup. Finding only an ugly dust covered mug with a yellow smiley face upon it, he washed it off, filled it to the rim, and then entered into the she bear's den with some trepidation. He considered placing the cup on her nightstand and backing out of range before noticing that it had a lot in common with everything else he'd seen here; it was disused and covered with dust. 

"Florence, it's time to wake up." 

"No," she grumbled back. 

"C'mon Flo, you have not missed a day of work in twenty years. Wake up and talk to me. Here... I've brought you some coffee to help." 

Grumbling, Florence struggled into a sitting position and took the mug from his hands. She took a quick sip before frowning in shock and saying, "Good Goddess! That is awful!" 

"How long have you had that can anyway," John asked. 

"I'm not sure, I don't really drink it; I only bought it in case I had friends over." 

John frowned at this and said, "Here, let me try that." 

Florence gratefully gave up the mug and watched John try a sip, and then just as quickly, spit it all back out, saying with a gasp, "Throw that coffee away; if you give that to friends, you will lose them." 

"I'll get right on that," Florence grumbled. 

"Oh, c'mon on Flo..." John started before being cut off. 

"I hate that name, Alpha; you know that!" 

"But it's just the two of us right now; would you prefer it if I called you daughter?" 

Surprised, Florence's eyes darted up to meet her Alpha's. "You've never called me that before. Why now?" 

"Because it's something I should have done a long time ago, Flo. I let you grow up mostly alone because I thought that's what you wanted. Hell, my own children were such a complete disaster. They were spoiled, vain, entitled, and a dozen other things, none of them good; I'm deeply embarrassed by how they turned out. I know it was my fault; I was a lousy father before I traveled to the new World. And then, once I got here, I was turned against my will and had to disappear for a while. 

"Since everyone in the colony thought that they had successfully hung me, if I came back after being executed, they would have been sure that I was a demon of some sort; it was like that then, it was a superstitious time. So, by the time that Sam and Tom could bring me back, it was many years later and there was no one left alive who had known me. After that, centuries passed and I never found my mate. I just figured I had blown my chance. I guess that I kind of missed the fact that you were my second chance." 

"All I ever wanted was to impress you," Florence replied softly. 

"I finally figured that out. Hell, I should have figured it out when you started knocking off the male warriors one by one. I think Sam might have tried to get that through to me a few times, but by then I had started thinking that maybe you were one of the two-spirits and it was best to let you fight your way to the top like a male. Heck Flo, you know that I'm the only wolf in the entire pack who lacks a single drop of Native blood in my veins. I was born in Lincolnshire County surrounded by all those religious zealots. It took me years to overcome that upbringing, and when I had finally managed to do it, then I was forcibly turned and found myself fully immersed directly into the Wampanoag mysticism... and after that, into the different mysticisms of each tribe that we met as we were forced farther and farther west." 

"By the time we had arrived here, I wasn't sure what I believed anymore. We had passed through so many tribes, spoken with so many shamans and continually picked up pack members as we moved west. There are bits of Wampanoag, as well as Lakota Sioux, Crow, Hopi, and even Zuni tribal lore in what we believe now. I guess our pack's beliefs are sort of like Universalism, well...the wolf equivalent anyway. Florence, I'm an honest man, I have no idea if what we believe is true or not, but our beliefs work for us. All of our wolves are happy...except for you, and maybe me." 

"So Father, have you decided to bare your soul in hopes that I would bare mine?" 

"Is it working," he asked with a grimace. 

"Well, I'm not a two spirit; the other bitches don't appeal to me at all." 

"Yeah, I got that when you started in with the men, but then that phase didn't last long, and eventually you stopped altogether." 

"Alpha, you know I couldn't let them top me if I was going to pass them, and the only wolves that were left were Uncles Sam and Tom...and you. It didn't leave me much to work with, humans never much appealed to me." 

"And now you are lonely." 

Florence merely frowned and looked away. 

"So you are just like your father?" 

"Fuck you." 

"I'm going to try to do better, Flo. I've never had a child that I've liked before. You said that all you wanted to do was impress me, and you've done nothing but that over and over again. Florence, you scare me with how good you are. You've beaten every male in the pack except for your Uncles, and I'm not entirely sure that you couldn't take them if you really wanted to. There's never been a bitch that's done that...in any pack...anywhere." 

"But now I'm always alone." 

"I know baby, believe me, I know. If there is a mate out there for you somewhere, he'll be an Alpha; there is no way that any other wolf would appeal to you." 

"But then I'd have to leave our pack and leave this land. I'd never want to leave here; it's all I know. It's all I want to know." 

"I did some asking around Flo, there isn't currently an unmated Alpha on this continent." 

"You tried to find me a mate," she said with a gasp? 

"No daughter, I just looked around for possibilities; we both know that you'd cheerfully kill anyone who you didn't respect." 

"So why are you matchmaking for me? Go find your own bitch!" 

"You think I haven't looked? I'm not that old yet. I'm still breathing." 

This got a chuckle out of her. The idea that the oldest shifter in all of North America was now claiming to not be that old, tickled her sense of humour somehow. 

"Yeah, go ahead...laugh. Your freaking coffee is older than I am," he growled. 

"No way, you are older than dirt," she shot back. 

"If you don't stop it right now, I won't hug you." 

"You'll hug me," she said longingly? 

He practically leapt forward and gathered her in the tight embrace that was long overdue, it was a reflection of a love that he had not expressed in hundreds of years, and it finally felt right. Tears ran down Florence's face as she received what she'd sought, unknowingly, for so many years. 

After a few emotional minutes, John said, "Well daughter, since you were not actually hung over, would you care to tell me why you were still in bed at eleven o'clock?" 

"Meeting William was a bit of a shock, I think it finally hit me how lonely I am." 

"William? That Yazzie guy with the gun?" 

"Yes Alpha, I did manage to have dinner with him; didn't Beth tell you?" 

"I haven't seen her yet Flo. You know how she is; sometimes she sleeps here, sometimes she finds somebody in town." 

"I was strangely attracted to him, Alpha, I mean...really attracted to him. When I touched him, there was a spark. We both saw it, we both felt it; it was not like any shock I'd ever experienced, it was warm—maybe even soothing. I was going to kiss him, even though I know he is only a human and there is no way it could go anywhere, but before I could do that, he got an emergency page and practically flew out the back door. I think that's when it hit me just how alone that I am. I'll probably never find my mate because I'm a warrior, and when I meet the first man in decades that I've been even remotely interested in, he's only a mere human who couldn't possibly be anything for me either. There hasn't been a Were/human mating in hundreds of years and we all know that it is why there are so few of us. So, I'm screwed right? Well, I guess it's more accurate to say that I'll never be screwed now isn't it? It seems like my life has been one long mistake; I didn't crawl into a bottle last night, but I sure felt like doing so." 

John reached over and laid his hand over Florence's, remaining silent for a moment, waiting to see if she'd continue, but as her silence continued to drag, he responded, "Flo, when this fight is over, I'll contact the other packs and make arrangements for you to go visiting. They are all curious about the first Beta bitch anyway. You'll have to prove yourself over and over to them, so you'll have a chance to fight lots of wolves; we'll call it training. If you don't find your mate, at least maybe you can find a few Betas to dally with. I think that's how Samoset and his ugly blood-brother handle it. Those two are like me; they've never found their mates either." 

Florence snorted. "Those two idiots are not even looking. If one of them found their mate, the other would die of boredom with nobody to play with." 

John roared with laughter at her response. "Hell Flo, I always figured that those two would run into a pair of twins." Then he got a bit more serious and said, "So...do you feel good enough to tell me what you learned from your human last night?" 

"Not much Alpha, William is positive that Waters has an angle; maybe some sort of legal claim to our land, or at least a way to pass through it. He seems clueless about what it might be, but he said, and I'm quoting here: That fucking Burton is positive that his plan is solid. That blood-sucker always gets what he wants!" 

John pondered this for a moment before responding. "He wants to build a road to that shitty casino up above the lake?" 

"Yes Alpha, evidently the only thing keeping it from being successful is that awful road that leads up to it." 

John snorted and said, "Not to mention the complete lack of alcohol and hotel rooms there, and that pathetic bunch of Indian wannabes who run it. Those people are no more Native than I am. I think one of them claims to be one eighth Suquamish, but they never ranged this far south; I've always thought his claims were bullshit." 

"Evidently Waters is willing to finance the costs of the casino upgrade and a new road in exchange for a large share of the profits." 

John growled again before responding, "He wants to sully our land and disturb our peace for just another deal?" 

"That's what William believes, Alpha." 

"Was there anything else?" 

"Not about that, Alpha, but I do have a question for you though. What was it that you said about having met Yazzies before? I think Tom snorted when you said it." 

"That was Sam who snorted; he's the only one who got away clean." 

"Keep going...father." 

"Ouch! You are going to use that against me already?" 

Florence just raised an eyebrow and waited. 

"It's nothing really; Yazzie is just a very common Southwestern Native surname. Lots of Navaho and Apache adopted that name when surnames became more common." At this point John stopped talking, clearly hoping that this would satisfy his inquisitive adoptive daughter. 

Flo just tapped her foot and waited. 

"What?" John said somewhat weakly. 

"Keep going. Sam snorted when the Yazzies were mentioned. Tell me why; spill it all." 

"Umm...Tom and I may have dated a couple of cousins once." 

"Dated? Define 'dated'. Was this more like you met them at a dance," she then paused and looked accusingly at her father, "...or was it more like you snuck them away from their family and had your way with them?" 

"Yeah, more like that." 

"And what happened when their fathers found out?" 

"Well, they weren't happy." 

"And when you say 'weren't happy', what you really mean is that they were completely furious and threatened to remove parts of your anatomy?" 

"Yeah, they showed up at our camp the next day. They brought their sons, and their brothers, and their cousins, and a few who were just friends of the family, I think." 

"Uh-huh...keep going." 

"Florence, you have to understand that in their society, husbands were obligated to move in with their wives' fathers; it is how they built their bands; the women might not have been in charge, but they owned everything." 

"So they wanted you to marry the poor girls whom you'd deflowered?" 

"Yeah, they were rather insistent about that, but then again, we didn't actually deflower them, those girls were a lot of things, but they sure weren't maidens." 

"So how did you get out of it?" 

"The pack was moving west at the time. We'd been forced off of our land by the encroaching Europeans and we were weighed down by all of our belongings. We had all our women and cubs with us; there was no way that we could outrun them weighed down like that. Yeah I know, we could have just killed them and been done with it, but that wouldn't have been right; they hadn't really done anything to deserve that." 

"You didn't marry them and then run out on them did you?" 

"No, but we came close. We had to show their Diyin what we were and tell him about our mating practices. The only reason he went for it was the fact that there would be no children from a marriage with the girls." 

"A Diyin is a shaman, right?" 

"Yeah, and we were lucky that he knew that those girls were not virgins or I don't think we would have gotten out of there without bloodshed." 

"So what did you do?" 

"We had to find them husbands." 

Florence began laughing. "So let me get this straight, the entire pack became stuck in the desert because you and Tom couldn't keep them in your pants, and then while everyone was stuck waiting, you had to find two dupes who'd marry girls with extremely round heels? Have I got that right?" 

"You make it sound bad." 

Florence just looked at her Alpha, not saying a word. 

"OK, OK, we screwed up... and by the way, the pack hated the desert heat. Ultimately, it's why we ended up heading north." 

"How long were you stuck there?" 

John sighed before answering. "Just under a year; it took us forever to find someone gullible enough to marry those two, and the whole time, they kept sneaking away from their fathers and climbing into our bedrolls. We thought we'd never get rid of them." 

Florence rolled her eyes and said, "Oh sure, you just hated that part." 

"Oh that wasn't even the worst part... it was Sam. He loved every minute of our misery; we had no idea there were so many jokes about being roped into marriage. Hell, we tried to send the pack on ahead under Sam's leadership, but he wouldn't hear of it. He said that he just had to stay and watch the show to see how it came out." 

"So the cousins were Yazzies?" 

"No, that's the guy we found." 

"You found just one man for both of them?" 

"We were lucky to find him, and he didn't come cheap." 

"You had to pay him to marry two oversexed cousins?" 

"He wasn't happy about the whole settling down part, but the gold we gave him and the attentions of those two wildcats ultimately were enough to convince him. We bailed out of there immediately after the wedding. We've never moved so fast, we changed directions at least three times; we were not taking any chances. They were now his problem." 

"So when Will said that his grandfather was probably just chasing tail, it reminded Sam of someone?" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 02



John merely growled while Florence laughed again. 

After Florence was done laughing, John asked his daughter, "Are we good now? Can we stop this over-sharing and go to lunch?" 

Florence merely laughed and shooed John out of her cabin so she could shower and change. 

While she showered, she found herself greatly relieved with her improved relationship with her adoptive father, and while that did raise her mood somewhat, she couldn't see that it would change her likely future. She knew that no matter how much her combat abilities improved, a group of male Weres would never follow a bitch for long, so aspiring to leadership was out of the question, but she also realized that her combat prowess would certainly prevent any lesser wolf from being suitable for mating, so unfortunately that meant that children were unlikely as well. She almost found herself envying human women and their ability to maintain more balanced relationships and even though she did realize that human women struggled with balancing act as well, at least human women could breed with someone other than their soulmate. 

Wolves rarely bred, and that myth about shifters finding their human half, turning them and then living happily ever after, was just that... a myth. Yes, humans could be turned, but it was very unusual for them to find a mate right away. Indeed, it had been centuries since the last turned human had even found its mate with the wolf who had turned them. Most Were believed that this had been more common in colonial times only because there had been so few wolves to begin with. 

John Billington had only been the second known Were in the new World, and as he'd promptly killed the wolf that'd turned him, he hadn't managed to learn a thing from the man, closing the book on knowing his own history. The Native Americans had their legends of Were of course, but if there had ever truly been any shifters within the People, they surely must have died out before the arrival of the Europeans. 

The new Were had spoken with many a shaman who claimed that they'd met Native Werefolk, but the new Were were never really convinced of this since none of the shaman could prove that their memories were anything more than a product of their ceremonial drugs. As far as anyone knew, Billington and his two long-serving Betas were the genesis of Were in America so if these three had no knowledge of history relating to Weres, then it probably didn't exist. 

It was clear to the North American packs that there must have been Were in the old world, because the man who'd attacked and turned Billington had evidently brought the condition to Colonial America from England, but there had been no contact since that time as wolves were pretty insular to begin with, and when you add to this the fact that most of them hated to travel, they had never met their ancestors, or indeed, even knew if they still existed. 

Sometimes Florence wondered if her birth parents might have journeyed to the Pacific Northwest from outside of the continent, and she'd often considered traveling to Europe to see for herself, but ultimately she held the same deep reverence for her adoptive land, and the same inborn phobia about getting too far from the surface of the Earth that all Were seemed to have. The idea of getting into a plane and leaving the ground would reduce them to a terrified puddle, and although the thought of getting on a boat was a bit more palatable, a long sea journey was unfathomable to most of them. She couldn't imagine why the original Were must have chosen to sentence himself to the months' long journey to the new world. Whatever he'd been fleeing, it must have been terrible. Florence ruefully laughed to herself and wondered if there might be a way to walk to England, before realizing if she could find her mate, it might just be worth the effort. 

At about the same time as Florence was having her reflective moment in the shower, John walked into the main hall and sniffed deeply; Hell, lunch was almost ready and he was starving. He was a wolf; that meant he was almost always hungry. He sniffed again... roast pork and Carolina sauce. He breathed in again...some sort of fried potatoes and a vegetable of some sort, not that that it really mattered what kind of vegetable they were serving today; he wasn't going to eat it anyway. Goddess he loved being a wolf! This food was so much better than that colonial crap. Peas porridge cold. Eww, never again. 

Now he only had to wait to be fed. Impatient, he briefly considered slipping into the kitchen and grabbing an appetizer, but then he remembered what had happened the last time he had tried that. Damned cooks needed a refresher course on who the Alpha was! No, never mind that, he'd wait until everyone else was served. An Alpha needed to eat with his pack. Yeah, that was it. He glanced at his watch and wondered how he would kill the next thirty minutes or so. 

At about the same time, Beth entered the compound riding her Roadster. It was a couple of years old now, but she still loved riding the thing. The saddle bags that she'd bought for it had set her back about a month's worth of tips, but good hand-tooled leather was always expensive, and getting it personalized just the way she wanted had cost her extra as well. "What the Hell," she had said, "What else do I have to spend money on?" 

The human patrons at the roadhouse usually threw fistfuls of money at her each night as if it were only water. She always found it strange that she spent her nights flirting with all of the men in the house, just sifting through them trying to establish which one of them might be the most virile, and then all of them would tip her anyway, no matter who she was focusing on for the evening-even more when she wore less. She couldn't quite understand it, but she wasn't about to give them their money back. It wasn't like they'd miss it; most of them were on vacation anyway. 

As she pulled her bike up to the hall, she was happy to see that she was in time for lunch. This pleased her because even though she had found that Phil had been worth missing breakfast for, she was now almost ravenous. The man had certainly known some interesting tricks, but now she was starving, her wolf metabolism was a bitch to keep properly fed. She parked her bike, pulled her helmet off and then headed into the dining hall-smelling pork sandwiches and looking forward to lunch. 

Smelling the food, she knew that she was one hung-over bitch. Phil had proven to be very talented the night before and now she was thinking that he just needed to smell a bit better. She'd fix that though if he continued to prove entertaining. Maybe she'd just drag his ass into the shower and then coat him with whipped cream; he'd go for that! 

As she walked through the door, she was intercepted by Tom who slid up to her, wrapped his arm around her waist and whispered into her ear, "If I'm buying you clothes, I am gonna go with you to pick them out. Flo said to take you to Victoria's Secret...right?" 

Beth just swatted his chest and replied, "Then you'd better pick something good; she told me to spend your entire paycheck." 

He didn't bat an eye before replying, "I'll pay for whatever you want, but then I get to take 'em all off of you...deal?" 

Beth laughed again and replied, "That's fine by me, but if you tear 'em, you are going to replace them! Now... behave yourself you horny beast; don't make me spank you! Tisquantum my dear; people will talk." 

"You mean there's a wolf in the pack who doesn't know about me yet? Who is she?" Tom replied lasciviously with a chuckle. 

John stepped up to the two, interrupting, "If you two are done playing grab ass... Beth, could you maybe consider reporting in and telling your poor Alpha what you learned from the greasy human last night." He then stopped and glared at her saying, "I can still smell him on you!" 

"Phil proved to be a very naughty boy, Alpha. He was quite a bit more limber than I had expected, and he does this thing with his tongue..." 

At this point, John cut her off, "OK, OK, can it Bess! I get it; you sacrificed your body for the greater good of the pack, but we both know that you enjoyed it, so just tell me the parts that I might actually care about. 

"I'm hurt, Alpha," she said while gripping at her chest as if in pain, "C'mon, let's go get some food and I'll tell you everything I learned!" 

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 

After lunch was over, Beth found Florence exactly where she had expected to find her, in the sparring ring, taking on all comers. Florence was here every weekend, rain or shine, whether any of the other wolves wanted her here or not. By the time Beth arrived, Florence had already knocked two Beta aspirants out of the ring, and sent a third to the infirmary. Beth took one look at the unfortunate faces of the male wolves waiting their turn in the ring, bit back a smile and then did something that none of the men could manage, she got Florence to leave the ring. 

"C'mon Florence, for one day, stop picking on the boys and come on a run with me. It's time for us to compare notes and see what we what kind of mischief that we can get into next! You know...girl time." 

Flo glanced at Beth and then briefly back to the men to see if any of them was waiting to challenge her. When none of them spoke up...or were even willing to meet her gaze, she grumbled her acceptance to Beth, and stepped backwards out of the ring while thanking the Goddess for her victories. 

Beth hiding her amusement at the other wolves' obvious relief upon Florence's departure from the ring and instead chose to send to Flo, rather than speak out loud, "Do you feel better now that you've beaten the Hell out of a few men? Reduced your frustration? Tamped down your anger?" 

For her answer, Florence merely gave Beth a withering look before following her friend away from the ring. 

Beth continued, "I hear that you sent Tristan to the infirmary; was that really necessary?" 

Flo grunted and then sent back, "It was only a broken leg; he'll be fine in a couple of days." 

"Yes Florence, but it was only a sparring session; it's not like it was a real challenge." 

"He did well Beth; the other two were easy to dispatch, but Tristan has gotten better lately. I used to able to beat him while still pulling my punches, but we're both going almost full-bore now. 

"So what happened?" 

"He hasn't learned to vary his routine enough; he kept balancing all his weight on one leg and not changing his pattern. I feinted one way and then attacked his base. It broke cleanly; he shouldn't even have a scar when it's healed." 

Beth rolled her eyes and switched back to speaking, "O.K. so you've now out-manned all of the guys, so are you ready for some girl-time now? We need to debrief about last night!" 

"But we just did that at lunch with the Alpha." 

"No silly, now we're gonna talk men. You know, kissing...sex, stuff like that. You've spent your Saturday training the men to be men, now this girl is gonna train you how to be a girl." 

Florence just grumbled and continued to walk with Beth, as the two walked back through the common area of the compound and into the pack's garage area. Surprised at their destination, Florence broke her silence and said, "Why are we here? I thought you said we are going on a run?" 

"Different kind of run, Flo; I borrowed the keys to John's Indian. He said to make sure to tell you not to wreck it; it is older than your coffee. What on Earth does that mean anyway? He wouldn't tell me." 

"Never mind Beth; it's a private...and unfunny joke." 

Sensing a story, Beth considered following up on this answer, but decided that this wasn't the battle she wanted to fight right then. Instead she replied, "Grab a helmet Hon', and get yourself mounted up, we're gonna be late!" 

Curious, but patient enough to wait for an answer, Florence did what she was told and grabbed a helmet and then fired up John's bike following Beth out of the compound. 

They rode for quite some time, seemingly changing directions at random and not going any direction in particular. After a while, Florence realized that she had completely lost track of time and had no clear idea of just how long they'd been riding. They had gradually picked up speed though, and were now flying around the winding highway, pushing their machines to the limit. They had not spoken, or even sent a thought to one another since they'd left the garage, both women giving their full attentions to the tight tree-lined turns that made up the highway along the edge of the lake. 

Reaching the edge of the National Forest area, the women re-entered pack lands and began to slow down. After a few miles, Florence saw one of the access gates up ahead. These gates, all securely locked, allowed the pack into the back country. Beth produced a key, opened the gate and directed Florence inside. 

After relocking the gate, the girls rode their bikes a few hundred meters farther down the road, going quite slowly as their bikes were not exactly made for off pavement travel. They came to a stop and parked in a shady area well out of sight from the public highway. Hopping off of her bike, Beth reached into one of her saddle bags, produced two bottles of pink moscato and laughed, "Let's go swimming!" 

"Swimming," Florence said curiously? "We have time for swimming; I thought you said we were gonna be late for something?" 

"Yeah, late to catch the best part of the sunlight, it'll be fun; we are on pack land so there won't be any rangers to deal with, and if someone happens to ski by, we'll hear them in plenty of time, so we can hide the girls under the water! It's only about a half mile to the best swimming spot on the whole lake from here." 

Beth then opened her other saddle bag and produced a canvas beach bag and tossed it to Florence. "Here, you carry this, I've got the wine. We're burning daylight, let's go!" 

Like most wolves. Florence was unconcerned with casual nudity, but as she well knew, most humans tended to greatly overreact to naked bodies, so she generally tried to avoid it, but she could see that Beth was on a mission so she did what she was told and followed her friend into the woods, heading for the lake. Unfortunately for Flo, she also knew that Beth positively lived for an opportunity to outrage others and realized that if a boat did pass by, the woman would likely jump out of the water and shake her behind at the skiers. But Florence knew she was in much too deep to back out now, so she just sighed and continued to follow her odd leader, having no clue what the woman might be up to. 

The day was warm and the hike was long enough to work up a sweat; Florence found herself actually looking forward to a swim, if not the inevitable conversation that she feared was coming. With nothing better to do than follow Beth, she began to prowl through the bag she'd been told to carry, wondering if she could divine Beth's intentions from what was inside. She found a couple of towels and two pair of sunglasses, as well as some cheese and a corkscrew. Not much to go on, although it was clear that her mentor had planned for a swim. 

"No," she thought to herself, "No instruments of torture or recording devices; maybe this interrogation would not be as bad as she had feared." 

Arriving at a small beach that was sheltered from the worst of the sun by the towering Western Red Cedars that grew up to the very edge of the lake, Beth laughed and said, "We're here," and began taking of her clothes. "Spread out those towels and throw me the corkscrew, it's moscato time!" 

Florence mentally sighed again, but did as she was told before removing her own clothes and diving into the lake, leaving Beth to deal with the wine. 

Whiskey Lake was a typical Pacific Northwestern lake; it was crystal clear, quite deep, and as cold as ice. The first kiss of the water was always a shock to Flo for even in the warmest months; the depth of the lake and the fact that it was fed entirely by snow melt meant that it was cold enough to scare off all but the hardiest swimmers. Florence was an avid swimmer though and she quickly realized for the second time in as many days that she'd been working too hard to make time to do the things that she loved. 

She swam for a few minutes, washing off the sweat and the accumulated dust from their hike before turning around and swimming back to the beach, wondering if Beth had managed to get the wine open. As she swam back from the deep water of the lake and her friend came back into view, she thought, "First John, and now Beth, dammit I'll never hear the end of this now!" 

As if reading Flo's mind, Beth looked up from her sunbathing and asked, "So...how long has it been since you've been swimming?" 

"Well Beth, let's just say that I've probably bought coffee since then," replied Flo. 

With a confused look, Beth said, "One of these days, you will have to tell me that story, but never mind that for now, tell me about your date with that staggeringly sexy human. Enquiring minds wanna know!" She then patted the towel next to her and encouraged, "sit down and drink your wine and tell your girlfriend all about it. I want to her every last sordid detail!" 

So Flo did just that, taking her time and describing her evening with William. She explained every detail, every feeling that she had experienced—even the ones that made her nervous or embarrassed. She spun her evening out with such detail that the telling of her story took longer than the encounter itself. Beth prompted Florence occasionally, but mostly she let the younger woman drink her wine, take her time, and unburden herself to her closest friend. 

When Florence had finally finished, Beth paused for a moment before saying, "See Flo, you wanted to kiss him; you are a girl after all." 

Florence looked at her friend crossly and almost spat, "You and John are pissing me off!" 

Beth giggled kindly and replied, "Why? Because we love you? Because we want you to stop driving yourself crazy and begin to enjoy life?" 

Florence wanted to growl in response, but she couldn't quite make herself do it. Instead she said nothing and couldn't meet Beth's eyes. 

Beth smiled as she leaned forward and hugged Florence in a tight embrace, whispering, "John and I are old Flo, surely we've learned a few things to share with the young ones. Girlfriend, you are not even a hundred years old yet; we had better damned well know better than you do!" She then paused for a moment before adding knowingly, "So...when are you gonna drop into the Roadhouse and see him again? He said that he'd be there all week." 

Still hugging Beth tightly, Florence looked over her friends shoulder and blanched, "Shit! Shit! Looks like it's gonna be in about five minutes... Look" she said pointing out into the cove where a small boat had just drifted past the rocky point.  

Looking to where Florence was now pointing, Beth saw two very familiar faces, both of whom were holding expensive looking cameras with large telephoto lenses attached. 

"Damn it Beth, you said that we'd hear it if anyone was approaching us. Now they've drifted in with the current and have seen us naked and hugging. How could this get any worse?" 

Realizing that the two men were probably just engaged in surveying the pack's land, Beth grinned and said, "It's too late now Flo, you might as well just smile and wave at them." 

"I'm out of here," Florence growled in exasperation, before grabbing her clothes and fleeing back into the cover of the forest, intent on heading directly for her bike and away from the situation. 

Beth, seeing that the two men had by now started their outboard motor and were now headed straight for her, waved at them while she sent to Florence, "Oh c'mon Flo, it isn't that bad!" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 02



Florence was unconvinced and screamed in frustration before picking up her pace and running for the safety of her bike. 

Beth sighed and then sent one final thought to Florence, "Come to the clubhouse tonight, and I'll tell you what they have to say!"



Artiface of Strength Ch. 03



She didn't want to do this, she had avoided coming to Shunkaha for years now. Tonight though, her hand had been forced. Dammit, I have got to know what happened! The man saw me naked; worse yet, he saw me naked while I was hugging Beth! I'd beg her to just send me the story, but I need to be looking into her eyes when she tells me. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm gonna need a very tall and very stiff drink in my hand when I hear what she has to say! 

Florence hadn't been to the pack clubhouse in years. It was open every Friday and Saturday night, and the drinks were always free, but yet, she hadn't been inside since some time during Ronald Reagan's term in office. 

She'd be fine, down deep, she knew this. She knew all of the special clubhouse rules, and even though they were not written down anywhere, every wolf in the pack knew them by heart. They all knew about 'hourly bartender', as well as all the unique and perverse rules to the drinking games, not to mention all of insanity that went on at the pool tables. 

She'd be fine...really. After all, she had grown up with these wolves, even though this was probably what was worrying her the most. She'd ignored the social part of belonging to her pack for such a long time, and she was justifiably worried that she might not get the warmest welcome when she walked in to Shunkaha. Wolves were such loyal creatures, and she knew that they might just consider her time away from them as a sign of disloyalty, rather than what it had really been, not that she could quite explain what her reasons were to any of them. She had enough trouble explaining her fears to herself. 

"Damn that Beth," she thought to herself once again, "I'm sure that she made me come here to make a point; she's just rubbing my nose in it now!" 

So she just stood there, right outside the front door, indecision locking her in place. The Shunkaha hadn't changed since she'd seen it last. It was still a large, ugly cinder block building with a tall peaked roof to defeat the heavy winter snows that hit every year. There were no windows on the building, but there were large double-doors on all four walls, as well as well-hidden security cameras on the outside. No one was going to sneak up on their clubhouse, and the doors made sure that they'd never be trapped inside in the event of an attack. 

On each set of doors, the exact same signs were hung. The first sign said in large black letters, Shunkaha Club, members only. The second sign, lettered in a blood red script, said, abandon all hope those who ignore the above sign. So far it'd worked fine, there had not been an uninvited human enter the place in years, although this may have had as much to do with the remote location and the dozens of bikes parked near the building and next to the large locker area that sat on the front porch. The members needed a place to put their clothes when they went on a different sort of wolven 'run'. 

Yes, this was the last place she wanted, or expected to be for the night. She knew that if she opened the door, she'd be committed to go inside, to talk to people; worse yet, she'd probably have to talk about things that were not even work related. She'd have to answer questions, probably even endure being teased and tormented by the other pack members. With her luck, Tristan was probably even in there with his brand new casted leg and a set of crutches. That might be awkward. 

So, she stood there, putting off opening the door and going inside. She didn't have to open the door to in order to hear the music however; one of the warriors must have control of the jukebox tonight. Ministry was playing, and someone had graciously turned the volume up as high as it would go. 

Indeed, the walls of Shunkaha were visibly shaking from the sound. Florence could make out the lyrics even through the cold cinder block, "I'm in love with this malicious intent; you've been taken but you don't know it yet..." She hoped that this wasn't an omen of things to come. 

"No," she said out loud, "I don't have to do this! Surely Beth will be willing to tell me what happened with William over breakfast tomorrow. I can wait that long". 

But, just as she spun on her heel and was prepared to flee back to her cabin, she received a sending from Beth...from inside. "No, I won't. If you want the whole story, you are going to have to swallow your pride and get your tail in here and take what's coming to you. C'mon Hon', it won't hurt...much." 

Florence knew that trying to out-stubborn Beth was a fool's mission, and since no one had ever managed it, she took a deep breath and pulled the door open. Ministry was still pounding away from the speakers, and she was immediately assaulted by their grumbling chorus, "New World Order! New World Order!" 

Exhaling, she scanned the room and found to her dismay that the room was packed, evidently every adult wolf from the entire county was here tonight, even the ones who lived off compound. There hadn't been a turn out like this in years. She hoped that she wasn't the reason for the occasion. 

She turned to the pack peg board and found the tag with her name on it, deftly removed it and then dropped it into the hopper. While doing this, she noticed that there were only three adult tags left on the board. If the entire pack was here, where were John, Sam, and Tom? Oh Goddess, that meant she was the ranking wolf on premises tonight. What the Hell is going on?! 

It was extremely unusual for the three senior wolves to be absent from the clubhouse on a Saturday night. Like most wolves, the three men were social animals, and it was unlike them to miss a pack party and to Florence, this definitely looked like a blowout that had been going on for awhile. She took one look at the bloodshot eyes that greeted her and the unsteadiness of the arms that rose to wave at her, and decided that this party had been going on since before nightfall. "Just wonderful," she thought to herself, "I am in charge tonight, and if there is a problem, all of my warriors are plowed." 

"Well, at least the natives look friendly," she reassured herself before heading over to the bar where Beth seemed to be camped out, holding court for the pack bitches while most of the men seemed content to hang out at the pool and shuffleboard tables. 

"Here goes nothin'," she mumbled to herself as she approached the Queen and her nosey court. As she approached the edge of the group, it seemed to almost magically open to permit her to move directly to the middle. Jackie and Marge, two of the senior bitches stepped aside, one to the left, and one to the right, leaving Florence room to stand right in the dead center of the pack's women. Somehow she feared that this wasn't an accident. 

"Hey Florence, long time since we've seen your face in the clubhouse," Jackie said with a mischievous smile. "Beth was just telling us about her conquest last night! 

Marge laughed and then offered, "Yeah, she said that you got the cute one!" 

Florence said nothing, merely shooting Beth an irritated look that wasn't missed by any of the pack bitches. Nor was it possible for anyone to miss the assembled women's laughter when they saw the look of discomfort on Florence's face. 

Beth didn't let the look bother her; she just grinned back at Florence and said, "See Hon', I told you that it wouldn't hurt...much. All the girls are on your side, you know." 

Florence growled back, "Let me guess, you are going tell everyone what happened when the boys landed their boat?" 

Margie laughed once again, "Well duh! Of course she is Flo. You don't think any of us are gonna miss hearing this story, do you? It's been ages since any of us have gotten to hear any good Florence gossip!" 

"...and this is even better," Beth stated, "This is the straight stuff! It is one hundred percent accurate." 

"Yeah, right from the horse's ass," grumbled Florence. 

Beth put her hands upon her heart and affected a mortally wounded pose before saying with a feigned gasp, "Oh Florence, you wound me! Here I am... doing my best to promote harmony and love within the pack, and you positively wound me!" 

Beth then paused a moment before starting again with a giggle, "but you are not getting out of it; here's what happened, girls..." But before Beth could utter another word, the jukebox abruptly stopped mid-song, just like it did at the top of every hour. It was time for shift change. 

"Tristan," Beth yelled out. "You aint dancin' tonight, so reach in that drum and find us a new bartender." 

Florence looked over her shoulder and saw that she'd missed seeing Tristan seated next to the prize drum near the front entrance, and she began to get a sinking feeling, sensing a set-up when she saw one. Tristan grinned at Florence good naturedly before giving the drum a couple of turns and leisurely reaching within and drawing a name. Florence knew which name he'd be calling before he'd even drawn it out of the hopper. Sure enough, she heard her own name called and she began putting the apron on before the laughter had even died down. 

"O.K. boys," Florence called out without missing a beat, you know the drill; the bartender can choose to exercise control over the jukebox, and I'm gonna do just that. We will not be listening to any more Ministry tonight. No more Nine Inch Nails. No more Toadies. It aint gonna happen on my watch; so you'd better just deal with it!" 

Then she looked over at her grinning friend and demanded, "Beth, go fill that thing up with girl's choice. Start with some Gretchen, because you made damned sure that I was here for the party. 

This was met with a good deal of good-natured booing from the men, but 'girl's choice' usually meant dancing music, so all of the members of the Queen's court smiled and melted away from the bar, sending come-hither looks to their men as they headed to the dance floor. Not that many of the men complained much, male wolves were a lot like male humans, they generally enjoyed half-drunk and horny women coming to find them, so everything was good. 

When Beth returned from the jukebox, Florence looked at her meaningfully and asked, "Are there any other names in the drum tonight?" 

"Nope, not a single one." 

"That's dirty, Beth!" 

"Yep, the girls and I discussed it. Then we voted on it and it was unanimous; we decided that you have a couple of decade's worth of debt to pay off." 

Florence thought about this for a moment and then asked, "...and John and the two idiots, where are they tonight?" 

"Hiding from you, I think. John said something about needing to leave you in charge just in case that lost bitch showed up and got pissed off when she was forced to have some fun." 

"Beth, I will get even with you. Count on it!" 

Not feeling overly threatened, Beth just laughed in response before directing Florence's attention to where Tristan was signaling for a drink. 

"Any clue what he's drinking," Florence asked with resignation. 

"He's drinking you in with his eyes, Flo. I'm guessing that he'll be ordering body shots. 

Ignoring Beth's response, Florence changed the subject, "So...when do I get to hear about William and Phil?" 

"You know the answer to that, Flo, you'll get the story when the rest of the girls get done dancing and come back to the bar. I'm only telling this story once..." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know," interrupted Florence, breaking into song, "So I'd better be sure and listen close the first time..." She then stopped singing and grumbled, "Goddess, I hate that song!" 

"Umm... Flo, did you forget Tristan?" 

"Yes master," Florence said grumpily, as she grabbed an order pad and headed out to take orders. 

With the dance floor full however, there were not many orders to take, so Florence soon found herself standing in front of Tristan, a little unsure of what to say to him. She looked down into his dark eyes and saw him looking back at her openly, almost hungrily; his long brown hair was tied back with a leather thong tonight. He'd also shaved off his scruffy beard as well. He was wearing a simple western shirt with a couple of buttons open at the top that showed just how broad and muscled his chest had become. 

"You clean up nice, Tristan; how's the leg?" 

"I didn't vary my pattern enough, and I kept balancing on the same leg...right?" 

"...and I didn't even have to tell you what you'd done wrong." 

"No Florence, you just broke my leg instead." 

"You've gotten so much better, Tristan. I have to take each session more seriously now; it seems as if you are on a mission." 

"I am on a mission, Florence. I'm going to pass you, and then I'm going to take you!" 

"What if I don't want to be taken?" 

"Then I'll convince you, because if I can beat you, I think you'll be willing to be convinced." 

Florence took a longer, more appraising look at Tristan, seeing only determination in his eyes. Momentarily unsure of herself, she scented him, but there was nothing there. His scent had not changed at all, and while it sounded as though he might want to be her mate, he was not, at least not yet. She knew that this could change however, many wolves found mates with those they had known all of their lives. Only the Goddess, herself knew when or even why this would change, so every wolf lived their life with this uncertainty. 

One day, two wolves could be only casual acquaintances and on the next, it was like a switch was flipped and the two couldn't remain apart if they tried. This could...and did get extremely ugly at times, especially if one of the new mates happened to be involved in a relationship at the time. 

Generally though, things resolved themselves pretty quickly because every wolf knew that the mating pull could not be resisted for long without wolves going rogue. Temporary relationships were just that, temporary. A mating was something quite different, it was always permanent and they tended to approach with all the subtlety of a bomb going off in a crowded subway. Wolves learned that it was best not to even consider the idea that they could be in love, because deep down, they knew that they couldn't be, not unless they had found their mate. 

"But until then..." Tristan continued, "You can bring me a cold pitcher of brown and a full bottle of single malt. That way you won't have to keep getting up." He then tapped his cast and said, "It looks like I will be on crutches for a few more days, so I can't challenge you just yet." 

Florence smiled briefly and before leaving to get his order, she looked directly into Tristan's eyes and said, "I'll be waiting." 

She remained busy serving the pack for the next hour and time passed quite quickly. She was unsurprised when her name was drawn the second time... and then a third time an hour after that. She spent her night moving around the bar, serving drinks, renewing long dormant pack bonds, and ever so gradually beginning to relax, remembering that all of these wolves were her friends even if she had put most of them through Hell for awhile. 

When the fourth hour rolled around, everyone in the house was shocked when Tristan rooted around in the hopper and called out Beth's name. Refusing to believe it, Beth insisted upon seeing the token and then appeared quite shocked when it, indeed, was hers. She looked back to where Florence was standing behind the bar and she saw that her friend was holding the pitcher filled with the genuine name tags, which she was now shaking at Beth victoriously. 

Beth glared down at Tristan and silently mouthed, "you traitor" at him before sauntering away and taking her place, somewhat resentfully, behind the bar. 

Florence laughed at her friend and then loudly called out, "O.K. ladies, dance time is now over; it is time for y'all to head over to the bar; court is now back in session. 

The men gratefully resumed control of the jukebox, and as if to spite Florence, Rob Zombie was soon playing while the men headed back to their pool and shuffleboard tables. 

Florence grinned at Beth before telling her, "Maybe you shouldn't have hidden the real tokens underneath the bar. They just were not that hard to find." 

Beth snorted, "I can't believe that Tristan sold me out!" 

"Yeah... well who was it that was telling me that I should make an effort to score some points with the guys?" 

Beth glared at Florence for a moment before answering, "As if I thought you'd actually listen to me when I suggested that! ...and besides, they turned on Rob Zombie." 

Florence merely laughed and said, "Yeah, well I told them no Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, or Toadies; I never said anything about other bands. I was lucky they went this far." 

This just caused the returning bitches to laugh at Beth's displeasure, leaving her fuming behind the bar as she filled their orders. She didn't remain angry long though, as she was mollified by the fact that Florence remained behind the bar to help her serve the women. 

After all of the women at the bar were served, Florence directed two of the junior bitches to deliver pitchers of beer and several whole bottles of the stronger stuff to where the men were congregated. She said, "Tell the men to leave us alone for awhile and just drink what they have. Tell them if they don't like it, they can take it up with me in the ring tomorrow! Make sure that you tell them that I looked irritated." 

Beth laughed, "Yeah that ought to work! Now off with you two, if we don't pacify the men, I'll never get to tell this story, and don't worry, I won't start 'til you get back!" 

Florence looked at Beth and said, "You just had to set me up didn't you? You couldn't have just asked me to come down here one night?" 

"No Florence, I couldn't. I've invited you down here dozens of times before and you always come up with an excuse not to show up. Oh, you'll show up down at the Roadhouse once in a while, but that's just because the place is swarming with humans and you can avoid confronting the reality of the pack. Hell Flo, you were not even gonna come in here tonight until I threatened to hold out on you. Admit it; you were one step from turning tail and fleeing back to your cabin before I spotted you on the monitors. You forced our hand. You've become as close to a lone wolf as it gets, other than Sam and Tom picking on you, you've avoided any interaction with us at all. And you know how this works, if there is an unhappy member of the pack, it affects all of us. It's our job to make sure that you are happy too!" 

"And you've been locked in your own head for years, Flo," Margie said, cutting in. "We all thought that you'd open up once you made Beta, but then you got even worse. It seemed as though you had taken on the worries of the entire pack without leaving any time for yourself." 

Jackie picked up the conversation next, "Florence, we understand that your position as Beta makes it extremely difficult for you to date a lesser male. The fact that you can whip them in battle is usually more than enough to deflate the horniest wolf, but that doesn't mean you have to avoid us girls too. We'd love to be better friends and we figure that with you being a warrior, you might even be able to explain men to us now. We're kind of shaky on why they do the things that they do." 

"I'm pretty sure that I don't have any better idea than you ladies do," Florence responded with a bit of a smile. "I've never really understood them either; I've just focused on beating them. More often than not, I just use their huge throbbing...egos against them. That seems to work better than anything else." 

Beth laughed at this. "Nice turn of phrase, Flo, but I think that maybe this brings us back to William. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 03



"Umm Beth," Florence interrupted, "Could you maybe explain what's going on with Tristan to me as well? He is showing some interest in me and I don't know what to make of that either. I mean, as long as you bitches are dead-set on embarrassing the Hell out of me, you might as well go all the way." 

"Tristan?" several girls said at the same time. 

"Yeah, about that," said Beth, "How did you talk him into betraying me anyway?" 

"We were just discussing our sparring session. He told me that he was going to pass me, and then he was going to take me." 

"You lucky bitch!" Margie exploded, "I've been trying to reel him in for months!" 

"I've done him, Margie," Beth replied dryly. "He was O.K. I guess, although he was kind of vanilla. I mean he's pretty and kind of sweet, but..." 

"Oh fuck off Beth! You don't like them unless they are trapeze stars or acrobats," Margie growled back. 

"Mmm...acrobats," Beth replied lasciviously, causing the group of women to begin laughing again. 

"So what do you think he wants with me Beth," Florence asked nervously. 

This conversation was not the one that the women had expected, and since it was about a pack member that many of them had designs upon, most of the women had turned and began to stare at Tristan appraisingly. 

More so than humans, wolves possess a sort of a sixth sense when they are being watched, and he was no different. A few dozen women were all examining Tristan as if he were a bug under a microscope, and his ears almost burned from this, even though he couldn't hear a word of their conversation over the thumping music on the jukebox. He looked up in time to catch most of them staring at him. Shuddering, he immediately looked back down and pretended to be suddenly very interested in what might be available on the jukebox. But when the ladies began laughing loudly enough to be heard over the music, he gave up his ruse and looked at the women, hoping that maybe they'd moved on to something or someone else. 

Seeing that all of them were still watching him and openly laughing, he snapped and shouted back at them. "Whatever the Hell Beth said, it's a lie! Now you bitches go back to your gossip and leave me the Hell alone!" He then stumbled up on his crutches and made for the door. This only caused the girls to giggle even louder as it wasn't every day that they got to see one of the pack's best warriors fleeing from a pack of drunken women. 

"Go ahead Margie," prodded Beth. "Go help him get back to his cabin. I bet you can close the deal now; his big throbbing... ego may need some reinflation after that." 

Nervously, Margie's eyes darted over to meet Florence's, looking for any sign of irritation, but she was reassured when she saw only permission there. "Go ahead Margie," the Beta said, "I scented him earlier. He isn't mine...not yet anyway." 

"Yeah, go train the poor boy. See what you can do with him," chortled Beth. "Just be careful with his cast; you don't want to damage Flo's best work!" 

Margie smirked as she scrambled off her bar stool and out the door after her target. Beth then gave Florence a long look and said, "You know he would have preferred you to chase him. You really don't have to wait until he passes you before you try him out." 

"Not really interested Beth. One: He's just two earnest for my taste, and Two: yes, I really do have to wait until then. I need someone who can protect me for a change, and I really don't think he'll ever be good enough to pass me anyway. He is plenty dedicated, but I'm just not convinced that he is sharp enough." 

You don't think that he'll ever make Beta?" 

"Well, that's up to Alpha John, but I think that he's probably good enough to work as a Beta now. It's just that I think that will be his ceiling; he's a lot better at carrying out orders than he is in giving them. I don't think he has it in him to be dominant enough to become a leader. He said that he's gonna pass me...some day, and that he's gonna take me...some day, but he won't. He can't; if he had it in him, he'd do it now." 

"You could be wrong." 

"I could be, but I'm not." 

Beth thought about this for a moment and then asked, "So Flo, does that mean that for you it will be an Alpha...or nothing?" 

Florence sighed audibly and said, "Yeah, that's what John said too. 

Beth looked thoughtful again before allowing, "The old bastard is smarter than he looks. You know that right?" 

"If he's so smart, why did it take him so long to call me daughter and hug me," Florence shot back quickly. 

"He did?" gasped Beth. "Finally? I told him to do that years ago, but I think he was waiting to see if..." 

But Beth didn't finish her statement when the jukebox cut off and the clubhouse became quiet once again. 

Other than Beth's token, which Tristan had planted earlier, the hopper was still completely full of tokens with Florence's name upon them, so she took the pitcher of real name tags from under the counter and headed over to the drum. She dug out all of the phonies and then poured the genuine tokens back in before giving the drum a couple of turns and drawing out the name of the next victim. 

Glancing up at the clock which now read 2 A.M., she said loudly, "and for the very first honest draw of the night, our next and last bartender for the evening will be...Traci. You are up girl, and good luck to you, I think the men all look pretty thirsty now!" 

There was a lot of good-natured cheering from those who had dodged the selection bullet, as well as the expected groaning from Traci and her date, who now realized that they had just drawn clean up duty for the night. Most of the women realizing just how late it had gotten, quickly faded away from the bar, looking to collect their mates, while Traci took her place behind the bar without complaint and began pulling drafts for the thirsty wolves. 

Beth removed her apron tiredly, and headed over to speak with Florence, who was now sitting in Tristan's abandoned spot by the prize drum. It had been a really long day for Beth; first she had missed sleep the previous night while amusing herself with Phil, then she'd gone on a long motorcycle run and hike with Flo, and finally she had been conned into pulling a shift playing bartender on her actual night off from the Roadhouse. And while it is true that wolves have much deeper reserves of energy than humans do, Beth's legs and back were now feeling every last movement of her last two day's activities. She slowly walked over to Florence, stretching which caused audible snapping and popping sounds. 

She longed for sleep, but seeing the determined look in Florence's eyes, she knew that her friend's patience had finally run out. Beth had baited her here with the promise of a story about a naked meeting with two men in a rowboat, and she knew that there was no way that Florence was going to let it go now. Flo had paid the price and she was not going to let Beth escape with the goods. So, Beth sat down next to her friend and began her story, not that she really felt there was all that much to tell. 

After Florence had fled, the two humans had fired up their motor and steered their small craft directly for Beth, even though they were perfectly aware that she was lying there stark naked on her beach towel. Beth admitted to being somewhat surprised that the men hadn't really made too big of a deal about her nudity, making far less of it than most humans generally did. The men had even joined her in her picnic lunch, sharing their food and cold beer with her, as she shared the remainder of her wine and cheese that she had brought for Florence. The men had even admitted to taking photographs of the Billington land, and were quite open about the fact that they were continuing to do their survey, even though they were now attempting to defuse any conflict by doing their work from outside of his borders. 

Beth freely admitted that she had attempted to flirt outrageously with the two men. She'd even asked them if they'd gotten any good candid pictures of herself or Florence before they'd been spotted. 

Phil had just laughed his assent, but remarked that he may have been too tired and sore from the previous night to have gotten the really good shots, and had then wondered if Beth might like to pose for a few just to make sure. William had promptly put an end to that by changing the subject back to Florence and to where she might have gone. 

Ignoring William's question, Beth instead doubled down on her flirting. She did her best to work the men up by slowly and subtly touching herself, framing her best assets and trying to get the men to stammer or stumble. 

She laughed about turning Phil into a stammering, drooling idiot, but her best efforts had little impact on the younger man. It seemed that William only had eyes for Florence, and even though he would spare a glance for her when she was being particularly seductive, he never lost focus on his ultimate target, namely, where had Florence gone, and would she be coming back? 

Beth didn't let it bother her in the least; she'd never been the diva type. She didn't need every man's attention; one at a time was plenty. Actually, she quite respected a human that could manage to have other interests and would not respond to what she only considered to be mild flirtation. It only strengthened her conviction that there might be something here for Florence. Clearly, he was quite taken with her. 

After giving it her best shot, Beth gracefully allowed William to steer the conversation back to Florence, going on to describe her as twenty seven years old, single, hard-working, and living with her uncles after the death of her parents. She also pointed out that Flo was a major fitness buff, given to perpetually running, sparring, and working out, rarely paying attention to anything other than her job, which she took quite seriously. 

Will had peppered Beth with questions about Florence, digging for anything he could get out of her about Florence's likes and dislikes, clearly trying to find a way into her good graces. Beth had fielded all of the questions that she could answer truthfully, while artfully lying when necessary to cover up the fact that both women were Were. She'd hidden her amusement when she realized that any human woman would likely kill to be able to shave fifty years from her age. 

In turn, she had managed to extract information about William as well. He was thirty two years old and had been born in the Pacific Northwest where he had been raised by his grandfather and then the United States Marine Corps. He had joined at seventeen and had served two terms before separating from the service and becoming a private contractor in both Afghanistan and Iraq. She could tell that he was unhappy about leaving active service, but he wouldn't say why, only that he had worked for Burton Waters ever since. 

William also told Beth that he knew that he was partially Native American, even though he didn't really know to what percentage. He understood that his grandfather was a full-blooded Kiowa-Apache, but knew little of his own parents who had died from alcohol abuse shortly after his birth. His grandfather had always just said it was due to the white-man's poison and then refused to say any more about them. Ultimately, Will said that he always just wrote Native American down on the forms and left it at that. 

Seeing that Beth was not giving much up, William had eventually tired of the fencing and just openly asked how he might contact Florence. 

Beth said that she'd laughed and admitted that she'd been wondering if he would ever get brave enough to ask. She then told the man that Florence would likely be jogging through the small tourist town some time before breakfast tomorrow as that was her usual pattern on Sundays, telling him that you could almost set a watch by Florence. 

"You did what?" exploded Florence, interrupting Beth's story. "You dragged me out to the clubhouse tonight; you kept me awake way past the time that I would usually be asleep, and now you wait until almost three fucking A.M. to tell me that William is going to be waiting for me early in the morning?!" 

"I told him to expect you to run by at about 6:30." 

"Beth, you are a bitch, a complete fucking bitch!" 

"Yeah? Well, so are you. Neither one of us has found our mate yet." Beth replied with an easy grin. "But maybe we'll both be Madams one day. How does Madam Yazzie sound?" 

"Hello, Earth to Beth; he's a fucking human, there is absolutely no way, and you freaking know it!" 

"Yeah, you are probably right about that, but that's exactly why, Flo. You need this. You need to be unprepared for things once in a while. You need to have some interactions with the opposite sex. Hell Flo, you need to get laid, and if you won't even consider doing it in-pack with Tristan, then you might as well do it with this human male. He's strong for a human; he seems to be smart. He's way good looking. What else do you need? 

"Some sleep would have been nice," grumbled Florence. 

"It's over-rated," Beth replied dismissively, "and besides, it's not like he'll be able to keep up with you even if you get no sleep at all. Think of it as giving him a handicap; this way he might even stay close enough to pique your interest. Not that he'd smell your arousal anyway, humans never do." 

"That reminds me, what does he smell like? Every time that I've attempted to scent him, he's been doused with something. I still have no idea if I'll even like his scent. 

"Hard to say girlfriend, I was lying there naked and trying my best to tempt him, but Phil was dumping so many pheromones into the air, I didn't get much from William. He didn't send much my way; I figured that either he was totally into you, or that he was gay." 

"No smell at all?" 

"Well, nothing unusual. He smelled like a normal human I guess. His scent didn't strike me as different from any other human- human man with a horny friend maybe. Oh, and before I forget; Phil won't be there tomorrow. He asked me if I was going to come jogging too, and when I told him, 'no', all he said was 'Thank God'. I told him that sensible people slept in on Sunday, so he invited me to dinner instead." 

"So let me get this straight. I'm getting up early tomorrow... well, today," Florence said while looking at the clock on the wall, "while, you are sleeping in and then going out on a fancy dinner. Have I got that right?" 

Beth smiled and said, "Isn't life wonderful?" 

"I hate you Beth." 

"I love you too, Flo." 

Less than three hours later, Florence staggered out of her bed, still half-asleep, but already cursing her friend. The five minutes that she allowed herself to shower and get ready didn't even begin to fully wake her. She had to hurry though, because today she would have to dress in human clothes, rather than run to town as a wolf. This would take considerably longer to get there, but it was better than trying to pack up a set of shoes and clothes and then have to find a place outside of town where it might be safe to shift. She also feared that being as tired as she was, she'd get to town missing something important. It just wouldn't do to arrive for her run missing her left running shoe or sports bra, so she grumbled to herself and finished getting dressed. 

She exited her cabin running and growled once again; here she was out for a run and even though the sun wasn't even up yet, she was fully dressed. She longed to shift so she could run naked under the last remnants of the moon. Repressing her natural urge to run, to shift, and to hunt, she instead set herself to cursing Beth in new and exceedingly creative ways. 

Gradually the false dawn gave way to the real one; Florence continued to run, and as she ran, she continued to swear. Sweat was now dripping down her face and soaking into the clothes she wore. Irritated, she wondered why human bodies perspired so much; life was so much simpler as a wolf. 

Realizing that when William caught sight of her that she'd be a sodden, smelly mess, she considered that while she hadn't yet been able to smell him, that even as a human, he'd surely be able to smell her. So she set her mind back to finding a way to get even with Beth. She's been running me wild for two days now. Maybe some itching-powder in her bar-ho uniform? No, that'd never work; the bitch keeps lots of clothes in her office at the Roadhouse. Maybe I should burn her wardrobe? No, that wouldn't work either; the slut loves to shop and that would just give her an excuse. 

As she ran on, her fantasies of Beth's demise just got increasingly grisly, more so when she found that her clothing had begun to sweat completely through. I will kill her, I will kill her, I will kill her became her mantra as she ran along. 

A few kilometers away, Will sat on the edge of his bed and watched the sun rise through his hotel window. He'd had plenty of sleep and getting up early had never been a problem for him. As a boy, he'd always gotten up with his grandfather to greet Aqalax, the old woman who brought the sun. Later in his life, he'd found that morning reveille came later than this, so he was always the first one out of his bunk, and this in turn, had led to several quick promotions and what had promised to become a long and successful military career. 

"Damn you Liz, you had to go and wreck everything," he thought for the thousandth time. "Money, you had to have so much money; a life of service to others just didn't appeal to you." 

He knew better than to start the day with negative memories however, so he put the mistakes of his past away and began to focus on his future, a future that might just be running his way now. She runs every morning, spars constantly, and her friend claims that she lives to serve her family. I wish that I'd met her earlier in my life; maybe I wouldn't be stuck here working for that bastard Waters! 

Finding himself looking forward to this run more than anything he'd done in a long time, William quickly showered and dressed before making his way downstairs and beginning his usual routine of morning stretching. 

As he worked his calves and hamstrings, he wondered if Florence even knew that he was here waiting for her. He'd hadn't actually committed to being here for sure, it had been implied, but then again, Beth had struck him as being just ornery enough to deliberately forget to clue her friend in beforehand. She was clearly a major handful, and because of that, just Phil's type...as his friend had insisted on telling him over and over, and over again on Saturday. 

William was glad that he had his own room and had not been forced to share with his undisciplined friend. It was bad enough the day before when he'd been stuck in a small boat being forced to listen to Phil's blow by blow account of his previous night's encounter with Beth. If he'd missed sleep while Phil was out hunting his next conquest, he would not have been ready for today's run. 

He'd had plenty of that when they'd served together in Iraq. Never again would he willingly share a room with his best friend. He loved the idiot like a brother, but enough was enough. Despite Phil's opinion, William believed there was more to life than the next conquest and a bellyful of booze. 

Now bent over, still stretching his hamstrings, William was locked deep in thought when Florence came running into view. Even seeing her from his odd vantage point while upside down, he was struck by her seemingly effortless gait. He noticed that she was covered in sweat, proving that she'd been running for some time, and yet, she looked like she had just begun to run. 

He stood up quickly, preparing to wish her a good morning, expecting that she would slow down to greet him, only to realize that she was speeding up, rather than slowing down. His first thought was that she didn't see him standing there, but then he heard her laughing something about 'slow-poke men' as she shot by his position at a near sprint. His next thought was that, yes, Beth had certainly warned her that he'd be here. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 03



Grinning, William knew that this was going to be a game that he'd win. She was clueless about what sort of a challenger that she was taking on. He'd been an easy qualifier for the Corps marathon three years running, and while he'd never come particularly close to winning, being both taller and more muscular than the typical long distance runner, he'd always done well, beating all but the athletes of World class. 

And while he'd only gotten a quick look at her as she'd sped past, it had been clear that she'd been fully warmed up and completely extended. He knew that this would have taken many kilometers for her to reach this state, while he'd yet to run a step. Yeah, this was going to be easy! He laughed to himself and began to pursue her. He was in absolutely no hurry; he had all day and he knew that he'd run her down eventually. He settled into position, some fifty meters behind her and easily matched her pace. 

It was a nice day for a run. The weather was cool and clear, and William had always preferred running on tree-lined roads. The sun was just coming up and there was no traffic out yet at this time of the morning, so he found himself quite happy to sink into the natural beauty of the forest that surrounded him. 

Sometime later, William glanced at his watch and saw that about forty minutes had passed, and he guessed that they had probably run about ten kilometers thus far. He grinned to himself as he began to notice that Florence seemed to be flagging a bit. Her pace had definitely slowed and he was beginning to gain on her. This was what he'd been waiting for. "Semper Freaking Fi," he smirked to himself. 

The next ten minutes of running saw William slowly but steadily gain ground on his quarry. He had worked himself up a position a few paces behind her when he decided it was time to bring out the needle. This was a decision that he was later to question. 

"What was that you gasped about slow-poke men," he murmured easily; he wasn't even winded yet. 

Without even bothering to look back, Florence responded, "You haven't caught me yet"! 

Smugly, he shot back, "give up now, and I'll go easy on you. You are starting to tire, and I'm a trained distance runner. You have no chance." 

Florence resumed her previous pace and replied with a quick look over her shoulder, "Typical man, you are as arrogant as you are slow. You won't catch me." 

"I will," was all he said as he resumed their previous pace. 

"You won't," she laughed as she increased her pace once again. 

"I will," he responded, kicking up his pace to match hers. "Florence, do you run marathons?" 

"Nope, I've never run competitively," she replied without worry. 

"I have. I do. You run well, but as a trained runner, I'm used to doing this. I can change pace repeatedly and keep going." 

"Yup, an ass-head man," was all she said. 

"Ass-head man huh," he chuckled, picking up his pace once again, beginning to shave the distance between them. "So then...what'll be your wager on this? Put your money where your pretty little mouth is!" 

"If I get away," she said easily, "you meet me in town tomorrow and drive us up to the resort for a fancy dinner. You'll pay for everything, and if you are lucky, you might get one kiss." 

"And if I catch you?" 

"You can have me, right there on the spot." 

Grinning almost wolfishly, he replied, "Done!" He then picked up his pace a final time, bringing himself to almost a dead sprint. 

"Thank God for the Marine Corps," he thought to himself as he began to reel her in. But just as he reached out to grab her, Florence darted to the right and into the trees. "Damn, she's quick," he thought to himself as he jumped to follow her deeper into the forest. 

"Running off road is certainly different," he yelled. "It's more like a mud run, but I've done those too. You won't escape; you'll just be dirtier when I catch you!" 

"Nope, there's no mud allowed in the resort dining room," she yelled back while taking a quick look over her shoulder, "and you'll have to wear a tie to get in. The place is kind of pretentious." 

"Oh, I'd be willing to tie you up alright," he laughed back at her as he began to gain on her once again. 

This went on for quite a while, the two of them taunting one another as they ran along. William, almost, but never quite catching her, and Florence always darting out of his grasp at the last second as they ran up and down hills, through deep brush and leapt across the streams that were scattered through the area. 

William was having a wonderful time, but he was starting to worry. They'd been running for the better part of two hours now, and he was beginning to tire. Why wasn't she? She'd started many kilometers before I did, and now she was running a simply grueling off road pace which everyone knows is way more tiring than regular road racing. Who is this woman? What is this woman? She was quicker than even his sensei in combat, and now she was proving to be a better runner than he could ever dream of being. He had to catch her; he had to have her; he had to know! 

He'd realized that she'd outrun him, there was no way that he could catch her without outwitting her, so he did the one thing that he had left to try. He began gearing himself to make one last desperate lunge for her. He hadn't tackled anyone since he'd played his last High School football game, but this prize was worth the effort, and she obviously seemed to be tough enough to take it. 

He could see a rise up ahead that looked to have a steep drop off on the other side, and he could see with some satisfaction that she was making tracks directly for the center of it. Knowing that she would have to change directions when she hit the peak, he knew that this would be his very last chance to catch her. He reached down and tapped into the very last of his reserves, while he tried to remember exactly what his linebacker coach had said about proper tackling technique. He got ready to lower his head and leave his feet when she'd have to make her cut at the top of the ridge. It was all or nothing now, and he was ready. 

She wasn't slowing down though, and he began to worry that she'd run right off of the edge of the precipice and severely injure herself. He saw her steal a quick look over her shoulder to gauge the distance between them, and he screamed, "Florence, look out!" just as she reached the edge of the cliff. She never saw it coming. 

William threw himself forward in a last desperate attempt to keep her from running off of the edge, but she slipped through his fingers and he crashed face first into the rocky ground. The air was driven out of his lungs as his upper body was abraded and bloodied. Panicked, he looked up just in time to see Florence shift her body into a perfect swan dive and plunge into the mountain pool some twenty meters below. She'd clearly known that it was here all along. 

Gasping and trying to get his wind back, William could only watch as Florence calmly swam to the other side of the pool and climbed out. She grinned back up at him victoriously and yelled, "You'll never make that dive at anything but full speed and from the sound of all that gasping you are doing up there, you will never manage it. So I'm thinking that I've won. 

She then grinned up at William and said, "Let me give you a taste of what you've missed." She then slowly removed her shirt and running bra, standing before him with her breasts showing proudly. "If you could have caught me, I would have gladly paid off our little bet, but now you owe me dinner tomorrow. Be there at 6:30 and pick me up in front of the Hotel. Make sure you dress nice and bring plenty of money. I'll be hungry and the portions at the resort are kind of small. 

She then removed her shorts, followed by her Lycra underwear, leaving her clad in only her running shoes and the headband that had tamed her hair during her long run. 

William was getting the air back into his lungs, but he knew that he'd been had. There was no way that he could make that same dive, and there was no other way to get down to her position without a lengthy climb around the crest of the hill. "Home-field advantage," he gasped at her, enjoying the view of her statuesque body, but wildly frustrated by his inability to get anywhere near her. 

Slim, perfectly toned, round in all the right places, he ached to touch her, to kiss her, but all he could do was lie there bruised and bleeding...and wanting. She's even shaved, oh my God! 

"6:30," she said, "and bring my clothes with you. Make sure that you wash them in unscented detergent or you are out of luck. Get it right and maybe you'll stand a chance with me. I love a man who can do housework." And with that, she laughed and ran out of sight. 

Blood running down his face, William stumbled to his feet, feeling like he'd been run over by a truck. He knew that he'd have to find a way down to that pool though. He had to retrieve her clothing; there was no way that he was going to miss a chance to see this woman again. Then it struck him, he didn't have his phone with him and she'd run him in circles; he had only a vague idea which way the hotel was from here. 

He was just beginning to worry when he heard her voice from back deep within the trees, "Follow the creek downstream; it is the one that runs through town." 

Nodding, he yelled back to her, "We're not done with this, Florence"! 

But she didn't respond; she just removed her shoes, shifted back into her wolf, picked up her shoes in her teeth and then headed for home. Halfway there she realized. He'd been behind her the entire time; she still hadn't scented him.



Artiface of Strength Ch. 04



"What the Hell happened to you?" 

"You really don't want to know," William said with a sigh. 

"No, really," Phil asked, his concern showing. "No one's ever kicked your ass like that! How many of them were there? Should I alert Burton that they've gotten violent?" 

"No, there's no need for that. It was nothing, really." 

"Dude, you've got a black eye, gashes on your forehead and your entire face is swollen! How many of them were there? Did you win?" 

"One, and no." 

"One man did that," Phil gasped. 

"No." 

"I don't understand. What the Hell happened?" 

"One woman." 

"You're shittin' me! She kicked your ass? What did you say to her anyway?" 

"No Phil, it wasn't like that at all. It wasn't a fight; it was more of a bet. She told me that if I caught her, I could have her." 

"So when you ran her down, she kicked your ass instead?" 

"Like I could catch her..." 

"Dude, you run marathons. What do you mean that you couldn't catch her?" 

"She made me look like a beginner." 

"So what happened to your face?" 

"...and my arms. You should see my arms, they are worse." 

"Just tell me the story... I'll shut up." 

So William told Phil the whole story. He held nothing back; Phil got the whole thing in living color. William freely admitted that Florence had effortlessly run him into the ground; then had managed to duck his every attack; and ultimately, she'd induced him into beating himself into a bloody mess...all just to make her smile. 

Phil didn't believe what he was hearing. A woman, any woman...had run William into the ground? Dodged his every move, and caused him to crash and burn while she sat back and laughed at him? And yet...he wanted more? Phil took one look in William's eyes and it was clear, he wanted a lot more! 

"So..." Phil asked, "What are you gonna do?" 

"I'm gonna buy her fucking dinner! What else can I do?" 

"Umm..." Phil stammered, "Before or after you do something about that," he said, pointing at the blood now drying on William's face. 

"I ought to let it dry where it is. It'd serve her right, but enough about that, I've got to get her laundry done first. I wonder where I can find unscented detergent." 

"She really left all of her clothes behind?" 

William pulled the Lycra underwear out of his pocket, brought them up to his face and breathed deeply, his face lighting up as her scent hit him once again. He didn't say a word; he was lost in a memory. 

Back at the compound, Florence came running into view, running as a wolf and still carrying her jogging shoes with her teeth. The wolves that saw her arrival were perplexed. If she'd gone for her run as a human, why was she returning as a wolf; and where was the rest of her clothing? If she'd shifted in an emergency, her shoes would have been destroyed as well. It didn't seem as if there was any emergency going on, she was making her way toward her cabin, rather than for John's office. And what of the wolfish grin on her face? That was way out of character for Florence! 

What was up with their Beta? Everyone knew that Florence never let herself have any fun. She'd made that rare appearance at the clubhouse last night, and now here she was...smiling? Lots of sending ensued; this was still Florence that they were dealing with and discretion was advised! 

These were wolves, so news got back to John and his Betas almost immediately, not that any of the three had a clue what to do with the information. Their initial reaction saw them standing there and staring at one another in bemusement, but then worry began to set in. The pack might be in a war situation right now and the last thing they needed was a loose cannon rolling around the deck, especially one as dangerous as Florence. There just wasn't any margin for error; this was an uncertain time with Burton Waters lurking around. 

The three men kicked the problem around for an hour or so before they came to a sinking realization...they had absolutely no idea what to make of this. They'd have to do something that none of them wanted any part of, they'd have to talk to Beth. 

Once they agreed that they'd have to speak with her, John quickly suggested rock, paper, and scissors for the honor, but his seconds just laughed at him and pointed out which one of them was the Alpha. Billington couldn't do much more than growl at them, he'd been pretty sure that they wouldn't go for it, but he'd had to try; Pack leadership by Rochambeau appealed to him at times like this. Trying to get straight answers out of Beth was quite a challenge. 

He knew that she had the deepest insight into the emotions of his pack, but that certainly didn't mean that he was particularly eager about having to go to her and ask about them. This whole 'women's opinion of things' still confused him, even these five hundred years later. He really needed a mate for such problems; he knew this. More than that, his pack really needed a Madam Alpha for their health and well being, but what could he do, the Goddess had never seen fit to provide him with one. 

Of course Beth operated as the de facto Madam, and while there was zero doubt in anyone's mind that she was scrupulously loyal and that she always had everyone's best interests at heart, it's just that she was not mated and a pack was about family and cubs—and in the Billington pack, there just were not many of either. There never had been. 

Every pack in the Americas had been splintered off from John's pack at one time or another, so it would be logical to assume that they would all be smaller than the Billington pack, but none of them were- not a single pack was smaller than John's. Deep down, the Alpha knew this was because he had no children to call his own. Wolf packs were like that; they followed their Alpha's lead in everything, even when it came to breeding. 

He'd often wondered why the Goddess had not seen fit to give him a mate. He'd always believed that even if he didn't deserve a mate himself, that it seemed unfair to him that his pack were the ones who paid the price. Time and again he had considered the idea of stepping down from leadership and turning the pack over to another, but Sam and Tom had never found their mates either. He'd trained Beta after Beta, hoping that this would be the one who could finally replace him, but each time, they'd struck out on their own to found new packs. 

When he'd met Beth, he'd believed that maybe she was the one to end his loneliness. She was so strong and fiery even when she'd been human, and her strength had only grown since then. He'd believed that she would be his mate; she'd make a perfect Madam, but it hadn't happened. The switch had never been flipped for them; evidently the Goddess had other plans. 

John was still fascinated and not a little cowed by her personality. Where he was a quiet leader, she was a boisterous rebel. He was straightforward, she was devious. When he thought it best to wait and watch, she stormed in, weapons blazing. He'd grown up in England, in privilege; she'd been a half-breed bastard reduced to selling herself to those who mistreated her. She was everything that he wasn't, just as he completed her, but the Goddess had said, "No." Surely she had a reason for her decision; John hoped that he'd find out what it was one day. 

All of this meant that John always had a difficult time dealing with Beth; he also had a sinking suspicion that Beth understood him a lot better than he understood her. He feared that she might even realize why he'd been keeping himself at arm's distance from Florence all these years, and that thought made him even more reluctant to summon Beth for the Florence talk. 

He knew there would be no getting out of it however; the pack needed the information that probably lurked inside Beth's deviant brain. He'd have to sit down with her and take the risk that his own fears would be revealed. John knew that Beth would have good insight into this problem, but more than anything, he feared that he'd hate hearing it. He absolutely trusted her discretion and he knew that she'd keep anything they spoke of in confidence, but it sure didn't mean that he was going to enjoy it. 

Sighing, he made his sending to Beth, requesting her to come to his office as soon as possible, telling her that they needed to discuss Florence. He was irritated when she was clearly amused by his sending, and even less amused when she waltzed into his office less than five seconds later. The surprise on his face when she walked in was all too obvious to Sam and Tom, who were still sitting there with their Alpha. 

"What?" she said. "I knew you three stupid men would eventually realize that you couldn't figure this out without me. Then she glanced over to where the Betas sat and said to them, "O.K. you boys need to run along now. Go play in the mud or something; we adults need to talk." 

Sam had an almost pitying look on his face for his Alpha, Tom, on the other hand just looked relieved to be able to scoot out of the office without being bitten. Either way, the two of them were soon out the door, closing it behind them. And even though he was not Catholic, Tom formed the sign of the cross on his chest. Sam saw this and said with a wink, "It won't work Tom; her kind of evil can't be warded off." 

Back inside the office, John took a deep breath and asked Beth how long she'd been waiting outside. He wasn't worried about eavesdropping; he was a smart leader and years before had his office sound-proofed for that very reason. 

Beth grinned slyly at her 'leader', and replied, "I just got here actually, but I wasn't going to let those two know that. A girl needs her secrets and this way, they'll be nervous." 

"Try, scared shitless," he shot back, "...and you haven't been a girl in two hundred years!" 

"A lady then..." 

"You? The Queen bitch of the entire pack? A lady?" 

"Now stop it John, you do need my help you know!" 

John just kept his mouth shut and waited for Beth to get around to whatever point she was going to make. Somehow, that seemed like a less painful option. 

Beth repaid him for this courtesy by flopping down in one of his chairs and saying, "You sent for me, oh wise one?" 

John looked down at the center of his desk and wondered why there wasn't a round indentation there. He then looked up at Beth while pointing to the spot, "You see this spot right here? This is my Beth spot; this is where I hit my head after I talk to you." 

"Oh goody, I have my own spot," she said seductively, while batting her eyelashes at her Alpha. "Should I sit there while we talk so it'll smell like me when you hit your face there later?" 

John groaned and briefly considered banging his head now. "O.K. Beth, you win. You always win. Please, for the sake of all that is holy, just tell me what I need to know." 

"Well why didn't you say so," she giggled. 

John just sighed internally and waited. They both knew that she'd won, as usual. 

Seeing that it was time to become serious, Beth's face changed as she looked into John's eyes and said, "Are you finally going to admit the truth about what you've been thinking about Florence?" 

"Has it been that obvious?" 

"Only to me, John," she said, reaching across his desk to place her hand over his to reassure him. "I doubt that your blood-brothers have a clue. I love those two, but they are not exactly intuitive about emotional things." 

John didn't say a word, so Beth continued, "She might actually be your mate, John. She's not really your daughter any more than she is mine. I understand why you've been so careful... even if she doesn't." 

"Beth, I've never been able to decide how I feel about this, either way, I'm proud of her. I just wish I knew which direction to lean; is she my mate...or my daughter. I've been taunted with possible mates so many times, so I've always been terrified to get too close to Florence one way or the other. With my luck with women, she would have grown up calling me 'Daddy'. The Goddess has been nothing less than perverse to me; I'd have a mate that called me 'Daddy'. 

Beth couldn't help herself; she laughed out loud at this, even though it caused a look of discomfort on John's face. "See John, you've managed to keep your sense of humour through all of this. How long has it been for you now?" 

"Four hundred and eighty-five years." 

"Maybe the Lady needed you to remain single so you could defend all of the wolves in America, rather than focusing on just protecting your own family?" 

"How could I do that? I have the smallest pack of all?" 

"Yes Alpha, we are small, but there isn't a single Alpha in this hemisphere that didn't grow up in your pack. You are the Alpha's Alpha; if you call on them, they'll come. You know they will. You have been the model for all of them. You say that you don't have any children, but you do—you have dozens of them. There isn't an Alpha in America who doesn't consider you their second father, and you never ask anything of any of them. They all owe you a great debt of allegiance." 

"Do you think the Goddess will ever give me a mate? How long do I have to carry this burden?" 

"She only knows John; I guess she'll probably reward you when your job is done." 

"How do you stand it Beth? It has been almost as long for you." 

"You know my story Alpha; you turned me in order to save me from what white men had done to my life. They had treated me so badly; I think I might have needed a few centuries to work the anger out of my system. Who knows? Maybe it'll be you and me. Maybe Goddess has given me a job as well." 

Then Beth went quiet for a minute before allowing, "...or maybe Florence will be yours; you know that she's just waking up now. Or maybe Tristan will be for her; you know he is interested in her. He has been busting his tail just to impress her, although I don't think that she's buying it, he's too pretty for Flo. 

"He won't ever pass her. He isn't dominant enough. He's strong enough to help a leader, but not enough to become one. He'll be a damned fine Beta one day." 

"Yeah, that's what Flo said too." 

"Don't doubt her Beth; she might be the most talented Beta that I've ever had. If she were a man, she'd already be pushing for her own pack. She's strong; she's determined, and she's a protector of the first order. Maybe she will be the first female Alpha, but I doubt it Beth; wolves just are not biologically set up for that. Human women, as poorly treated as they sometimes are, can become leaders in a technological society. But that's not us, we're wolves; it just doesn't work that way. We males are expendable; the women must be protected to take care of the cubs; Apaches lived the same way." 

"So boss, what do we do about the human?" 

"Hell Beth, I brought you in here so you could tell me." 

"You are willing to listen to what I have to say on this one?" 

"C'mon Beth, I almost always listen to what you say, and then do what you suggest. You know this. When was the last time that I ignored your counsel?" 

"The Apache cousins," she responded dryly. 

"We agreed not to talk about that." 

"Sorry Alpha, but you asked me a question... and this lowly pack member was obligated to answer you honestly." 

John changed the subject, "So...Florence?" 

"I told her to go for it. She went to meet him for a jogging session; she dressed in her human clothes, but she came back as a wolf with a big smile on her face and carrying her shoes in her teeth. I'm not sure what happened yet, I came here to talk with you before I had my chance to debrief her." 

"Debrief her? Seriously?" 

"Love is a battle-field; some human woman said that." 

"We might have to kill him, Beth. You know there's no way that we can have a road going through our land, we have little enough privacy now. With a road going through here, we'd have to kill more and more humans as they discovered what we are. There just isn't any room left for us to go farther west." 

"I know that John; I think she knows that too. She's a proud warrior and if the time comes to put him down, she'll insist on doing the job. But why couldn't we take Waters out instead? If we kill him, maybe this will go away peacefully. We could strike first before he gets smart enough to put his defenses up." 

John considered this for a moment before saying, "Maybe...but he'd be a tough target to take out. Even if we managed it and got out safely, we might draw the Government down on us. You know he's deeply embedded into the private military complex, and getting those people involved would be even worse for us. You've met William, and he's one of the relatively young and uncorrupted ones, the rest are worse, much worse." 

"Tomorrow, I'm going to do what William suggested and call the Water's legal team to see what the situation is. I'm not necessarily afraid of a legal fight; there are a few corporate lawyers in the Virginia pack and I'm sure that they'd be more than willing to fight for us. I want to hear what Waters has to say first; there is no sense in exposing our business until we must. I want to know what we are up against." 

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ 

Monday morning was a typical work day. Florence was up before the sun again; No one knew where Beth had spent the night, and John and his Betas were there to direct the pack's activities. Everyone was happy and busy, and all was right in their world. 

The boys noticed that Florence seemed a bit agitated this morning, but she was at work on time and didn't seem unhappy, so they said nothing to her. Beth was gone again, so they had no one to ask about Florence's posture, so they did what men normally do when they miss a woman's signals, they just ignored them, figuring that they wouldn't have to react unless she finally said something—which she didn't. So they were happy; men are easy. 

For her part, Florence was completely focused upon her upcoming dinner with William, even though she knew that the most important part of the day would be the upcoming phone call with the legal team of Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith. She was eager to get that over with, she wasn't stupid, and she knew that the tenor of the upcoming call would have serious impact on her ability to have any sort of relationship with Will. He was gorgeous, but the pack and its land would always come before anything else, even her own happiness. So Florence engaged in her typical Monday morning routine, and did her best to remain calm until nine A.M. when John would summon his Betas into his office to make this all-important call. 

The switchboard operator at Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith was friendly and professional, handling John's call with dispatch. He was soon connected to a mid-level solicitor who had been directly tasked with the Waters case by one of the firm's partners. 

He introduced himself as Jebidiah Walker and he was as smooth and as polished as a holy icon in a monastery. He opened the call by roundly praising John for his timely call, before he quickly segued into apologizing for the fact that these questions were being raised. Surely John must be worrying through this stressful time. Pre-statehood title laws were most complex, especially with regard to tribal rights and easements. Now he was certain that something could be worked out that would protect the rights of all involved, before allowing that a negotiated settlement was almost always the easiest and most profitable route for everyone. 

John sat back and listened, biding his time, letting the man run his opening gambit. His three Betas also sat silently, listening to the two men talk. When Mr. Walker slowed his pace, John quietly began pushing for details. 

"You say 'pre-statehood title law'... this means that you've done your research and found that my land was deeded to my family by the Spanish Crown before this area was ceded to the United States. Of course, you realize that the American Government recognizes all pre-statehood claims." 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 04



"Yes sir, we have seen copies of the disputed paperwork, although, as you may know, the original paperwork was destroyed during the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906. We are attempting to locate any of the other copies that might still exist. There is some question as to whether the document currently on file is genuine." 

"Why Mr. Walker, your firm should have contacted me before you wasted your money surveying the land. I could have cleared this up before you even started. The Billington family has prided itself on keeping and maintaining the original deed and accompanying documents. The state has never had anything more than copies of our original, so whatever burned in the fire was meaningless. Shall I send you a digital copy for your records? If you can just give my secretary your address..." 

The solicitor paused for a moment before answering. The wolves could hear multiple muffled voices in the background, but even their hearing was not acute enough to pick up whatever was being discussed. 

John let them have a few moments and then prodded, "Mr. Walker, are you still there; have we been cut off?" 

"Yes, umm... sorry Mr. Billington, I was just examining some documents pertaining to your case, I guess my mind slipped away for a moment. You say that you have the original document?" 

"Yes Mr. Walker, we do. In fact, if anything regarding my land ever comes up in court, it will be quite clear that all of our documentation is genuine. The paper is two hundred years old, as is the ink upon it and all of the signatures are genuine. We're exceedingly proud of it; it even has the signature of King Ferdinand VII." 

"Most unusual, Mr. Billington, very few of those original documents still exist." 

"Yes, it seems that my ancestors felt that white businessmen and lawyers were mostly thieves, so they were very careful to retain all of the originals. I wonder why they thought that... who did you say had retained your firm again?" 

There was another pause, this one quite a bit longer, although this time the solicitor begged Mr. Billington's indulgence while he switched to another line. While they waited, the four wolves spoke mentally to avoid being overheard. 

"Alpha, do you really have the original deed," Florence asked surprised. 

"Sure do, this distrustful Indian named Tisquantum convinced me that all white-men were snakes." 

"Present company excepted, well... most of the time." Tom said with a grin while staring at his Alpha. 

"Thanks for that...I think," John responded dryly. 

"Who do you think he's talking to now," Florence sent nervously. 

"They didn't expect that; we just completely shot down their first plan. I figure that he's talking to his boss now, trying to figure out what to do next." 

"You think that their first plan was to deny the validity of our entire claim?" 

"Probably, that's why he opened with settlement talk; rich men will usually try to steal from you first, and if that doesn't work, then they try to buy you out." 

"So now they'll raise their bid?" 

"Nope, now the threats will start. In their eyes, we are just poor peasants; we can be pushed out of the way to get what they want. This will have something to do with...how did he put it... tribal rights and easements?" 

"Do you know anything about either one of them, Alpha?" 

"Not a clue, but I know who does. I'll have to contact the pack in Virginia. They've burrowed deeply into the white-man's government for just this reason. These wolves are descendents of the People, but they've become corporate wolves. They are sort of like sharks with fur, only these sharks are on our side and they live for things like this. The Virginia Alpha will be overjoyed to hear from me. He's gonna laugh at me, I swore that I'd never need them." 

The phone clicked back over and Mr. Walker was back. "Mr. Billington, we would like to request a face to face meeting. Is there a time that we could send one of our representatives to make a copy of that deed? There are a couple of our men in your area now; I believe you've met Mr. Perry and Mr. Yazzie? 

"Yes, Walker, I've met them. I was forced to eject them from my land when I found them to be trespassing, and no, there will be no meeting. We won't be revealing the location of our papers until we are forced into court. It was the directive of my ancestors, you see... they taught us that the white lawyers and businessmen were mostly thieves and would endeavor to steal our land and destroy our documents. They were very clear on this; they said that rich men would always hire dishonest whores to do their negotiations. My own grandfather told me that rich men could always summon cowards and coyotes for almost anything." 

Indignation clearly in his voice, Mr. Walker said, "Sir, I take offense at your words; many negotiators are very honest men. We seek only to verify the accuracy of your documents." 

"No, Walker, you seek to earn a dirty paycheck from those who wish to steal from me; you are not straightforward in the slightest, nor are you honest enough to admit what you are. Tell that whore that you work for that my lawyers will be in contact with him soon. Oh...and Walker, tell your boss not to send a worm like you." Then John cut connection on the call. 

Somewhere on Pacific Avenue, in a suite high above ground in the business district of Dallas, Burton's eyes glittered malevolently. He looked at his underling, the chief partner in Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith, and said, "You said there was no way that he'd have those papers!" 

The partner responded, "Calm down Burton, I'm not sure that he does. Originals like that are extremely rare. Hell, if it was signed by the Spanish crown like he said, the papers alone are worth a fortune. My guess is that he's bluffing." 

"...and what if he's not?" 

"Then we move on to Plan B. Have you lined up Mr. Medina? 

"Yes, he's still in Fresno, waiting on our call. He came really cheaply too; for a few bucks, he'll sign almost anything." 

"Keep him close, Burton. If that deed proves to be an original, we'll need him for this. Filing a tribal counter-claim is a much riskier strategy. All of this could go public, and that would bring in all of the Native-rights and Environmental activists. That would be ugly, even more so if Billington invites them in. Even if we won, we'd be stuck in court for years." 

"I won't be denied, Doug, a bunch of lazy Indians and hippy freaks are not going to wreck this, that land is too valuable. If I need to, I'll bring in some of my specials ops boys..." 

"Stop right there, Burton. I'm your lawyer; I just can't know some of the options that you might pursue. Do whatever needs doing, but I can't know about it." 

"Noted!" Burton spat, his eyes glittering once again. If we have to get our hands dirty, you are too prissy to see the dirt that enriches you." 

Doug didn't bother to reply, he was used to Burton's blustering and threats. He knew that there were more than a few bodies strewn in Waters' wake, but he also knew that Burton would always need corporate counsel that was unencumbered by ethics or morality, and no one provided that with more gusto than Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith. For the right price, they'd swear to almost anything; the firm and Waters were perfect for one another. 

Back in the Pacific Northwest, a different conversation was taking place. 

"Alpha, does this mean that I can still have dinner with William?" 

"Florence, you know what might have to be done to him; are you sure that you want to take that risk? If you get too close to him, it would hurt." 

"Yes Alpha, I know, but it's pretty much the same situation that Beth is in with Phil." 

"No, I don't think so. She's not even remotely serious about Mr. Perry. If we have to remove him, she won't dwell upon it. You, on the other hand...can you honestly say the same thing?" 

Before Flo could answer, Sam interrupted, "Florence, go for it! You've had enough of living defensively. For once, take this chance and do it for yourself. John and Tom used to take big chances until they met those Apache cousins. Sure, it blew up in their faces, but the explosions were really fun for the pack to watch. Yes, I know that sounds bad, but ask them, I don't think either one of them would change a thing. Making stupid mistakes is part of life. They learned something, and it didn't kill them." 

Florence was surprised, Sam never interrupted the Alpha, nor had he ever really treated Flo like an adult either, much less as an equal. Now, here he was giving her better advice than any of them. The looks of shock on everyone's faces must have been obvious, because Sam chuckled and said,"What? Did all of you forget that I'm the oldest and wisest one here?" 

Then Tom broke in, "He's right for once Florence, even if he is lying about being the oldest. That'd be John, even if John wasn't the first wolf in America." 

Flo's eyes shot open at this, and she swiveled her head to stare at John. "What do you mean that he wasn't the first wolf?" 

Tom replied with pride, "That was me actually, but I never thought to spread it around and make a pack. I just thought I'd become one with my spirit guide after I died, I thought that Mother Earth had turned me into a wolf for the afterlife." 

"You died," gasped Flo? 

"No, but I thought I had for a long time, several years in fact. I probably would have never shifted back or even known that I could. I only shifted back into this human body when I heard my Alpha howling to me. He was calling me to join him." 

"That would be you?" Florence said, looking at John. 

"Yeah, that was me." 

"So why did you let everyone think you were the first wolf? 

"Well I was the first to discover that I could shift back, so it was always debatable who the first shifter was I guess. But I think the biggest part of it was that all of the People that I converted were more comfortable with the idea that this spread from a white-man. What Weres are didn't really watch the People's legends, so they wrote new ones." 

"So what you are telling me is that the white-men describe you as the first murderer in the New World, and the People call you the first wolf, and that neither one is actually correct?" 

"Aint that a bitch," Sam interjected, interrupting again, "But that's how life is, Florence. Things are rarely what they seem to be 'cuz the obvious answer is usually just propaganda of some sort, you have to go find the truth for yourself. Maybe your boy Yazzie is not so bad, even though he works for the devil. Who knows? Maybe we can give him an out; he's been pretty clear that he hates working for Waters. And then again, maybe we'll have to kill him to protect the pack. Either way, it's not like we know yet, so put your money on the table and take a chance; maybe life can make you happy instead of miserable for a change." 

Florence looked to her Alpha for direction, but he just silently nodded his agreement. Tom was nodding as well, so she did something out of character, she smiled. Then she grabbed a surprised Sam into a tight hug, and then leaned over and kissed Tom on the forehead before getting up and rushing out of John's office. 

After the door had slammed shut behind her, a somewhat disgruntled looking Alpha said, "I do not recall dismissing anyone from the meeting." 

"Ha," Tom laughed, "you are just mad because you didn't get a kiss." 

"Besides, you're a shitty Alpha," Sam chuckled, "You may be the first shifter, but I'm the first wolven philosopher, I'm the one who has deep thoughts, and right now, I think we need a beer." 

"You always think we need a beer," John grumbled. 

"Well yeah... if it wasn't for beer, I would never have met you white-eyed devils." 

"Fine, fine, you two go ahead, I have to call the Virginia Alpha so he can say 'I told you so'. Make sure you save me a beer." 

Sam and Tom walked out of his office, now arguing over whether getting a kiss or a hug was better." 

Florence knew that women did these things, but she'd never done them, so she was at a loss as to how to proceed. She knew who did know, and really, she wasn't that mad at Beth any longer. She knew that her friend really was trying to help, and she'd been right so far—it hadn't hurt...much. She reached out, hoping that Beth was actually awake this morning. 

"Beth? Are you awake? Where are you?" 

"How'd the phone call go," Beth asked, ignoring Flo's questions, "is your date still on?" 

"Not bad, I guess. I'm not sure that I understood much of it, but John seemed satisfied with it. He was always a couple of steps ahead of Waters' legal team...and yes, I have been encouraged to go on this date." 

"John encouraged you to do this?" 

"No, it was Sam actually. He was pretty persuasive. I'm not sure what John was going to say, Sam interrupted him and took over." 

"Sam? Our Sam? As in Samoset...one half of the idiot brothers? He actually said something smart?" 

"Yeah, he talked about taking chances and told me that making stupid mistakes was part of life. It was almost like talking to you, umm...if you were ugly, and kinda hairy." 

"The bastard's been holding out on me," Beth grumbled. Oh...I never answered your question. I'm in my cabin, I came home early last night; I figured that you'd need me. I'm already up and showered, and I have coffee ready. I'll be waiting when you get off work." 

"Work? Oh Goddess, I completely forgot that it was Monday," Florence thought to herself. That had never happened before. All her life, she had been completely focused upon her job. How on Earth had she forgotten work? She found that she was even heading directly for Beth's cabin. She abruptly changed direction and headed for the training area instead. 

Normally, if she had found herself in a position where she had forgotten her responsibilities, she would have been ashamed. This time however, she just shrugged it off and set herself to finishing her daily tasks as quickly as she could. Maybe it was time to begin listening to her mentors and finally realize that she had become a one dimensional wolf- all work, all the time. 

John and his Betas were still absent from the grounds when she arrived, so she stepped up and began assigning the weekly work assignments to the available warriors. This didn't take all that long, normally the pack ran very smoothly and Flo had been a Beta for some time now, none of the men really minded getting their directions from a bitch. Well, not this bitch at any rate; she could rip most of them in half. 

By the time that Sam and Tom finally showed up smelling faintly of warm stout and peanuts, Florence had written all of the duty rosters for the week, settled two arguments, and sent a protesting Tristan back to the infirmary to see if his cast needed removal. All things held equal, it was a pretty light duty day. 

Seeing her uncles strolling up, she stepped out of the training shack, tossed them the keys, and said, "Everything is already done, so you two should have a pretty easy day." She them hugged Tom and kissed Sam on the forehead, saying, "There, now you two morons are even. I'll see you guys tomorrow; I've got to run. I have to see a conniving bitch about a dress." 

In an amused sort of shock, the two just stood there with foolish looks on their faces while Florence sprinted off. After a moment, Tom said, "Told you that she'd take care of everything." 

Sam relied, "Yeah, but if we'd stayed for one more round, she would have been late getting to Beth's place. Tom grunted agreement and then the two began arguing over whose hug lasted the longest. 

Florence didn't bother eavesdropping this time; she just sprinted directly to Beth's cabin. Arriving there, she let herself inside and found Beth waiting for her in the kitchen, still drinking coffee. 

Beth glanced at her watch and said, "It's too late to head down to the city now; you'll have to wear something of mine." 

Florence started to object that all of Beth's clothes were more revealing than she liked, but she didn't get far before Beth told her to shut up and go get in the shower. "You are not putting your sweaty body into my girl clothes. You don't have anything suitable to wear in your closet; I know...I checked. Now, Go," she demanded, now pointing to the shower. "Don't say another word!" 

Flo knew that she could easily take Beth, Florence was after all, a mighty warrior, but something in Beth's gaze caused any feelings of rebellion to wither and die. She shuddered and then did the wisest thing she could have done, she shut up, and headed for the shower. Beth followed Flo into the bedroom and then began to rifle through the closets that took up about half of the square footage of the entire home. 

"No, this one won't work; it's not her color. Hey...she'd look great in this, but she'll never go for it, it shows too much skin. Short skirt maybe, with some fancy stockings? That would be sassy! Naw, better go with the dress, she's going to more comfortable in something elegant. What to choose, what to choose..." 

By this time Florence had dropped her clothes and jumped into the shower. Grabbing one of Beth's disposable razors, she began shaving her legs, all the while wondering if William would prove to be 'shave-worthy'. She rather suspected that he would, so she began to shave higher and higher, and found that she was getting heated just by thinking about William. I'm glad that I'm in this shower with the water washing away the aroma; I must reek of arousal by now. Moving to her underarms in an attempt to tamp down her growing heat, she was just beginning to get her control back when the thought struck her, I wonder what it would feel like if he kissed me here. Arousal came flooding back, and this time, it brought friends. Thank the Goddess for showers! 

Beth was still digging through her closets when Florence exited the shower, dressed only in the towel that wrapped her hair. Beth poked her head out of the closet for a moment, glanced at Flo, and then said, "Good girl, I just knew that I would have to send you back in there to shave!" Then she scented the air and said, "You are already thinking of what he's going to do to you?" 

"Shut up bitch!" 

"I'll ignore that. Now come here and let's see what we can do with you!" 

The two women then began trying on outfits, quite a few outfits. Beth began with selections that she was sure that Florence would reject. Beth had time, and she needed to soften up Flo's defenses. Sure enough, Flo rejected every single offering, mostly for reasons of 'too much skin'. This took about an hour. 

The next hour was devoted to skirts and stockings, with Beth explaining that patterned hose could hold a man's attention for hours. Florence tried on a few and looked as though, she might be considering the idea, but ultimately, Beth had been right about Flo's reactions to these as well. Florence requested something a little bit more professional. Beth ignored the word 'professional' and reached for the evening dresses. 

This took another hour. Beth had Florence in dozens of combinations by this time, all of them rejected for one reason or another, but victory was in sight, Beth could see Florence's resolve was beginning to weaken, so Beth chattered merrily away. She made suggestions about what might be done with Florence's hair, and of which accessories might go with whatever 'look' they decided upon. She gave a veritable seminar of all things fashion. 

Flo's head was whirling by this time, and as Beth chattered, time melted away. Then Beth turned up the heat, remarking on the fact that they were running out of time, and that they'd better pick something before Florence missed her date entirely. Seeing the look of resignation in her friend's eyes, Beth pounced. "I've got one more that might work. I bought it because it was kind of tight and it displayed my girls really well," she said, her eyes twinkling, "but your butt and boobs are smaller than mine, so it will probably hang just right on you!" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 04



"Ah, here it is," she said, pausing before pulling the dress from the back of the closet where she had hidden it. "Here, try this on." 

Florence would have instantly rejected the short dress a couple of hours earlier, but now there was a deadline, so she reluctantly put it on. It wasn't really her kind of thing, for one thing, it was satin, and for another, it was short. It left both shoulders bare, and hung just a hand's breath above her knees. Florence would have described the dress as being a rich tomato red, but that wasn't exactly true either. It was made of one of those shimmery fabrics that seemed to catch and redirect light, making it appear to be several different shades at once. Flo had no idea what the stuff was called and she wasn't about to ask, she just knew that it seemed to change colors as she moved. 

She looked at herself in Beth's full length mirror and began to panic; there was no way she could pull this dress off. "Perfect," said Beth before Florence could say anything. "Ooh, I've got the perfect shoes for it too. I know they are in here someplace," she said, making a direct line for where she had put the box earlier. "Here they are," Put these on, she demanded, "they'll be perfect with that!" 

Knocked off stride before she could even begin to complain about the dress, Florence took the shoes, and with some resignation, strapped them on. Beth had been right, they were the exact shade as the dress; they ought to be, she had bought them at the same time. 

The shoes had straps that ran diagonally across the top of each foot, and wrapped tightly around the heel. With a relatively short heel, Florence thought that maybe could manage them if she had to. She was surprised that the shoes fit so well as Beth's feet were an entire size smaller than hers, and she had started to ask about this when she was interrupted again. 

"Oh dear, I'd forgotten that those were open-toed shoes. Come here, we're gonna have to paint your nails. Take everything off and head over to my vanity so we can doll you up. Hurry now, we're running out of time." 

Feeling like a buffalo heading to the cliff on a buffalo run, Florence stopped protesting and just accepted the inevitable. She let herself be led to slaughter at Beth's jam-packed vanity table. 

"I think I might have the perfect shade... hmm, I haven't worn it in awhile. Where did I put it," Beth rambled, while aimlessly opening drawers for a bit before she opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out the bottle she had placed there earlier. "Here it is! This should be just the perfect shade too! Sit down and stick your right foot out; we'll do that one first." 

Florence meekly did as she was told and continued to let herself be dressed for her execution. Beth, all the while, chattering gaily, not giving Florence a chance to voice any reservations. 

About an hour later, Beth pronounced Florence finished. She had done both Flo's fingers and toes; completely brushed her hair out until it shone; then put some odd contraption that Florence didn't understand into her hair to keep it in place, and finally applying a light dusting of cosmetics topped off with lipstick of exactly the same shade as the dress. "Here," said Beth, "put this in your purse for touch ups later." 

"Purse?" said Florence. Why on Earth would I own a purse?" 

"Oh right, I almost forgot," mumbled Beth distractedly. "A purse... I think I have one that shade. A moment later, Beth magically pulled a small clutch out of one of her closets; it too, was the exact same shade or red. "Close enough," said Beth. "Now get dressed; it is almost time to leave." 

"What? Already," Florence gasped. She then looked up at the clock and saw reality staring back at her, she was out of time. Where had the day gone? Florence reached for her panties only to have Beth slap her hand. 

"Not a chance Flo, I have not spent all afternoon cleaning you up only to have you wreck my work with panty lines. Put that dress on! Chop chop! You're going to be late!" 

Florence considered staring Beth down, but she knew that she was in too deep now. All she could do was thank the Goddess that William wasn't a wolf, because any wolf would smell her coming. She didn't share this revelation with Beth; her laughter would only have made it worse. So she put the dress on...sans underwear, and then mumbled, "What's next, a fucking pumpkin carriage pulled by mice?" 

"No Flo, I gotta go to the Roadhouse tonight, I'll drop you off!" 

"And just why won't my fairy godmother allow me to drive myself to town?" 

"Because she knows you all too well, you'd kick those shoes off to drive, and if you get those feet dirty or chip those nails, your godmother is going to become very, very angry. You would not like me if I got angry. Do you hear me, Cinderella?" 

"Yes godmother, but what am I supposed to put in this stupid purse besides lipstick?" 

"Will you need anything else tonight? He's paying for dinner, so you won't need money. You won't need keys or tampons or anything tonight. You aren't human, so you don't need condoms. You won't catch anything. Do you chew gum?" 

"So I'm carrying this fucking purse just so I have a place to put my lipstick?" 

"Pretty much." 

"Being a girl sucks, fairy godmother." 

"Only if he's good to you, Cindy; only if he's good to you," Beth said with a wink. "Now c'mon, it's time for you to go man huntin'." Florence just rolled her eyes and followed Beth out to her car. 

As they drove down to the Town of Whiskey Lake, Beth peppered Florence with ribald stories involving her two hundred plus years of dating. She described everything from her most horrible disaster to her most erotic tryst. Beth kept to her plan of non-stop chattering in order to calm Flo and keep her from dwelling on her upcoming meeting with William. Beth had Florence laughing before they'd even left the compound, and she continued to keep Flo off-balance until she pulled into the Hotel car park and shooed her out of the car with a, "Go make your God-mother proud. I want you to screw his legs off, and make sure that I don't see you until sometime tomorrow." And with that, she stepped on the accelerator and roared off to the Roadhouse. 

Realizing that it was show time, Florence pulled her hem down nervously, almost causing her breasts to spill out the top of the dress. Damn, being a girl is hard. If I tug the bottom down, I'll pop out of the top. So I've got to move really slowly, and there will be no bending over to pick anything up, because that bitch wouldn't let me wear any underwear." Then she said aloud, "I will kill her, I will kill her. I will kill her! 

"Who will you kill," said a voice from the lobby entrance. 

She couldn't believe it; she'd let her nervous frustration get the best of her. She'd actually let a human get a drop on her. True, he'd just come into view after opening the door, but still...a human! Umm a sexy human with corded muscles and jet black hair, and oh Goddess...what was that smell? It was like every sexual fantasy that she'd ever imagined, all rolled into one delicious body. She scented him finally, his aroma washing over her. Her eyes fought to not roll back in her head and she felt her thighs becoming wet with her naked arousal. All she could think was, "mine." Words were not her friends right then. 

William was absolutely floored by what stood before him. This wet-dream vision had run him into the ground? She was dressed for sin in a red satin dress that barely covered anything; he'd never seen anything that affected him like this before. He was grabbed by something on a primal level and he felt himself growing hard. He had to have this vision; but more importantly, he would have to say something soon. 

He knew that he'd been standing there with his mouth open, and he also knew that he really needed to communicate, but all he could think to say was, "I found unscented detergent. I have your clothes in my rental car." He felt like an idiot before this perfect woman; he had no clue that her head was as cloudy as his own. Surely this vision must be used to being worshipped. He wasn't worthy of her, so he stammered, "I didn't wear any cologne; I thought that maybe you were allergic to perfumes. You always seem to be scenting things." 

That's his normal smell? Oh Goddess, I'm in so much trouble! You stopped giving humans to us hundreds of years ago. Why now? Why me? He shouldn't be my mate; I might have to kill him! 

Realizing that she hadn't said anything out loud yet, William started babbling again, "My car, it's over in the car park. It's nothing special, just a fleet Chevy. Are you ready to go? My personal car is much nicer. I have a truck. It has four-wheel drive; I think you'd like it." 

Snapping back to reality, Florence realized that William was babbling, and she was reassured. He was obviously as affected by the pull of the mating bond as she, but as a human, he clearly had no idea what was happening to his brain, his heart, and his mouth. She smiled seductively at him and suggested that he lead the way. She was in control; maybe she'd live through this. 

She reached out for his hand, and when he touched her, there was no spark this time. No shock, but there was the same growing warmth that originated from inside of each of them. She staggered for a moment; she knew that she was soaking wet and hoped that this dress wouldn't soak through or stain. Maybe she could get her hands on those panties that he's laundered for her. 

He led her to his rental car and they began the forty five minute drive to the resort. Her scent filled the cabin of the car. Any wolf would have pulled to the side of the road and buried himself within her inside of the first hundred meters. He was human though, and only had a vague subconscious reaction to the pheromones she was pouring out. She was grateful for this fact for the moment. Her mind was spinning with all of the possibilities and this gave her time to think. What do I do now? I can't tell him that he's my mate. He'd think I was insane; he has absolutely no idea that we Were are real. 

William, thinking that Florence's silence was due to the fact that she was calm and collected, once again believed that she was running him in circles. Here I am a combat veteran of two different wars; I'm thirty two years old and I feel like a sophomore on my first date. God I want this woman! Why on Earth had she deigned to go on a date with me? Oh Lord, I almost forgot her pussy is shaved too; I'm in so far over my head here! She said if I'm lucky, I might get one kiss, and I've never wanted one kiss so much in my entire life. She didn't say how long it would last, maybe it's a loophole. 

Seeing confusion written large on William's face, Florence began to relax. Maybe Beth is right; maybe men are easy! She could see that he was clearly at least as nervous as she'd been, but he had it even worse than she had; he was the man here, and convention dictated that he was responsible for carrying the conversation. Flo smiled softly to herself and decided that she'd remain quiet to keep him nervous. 

It worked. William squirmed the entire time that it took to drive around to the back side of the lake where the resort was located, up the mountain side where its patrons could look out over the lake. Forty five minutes of sheer Hell for him, and it got even worse when she reached over the back seat and reclaimed her panties, saying, "I might need these later." 

He couldn't take his eyes off of the twisty mountain road for a moment to be sure, but if she might need them later... Oh Lord, she isn't wearing anything under that short dress. 

They arrived at the Resort where Florence took Beth's advice, casually waiting in her seat until William thought to open the door for her. She was careful to allow her dress to ride up just far enough to give him a brief flash of the fact that, yes; she really might need those panties. As the valet drove their car away, William walked Florence into the restaurant somewhat stiff-leggedly, still wondering whether God was rewarding...or punishing him for something. 

He calmed down after a few appetizers and a wonderful dinner. The food really was quite wonderful here, but as far as William was concerned, it might well have been bread and water, he hadn't tasted any of it, he was still wrapped in her fragrance and had no clue what he'd eaten. Her eyes, why do they do that? 

Florence was a wolf. She ordered the thickest steak they had, and she savored every bite. She may have enjoyed it almost as much as the stupid look on her date's face. She was content to let him do most of the talking, allowing him to tell her the story of growing up in the Pacific Coast area with his grandfather. She was astounded hear that many of his grandfather's beliefs coincided closely with those of the pack. It seemed as if every time she'd pressed him for more details, his and their stories were the same. She had known that the beliefs of the People, and of the Were were similar, but she'd never realized how much until now. 

All too soon, dinner was over and Florence was amazed to hear herself ask if maybe the two of them hadn't had too much to drink and should look into getting a room here, rather than to chance the drive home, and as she had been running her foot up the inside of his lag for the last few minutes, William quickly agreed. He tried to hide his enthusiasm as he paid their bill and the two were soon headed over to the registration desk. 

It was Monday night; there were plenty of vacancies here, the price would probably even be pretty reasonable too, not that either of them really cared by this point. William's hand was now around Florence's waist as he slowly caressed her back, trailing his fingers up and down her spine. Florence was going insane from his gentle teasing and wished that he'd just pull the satin aside and run his fingers up her skin. She calmed herself by toying with his hair while they waited in line. 

There was only one family ahead of them, a mother with two small children. Florence wasn't really in a hurry, she had all night. If she showed up for work at all tomorrow, Beth would be disappointed. Things were going so well...and then the blonde woman turned around and said, "Will?" 

"Liz," he gasped. "What are you doing here?" 

"Daddy," the two children exploded. "Mama said we wouldn't get to see you until tomorrow!" 

"Daddy?" Florence said dangerously. 

"Umm, Florence, these are my children, Sarah and Noah," as the two children ran forward to grab their father's legs, almost knocking Florence aside in their haste. 

"And this is..." 

"His wife Elizabeth," the woman broke in. We were going to surprise him by coming down to that desolate Hell hole that he's staying in tomorrow. Father told me that you weren't staying here in the Resort." 

"Your wife," Florence spat. "Well, I don't want to break up your reunion; I'll be on my way now. Let Mr. Waters know that the answer is still, no." 

"You know Daddy?" Elizabeth asked, surprised. 

"Daddy?" Florence said, fighting the urge to shift and tear the woman into bloody pieces, right here in front of her children 

"Yes, Burton Waters, everybody knows Daddy; he's a powerful man!" 

Her eyes now sparkling with hatred, Florence looked into William's eyes, managing to hold herself back only because of the presence of the young children that were attached to him, and said, "It's been nice Will; we won't be seeing each other again". She then spun on her heel and quickly fled out the back door, ignoring his calls for her to stop. She sped out the door and into the surrounding forest, her wonderful dress exploding into ribbons as she shifted and began to run, hoping to run away the ache she was feeling. 

"Daddy," Sarah asked, "was that a wolf howling? It sounds likes it's in pain."



Artiface of Strength Ch. 05



Tuesday morning arrived more or less, as it always did, but unfortunately for the pack, there were a couple of minor exceptions. The first of them was seemingly minor; Florence's car was in the compound. This was unexpected, because no one had thought to see her this morning; everyone had assumed that she might be in later in the day. The pack had been rooting for her, wishing her the best on her date.

The second exception was as odd one, but nothing that was worrisome; Beth was actually in the hall for breakfast for a change. Everyone knew that this rarely happened. What with her job at the roadhouse and the required late nights there, not to mention her activities afterward, she usually didn't show up until at least lunchtime, and sometimes not even then.

So, if there was a worrisome exception, it was the fact that Beth was there for breakfast, and Florence was not. The pack needed its routine, and this was not the way that things usually happened. John and Beth were not saying anything; they were doing their level best to seem as though everything was fine. Not a word of worry had passed their lips, but this was only the mask they wore to reassure everyone, they had been sending to one another all morning long.

"Her car was parked with the rear wheels in the garden, Beth. I got up early and moved it before anyone else saw it, but eventually someone is going to notice that half of the pepper plants are gone."

"Have you seen her?"

"No, she wasn't in her cabin, and when I tried sending to her, all I got was a storm of emotions, none of them good. I couldn't break through it; I've never met a wolf who could block me."

"Looks like a disaster then. Whatever happened, it was so painful that she doesn't even hear her Alpha."

"She's alive at least, and I didn't smell any blood in her car, so she must be physically O.K., but from what I felt, I'm betting that she would prefer a physical injury to what she's going through... You don't think..." John said worriedly.

"I don't know John, Florence has never been like everyone else, but still... I don't know what else it could be that would cause this much distress."

John sighed and then said, "So which one of us should seek her out?"

"John, for once I think we should go together, let's be her parents and do this right for a change."

The Alpha was in the process of agreeing, when the door opened, causing the hall to fall into complete silence. Florence had walked into the hall, and while her make-up and lipstick had been reapplied, she was completely nude, her eyes showing that she was there with a purpose.

She spoke. "I, Florence Billington, formally challenge Tisquantum for the number three position in the Billington pack." Her challenge was perfectly made, and as it was proper, it could not be ignored. She then turned and walked out of the hall, clearly heading for the meadow where all challenges took place.

The hall exploded into chaos behind her. While challenges up and down the ranks were frequent, and generally even friendly, leadership challenges were far less common. There had not been a leadership challenge since the pack had arrived here back in 1815, and every wolf knew that in other packs, leadership challenges occasionally led to death.

All eyes in the hall swung between John and Tom, as dozens of shouted conversations started all at once. "What the Hell?" Tom said, "What difference does it make whether she is number four or number three? We share everything."

John replied sadly, "I think she's in pain Tom, maybe she just needs to fight an equal and work some of it out of her system."

"What do I do, Alpha? Do I go easy on her and let her win, or do I try to take her out?"

John looked to Beth, questioningly.

"Tom honey, I think she'll welcome the pain. Go ahead and kick her ass; just don't kill her."

"Mmph," Tom grunted sorrowfully, "I suppose that she is waiting; let's get this over with."

Breakfast forgotten, the entire pack followed Tom out of the building and out to the meadow. Not a word was spoken by any member of the pack; this was a solemn and honored occasion. All off-compound members were being contacted. Businesses would likely not open in Whiskey Town this day.

Florence stood in the middle of the meadow. She respectfully remained silent and motionless as Tom slowly removed his clothing and began preparing himself for battle. He stretched his muscles before looking at her and following the ritual, he asked, "Form?"

"Wolf," she replied, as was her right as challenger. Their ritual granted the right of selecting form to the challenger: human, wolf, or hybrid. Wolf was the most chosen, as it made for a more serious fight than as human, and was a less lethal form than hybrid. Human combat was rare, mostly taking place to settle drunken squabbles and bar bets between friends. Hybrid challenges were mostly to the death, as that form was the form of rogues and insanity.

Tom bowed deeply to Florence and she returned the gesture, both of them dropping their gazes into the ground, giving one another the respect and trust that neither would initiate combat until both were ready. Then they raised their heads, gazed into one another's eyes, shifted into their wolves and began, the pack silently watching.

Tom wasted no time, coming directly at Florence, attempting to use his superior strength and size to his advantage by bull-rushing her in an attempt to bludgeon her into submission. Florence had expected this type of attack and sat back, letting him come forward. She knew that with the possible exception of John, she was the quickest wolf in the pack. She had always possessed an unearthly sense of what her attackers were preparing to do. She wasn't clairvoyant exactly, but she seemed to process information faster than anyone else, always seeming to be a step ahead of her opponents.

Tom flew at her, claws and teeth exposed and ready to tear into her; wolves healed quickly, and there would be no mercy. Most any injury short of death or complete dismemberment would heal...eventually. No one was surprised at the viciousness of his attack.

Florence never wavered, nor did she move until the last possible split second, throwing her body into an airborne roll around Tom's blitzing attack. She neatly dodged him as he flew by her, his claws missing her spinning belly by a hairsbreadth. As he sailed past her, she spun again, and struck with blinding speed, slashing both of his left side legs, front and back. His skin sliced open neatly, spraying blood over the meadow. Her claws had cut through muscle and severed tendons, causing Tom to crash into the muddy meadow floor, unable to stand. Just as quick as it had started, it was over.

The pack was stunned. Few had thought that she'd win; none had imagined that she would completely destroy her opponent so quickly. Most of the warriors had not even seen her attack; Tristan, who had followed her movements, began to realize that he would never pass Florence.

She approached Tom growling. He promptly opened his throat and belly to her, yielding his number three spot in the pack. John stepped into the meadow, directing the medical team to where Tom lay, and finished the ceremony, acknowledging Florence had won her challenge.

Florence bowed to John, and then said, "I, Florence Billington, formally challenge Samoset for the number two spot in the Billington pack.

Shocked, Sam looked up at Florence, not recognizing anything familiar looking back from her eyes, just a blank stare gazing back upon him. She'd just casually obliterated the wolf she called Uncle and she didn't even seem to care that she'd come dangerously close to crippling the man for life. If she would have removed his legs completely, they likely would have never come back; her lipstick was not even smudged.

With the option to accept the challenge or immediately yield his position, Sam looked to where Tom was being held together and replied without emotion, "I accept, and may the Lady preserve us all."

Seeing only disaster in the offing, John took the only option he had coming to him. The only delay their customs allowed was to delay the combat until after the next scheduled meal time. This rule was technically in place to allow those wounded in combat to heal before undergoing another challenge, but it also had the effect of limiting ladder-climbers to rising three spots per day, as well as allowing those who had lost their spots the option of re-challenging the following day.

Florence could have objected to John's maneuver as she obviously had no need of healing. Indeed, even her lipstick didn't need to be fixed, but she made no complaint, merely settling into a lotus position and beginning to meditate right there in the muddy bog of the meadow.

The rest of the pack was now in an uproar. What the Hell was going on? Did you see that dead look in her eyes? Heck no, I wouldn't want any part of that! Are they going to be able to save Tom's legs? Buddy, if I'd been Sam, I would have just yielded my position and let John deal with her. Good Goddess, what's happening with Flo, she seemed fine yesterday!"

John, Beth, and Sam were more careful to present a brave face to the pack, but they nevertheless hurried to the infirmary to check on Tom. Arriving there, the medics assured them that Tom would be fine, his injuries had been almost surgical in nature, and would be therefore easier to repair. 

Tom had been shot up with local anesthetics, and the medical team was suturing him back together, although with both muscle and tendon damage, they were going to have to do a lot of stitching. Tom was awake though, and because of the locals he was quite literally, feeling no pain.

"Brother, are you alright?" Sam asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine everyone; stop worrying! Flo hit me exactly where she meant to hit me. Believe me, I saw it in her eyes as I sailed by, she could have killed me if she had desired it. Her strikes were dead-on perfect! Sam, there is absolutely no way that you can beat her with a blitz attack, she's just too quick. If you are going to beat her, you are going to have to be willing to take damage to give damage. You'll have to bleed her out; she's just too quick to take any other way. I had no idea what I was dealing with!"

John broke in when Tom started to repeat himself, "What the Hell is going on Beth? Have you any clue what's going through her mind?"

"Her date must have gone poorly."

John exploded. "Her date went tits up, so she's fucking trying to kill my Betas? What the Hell Beth!"

The medics blanched at this eruption, and while they refused to meet their Alpha's eyes, they mumbled, "Please Alpha, we are working here. If you yell, we will make mistakes."

Somewhat chastened, John took a deep breath before continuing, "Beth, did you talk to her?"

"She's in the meadow John, you know that no one is allowed to contact her while she's involved in a challenge."

"Beth...really? How long have I known you? What happened when you ignored the rules and tried anyway?"

"I'm still trying Alpha, but she's locked everyone out. I've been begging her to explain, but I have no idea if I'm even getting through to her."

"Let me know if she responds, and I mean right away this time," he hissed at her.

"Yes Alpha."

He turned his attention to his second, saying, "Sam, I can't believe that I'm saying this, but fight to win as if your life depended on it. Hold nothing back. We all love her, but if you have to kill her to save yourself, do it. Whatever the fuck is going on, you didn't do it; do not get yourself killed trying to save her by pulling your punches!"

"Yes Alpha," was all he said.

"Do we have anyone in transit from the Resort? Someone who might have a clue what happened last night?"

"I think so," Said Tom, "but we only allow Omegas to work there and I don't have the duty roster in front of me."

"I'm on it," said Sam as he ran out the door.

"I'll be in my office. You three let me know the second anything happens. This is my call. Do you understand me, Beth?"

"Yes Alpha."

John stomped out of the medical area, but instead of heading for his office, he impulsively headed for the meadow. He hadn't pulled rank in over a century, he'd never needed to, but what was now calmly sitting in the meadow scared the Hell out of him. Short of a rogue wolf stuck in hybrid form, he'd never seen anything so fast or so lethal. If Tom was correct and Florence had struck exactly where she'd intended, then the only thing keeping any of them alive was being held at bay by a slender thread of sanity. If Florence broke, she'd be the most dangerous rogue Were in history. He wasn't positive that he could contain her if she snapped

Before today, she'd been very good, now in her uncertain mental state, she was beyond dangerous. In obvious pain with her back up against some kind of unknown wall, she was the worst sort of foe, one who evidently couldn't care less if she lived or died. But so far, she seemed sane, and had managed to follow all of their ritualistic procedures to the letter. John had no cause to order her taken out, and he had no doubt that she sat in the meadow just to prevent being communicated with, to prevent being talked out of whatever she had planned. So he walked to the edge of the meadow and sat down in her direct line of sight, hoping that she would acknowledge his presence there.

Hours passed, and Florence never moved a muscle. She never even opened her eyes. John received reports as he sat there waiting. The medics thought Tom would be fine in a week or so, and oddly enough, Tom was said to be in higher spirits than anyone, still maintaining that Florence was in complete control.

Sam had reported back that two of their Omegas had been in the Resort working the previous night, but could not be contacted as they had headed off of the mountain into the city to spend their day off. They were out of even John's sending range. Sam had immediately sent Wolves driving to the city in an attempt to contact the missing Omegas.

Beth reported that she had not stopped sending to Florence, pleading with her to answer, but evidently Florence wouldn't, or couldn't respond. Beth still had no idea if Florence was even receiving her sendings. Lunch was approaching, and they were running out of time.

When the lunch bell rang, Florence stood for a moment and without any sign that she recognized that anyone was watching her; she turned and walked to the far side of the meadow, where she sat down and went back into her trance. Her eyes had passed right over John's, she'd said nothing, nor given any indication that she was even aware of him, nor had she responded to Beth's endless pleading.

When John witnessed this, he gave up and headed for the dining hall. His pack needed reassurance, and they were not getting it with him sitting here. However, when he arrived in the hall, he found Tom had been wheeled in, evidently against Dr.'s orders, and was holding court, telling anyone listening that Florence was in control and evidently on some sort of vision quest that no one understood yet.

John's first impulse was to immediately order back Tom back to the infirmary, but before he could snap out the order, he noticed that Tom's presence seemed to be calming the pack. So instead, he sent a personal sending, "Good job Tom, but as soon as lunch is over, you are to go directly back to the infirmary, and go nowhere near that muddy field! Do you understand me? Tom looked at John and nodded his head before going back to his efforts with the pack.

Lunch was uneventful. The Omegas from the Resort had not yet been found, and soon, all of the pack except for Tom and those sent to the city were back in the meadow awaiting the challenge.

Florence walked back from the far edge of the meadow when she saw that Sam was ready to go. He removed his clothes and said only, "Form?"

"Human." She said without emotion.

The pack was surprised by her choice. After her almost surgical disposal of Tom, every wolf had expected a repeat performance in this challenge. 'Human' was the form that drunken warriors picked to settle fights in the clubhouse; it was a brawling style fitting uncoordinated drunks and hot-heads.

"Tom," Beth hurriedly sent to the Beta trapped in the infirmary, "you'll never guess what she did..."

"She chose 'human' didn't she?"

"How did you know," she gasped.

"I think I'm figuring out what she's up to. Bring John to me after she wins. We'll need to talk about the third challenge."

"She's going after John?! And what do you mean, 'after she wins'? What makes you so sure that she will?"

"Yes, and she's going to demolish him. She won't let him brawl with her any more than she let me blitz her. Sam skips his martial arts training most of the time and slips out to have a beer. She's going to absolutely crush him. I'll keep this bed warm for him; he's going to need it."

"I'll let John know."

This time, Beth immediately informed her Alpha of troubling information. Tom took it all in with a grimace, but he made no comment. He could see Tom's logic and realized that his Beta was probably correct."

Both combatants performed the rituals solemnly and the combat began, and it went almost exactly as Tom had predicted. Samoset was a mighty warrior and a great second-in-command...not to mention the first wolven philosopher, but he was seriously outclassed. He realized this almost as soon as the combat began. He was going to lose, and he knew it, so he pressed the only advantage that he had, his mouth. He began speaking to her whenever they broke apart, fighting defensively and doing his best to prolong the combat, frequently retreating from her to deliver another comment.

"Florence, you knew just how to attack me...You caught me out, and now you are rubbing in the fact that I've been skipping training...now you are just making me look bad...The only way I could win this, is if you make a stupid mistake, and we both know that you won't do that...You aint gonna kill me, and you are not in that stubborn trance anymore...so I know you are hearing me now...Flo, none of us know why you are doing this, and you aren't letting us help..."

All of this took several minutes to deliver as she was systematically beating his ass. His left eye was completely closed, his nose was broken and blood was pouring down his face. He was pretty sure that at least three of his ribs were broken too and now he was having trouble breathing. She'd knocked him to the ground repeatedly, and he'd only managed to lay a fist on her two or three times. His blood was all over her, and he was amused to see that he had lipstick on his fists. Not that she seemed to notice...

"Florence, won't you let us help you?"

She stepped back and paused her punishment of him, "John will help me after dinner, and now...yield!"

Sam had gotten his message across, and even though he was unsure of her answer, he'd done all he could. He wasn't stupid, and there was absolutely no reason to continue this farce. He fell to his knees and said, "I Samoset, yield the number two spot in the Billington pack to Florence Billington."

John recited the rest of the ceremonial words sadly; well aware of what was coming next. Tom had been correct, John was immediately challenged, and the combat was scheduled to take place after dark when the moon would be above them.

As Sam was being tended back in the infirmary, John was storming, "What did she mean by that? Does anyone have a clue? Tom, you figured the rest out, what does she mean that I will help her after dinner?"

"I'm sorry John," he responded, "I figured out the 'what' and the 'how', but I think only Beth might be able to figure out the why of this."




Artiface of Strength Ch. 05



"Beth?" John asked.

"We need to reach those Omegas John. You yelled at me for saying it earlier, but without knowing what happened on that date last night, we can't know why she is doing this. She destroyed Tom...sorry Tom, and then she beat the living shit out of Sam...Goddess Sam, your eye looks awful, but she didn't kill them, and now it's pretty clear that she could have. So, I think it's obvious that she's not angry at us, although she's really upset at something. But without those Omegas, we're stumped here.

John absorbed that before saying, "She's good Beth, really good, but I don't think she can take me, so I'm not sure what to make of this. Oh, and Sam, while I'm thinking about it..."

"Yeah yeah, I know, stop skipping training. I screwed up; she made that abundantly obvious. I think the words you are looking for from me are, 'Yes Alpha'. You sure have been a bossy bitch lately."

John growled, "Don't make me close your other eye."

Sam caught Tom's eye, and then the two of them both looked at Beth before all three of them chorused, "Yes, Alpha."

"Well, at least all three of you are finally on the same page," John grumped.

"Yes Alpha," they all chorused again.

"Now shut the fuck up and find me those moron Omegas!"

"Yes Alpha," they said again, and John considered going into his office and beating his head on his desk.

Shortly before dinner, the phone finally rang. It was Oliver, one of the missing Omegas and the fattest wolf in the pack. "We're sorry boss," he said hurriedly, stammering, "but we thought we had the day off and wanted to buy a few things in the city. We didn't know you needed us; are we in trouble?"

John reassured his Omega that he and his friend hadn't done anything wrong, but reminded him that the two of them might want to take their phones with them the next time they went out of pack sending range."

"S-sorry sir, but we broke them again."


John did his best to suppress a growl before spitting, "Just tell me anything that the two of you witnessed with Florence or anyone that she may have come into contact with last night!"

"W-well, I was working the night desk like I always do and Stan was the bell page on duty. We saw Florence come into the Resort with a human to register for a room. Stan said they'd come from the restaurant and seemed very happy. Boss, umm...this is kind of embarrassing."

"Just slow down and tell me everything that you saw; this is important to the pack Oliver."

"Well, Stan said that pheromones were just pouring off of Florence, he thought that maybe she was in love with him or something."

"Then what happened? Did they get a room?"

"No sir, they ran into this human woman and her two children, and then they had words. I think the woman was the man's wife. Florence was pretty mad, she said a few things to the man, and then she stormed out."

"And you didn't think to report this Oliver? You do realize that things like this are why we posted you at that desk...right?"

"S-s-sorry boss, I, I mean we...umm," he stammered uselessly.

"If either one of you remember anything else, call me immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes Alpha."

John cut the call, grumbling, "Are you sure that we can't find those two idiots a less important job?"

"That's the worst one we have John. C'mon, we made Stan a bell boy and he doesn't even care. No ambition whatsoever."

Still grumbling, John looked at Beth and asked, "Any clue?"

"Just what we were afraid of earlier, William is her mate, but he's already married to someone else, and has kids besides, not to mention the fact that he's human and works for Waters."

The phone rang again; John grumbled and picked it up, "Billington."

"Boss, I remembered something, Oliver babbled rapidly, "That woman, her last name was Waters; does that mean anything?"

"Oh shit," Sam mumbled.

"It just keeps getting worse for her, John," Beth sad sadly.

"Thanks Oliver, you just earned your paycheck," John said, ending the call.

"Tom, get one of the tech geeks to Google all of the names involved here. Let's see what we are dealing with, and how everything might be interrelated. Do it now!"

"Yes Alpha!"

"Beth, is there any way to stop this?"

"She's back in her trance John, she's not communicating with anyone."

"We're running out of time!"

And eventually, they did run out of time. The dinner bell rang, and the meal was eaten, and everyone knew what was waiting out on the meadow. No one knew what Florence was thinking even though she'd lived her life with these wolves. She'd gone all the way from foundling, to sweep-up girl, and from there to bartender and then on to bouncer before moving up again, this time to Beta. Tonight she would battle John for control of the pack. If she won, she would become the first female Alpha ever. She'd become the bitch who took over a Nation, because John could defeat any of America's Alphas; and if Florence could best John, surely she would have little trouble with the others. Every wolf in the pack realized that if she could defeat John, then it was with the blessings of the Goddess. And if the Goddess had sent her, then the Lady surely had sent Florence with a message for all Were, and the pack was curious what that message might be.

On the other hand, everyone knew that, in theory, John should be able to beat her. He'd built their entire society from scratch. He'd killed the only Were that had ever gotten to this continent from Europe, and he had then developed every ritual and every ceremony that they knew. The Goddess had revealed herself to him, and he'd done everything that she had ever asked of him, only asking for one thing in return, a mate with whom to share his life...and he had been waiting for her for four hundred and eighty five years now. It was well past the time that he should be rewarded for his hard work, but how would he be rewarded? Would he get it in this life...or would he have to wait for the afterlife?

The challenge was set for well after darkness would have fallen. It would take place in the moonlight; that way, the Goddess would be in the sky to watch them do her will. The Lady was waning, but she was watching, and all of the pack felt blessed to be there under her grace.

John disrobed and entered the meadow, the mud squelching under his feet. The only one in the field who might know what the Goddess was contemplating wasn't talking. She hadn't spoken with anyone in the pack; she'd been nude in the meadow all day long, communing with...something.

The entire pack was in awe of the proceedings, in a sort of religious ecstasy. The Lady was above them to bless them, and they were there to howl for her, and to hunt for her...and then to feed. They were here for a legitimate Alpha challenge, perfectly placed and with the proper ceremony, and possibly to the death.

"Form?" John called.

"Hybrid," Florence replied without emotion.

The pack didn't gasp. They'd almost expected it. A challenge like this deserved to be placed without reservations, without limits, and conducted in the most primal manner. Blood would be spilled, and lives might end, but honor and strength were worth more than life; the combatants bowed to one another before shifting into the shape of insanity and the battle was on. 

With their eyes rolled back within their heads, the two madly charged one another, their mouths already dripping thick saliva and their claws unsheathed and ready to rend flesh. The likelihood that either of them was still in control any longer was remote. They crashed together with a cacophony of howls and a rending of flesh, neither gaining ground. The Alpha was stronger, the bitch was faster, and they bounced apart, both of them bleeding—John from his side, and Florence from her shoulder.

They savagely roared at one another and charged once again, neither giving ground. Once again, new wounds had appeared, Florence gaining new wounds in her shoulder, and John wounded down into his ribs, which were now showing through the blood that poured from them. 

Observers saw a pattern developing. John seemed to be giving up his body in an attempt to grapple with Florence's upper body, trying to negate her speed advantage by locking her up in some sort of embrace that would allow his superior strength to seize the day. He'd watched Florence's decimations of Tom and Sam, and was listening to their advice. Lock her up, bleed her out.

They charged one another again, and this time John managed a purchase on Florence's body. He got his right side claws into her, burying them deep through her flesh, and down into the bones of her shoulder, delving deep and curling his claws into the joint below. She was locked up as surely as she was in a vise, if she were to rip his claws out, she would destroy the entire upper skeletal structure of her body. But to gain this advantage, John had given Florence access to his upper sternum and ribs... and she repeatedly slashed him, rending the flesh from his body and causing him to bleed profusely. She had cut his side into ribbons and blood sprayed out and over the meadow floor. He might be bleeding out, but this battle would now be decided while they were locked together.

He'd been willing to take this damage in order to grapple with her, and now that he had one claw within her, his second hand worked to fend off more strikes from her remaining hand by attacking within the range of that slashing hand. While she slashed at him, he buried his second hand into her upper arm on that side, thus removing her second hand from being able to land a blow. Now, neither of her hands could strike him, and he lifted her off of the ground. 

Both wolves were badly damaged and though they had never stopped howling and biting at one another, John now had the upper hand. Her speed had been negated; her attacks would no longer manage to damage him further. If he didn't bleed to death, he had her where he wanted her, his strength allowing him to hold her aloft; he shook her like a terrier shakes a rat. He was driving the life from her.

She howled in anger, and in misery, and in pain. She was at a loss, she had been beaten...but not by John, William had killed her soul. She screamed again; she knew she was dying and she didn't care.

"Yield!" John demanded.

"Never," screamed Florence in an agonizing primal scream of blood and spittle.

"Submit!" John sent directly into her brain, blanking her mind, and dominating her will. "Submit daughter!"

Florence's eyes momentarily cleared and with tears running down her face, she pleaded, "Kill me. I don't want to go rogue. Give me to death; I welcome her."

"No Daughter," he intoned, "I demand that you live. You still owe the Goddess service; you are not allowed to give up yet. If you ever go rogue, I will kill you myself, but until that day, you work for the Goddess, and you work for me. Do you understand me?"

Desperate to die, Florence had only made this challenge in order to hasten her own death. She had no mate and no hope, and therefore no life, but she was a wolf and her Alpha was demanding something from her. She only wanted him to kill her, but instead she looked into his eyes and said, "Yes Alpha."

He disengaged his claws and carried her to the infirmary himself, waving off those who tried to help him. He continued to send directly into her brain the entire way, telling her that the Goddess surely had a plan for her. The Lady had not sent Florence into his life without a plan. He was sure of this! John told her that he'd never seen a wolf so strong and so brave, and that surely Florence was to be his replacement, just not now; just not yet. He promised that he would set the entire pack on to this problem immediately. They would figure it out together, or all of them would die trying.

"Yes Father," was all she said before she passed out.

She wasn't allowed to be lonely when she woke up on Wednesday morning, Tom was in the bed next to her, and he was smiling at her when she woke. "I hear that you came close to winning your challenge, in fact, I heard that you might have won the thing if you would have actually wanted to win."

"I'm sorry Tom," she said dejectedly, "I did my best to take you out quickly and not damage you too much. In order to do things right, I had to make one attack as a wolf, one as a human, and one as a hybrid. I thought that this would make the perfect trinity, and would be the right way to die. I knew that Sam would be easy as a human, and that John would have to kill me as a hybrid, so that left wolf for you. I couldn't show my hand right away anyway, I couldn't let anyone know that all I wanted was to die."

"We are a tight pack Florence; even Oliver helped us figure out what you were doing. And do not forget this either; we will all continue to stand by you as you fight for William. You forgot that we all love you... and well, I guess I work for you now, boss bitch, so I have to help you now. 

Florence looked as though she'd almost like to smile at that, but her heart just wasn't in it. She flashed back to the memory of Will's children squealing and grabbing on to his legs, and her face fell. She'd never be able to put her own desires before those of innocents, especially when it came to children.

"Florence, the Lady would not have given you an unobtainable mate. There has got to be more to this than you had realized. The Goddess doesn't make mistakes with mates...ever. In our entire history, there have only been a couple unsuccessful matings and these were surely the cause of the individual wolves. You are missing part of the puzzle here, and because of that, you almost lost your mind.

You've heard the stories of John and Beth's lives, both of their human lives were awful. Both of them were close to death when the Goddess came in and gave them a second chance if they'd choose to serve her. She healed them, and she has used them to do her bidding ever since. I think she might be ready for you now. Who were your real parents? Why are you so damned fast? I think maybe we are finally going to find out. So...no more suicide attempts, O.K.?"

"But only if you promise me that if I begin to go rogue, you will put me down before I hurt anyone."

"Deal, but I don't think it will come to that Flo. But I will do it if I have to, with tears in my eyes."

"Florence!"

Tom laughed, "Florence, some day, you are going to have to tell me why you hate that name so much."

"Maybe," she said.

"Oh by the way, you've missed all the fun. Sam is in deep shit. John was royally pissed when he found out why you challenged him as 'human'. John's gonna give him every dirty job for weeks. Me, on the other hand, I'm doing pretty well. I get several days off to hang out and heal with you while Sam does both of our jobs. It's Wednesday morning now and Sam's been going for about thirty-six hours now."

This did make Florence laugh. As usual, Tom had made her feel better with his low-key manner; the idea of Sam busting his ass, running from job to job, all because he had been too lazy to train properly was very funny to her. "Serves him right; he loves beer more than any woman he's ever met! Heck, a number two sneaking out of training, he should have been embarrassed!"

Tom snorted, "Oh he was, you did it to him, and now he's number three instead. Hell, I may challenge the dumb bastard once I heal, now that you've shown me how to beat him."

"Hey, I heard that," said Sam from the doorway, as he walked into the infirmary with John and Beth.

"Good, maybe it will teach you something," Beth said, slapping him in the back of the head.

"I'm sorry everyone," Florence said. I know now that I should have brought my problems to you, but I became too proud and stubborn to ask for help. I don't deserve any of you."

Beth answered for all of them. "Well, we are all extremely mad at you. It's bad enough that you acted so stupidly, but you found your mate, so we are all pretty jealous!"

"I'm not," Sam said, but he shut up pretty quickly when Beth slapped him in the back of the head again.

John broke in, "Florence, are you ready to hear what the geeks figured out last night?"

"Yes Alpha."

"Her name is Elizabeth Waters; she never took her husband's last name. She has two children: Richard, who is seven, and Lynnie, who is five. Both of them live with their mother, who is separated from William and has been for over a year now."

"William left the service and went directly to work for his father's contracting firm. When our geeks tracked back, they found the Facebook accounts of William's former service mates. They were using the word 'Lizzed' as a swear word for screwing something up; we believe the two are connected."

"Elizabeth and William are still married, and he does still work for Burton, but we think his comments about being forced to work for Waters make much more sense now. We need to know, did he seem happy to see her when she showed up at the Resort?"

"I thought so at first Father, and I was so furious that I almost shifted on the spot. If I'd been outside, I don't think that I could have resisted the impulse. I'm pretty sure that I would have killed her."

"But the children were there...right?" Beth asked.

"Yes."

"Your heart was in the right place, Florence. You couldn't do it because of the innocent children. But you said, 'at first', what did you mean by that?"

"Now that I look back on it, I suspect that maybe he was just happy to see his children. I'm thinking that I may have misinterpreted it."

John began talking. "You need to speak with him Florence. In private, and where you can't be disturbed. This is critical to your sanity, and quite frankly, we won't know how to fight Waters until you work this out. Obviously, this has gotten even more important now, because if we kill William, we will also be killing you, and before you say something stupid, we are not about to make that deal. We might make him disappear, but we can't kill him now. We just can't!"

Florence thought about it for a moment, and then she said, "You've given me some hope, but I'll be honest, I think I'm more afraid to call him now that I've heard all of this. The whole thing sounds like such a mess!"

Beth asked, "When you stormed out of the Resort, did he call out after you?"

"I'm not sure; I was fighting so hard not to shift. I was so upset. I think maybe he did, but I'm just not sure."

Beth listened and then said, "You four all know combat, weapons, and all that warrior stuff; I know men, and if he called out after you, he wasn't done with you yet. Florence, I've never felt the mating bond, but I've heard that it can't be resisted, even by humans. Only the oldest wolves remember mating with humans, but from what they've said, he is probably going nuts by now. He's probably driving everyone crazy wondering where you've gone. I'm sure that I can get his cell number from Phil. Are you willing to try?"

"What have I got to lose except my mind?"

"I'll call Phil."

John's face showed relief as he looked down at his daughter and said, "You will be several days healing, as will Tom. So you two keep one another amused while we work on this. Do not injure yourselves by attempting to return to work early. John then turned to face Sam with a darker look on his face, "Sam will take care of everything for a few days. I don't think he will be getting much sleep, but believe me, I don't think he will mind at all!" Sam winced, but for once he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

After the other three were gone, Tom released a laugh and said, "Didya see Sam's face? I'm thinking we ought to milk these injuries for a while. What do you think, maybe a month or so?"

Florence just laughed; it was good to have family.

Several days passed and Tom spent every waking minute working with Florence, steadily but gently getting her to talk to him, convincing her to open up to him and share her deepest fears. Whenever he was able, he would report back to John and Beth on their progress. Tom was probably fit enough to go back to work, but with the extensive damage that John had done to Florence's shoulder, she was still several days from returning to duty, so Tom pretended to milk his injury to annoy Sam. In reality, John had ordered Tom to remain in the infirmary to keep his eye on Florence, and monitor her mental state.




Artiface of Strength Ch. 05



Beth had several dates with Phil during this time, and she kept hearing that William was behaving increasingly erratically as the days progressed. Phil, not knowing anything about mate-bonds blamed this on the presence of Elizabeth, remarking that Will sure would have been more happy if Liz had just sent the kids and remained home by herself.

Phil also attempted to pump Beth for information on Florence whenever possible, so it was pretty clear to her that William must still be interested in her. Beth merely responded that Florence had been injured in a sparring accident and would certainly be reappearing soon. She had however, gotten William's cell number, although she had not given it to Florence as of yet.

Sam had worked his tail off for a couple of days before he remembered the positive evaluations that both John and Florence had made of Tristan. Being as lazy as he was smart, Sam gave Tristan a temporary promotion and stopped working so hard himself. John didn't complain; it gave Sam more time to catch up on his martial arts training.

John had continued to work with the Were legal team in Virginia, and these wolves were telling him that Waters had very little chance to win his legal claim. They seemed surprised that Burton would even try this strategy feeling that the original claim had gone unchallenged so long that it seemed unlikely that any judge would rule in his favour. With the original deed firmly in Billington's hands, they felt that Waters had no chance whatsoever. They were quite curious what his real plan might be, but they had not contacted Waters yet, figuring that no news was good news.

After getting the authorization from John, Beth decided that Florence's mental state was now clear enough to contact William. It was Monday morning again, and it was time for her to confront her problems.

"Here you go, Florence. When you are ready to use it, just kick this moron out of the infirmary and give William a call," she said, indicated Tom. "You'll want your privacy."

Tom said nothing, just grinning at Beth, so she continued, "Phil says that William has been very agitated the past few days. He thinks that this is because Liz was in town with the children, but I'm betting on it being the mate bond because he keeps asking about you. Your shoulder is healed enough to defeat any human now, so I think you are as ready as you will ever be to speak with him. I think you should call him...today."

"Florence looked down at the phone number in her hand, and this time, she didn't panic. Her resolve to see this through had only been strengthened by her ordeal. She knew that she would have to get this right, or die trying. Those were the only options that she had left. She looked up at her family and said, "Stay, there is no reason for either of you to go." Then she dialed the number.

The phone only rang twice before he picked up saying, 'This is William Yazzie."

She didn't waver; Florence was direct. "Will, this is Florence. I think we need to talk."

"Yes, I have a lot to tell you. I heard that you were injured though; are you alright?"

"I'm better now; I'm just about ready to start working out again. How about you meet me tomorrow when you get off work? About five maybe? At the pool, where I left my clothes?"

"I'll be there Florence; I can't wait to see you!"

"Wear your running clothes."

"I will Florence; see you then!"

"I'm looking forward to it," she said before hanging up.

"Flo, why there?" Beth asked.

"I may have to kill him," Florence said softly. "If so, it will need to be in an isolated location, and then you guys can come for me."

Beth sucked in her breath at this, but there was nothing that she could say to change the truth of it. This is how it would have to be.



Artiface of Strength Ch. 06



Florence anxiously waited for William at the mountain pool. This would mean everything to her. If this meeting were to go poorly, her life would almost certainly be forfeit. Weres apart from their mates would lose their way, and inevitably, their minds. As much as her family loved her, they could not allow her to live if she went rogue. Sooner or later, rogues always began to kill indiscriminately, never caring who saw them. For a Were, to go rogue was a death sentence. 

She had been waiting on the edge of the pool for well over an hour; it had taken quite some time to place a team around the area to insure that William would not be able to elude them if things went south. And while William had been a combat Marine who had survived the slaughter of two war zones, alone and unarmed, in these woods, surrounded by Were who knew them like the backs of their own hands, he'd have absolutely no chance to escape. 

Flo had insisted, unless a combat situation arose, they would not communicate with her. They wouldn't speak to her; they wouldn't send to her. She felt as though she needed complete privacy for what was coming; she would allow no one but William inside her head. This was an incredibly dangerous situation as no Were had found their mate with a human in centuries, so she wanted to be able to focus her entire concentration on the situation at hand. Only the Goddess herself knew why a human man who worked for their biggest enemy would have been chosen for Florence. It appeared to be an incredibly large risk for the Lady to have picked William to be Florence's mate. 

Having assumed that William would approach her location from downstream where the town was located, she was quite surprised to hear the sound of running from the opposite direction, up above the pool where she was waiting. She looked up in plenty of time, and saw William as he appeared. He dove from the top of the cliff, executing an elegant swan dive and plunging into the direct centre of the pool. She had already begun to smile by the time he surfaced, with an impudent 'so there' look upon his face. 

"That wasn't the wisest move that you've ever made," she said, still smiling, "If you would have missed the pool, you would have been squashed like a bug." 

"Yes, but you told me that I've have to be going full speed in order to make that dive, so I did it the way you said. Trusting you seemed to be in my best interests, and since I want you to trust me, I figured that it would be best if I made the first move. Umm... and besides that, I wanted to make a good entrance. Did it work?" 

"Maybe," she said guardedly. "I like what you said about trust. Let's see what else you have to say. Come out of the water, I have something for you." 

When he climbed out of the water, Florence noticed that he was dressed only in his running shoes and shorts, and she liked what she saw. His upper body was well muscled, showing excellent definition, and his chest was hairless, with only a few stray hairs sweeping down below his belt line from under his navel. His shorts were now plastered to his body, hinting that he was reasonably well endowed, that is, if the bulge that was revealed was any indication. There was no way that he could be erect after that plunge into the icy cold water; that shock would have knocked down any man. 

Smiling more broadly, she continued her way down, taking a visual tour of William, seeing that his legs were even more defined than his upper body. She was happy to see that he had well-sculpted, runners' legs, rather than weightlifting mass. She could see that he had built himself by honestly working and running and not by wasting his life inside of the gym. He was clearly an incredibly fit athlete, not an iron-pumping narcissist. 

Florence wasn't bashful, she was aware that William had already seen her naked... twice, even if it had been from a distance both times. She was going to take her sweet time and inspect what the Goddess had sent for her. After this exhaustive inspection, she decided that other than the odd scars on his left side and back, he was the stuff of her wettest fantasies. 

William was all too aware that he was being inspected, but he said nothing, merely waiting for Florence to finish. Finally, she said, "you say that you are willing to trust me. That's good, because what I'm going to ask you to do now will require you to have a lot of it. Are you willing to put yourself in my hands?" 

He replied seriously, "I have quite a lot to tell you. I realize now that I should have told you most of this from the beginning, but now, the only way we can make this work is if I provide full disclosure, so yes, I will put myself entirely in your hands." 

"Come here then," she said, leading him to where a pair of handcuffs dangled from a red cedar branch at a point above William's head. He saw that one cuff was already locked into place, leaving the second, opened and dangling down. "Give me your hand." She said. 

His eyes darted quickly from the cuff to Florence's eyes, but whatever he saw there must have reassured him, because he stepped up, put his back to the tree and allowed her to bind him. "O.K. darlin', It's your move. We both know that I could use this cuff to saw through the branch eventually, but by that time I managed it, you would have already done whatever it is that you are planning; so I'm all yours." 

She replied expressionlessly, "Tell me about Liz and the kids." 

"I had just gotten back from another tour of Iraq when I met Liz in Hawaii. As usual, the tour had been long and bloody, and now, all I had on my mind was irresponsible fun, and unfortunately, that is just exactly what I found. She was hot, and she was looking for a Marine, and Oh Lord, were we ever irresponsible. We drank, and we fucked for two solid weeks." 

"She'd had some sort of petty argument with her father, and I suppose that I was her revenge. It was made pretty clear to me that I was not good enough for her, not for daddy's little princess. I was just a working man, a soldier, Heck...I wasn't even white. I was just a dirty Indian; he said as much when he found us in that hotel at the end of the second week. I guess that she didn't really disagree with him either, because when he showed up, she got right up out of bed when he demanded it." 

"I figured that would be the end of that. I didn't really need complications in my life right then; I knew that I was slated to return to Iraq. But complications are just what I got, and I got them in spades." 

"She was pregnant?" Florence asked. 

"Yeah, a couple of months later when I was back in Baghdad, I was summoned into my C.O.'s office. I had no idea why he wanted me; Hell, I was just a grunt. The first words out of his mouth were, "Boy, have you made a powerful enemy!" 

"I didn't have any idea what he was talking about; I didn't have a clue who or what Burton Waters was, much less any idea that he controlled most of the privately contracted forces in Iraq. My C.O. brought me up to speed, and then apologizing, told me that he was powerless to do anything about it. Again, I had to ask what he was talking about, and his answer scared the Hell out of me. He'd been ordered, off the record, but still ordered, to give me every single dangerous assignment that came across his desk. He apologized again, but told me that the best he could do for me was to warn me. Evidently Liz was some sort of modern day Bathsheba, and King Burton was going to send me into the heart of battle to be killed." 

"I spent the next few months living each minute as though it might be my last; probably even more than most grunts do, because I knew for certain that both sides were trying to kill me! I saw so much death, lost so many friends, but I guess my number just hadn't come up until that day in Fallujah. We hit one of those damned roadside bombs, and I got this," he said, pointing to the scars that Florence had noticed earlier." 

I was pretty torn up, so they stabilized me and airlifted me out to Beirut, and from there, then on to Germany. I guess Burton was pretty pissed that I'd survived, but I bet he got even madder when Liz showed up in Berlin, now six months pregnant... That was quite a shock by the way; by that time, I'd figured out that Liz was why I was being targeted, but I had no idea that I was about to become a father!" 

"Liz threw herself on me, bawling like she actually loved me. I was just out of surgery and was still loaded off my ass on painkillers, so I was pretty blurry then, but the upshot of it was that she had obsessed about our 'love' for months, and somewhere along the line, she had convinced herself that I was her 'one'. I have no idea where she got that idea, but Florence, I had grown up without parents, and there was no way that my kids were going to lack having a father, even if Liz did come as part of the package. And I'll be honest with you; I was thinking that if I married her, maybe Burton would stop trying to kill me." 

"Things happened pretty quickly after that. It's pretty easy to get married in a military hospital when you are all shot up and you have a pregnant girlfriend. We had our choice of two ministers, a rabbi, or even a Buddhist Priest of some kind. We were married before Burton had a chance to get his thugs there. After that, I was rotated back to the States and I think that Liz really tried to make it work for a while there. But I was poor, and daddy had cut her off. She had a little money, but what we soldiers get paid is a bad joke. The service sure doesn't want you to have a family." 

"We fought about money a lot. I loved being part of the Corps, but she wanted me out of there as quickly as possible. Being in the Corps was like being in a large extended family, and I'd never had that before. Any of us would have died for one another and I loved that, but Liz only wanted tangible things." 

"Then Richard was born, and things only got worse from there. Liz even left me for a while after that, but she came back with a compromise. She knew that I only wanted to serve with my brothers, while she only wanted me to succeed and make more money, so she said that if I'd separate from the service and then serve with her daddy's contracting service, she'd come back to me. I missed my son, so I said yes." 

"The job wasn't all that different from what I had been doing, but it sure paid a lot more, and that amount kept going up every time they would promote me. I figure that I could have just slept through it all, and they would have fast-tracked me for promotions since I was the boss's son... even if I was just a dirty Indian. But Florence, even though it doesn't look like it right now when I'm handcuffed to this tree, I am damned good at what I do, and Burton realized this pretty quickly, even if he didn't want to admit it. These days, I get sent on all of his most important projects and I think he values me more than Liz does." 

"I will admit that I'm a bit confused about why I've been sent on this project. An Indian Casino, that's just a small time con for a man like Burton. I can't imagine why he'd be bothering with this, much less sending his best man on the project. Something just isn't adding up here!" 

Florence interrupted to ask a question. "So if your relationship with Elizabeth is dead, why do you continue to work for a man who you hate so much?" 

"Florence, it's for my kids. If I stop working for Burton, then I won't be able to see them as often, and maybe, not see them at all. Liz has threatened to make them disappear if I don't do what she says. I'd be stuck without them until they were old enough to ask adult questions. Right now, they are so young; they'd probably just believe whatever lies that Liz told them. She could easily whisk them right out of the country with her father's help; and if I stop working for him, he'd be more than willing to help her do it!" 

"Have you considered fleeing with your children?" 

"A thousand times, but I couldn't hide from him for long, Burton is much too well connected to the intelligence community to make it work; we'd have to disappear off the face of the earth in order to get away from him. And Florence, I believe that children really need their mother, even if she is a woman like Liz. I won't be that guy who steals children from their mother. I don't really think she is capable of love, but the kids are too young to realize it yet. I'll have to wait until they grow up enough to see it for themselves, and then maybe they can make that choice." 

"Okay, enough about your family. I believe that you are telling the truth. I believe you; you clearly love your kids. Your wife...not so much." 

"I hate the bitch!" 

"Yeah, I got that, so now we can move on to my second question if you are still comfortable. How's your wrist?" 

"My arm is going to sleep, but I'm fine, go ahead." 

"What did your grandfather teach you about spirit animals?" 

"What?" 

"Your grandfather, what did he teach you about spirit animals? He may have called them spirit guides, or even totems depending on which tribe's traditions that he followed." 

"Of all the things that I might have expected you to ask me, that sure would not have been on the list." 

"Bear with me William, just answer the question." 

"He believed that every member of the People had a spirit guide, and that each guide took on the guise of the animal that best reflected his or her outlook and natural gifts. These guides would appear during the dream times, or even occasionally during times of great stress or danger. They would come with messages of support and wisdom that would help you if you listened to them. The old man always said that before the white-man came, some of the strongest shamans could actually shift into the shape of their guide." 

"What was his totem?" 

"Grandfather? HA! Coyote, of course; the sneaky bastard can't be trusted with anything." 

"And your totem?" 

"Wolf, it represents..." 

Florence cut him off, "Leadership and family." 

William was surprised. "You were raised with this too? Your people don't seem like the type to keep the old ways. Hell, I was raised with all of this, and I've never seen any real evidence for any of it being true. My grandfather swears that it's all completely real though; he claims that my family has experienced it." 

"Oh I believe him," Florence said as she began to remove her clothes. "You might even say that I've seen plenty of evidence of it." She hadn't been wearing much, so she was soon standing naked before him. 

"Now," she said with a seductive smile, "It's time for us to share some more truth. Let me help you with the rest of your clothing, and then I can show you something important. I think that it's time that we reveal ourselves to one another." 

She then bent down and removed his sodden shoes and socks, before she grinned up at him and began to slide his shorts down his well-muscled legs. Still cuffed to the tree, William couldn't reach as far as his own knees. As she pulled his shorts beyond his thighs, he caught her scent and became instantly erect. Florence merely giggled before leaning forward and giving him a long slow lick from the base of his testicles to the now swollen head of his rigid cock. 

This caused both of them to shudder, William from her intoxicating scent and the wet kiss of her tongue, and Florence from the virile taste of her mate. "Mmm, Florence moaned, "I knew you would taste like that, but before I get too carried away, I did promise to show you something important. Are you ready?" she said almost giggling while looking directly at his jutting penis. 

When William only nodded, she said, "You have to promise to watch the whole thing now. No closing your eyes, or looking away; do you understand?" This time, he managed to groan out a "yes". 

Florence then fell to her knees before her mate and looking into his eyes, she slowly took him into her mouth. She saw an initial look of surprise quickly morph into one of pleasure as she took him deeper and deeper into her throat. She wrapped the underside of her tongue along the bottom of his manhood, as she began to move her head back and forth upon him, occasionally allowing him to escape her lips long enough to run her mouth over each vein or to nibble and tease his tip with her tongue. 

"And this is the most important part," she said sultrily while again looking into his eyes, "You see, my wolf loves your wolf," and then she shifted... still sucking his cock, but now with her longer, and warmer wolven tongue. 

A look of astonished terror passed briefly over his face, but his erection never wavered. Florence continued to lick him and William saw that his manhood was in the jaws of a wolf, so he was careful not to make any sudden moves; her teeth looked to be extremely sharp. 

He didn't know whether it was the impact of his grandfather's stories, or maybe the warm worshipping tongue, but he found that his initial fright was fading and he began to calm down, "Florence?" he stammered. 

"Yes," she said, shifting back, not stopping her attentions for longer than it took to answer his question. She continued slowly licking and sucking him, rather proud of her mate's ability to maintain an erection through what must have been a major shock. Gradually speeding up her pace, she began using her hands to fondle and caress him. 

William knew he was done for; he'd never had a blow job this good. The feeling of her warm mouth and the scent of her hair wafting up to him was more than he could handle. He looked down at her and saw the lust in her eyes...or was it love? He was nearing his climax, but there was absolutely nothing that he could do to slow it down now; he was cuffed to the tree and had agreed to put himself completely in her hands. He couldn't have known that there would so quickly come a time when he'd wish to escape from the clutches of a tree so he could throw Florence to the ground and bury himself within her. He had never felt such an animal-like urge to mount a woman, to spill his seed in her, to mark her as his own. 

Desperately, he tried to pull away, but she just followed him, reaching around him and grabbing his cheeks to hold him tightly. "Florence..." he said desperately. 

"Cum for me," she said, removing her mouth from him, and working his cock with her hands instead. "Cum all over me and mark me with your scent, and I will be yours!" 

He couldn't hold back any longer, he howled her name and unleashed ribbons of semen on her neck and breasts while she continued milking every last drop from him. She then cleaned him off by licking every inch of him until he was flaccid once again. She stood, with his cum running down her body and said, "The other warriors will smell that and stay far away from you. They will give you a few days to make up your mind, but they will eventually come to challenge you." 

Will wasn't sure what to say to this. 

"Let's talk," Florence said, unlocking his cuff. 

"Talk," he gasped. "After the best blow job of my life; who wants to talk? I want to taste you now!" 

"Later, after we get back to my cabin. We are going to have a very long talk about our situation." 

"Cabin," he said perplexed. 

"Cabin, you know... four walls, roof, electrical hook ups, and a shower...all the amenities. Put your clothes back on, we've got a bit of a run to make before we get there. This conversation may take a while, and there are quite a few parts of it that a human probably won't like." 

"A human won't like..." he said, "Oh God!" 

"Goddess," she corrected. "But there are some parts of this that you are going to love. There is a reason that your totem was a wolf, your guide has been leading you here. He knew the way." 

William said nothing, just silently watching as Florence dressed, not even bothering to towel off, and he realized, this woman was different than any woman he'd ever met. Liz hated the feeling of his cum on her, while Florence was treating it like it was the finest perfume. "Oh God...dess," he mumbled to himself before quickly dressing and following Florence on another run. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 06



They ran directly home to Florence's cabin. It wasn't dusty any longer. She'd cleaned it from the top to the bottom; she'd even thrown away the ancient coffee and replaced it with tea. Her home wasn't exactly what most women would call homey, but it was hers, and it reflected its owner, it was Spartan and uncluttered with useless junk. 

She had told William that she owned a cabin, and in truth, she knew that this was an understatement. Her cabin was more of an A-frame home; it had running water, gas, electricity, it was even wired for the internet, not that she made use of much of any of that. She had precious few possessions in her home, not even owning a television or computer. She just had never seen the need for any of that stuff; she was always working. 

He was a little surprised at what he saw. "Werewolves live in modern houses?" But he hid his surprise well, and in any event, she was too busy pushing him into the shower to notice the looks on his face. 

"Take a shower! Get the sweat off, and then we will talk. I'll have dry clothing for you when you get out." 

Not given a chance to speak, William did what he was told. He jumped into the shower and began to bathe. "Odd," he thought, "the soap is unscented," as was the shampoo, the conditioner, and everything else that he found in her bathroom. This just made him wonder what caused her wonderful smell. 

As he left the shower, she was entering it, not even giving him a chance to turn off the water. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and said, "Ah, much better, no scent left but your own. I like that one much better anyway. There are some men's clothes on the bed. Now go!" She then shut the door behind her, and he wondered if she was always like this. 

Florence made sure that she showered quickly. She didn't think that he'd make a run for it, but she figured that it would be smarter not to take the risk. It didn't take her long to get the sweat off, and as she didn't have any perfume to wash from her body, she was out very quickly, rushing out dressed only in a towel. She found William sitting on her bed with a bemused look on his face. 

"Are you always this bossy?" he asked her with a smirk. 

"Pretty much, I'm a Beta," she said. When this got a blank response, she sat down next to him and began to explain the history and culture of Were society. She spent well over an hour on the basics before she even touched on mating. 

William didn't say much throughout her explanations, being willing to keep his mouth shut so he could listen and learn, but as she told her story, he was taken with how much of what she was saying had been hinted at by his grandfather. It was almost as if the old man had known all about Were. William thought that it was one thing for his grandfather to have believed in spirit guides and personal totems, but it was quite another to have trained his only grandson in pack dynamics. William wasn't sure if this was because his grandfather had known that William had a wolf guide, or if there was more to it than that. He realized he was going to have to talk to the old coyote soon and get some straight answers. 

His mental wandering stopped cold when Florence began to explain mating practices and their impact on those whose mates had been established. "Wait," he said, "you are telling me that we have no choice in this? That we are already mated and if that I do not spend the rest of my life with you, you will go insane and your own family will be forced to put you down?" 

"It is worse than that my love; it will also happen to you. I'm sorry, I know that you don't believe me yet, but you will see that it is true the very next time that you sleep apart from me. From what I hear, it will be pretty bad for both of us. But don't worry about believing me now; when the time comes, just call me and tell me how you slept without me by your side. But on the bright side, from what I've heard, we'll have the best sex of our lives...times twelve...on steroids! The mated bitches tell me that we'll scream so loud that the geologists down at Berkley will see us on their seismographs. Are you ready for that?" 

"Umm," William said slowly, his entire reality having been reset, "I'm supposed to believe any of this?" 

"No," she said grinning, "you are supposed to fuck me. I'm pretty sure that it will convince you. I know you are still human, and that you are pre-programmed not to believe anything that deviates from the norm, but I'm going to prove otherwise," she said, throwing her towel aside, and then herself upon him." 

"She bit him on the neck, and then on his chest, and finally on his thighs, as he enthusiastically returned her bites with his own. Their skin was broken, blood was exchanged and they became one. Lust exploded over them, consuming them. They were equals, their passion ignited by love and respect; they threw themselves into one another. 

There was little foreplay, William's neck was savaged. He was bitten, marked, and his turning begun. He was in a state of ecstasy, and so was his bitch, she had become his madam, his life. He poured himself into her, and as he entered her body, she entered his mind. Their bodies entwined, as did their souls, two becoming one. Florence had been given William to her by the Goddess; receiving her quest and her reward all at once. He was every bit her equal and he was everything she had ever wanted in a mate. 

When their coupling was completed, William looked into her eyes and said, "I believe you; we will never sleep apart again." 

Florence smiled a satiated smile and said, "I knew it wasn't worthwhile to spend time to convince you, it was way more fun to just do you. Look at me, my love, do you see Harlequin Romance written on my forehead? This bitch puts out! There was no way we were going to go back and forth for weeks hemming and hawing, sighing at one another like we were in one of those horrible British love stories. Why waste time? It was time for the truth." 

"I'm a believer," he smiled back. 

"Fuck me, William!" 

So he did. 

~~~ 

The next morning, she looked at him as he was waking and said, "So, how high do you want to start? Beta?" 

Still fuzzy, Will knew that he was tired. Hell, he was also drained and bruised, and she was asking... "What?" 

"You are a wolf William, more than just being my mate; you are now a full member of this pack, the Billington Pack. And just like with the mating bond, you won't be able to resist this. The other warriors will soon challenge you to see where you fit into the hierarchy. Your human body will be stronger and faster now. I ran you into the ground during our runs because I was a wolf and you were not. Now, we're both wolves, and you may well be faster than I am. Then again, you may not, but you will be stronger than before. You won't have learned to fight as a wolf yet, but you are a trained soldier and you are a dominant, I have no doubt that it will come very quickly for you! You will be at least a Beta eventually, maybe even immediately. You will find out pretty quickly though, you won't be able to delay it any more than you were able to delay me." 

"Like fighting a tornado?" he said dryly. 

"Who do you want to talk to first? John or Beth? 

"But I've talked to Beth many times." 

"No you haven't. She plays stupid with humans. It'll be different now, now she'll rip out your throat if you aren't nice to her...well, at least verbally, she has quite a mouth on her." 

"Beth? Stupid bar-girl Beth? Beth, that Phil has been banging Beth?" 

Florence snorted in a most unladylike fashion before saying, "Yeah, the Beth that manages the Roadhouse and every other business in Whiskey Town Beth. That Beth?" 

"I got played." 

"Yes darling, you got played. Don't feel bad though, even John is afraid of her. Sam and Tom positively scatter when she's on the war-path. She runs everything, even John...unless we are at war, and then she is completely submissive to him until the war is over." 

"Like the desert bands?" 

"Yes my love, just like that. She lets him think that he's in charge." 

"Mother-fucker!" 

"No dear, that's more of a human thing." She grinned. 

William just glared at her, not saying a word. 

"So... you gonna hit Tristan at number five, or Sam at number four? Any one lower would be a farce." 

"Maybe I should do some sparring first, you know, learn to fight as a wolf." 

"Great! Let's go," she enthused, jumping out of bed and running for the bathroom. 

"Son of a bitch, there goes morning sex," he mumbled. 

Several hours later, he was beaten and even more bruised than before, he was bloody from his head to his toes; Florence had led him through the most grueling training session of his life, but he'd learned a great deal. He was a warrior, bred by the People, and honed by the Corps, and Florence was impressed. By the end of the session, he was driving her back with his superior strength. She was slightly quicker, but he was undoubtedly stronger, and his attacks were starting to defeat her speediest counter-attacks. 

"Start with Tristan," she said gasping when they were through, "You'll destroy him, and that will make you the leading non-Beta; then you can decide for yourself what you want to do next. Just don't kill him, and that might be hard for a new wolf to remember, especially if you've been wounded. Keep one thing in mind though, once you beat him, you rank him, and that means that he works for you; it is how we are. It's to your benefit to let him live. 

William, if anything, was breathing even more erratically than Florence; he felt as if he'd been swallowed by a hurricane, but he knew that everything that she'd said was true. It all made perfect sense for a warrior society. Endeavor to win or lose, but make sure that you do it with dignity and restraint, because showing off or mistreating others was for cowards. He knew that he'd have a couple of days to decide what he was going to do, honor demanded that he be given time to accept life in the pack. 

After taking a long drink, Florence said, "Okay, John or Beth?" 

"I thought you said that I'd have a couple of days." 

"To find your spot, sure; but not to speak with your hosts. So will it be scary Beth or angry John?" 

"Shit." 

"Welcome to my life, my sexy one, now quit dithering and pick." 

"I'm a soldier Florence, so John, besides I think I'm scared of Beth now." 

"Good, she scares me too. She was right about everything she said about you. And yes, before you think to ask, that dress that I wore was hers, although it's trash now. I was so angry that I shifted while I was still wearing it and I tore it to ribbons. Beth hasn't asked for it back, so I'm kind of hoping that she forgets all about it. I think it was brand new." 

"I liked that dress." 

"Okay then; I'll own up to destroying it and ask her where she bought it. So, are we ready to go talk to John?" 

"You don't waste any time." 

"I'm a wolf, and tonight you will run with me. We accept things that we can't fight; we've learned to just roll with the punches and keep going." 

He acquiesced and told Florence to lead the way. While they walked, she began warning William that John would probably behave in an overly aggressive manner toward him, but that he should just ride it out and to not worry about it too much. As an Alpha, John would have to establish his authority immediately, and considering that Will had worked for Waters, he might be even worse than usual. 

As they walked across the compound, William could tell that the other wolves were extremely curious as to what was going on with Florence. Every single wolf who saw her stopped whatever they were doing and just watched silently as the couple walked on by. No one seemed to be willing to make eye contact with Florence, but it was pretty clear that there would only be one topic of conversation within the pack today. 

"Umm, Flo..." 

"William, I love you, but never call me that; I hate that name!" 

"Sorry Florence, I had no idea, but why is everyone watching us, while pretending that they are not? It's eerie, it's almost like I am back on patrol in a village in Afghanistan again." 

"We are a pack Will, whatever affects one of us, affects us all. They see you; they smell you on me, and me on you, and they sense that you are not human anymore. So they are curious; wolves are creatures of hierarchy and they don't know where you fit in yet. The fact that not a single wolf in America has found their mate with a human in over two hundred years makes them even more curious about you. What their eyes are seeing conflicts with what their experiences have shown them to be true." 

"Like when you shifted with my penis in your mouth?" 

Florence giggled before answering, "I've been wondering when you'd bring that up. But no time for that now, we are here. Let's go in." 

As the couple opened the door and entered into John's home, the rest of the pack was very confused... Did Flo just...giggle? 

John ushered the two into his office without a word and then waited until both were seated before saying, "I understand that Florence has brought you mostly up to speed?" 

"Yes, Mr. Billington." 

"Call me John, or Alpha. Just tell me what you think you know, and we'll clear up any misconceptions before we start." 

"Yes sir, pack life is mostly military. I'll have to fight to earn my rank, and I'll have to do it soon. You are the general, and Florence is now the second in command. You are hundreds of years old, and everything my grandfather ever told me is evidently true...surprisingly. 

John grinned at this. "I think I'm going to need to meet him." 

"Sir, I think he'd like that, but does that mean that I can speak honestly with him. I'd really like to get his perspective on all of this. It sounds like he knows more about this than he's ever told me." 

"Yes William that will probably be a good idea. Obviously we guard our secrets with our lives, but the People have always been our cousins and it sounds like he is one of the few who still believe." 

"Thank you, sir." 

"So, now we'll move on to the bigger questions. We have two main things to discuss. One: What shall we do about your children? Do we bring them into the pack, or will you try to hide what you are from them?" 

"Do I have a choice?" 

"You are pack now son, We expect absolute loyalty from you, but we'll give it to you as well. Once everyone knows you, they'll be willing to lay down their lives for your children. You are one of us, which means that your children are as well. I think your Corps says something about never leaving a man behind?" 

"I never wanted to leave the Corps, sir." 

"Welcome back; just think of us as the Wolf Regiment. So, what do we do with your children? What do you want to do?" 

"Sir, I think that children need their mother, even if they do have one like Liz. I just can't see ripping them away from her. I think that it would be better to let them grow up before they are forced to make a choice." 

"Fair enough, let me know if you change your mind." 

"Yes sir and what was number two?" 

"Burton and our land, tell me everything that you know." 

"Not much sir, he told me that all of this was about getting that casino road built, but I don't buy that. There just isn't enough money in a piddling little Indian casino to make all of this worth his time. The best that I can figure out is that the road is a means to an end, but not the actual end in itself." 

"Any clue what his back-up strategy is? I don't know if my daughter has told you, but we have all of the original deeds to this land, his plan will never work." 

"Your daughter?" William said, his face growing pale, "Oh God, I've gone from one rich man's daughter to another?" 

Florence laughed out loud at this, "I wondered when you were gonna figure that out." 

John just stared at William for a moment before whispering, "...and unlike Burton, I'll kill you myself!" 

"Umm..." William said. 

"Stop it Father," Florence said laughing, "Tell him that you are very sorry and that you trust the mate-bond...and him." 

"Sorry Will, I couldn't resist. Beth really is a very bad influence!" 

William looked back and forth between the two before he relaxed. "You had me going for a minute there. I'm not used to being in a family that actually cares for one another." 

"That's okay son, the one to be afraid of is probably Beth." 

"Yes sir, I keep hearing that, but then again, that's why we came here first." 

"Smart man, you are learning already. Now... about Burton's back-up plan?" 

"Well sir, I'm not entirely sure what it is, but we did quite a bit of background research on a George Medina, who lives in Fresno. He calls himself a Mexican, but his roots are actually indigenous. He proved to be about one fourth Chimariko, although he had absolutely no clue about any of that. He works as a baggage handler at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport. I never spoke with him myself, although Phil might have. I have no clue what Burton wanted with him, but I do know that it had something to do with this." 

"He had no clue about his Native blood?" 

"Not that we could tell, but then again, he didn't seem to speak Spanish either. He'd been born and raised in Fresno, but he didn't have any family left there. He seems to live his life for only two things, beer and the Oakland Raiders." 

"Anything else?" 

"Not that I'm aware of, sir." 

"Okay, enough about that. I understand that Florence thinks you should challenge Tristan?" 

William was struck dumb by this, they'd only had that conversation ten minutes before; how could Billington already know about it? His face clearly showed his confusion. 

"Florence, you haven't taught him about sending yet?" 

"No Alpha, we've been working on everything else. I thought we'd get to that after his introduction to the pack." 

"Yeah, you are probably right. Never mind then William, we'll talk about your pack ranking later." 

John was quiet for a moment as something evidently occurred to him. "You two get out of here; it looks like I have to call the Virginia Alpha again. He has the best access to the tribal registry." 

"Yes Alpha," the couple replied as they got up to leave. 

"Shit, Jefferson is gonna give me Hell." John mumbled to himself as he dialed the Virginia number. 

The phone rang a few times before someone answered, "This is Jefferson," the voice said. 

"Hey Jeff, this is Billington again." 

"Wow, two phone calls in one decade, you may have to upgrade your cellular plan, John; you must be in some deep shit!" 

John just sighed. 

"Okay Alpha, I'll quit. What can I do for you?" 

"Jeff, I need some information on a tribe. Tell me about the Chimariko; the name sounds familiar, but I can't place it." 

"Sure thing John, hang on while I type it in. Hey, while we are waiting for this to load, did I tell you that I'm going to be a grandfather again?" 

"No, you didn't mention it. Where do I send the gift this time?" 

"Ha! That means that you are going to duck coming to visit us again. Carol is gonna be mad at you, so you'd better send a pretty nice gift... wait, hang on, did you say Chimariko?" 

"Yeah... why?" 

"It's very strange that you'd ask about them. This tribe was listed as extinct until earlier this year when one surviving member was located." 

"Jeff, let me guess. George Medina from Fresno California." 

"How did you know?" 

"All of this is connected to our land somehow. We got this intelligence from a human who works for Burton Waters. It turns out that this human is Florence's mate and he's been helping us figure out what's going on." 

"No shit? A human? Are you sure he's her mate?" 

"It sure looks like it, Jeff. As usual, the Goddess has a wicked sense of humour when it comes to my pack. First human in two centuries and he comes for my daughter." 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 06



Jeff laughed at John's distress before saying, "Suck it up John, maybe I will owe you a gift for a change, and you know Carol would make me come visit you." 

John changed the subject quickly, "Find out whatever you can on that tribe and how it got re-listed again will you? And make sure that Carol sends me a wish list for her new grandbaby. Maybe I can get out of trouble by sending nice enough gifts."  

"Sure thing John, I'll call you as soon as I learn anything." 

After disconnecting the call, John sat there staring off into the distance for a while, where had he heard that tribal name before? 

Across the compound, Beth continued to fuss in her kitchen. Although she knew that Flo would bring her mate to her to pay his respects, she was nevertheless getting impatient to see them. She finally had a daughter to pamper, and now the ungrateful bitch was late coming to see her. Beth was well into working herself into a state of annoyance when the front door finally opened and Florence called out, "Is it safe to come inside?" 

Beth replied a bit snappishly, "Some daughter you are, saving me for last!" 

"It's entirely my fault, Beth," William broke in, "Everyone kept telling me that you were the scary one, so I kept putting off coming here until last." 

Beth quickly reassessed the situation and said, "Hmm, not bad Florence, you've already got him trained to apologize first, and ask questions later. That was pretty quick work." 

"No ma'am," William said mock-submissively, "It's just that I understand chain-of-command." 

Despite herself, Beth couldn't remain irritated any longer, and her face broke into a huge smile and she waved the pair into her front room. "Sit," she said, "and I'll bring some drinks." 

William promptly did as he was told, while Florence moved a bit slower, being used to Beth's bossiness. Beth didn't tarry long in the kitchen however; she quickly reappeared with a decanter of coffee and a pitcher of sweet tea. She sat them down in front of her guests and then waved her hands as if to say, serve your selves, as she sat down on the couch. 

William leaned over and poured himself some tea, as he was still somewhat dehydrated from his sparring session with Flo. Deciding that a good offense was the best defense, he said, "I understand that I got played. Florence tells me that you run all of Whiskey Town." 

Beth smiled an evil smile before answering him, "You took one look at me and decided that I was nothing but a bar floozy...right?" 

Not missing a beat, William shot back, "Isn't that what you wanted me to think? Don't be irritated at me for underestimating you when that's exactly what you wanted me to do!" 

Beth's face dissolved into a friendlier smile, and she said, "Oh Flo, I think he will do. He is already fighting back." 

Florence gushed, "You should see him spar." 

"What?" William goggled, "You two want me to be difficult?" 

Beth replied dryly, "A challenge, my dear boy, Florence needed to find her equal. If she'd have wanted to find someone that she could walk on, she would have been happy with Tristan." 

"Tristan?" William said, looking at Florence. 

"I'll tell you later," Florence said hurriedly. 

Giving Florence a long look, William decided that he would be patient and save that story for later, and instead switched his attention back to Beth. "So, what do you need from me, you scary woman?" 

Beth laughed again before answering, "I need for you to believe that Florence will die before allowing you or your children to be hurt. I need you to know that if you leave her, she'll go insane and that you'll likely follow her into madness. I need you to understand that Florence is a wolf and will want cubs by you eventually, and that she'll want you there to teach them. And most of all, I need you to realize that apart from Florence; I will surely be your biggest fan. She needs you, so I need you to be your very best!" 

William's eyes showed his shock at her words, but he recovered by looking at Florence and saying, "Damn Florence, she's not scary; she is terrifying." 

"Welcome to the pack, William," Beth said smiling, "I figured you were the type of guy who wanted the whole truth." 

Changing the subject quickly, William said, "I hear that you run the entire town. How does that work?" 

"Do you know what 'matrilineal' means?" 

"My grandfather said that the women owned everything but the horses and the weapons, and that all of the property passed through the women. Is that what you mean?" 

"Well, sort of. It's more than that. The women controlled the home, while the men had absolute domain over hunting, defense, and war. Families ran through the women, and you have to remember that sur-names were not used by the people until the Europeans came. Your name, Yazzie, may be a word from the People, but it is still a tradition of the white-men to pass things through the masculine line. In our culture, women owned the homes because that's where the children were. Women also controlled the gathering and the agriculture. In modern terms, this equates to commerce, and since I am the de-facto Alpha Madam, I control the gathering, and we do our gathering with our businesses. The men defend them, and us." 

"...and you best gather from the white-men when they think you are stupid?" 

"You got it in one. Now, are you ready to defend Florence with your life?" 

"You are one scary bitch!" 

"Thank you son; now, was that a 'yes'?" 

William turned his head and looked deeply into Florence's eyes before promising, "That would be a 'yes'."



Artiface of Strength Ch. 07



Even though there hadn't been a new mating in the Billington pack in well over fifty years, it was still only a Monday night and John couldn't really make the decision to throw a pack celebration party in the clubhouse. He would have loved to make that call, but the pack was currently on a war footing, and it would have sent the wrong message to everyone. He did the best thing that he was able to do; he introduced the entire pack to William during dinner and announced that there would be an official welcome to the pack, blow-out party on Friday night. 

He ordered his warriors to scare up a couple of feral pigs from the surrounding forest and the pack would have a feast on Friday before heading over to the clubhouse for the real party. Every member of the pack was excited; they all felt that this surely meant that the pack's long mating drought was over, and while the Goddess had always provided for the Billington pack, she hadn't seen fit to give any of them mates or cubs for decades now. Wolves are amazingly loyal creatures, but they also tend to be impatient; the Lady sending them an actual human for Florence's mate seemed like an omen to them. Every unmated wolf in the pack... with the possible exception of Sam, hoped that they might be the next to find their mate! 

At the conclusion of the meal, John stood and made a second announcement to the entire pack. William and Beth were to report to John's office along with the four permanent Betas: Florence, Sam, Tom, and Tristan. A cheer rang out almost instantaneously; Tristan's temporary promotion to Beta was being made permanent. Tristan had always been quite popular within the pack and his hard work had been noticed by everyone. John shook his hand and congratulated him on a job well earned. 

Tristan seemed a bit stunned by his promotion. He had been so focused on Florence, planning to defeat her and then to bed her, but then he'd seen along with everyone else, just how dangerous she really was, and all his plans to challenge her had been shelved. He had not yet started to think of a way to challenge Sam or Tom for their spots. His long-held plan disintegrated, but he'd never stopped working hard or thinking positively and John had noticed. Tristan had never been arrogant enough to think he deserved the job, and this had worked in his favour; John saw him as asset to the pack and decided to reward him. 

Florence swatted him on the ass and warmly congratulated him, taking the time to assure Tristan that he did indeed, deserve the promotion. Looking into her eyes, Tristan realized that he may have lost his shot at the girl, but maybe he did deserve the job after all. His face broke into his usual boyish grin and he thanked John for the opportunity. 

"C'mon everyone," said John, "Let's get to my office; we've got to make plans for tomorrow." He then headed for the door and headed out. The Betas quickly rose and followed their Alpha for a war counsel. 

John remained silent until everyone was in his office and seated comfortably. "Tristan, once this door is closed, we are much less formal. If you have an idea or an objection, I want to hear it. Express yourself, there are no yes-men in this room. Do not defer to us here, we need your brain, as well as your obedience!" 

Tristan replied, "Yes Alpha, or should I have said, no Alpha?" 

"Moving on," John said with a grin, "Beth, I've brought you in on this because most of this deals with relationships between Were and the People, and I'd like to get your...ahem, unusual perspectives on this." 

"Sam and Tom, I'll be sending one of you to each front. I don't care who goes where, you two can decide on that. 

Florence, you will be accompanying William to visit his grandfather, and Will, you have my permission for full disclosure with your grandfather. By the way, what is his real name anyway?" 

"He is called Ja-mul, sir, although his given name is actually Marris." 

"No freaking way," Sam laughed. "It can't be the same guy; he's got to be dead by now!" 

"Marris Yazzie?" John asked, rubbing his temples as if in pain. 

"Yes, sir," replied William. 

Sam laughed at his Alpha's obvious distress, "Oh, this gets better and better!" 

Beth broke in, "John, there's no way that it can be him; that was almost two hundred years ago. Maybe he's a descendant or something?" 

Florence said, "Alpha, that story that you told me about the two cousins that you and Tom dated...you only said that the guy you married them to was named Yazzie. His name was Marris Yazzie?" 

Will interrupted, "I think it was a family tradition of some kind, Alpha. He doesn't really like the name; he never uses it and I guess the tradition will die with him though. He took the name Ja-mul from his adopted people, the Achumawi." 

John looked down at his desk, rubbing his 'Beth-spot' absently before answering. "Okay, change of plans. Sam and Tom, both of you head on down to Fresno. Beth, it looks like you get to go on a road trip with the young ones. I'm sure that you remember how Marris felt about having mothers; let's see if that is still a family tradition as well." 

"Tristan, you will remain here and run the day to day stuff with the warriors. It will give everyone a chance to see you running things without any of us looking over your shoulder." 

John paused briefly, looking around the room, and said, "Now, everyone, have I missed anything?" 

When no one spoke up, John nodded and then said, "Florence, I know that you intend on taking William on his first wolven run tonight, but I have a request. Since we are tight on time, and you will have to leave early tomorrow morning, can you spend tonight teaching him how to send instead? You really may need to communicate mentally when you are dealing with Marris, if he's anything like the other one." 

"Yes Alpha." 

"Now, does anyone else have anything else to contribute?" 

When no one spoke up, John commanded, "Meeting adjourned; you are all dismissed!" He then stuck his tongue out at Sam and strode defiantly out of the room. 

"I guess he told you," Tom snorted at Sam. 

~~~ 

Tuesday evening had arrived before Beth parked the car next to the double-wide trailer where William had spent his childhood. The mobile home was permanently placed on a few acres of land below Ako-yet, what the Europeans had renamed, Mount Shasta. Will's grandfather had lived here ever since he'd relocated from the desert where he'd been born. He had always claimed that he'd taken one look at Ako-yet and instantly known that he was at home, maintaining that a vision had led him here, although until recently William had never believed a word of this claim. But then again, he'd never believed his grandfather's stories about spirit animals either, and they'd proven to be all too real. 

The beat up old truck belonging to Ja-mul was parked outside in its usual spot, and William was not surprised to see it parked there. His grandfather rarely went anywhere in the evenings and he'd had the same ugly green Willys pick-up since William had been a boy. The old coot could easily afford a new one, but he always said that Old Willy wasn't worn out yet, why should he buy a new one? 

William hadn't phoned his grandfather before coming and he couldn't have if he had tried, Ja-mul had never owned a telephone. He'd always maintained that if anyone wanted anything from him, well, they could damn well get off their lazy ass and come see him for themselves. 

Ja-mul appeared in the doorway before the car had even had a chance to come to a complete stop. "Come in, come in," he said excitedly as they exited the vehicle, "I have dinner ready and you are right on time!" 

Surprised, the three wolves just blinked at the old man. 

"Of course I knew you were coming." He said with a huge smile. "I've only been looking forward to this day for my entire adult life. Quit standing there with your mouths hanging open and come inside and eat dinner!" 

Beth and Florence looked to William for some sort of instructions, but he just shrugged his shoulders and followed his grandfather into his trailer. 

How the Hell did he... Beth sent to Flo. 

No clue, maybe he's just making it up, Florence returned. 

"Nonsense," Ja-mul yelled back over his shoulder, "I knew you were coming; I've already set the table." 

Beth's eyes goggled at this. How the Hell could he know what they were sending to one another? She decided that she would just shut her mouth and wait to see what he'd say next. 

The old man saw the look on Beth's face and laughed to William, "Enjoy that look on your mother's face; you won't get to see it much, no one manages to shut her up very often!" 

Beth's eyes widened again, but this time, she foolishly took the bait, "All right you old bastard; you've had your fun. How on Earth did you know that I was the mother?" 

"Sit, sit," he said grinning, "You call her the Goddess, but we called him 'Xwun'. Either way, he told me that you'd be coming a long time ago. Try the venison stew; I worked on it all day!" 

"Shit," Beth mumbled. 

"No, I think he said 'sit'," laughed William as he sat down and began dishing up bowls of stew. 

Florence watched the interplay between Beth and Ja-mul and enjoyed herself enormously. No one ever managed to shut Beth up, and the old codger now done it twice in just under five minutes. All she said was, "I'm pretty hungry Will, give me a large serving." 

The four sat down and ate dinner, and the wolves all enjoyed his cooking. William and Florence greatly enjoyed the mingling of flavours within the slow cooked stew, but Beth didn't notice, she spent most of her meal staring daggers at the old man, who seemed content to ignore Beth's spite and instead flirt with his grandson's mate. "Granddaughter, I've waited so long to meet you, and I'm dying to know, what did my stupid grandson look like when you cuffed him to that tree? Did his eyes get as large as your mother's eyes are now?" 

For an instant, Florence was afraid that Beth would explode at this, but Ja-mul's latest taunting seemed to have the opposite effect. Instead of yelling or cursing, Beth instead relaxed back into her chair with a look of understanding upon her face. 

"I went too far, didn't I?" Ja-mul said grinning. 

"Okay old man, you've had your fun," William said, "Go ahead and tell us your story. I thought I would finally have the better story for once, but it looks like I may have been wrong again." 

Ja-mul laughed. "Yes grandson, you have a Hell of a story to tell, Werewolves, Goddesses, a crazy mother, and general mayhem. I'm so jealous; I've waited my entire life just to watch this. Do you have any idea what it's like to wait sixty years to see your vision finally come to pass? And yes, mother-in-law, I realize that you've waited even longer than that, but you've never known your fate. I've always known mine, and I've waited so long for it to arrive!" 

"So you always knew?" William asked. 

"Yes, grandson, I've known all along, but I couldn't tell you what I'd seen. Your Goddess told me that I'd have to wait and remain silent if I wanted to become your shaman." 

"What?" Beth almost yelled. 

"Your Di-yin, your pack doesn't have one. I'm not sure how John missed that trick; he set up an entire culture, but never thought to institute a priesthood. He must have really hated those Puritans!" 

Beth's mouth dropped open and Ja-mul calmly reached forward and pushed up on her jaw, closing it. 

"You...you are going to be our Shaman," Beth gasped. 

"Do you have any other prospects?" 

"Umm..." Beth dithered. 

"It's okay, John won't be thrilled by any of this either, but don't worry about me, I've already had the truck serviced and I'm almost packed and ready to go. He won't have to put up with me long anyway, his time is almost over." 

"I tried to tell you," William said, "But neither one of you really listened to me. Hello! He is a coyote at heart. You can't trust a single word that he says, but most of them seem to be true anyway. Grandfather pisses everyone off!" 

"I love you too, grandson." Ja-mul said smiling. 

~~~ 

Another fucking day loading baggage, put it on, take it off. All of these bags are going places that I'll never get to visit, and I'm stuck here watching it all go by. Maybe I should have joined the Navy; I could have traveled the world, maybe got me one of those pretty Asian women for a bride. I could have learned some sort of skill, maybe become an air traffic controller or something, those guys make bank! 

"George, hurry your ass up! We gotta get this bird done; we're already behind schedule!" 

George casually looked up and shot his supervisor the finger. Nick didn't mind, he and George were old friends, and no one would be upset. George did, however, stop lolly-gagging and turned his full attention back to his work. He knew that they'd both be in deep shit if they made this flight any later than it was already. 

Nick and George were actually pretty good at their jobs. Most people would see their scruffy appearances and the Raiders tattoos and assume the worst about them, but the two men usually got everything done perfectly and almost always on time. Life might be stepping all over them, but they usually shook it off and had a good time anyway, even while they were at work. Their boss, the airport manager, was considering finding a way to cut their pay again as he needed a way to pay for redecorating his office, but the two men were oblivious to all of that. As long as they had their beer and the football game was on the tube, they were good. They were better than good, they were gold! 

"Hey Whore-gay, check that out; you see the size of that dog?" 

"Shut up Nick, don't be givin' me that 'Whore-gay' shit again or I'll start calling you 'Little Nicky' like before!" 

"Just yankin' your chain bro, but really, check out the size of that dog; it looks like it is coming right for us!" 

"What's a dog doing on the tarmac? Whoa! You're right, that's a big-ass dog!" 

"He's got something in his mouth." 

Sam hearing this exchange, tried not to grin. Humans always saw the teeth and started worrying. He withheld his amusement and trotted right up to George before dropping the day pack that he was carrying at the man's feet. Seeing the pack, George feared the worst. "Bro, we are gonna be in trouble, this has 'lost luggage' written all over it!" 

"Well, at least the dog seems friendly," Nick responded, "He's way bigger than any of my pits. What kind of dog do you think it is anyway? It looks like a husky or something." 

"I think it's a wolf, Nick." 

"No way, what's a wolf doing in Fresno?" 

"Don't ask me man, ask him. But I'm telling you, he looks just like my tat, I'm sure it's a wolf!" 

"You and all of those ugly-ass tattoos! Hey, what's in the bag? You might as well look; I think the doggy wants you to have it." 

Still unsure of the 'doggy's' intentions, George slowly reached down to pick up the pack, even if it wasn't a wolf, this dog was bigger than anything he was familiar with. Sam just rolled his eyes and waited, figuring that these two would move quicker if he remained quiet and unthreatening. George got the pack and opened it, gasping at what he saw inside. 

"Bro, there's a bunch of money in here, and a letter. Hell, it's addressed to me! Is this some kind of joke, Nick?" 

"Like I'd send you money. How much is in there, and what does the letter say?" 

"George did a quick count of the money before he read the letter. "Looks like about two thousand dollars Nick, all in twenties. The letter says: George Medina, I've sent my wolf." He stopped reading long enough to give his friend the finger again and say, "see bro, I told you it was a wolf!" 

"Shut up bitch, just read the letter!" 

"I've sent my wolf to you with a proposition. The money is yours to keep whether you come or not, but there will be more of it for you if you'll meet me tonight and hear what I have to say. Come to the Crossroads Nightclub at 7 pm tonight. Just give your answer to my wolf; he'll understand you, he's pretty smart." 

"That place is pretty rough. There are bikers, gang members...fights." 

"Like you don't know most of those guys." 

"Yeah, I guess that's true. So if anything goes wrong, we'll be surrounded by friends, I guess." 

George looked down at Sam and said, "Okay Mr. Wolf, tell your owner that we'll be there." Sam gave the man a wolfish grin and loped off." 

"Bro, you think he knows what you said?" 

"I guess we'll find out tonight." 

At precisely 6:58 PM, George and Nick walked into the Crossroads. It was only a Tuesday, so the place was pretty close to empty. Not seeing a wolf anywhere in the bar, the two men spent a moment scanning the place to see if anyone might be looking for them. Seeing two men gesturing to them from over in the corner, the two baggage handlers shrugged their shoulders and headed over. 

Sam and Tom had already ordered a couple of pitchers of beer and had four mugs waiting. "Mr. Medina, Mr. Calvillo, thanks for coming to see us tonight. And yes, Mr. Calvillo, that was a wolf that you met earlier today, not a doggy. So, let's get right to it. I'm Sam, and this is my brother Tom; we've come a long way to meet you and to hear your story about the Chimariko tribe and how it might be involved with the Burton Waters Land Development Group. As the letter said, we are willing to pay for information if what you know is important to us. We gave you two thousand earlier, and we have another two for you after this conversation. Sound fair?" 

George looked confused. "The Chim-a-what tribe?" He then looked at Nick questioningly, "Bro, you ever heard of that?" Nick merely shook his head, also with a look of confusion on his face. 

Sam saw the looks on the two men's faces and said, "Mr. Medina, we are glad that you brought your friend with you, but really, this is all about you. Mr. Calvillo has no connection to this that we are aware of." 

Still looking confused, George replied, "Dude, I'd love to have something to tell you. Two grand is a lot of money to me, but I honestly have no idea what you are taking about. You said something about land developers?" 

"Okay, let's back up a bit," Sam said, "Have you signed any legal documents lately? 

"Just that stuff for medical insurance, and I was lucky to get that after those County bastards took away our coverage at work!" 

Nick nodded his head, but he didn't say anything. 

"Health insurance?" Tom asked. 

"Yeah, that salesman guy hooked me up with some sort of Government program; he said it was only for indigenous people. Hell, I didn't even know that Mexicans were indigenous! He had Nick sign a bunch of that stuff too; he said that we'd have insurance by the end of this month." 

"We signed a ton of stuff," Nick said. "At least a couple dozen pages, we had no idea what any of that stuff meant. Who understands that insurance stuff anyway?" 

"Did you guys get copies?" Tom asked. 

"No, he said that we'd receive them by the end of the month, but I haven't gotten anything yet." 

"That was last month, bro," Nick interjected. 

"Okay, I think I'm starting to figure this out," Sam said slowly, "Do you guys have any contact information for this 'salesman guy'?" 

"Yeah, I think so," George said, reaching for his wallet. "He gave me his card...ah, here it is," he said, as he handed it to Sam. 

Sam looked at the card and immediately recognized the name, Jebidiah Walker of Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith. He scowled and then handed the card to Tom. "This is the law firm that works for Waters Land Development. As far as I know, they don't do medical insurance." 

George looked surprised, "How would I know that? I'm from Fresno!" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 07



Sam thought for a moment and then answered, "This has gotten really confusing. Clearly, Walker was lying to you, which after speaking with him one time, doesn't surprise me. It looks like he got the two of you to sign a bunch of legal documents that had absolutely nothing to do with health insurance. This will take some time to sort out, so how would you two like to bring your families for a week-long free vacation at the Whiskey Lake Resort. If you will come up and meet with our lawyers and try to solve this, I will get you set up with free rooms and meals, as well as some spending money for your families while you are there. If everything goes well, we'll authorize a further pay-out for both of you when we get to the end of all of this. How does that sound?" 

"Do we still get the two thousand tonight," Nick said quickly. 

"We'll make it four," Tom said smiling. 

~~~ 

"You are telling me that it will be safe for us to go on a run here?" 

"Yes granddaughter, the Goddess said that the original true People would run for their shaman on the first night when he blessed them." 

"Grandfather, I don't understand. True People? Blessed us? You are speaking in riddles again." 

"I can't answer your question about 'true People' yet, that is something that you will learn about later, but I can speak to the rest. I am your shaman; Xwun called me to leave the desert and come here to raise a young boy in the ways of the People, and then to bind him to his mate when he brought her to meet me. Tonight, you've had your mating meal in the presence of your mother, and now it is time to begin the change." 

"But grandfather, what change? He already shifts." 

"The real change, the one that will change the world. We all have our parts to play in this, and even then, we may still lose this battle; but if we do win, the People and the Were will both finally be free to live our lives without interference." 

"William was right about you, you know. He said you always speak in riddles and nothing ever makes sense until it's too late to do anything about it." 

Ja-mul just grinned and said, "I'm a shaman; it sort of comes with the job. I can tell you this though; the two of you were picked mostly because of the strengths of your character. If you two cannot do this, no one can." 

"Grandfather, I just came to ask you if it would be safe to go on our first moonlight run, I didn't come to you looking for a job. I most certainly did not come to you to hear that the Goddess has wound fate through her fingers just to screw with us." 

Ja-mul grinned and said, "How do you think I felt? I was only fifteen years old when I was given this job. Leave my desert, go live under the mountain, never find myself a wife, and then watch my grandchildren have all the fun while I just sit back and miss out. That was a kick in the head, I can tell you! And think about poor John for a minute, he's been waiting and lonely for almost five hundred years while you get your mate and this incredibly sexy grandfather right up front!" 

Florence snorted at this. 

Becoming more serious, Ja-mul said, "But granddaughter, your job comes with more risk than ours did; you may well die trying to save us. I think that may be why your Goddess gave you your mate now, so you could have some time with him before things got ugly." 

"You are saying that I'd be wise to enjoy this respite from danger?" 

"Yes." 

"Just, 'yes'?" 

"Yes." 

"Grandfather, I think I'm beginning to see why William says that you piss everyone off." 

The old shaman grinned at Florence, and said, "Yes." 

Florence stuck out her tongue at the old man as she left his side to search for her mate. Finding him speaking to Beth inside of Ja-mul's trailer, she waggled her finger at him and said, "C'mon mate, let's go on our wedding run." 

"Wedding run?" Beth and William said as one. 

"Our new shaman tells me that it's how this works," grinned Florence. 

Again, Beth and William both began talking at once, Beth heatedly griping about one old man trying to change the pack's traditions, while Will was enthusiastically agreeing to go on a run. Beth quickly realized that the young couple only had eyes for one another and had not heard a single word that she had said. She then huffed in irritation and left the room, still grumbling about giving that wannabe shaman a piece of her mind. 

Shortly thereafter, the two exited the trailer as wolves. They saw Beth standing before Ja-mul, her arms waving wildly and a whirlwind of abuse escaping her lips. Discretion being the better part of cowardice, the young wolves grinned at one another and diverted course directly away from the argument and into the forest. Florence was reasonably sure that the old man winked at her when they changed direction. 

"Now, let's see how fast you are, husband," Florence sent before charging away from William. 

"Same stakes as last time?" William sent back, just standing there. 

"Think your slow-ass can catch me for a change?" 

"I'm planning on it," he sent, as he darted after her. 

"Well then, I guess since you are so much bigger than me, I sure couldn't stop you from taking me right on the spot, if...you know, you can actually catch me this time," she sent as she abruptly changed directions to run through a small stream to mask her scent. 

"Naughty bitch," he sent back when he appeared at the stream moments later, "trying to mask your scent, so your loving mate can't catch you." 

Florence didn't respond this time, she'd darted back into the woods and out of William's sight. She knew that if she sent to him, it would give him more information with which to find her, and she was not going to make this easy on him. 

"Maintaining radio silence, huh? It'll go so much worse for you when I catch you now...and this time, you don't have home-field advantage, Flo." 

"Florence," she snapped. 

"Sucker," he sent, as he immediately leapt to the north, from where the sending had come. 

Realizing that he was back on her tail and that silence wouldn't help, she sent, "That was dirty William; is that how it's gonna be? You won't fight fairly?" 

"Florence my love, you handcuffed me to a tree, and then you mercilessly tormented me until I exploded. Was that your definition of fighting fairly?" 

"Did you enjoy it," she shot back as she changed direction once again. 

"Of course I did, but won't you enjoy it when I catch you? Oh, and by the way, you are running directly into a box canyon!" 

"You bastard," she sent back as she immediately darted hard to the east. 

William didn't respond, he just smiled to himself as he changed direction to match her, content to let her run for a while. He just followed her for the next twenty minutes or so, before he sent to her again, "My darling, I have a confession to make." 

"What is it, my horrible mate?" she sent back. 

"One, I've almost caught you, and that's a mighty pretty backside that I'm chasing." 

"And what is the second part?" she asked. 

"There are no box canyons around here; I lied in order to get you to change course." 

"You filthy rotten cheater!" she sent back. 

"Yes, I saved quite a lot of distance when you turned hard right. Oh, and my love, I'm pretty sure that I'm faster than you as a wolf. I'm reeling you in now that I can see you." 

Florence growled at this, but she was afraid that he was right. She was already running at her top speed and she could feel that he was slowly gaining on her. 

"Oh and there is one more thing..." 

"Yes, cheater, what now?" 

"Do you smell the river yet?" 

"Oh shit!" Florence gasped as she was forced into a full crash stop in order to avoid running off of the rise she was on and directly into the swift moving river in front of her. Realizing that William was bearing down upon her, she made a quick decision and darted north, upriver. But as she ran, she knew that it was likely over; he'd used his home field advantage to herd her directly to where he had wanted her to go, and it was quite clear that he was now faster than she. Florence had but one tool remaining; being of smaller stature, she was marginally quicker to change directions than he was. She knew that it was a long shot, but if she timed it just right, she might be able to use that to buy herself some time and distance. 

She kept a wary eye on him as he came slowly closer and closer to her. She didn't have much to work with, if she darted right, she'd find herself in the river, so her only directions to run were to the left or to continue straight ahead, and he was almost upon her. She knew that he must realize that her options were slim, maybe he'd get overconfident. 

She was out of time; he was no more than a pace behind now. She leaned to the right, as if to suggest that she'd turn that way, and then feinted hard left, expecting him to leave his paws to tackle her, and then finally, she threw herself to the right directly toward the river with everything she had, hoping to see him go flying by on her left. 

William's linebacker coach had always taught his players to watch a runner's hips; they would tell you where the ball-carrier would be going. Ignore the shoulders and the double-moves and watch his hips and you'd almost always make the tackle. William had always been a good student, and he already knew that Florence was a very strong swimmer; he'd seen it twice now. As he watched her hips, he decided that, he had a new favourite hobby. He timed his leap to coincide with her cut to the right, and he met her in mid-air, his wolf crashing into hers in a tackle that his coach would have been proud of. 

As they struck the ground, he rolled her body under his own, and took her throat in his jaws, biting down until he caught just a hint of blood. Along with her blood her pheromones came lancing directly into his brain and setting him on fire. He growled into her neck, "My bitch, I caught you, and under the terms of our bet, you are mine," and then he thrust deeply into her, burying himself into her with one hard thrust. 

Florence was sopping wet, both from exertion and from arousal; William's weight along her back caused her front legs to buckle down to her knees as he mounted her. She wasn't about to fight him; he was larger, he was dominant, and he was hers. If he'd done anything else but take her, she would have been sorely upset and disappointed. This was the way of the wolf, and her last conscious thought was, "finally", before her animal lust overcame her and she began to thrust back against his cock, seating it deeply within her as they both began to rut desperately. 

William had given up all pretense of being a thoughtful human lover. His wolf had completely taken over; he held his bitch down with his teeth at her throat as he slammed into her with abandon. The fact that her human side had also fled never once occurred to him, he only knew that she was meeting him thrust for thrust, while moaning and howling wildly. When she came, he followed into the abyss, knotting himself within her and flooding her with his seed as he howled an Alpha-like howl. No other wolf would dare approach him while he took his bitch. 

Back at the trailer, Beth and Ja-mul were still arguing, albeit less vociferously than before when they heard William's howl of completion. "Sounds like her caught her," Ja-mul said. 

"Thank the Goddess," Beth said, letting out the breath that she'd been holding. 

"You were afraid that he wouldn't catch her?" Ja-mul asked. 

"No one has ever even come close before." 

"Mother, that's why it was important that they ran here instead of back at your lake. He knows this forest as well as she knows her own. Here, he had the advantage. The Goddess sent you all here so they could complete their mating." 

"You are actually on their side then!" Beth realized. 

"And you were really only worried that she would get away!" Ja-mul said, surprised. 

"Maybe we are on the same side then," Beth said. 

"Friends?" Ja-mul said, holding his hand out. 

"Friends!" Beth said, reaching out for his hand in return, "But enough of that mother bullshit. That's just for William. You can call me Beth, or you can call me step-daughter. Take your pick." 

"Done," he said, grasping her arm in the old way, "but that means that I get to officiate at your mating ceremony!" 

She snorted, "like that will ever happen!" 

"Oh, I think your Goddess is ready to end the mating stoppage now; this mating was the first one." 

Beth's eyes narrowed at this, "what do you know that you are not telling?" 

Ja-mul's eyes twinkled as he said, "Step-daughter, have you ever met a shaman worth his fetish who would tell you everything he knows? And before you get mad at me again, just know this...If I tell you what is supposed to happen, then it might not. You wouldn't want that on your conscience would you?" 

"Old fool, I'm glad you are on our side." 

"So am I step-daughter, your side is way more fun!" 

~~~ 

John's voice erupted on the phone, "You are bringing a what?" 

"Evidently he is our di-yin. John, he knew we were coming. He knew everything about us. He says that the Goddess brought him to Mount Shasta sixty years ago. I hate to say it, but I believe the ornery old bastard. He says that he is here to oversee our passage...whatever the Hell that means." 

"And you think the Goddess really talks to him?" 

"He calls her Xwun and says that the People see Xwun as male, but that it is the same person." 

"And you think he is reputable?" 

"Oh Hell no, I know he isn't reputable. He's a sneaky old con-man, and he's as crooked as...well, your hind leg, not to mention being a huge pain in my ass. But John, he obviously loves his grandson and now, Florence too, and I think the old bastard is really telling the truth. He knew everything about you, and he says that you missed the obvious when you set up our society; somehow you forgot to include a shaman. He said that you must have really hated the Puritans!" 

"How the Hell could he know..." then John stopped. Wait, he knew about that before you spoke with him?" 

"Yes John." 

"Bring him." 

"Oh, he's bringing himself. He's got this decrepit old Willys pickup. He said that he'd just had it serviced, getting ready to come see us." 

"He's driving his own vehicle? I thought he was too old for that." 

"I think he said that he was seventy seven, John. This, if you've forgotten, is exactly how old we think Florence probably is. Do you think they might be connected?" 

"Before this call, I would have sworn the answer to that would have been 'no', but now, I'm not so sure. Oh Goddess, we have a shaman; why does the Lady have such a perverse sense of humour when it comes to our pack?" 

"I wish that I knew the answer to that, John. And one last thing, you probably won't like this either. He convinced Florence to take William on a solo run last night. John, William ran her down, and when he took her, his howl was pure Alpha." 

"Shit!" 

"I'm sure Florence knows, but I doubt that William has a clue yet." 

"At least that explains how he ran her down. Beth, get them here as soon as possible. I just got off the phone with Sam; he and Tom are bringing Medina and several guests to stay at the resort. Sam tells me that Medina seems to be nothing more than Burton's pawn, and an unwilling one at that. I'd like to have you back here when they arrive. You are our best asset with humans." 

"I will try John, but Ja-mul insists on bringing his truck with him, and I have a feeling that progress is going to be pretty slow." 

"Do your best, Beth. Leave him behind if you have to; it sounds as if he knows the way." 

"I will John; see you soon!" 

John sat and stared at his phone for a while, wondering what else could go wrong. For almost five hundred years, he had managed to avoid having anything to do with a professional clergy, and now it looked like the Goddess was thumbing her nose at him again. Meanwhile, his daughter seemed to have found a unique way to snag herself an Alpha, and while this wasn't completely unexpected, she'd managed to find a completely untrained Alpha. He consoled himself with the fact that at least William was a member of the People, rather than of the Europeans. That would help a little. But he had no idea what to make of this clown, Medina. Sam had suggested that he and his friend Calvillo were about as sharp as marbles. Hell, I'd go for a beer with Tristan, but he's no fun... 

Then his phone rang again. 

"Billington," he answered. 

"Hey John," he heard Jefferson say, "I've got something on your Chimariko tribe." 

"It isn't my tribe, Jeff." 

"Well, I don't know about that one John, and I don't think you are going to like this much." 

"Go ahead Jeff; it's been that kind of day." 

"The land you are on. It used to belong to a tribe that was totally wiped out." 

John sighed, "Let me guess." 

"Yep, when the tribe was nearly destroyed, the few remaining members folded into the Shasta tribe up in the Siskiyou region." 

"So the whole tribe died?" 

"Debatable I guess, someone in Tribal Registry must have gotten creative. Your George Medina, his family was originally from the Siskiyou region, but they'd never actually been registered. I guess technically, they could be said to be Shasta or Chimariko, but whoever filled out the paperwork filled it out as Chimariko." 

"So...technically...his claim to my land pre-dates the Spanish claim?" 

"Yes John, but as you well know, the Government almost never sides with Tribal claims." 

"So we are now in the position of fighting as white-men to steal land from the true indigenous People?" 

"Ironic huh?" 

"Jeff, I'd love to cuss you out, but I can't make myself do it, you've been too damned helpful." 

Jefferson laughed and said, "What else can I do to help?" 

"Glad you asked. Sam and Tom located this George Medina fellow and they will be bringing him to the resort. Evidently he is clueless about any of this and is only Burton's pawn. Do you suppose that you could send a couple of your smart lawyer sharks my way, and get them here as soon as possible? Tell them to bring their mates if they have them, and I'll put them up in suites here at the Resort for their trouble." 

"John, for that offer, I'll be coming myself; this looks like too much fun to miss! I'll bring Carol, she's been bugging me to take a vacation anyway." 

"Thanks Jeff, I'll book you some train tickets." 

"No, don't worry about doing that, I don't even know how many wolves are coming yet. Just set aside a block of rooms for us and we'll be there as soon as we can." 

"Thanks Jeff, we'll see you soon!" 

After hanging up, John again briefly considered banging his head on his desk, but quickly thought better of it. 

"Tristan," he yelled! "Let's go get a beer!"



Artiface of Strength Ch. 08



Beth arrived back at the compound shortly before the dinner bell on Wednesday. She'd driven back alone, leaving William and Florence to travel back home with Ja-mul in his old Willys truck. Alpha John had asked her to hurry back home so that she'd be available to greet the visitors from Fresno, and she had complied, narrowly avoiding several speeding tickets along the way. She had been reluctant to leave Flo behind, but her daughter had refused to be separated from her mate. Indeed, she had viewed her coming road trip with Ja-mul and William as something of an adventure. Beth had not been surprised by Florence's choice, as it spoke to the strength of the mate-bond that she and her mate shared. Beth would not say that she was unhappy how things worked out. 

John, on the other hand, was more than a little irritated by Florence's decision. Already unhappy with what he was calling 'the shamanization of a perfectly happy pack', he was also annoyed by the fact that Florence seemed to be quite taken with the old coyote. Ugh, if she likes him, we will never get rid of the old scoundrel! 

"John, he said something that concerned me, but I didn't want to discuss this over the phone. He said that you wouldn't have to put up with him very long; he said that your time is almost over." 

"He said what? What did he mean by that?" 

"I'm not sure, John, I didn't push him for answers right then. I didn't think Florence or William even noticed that he said it, and I didn't want them to worry. I've been wracking my brain ever since then though, trying to think of all the things that he could have meant by that." 

"We can't just ask him?" 

"Trying to pull information from him is tough, John. He readily admits that he knows more than he is sharing with us, but he says that nothing is guaranteed to happen, and that what should happen...might not, if he tells us about it in advance." 

"Sounds like a line of crap to me!" John grumbled. 

"Yeah, I know, but how did he know that we were coming? How did he know that I was the mother even though any human would think that I was in my late twenties? How did he know about you and the freaking Puritans? There are not a hundred wolves in America that really know the true story about your execution; and there are no humans at all." 

"So he thinks I am going to die?" 

"Don't say that! Maybe he just thinks you are going to step down as Alpha. We both know that Florence is ready to handle the responsibility now." 

"Florence, Hell! You tell me that William ran her down." 

"He doesn't even know how to be a wolf yet, John." 

"Will has military training, and he has a Hell of a lot of it. He slid right into this pack with no real worries or complaints. He's completely crazy about Flo, and he comes equipped with a pet Shaman who will surely be on his side. William looks like the total package, and while he seems to be trustworthy, we have to figure out if we can trust him with everyone's lives." 

John paused a moment to think, and then asked, "Do you really think the Goddess sent him to us?" 

"I'm not sure yet, and while I wish that I could tell you that I was convinced, I just can't. If he is to be our new defender, that would also mean that Florence takes over my role in the pack. What would you and I do then? I'm not anywhere near ready to retire yet; Heck, I'm just now starting to have fun! But John, think about it... children. Our pack has waited so long for them. One of the things Ja-mul said was that he thought the Lady was ready to end our mating drought." 

John didn't hesitate, "Beth, for that, our deaths would have meaning. But, let us do our best to live through this. So... do your best to keep me from killing our new Di-yin, okay? He's right, I never could stand those fucking Puritans, not from the first moment that I met them." 

"I will John, but it might not be so bad, none of the Shaman that we've ever dealt with have been grim or humourless. Most of them seem to be pretty easy-going" 

"True, but most of them are freaking scam artists, they dance around a fire, shake their fetishes at you, and then they take credit for the fact that the crops actually decided to grow that season." 

"So why did you adopt so many of their myths when you established Were society?" 

"Some of the Shaman we met actually seemed to see things that they rest of us couldn't. The first few of them that I met were completely nonplussed when I shifted right in front of them. They helped me maintain my sanity, and they gave me a lens with which to view my new life. Quite honestly, a lot of what they said made sense, and unlike my European brethren, they didn't try to hang me or burn me at the stake if I disagreed with them. And maybe most of all, Sam and Tom were believers." 

"You are saying that you've never really been convinced about the Goddess, and that you've just been going along with who does?" 

"Well no, that's not exactly right either. I'm sure that there is a Goddess; it's just that I'm not 100% convinced that the things that we believe about her are actually true. We've all felt her power, but she's never actually spoken with us, and now there's a brand new scam artist coming who claims that she speaks to her. I will tell you right now, if his name was Osteen rather than Marris, I'd kill him on sight; he'd just be coming for our money anyway." 

Bell thought about this for a moment, and then said, "So, what scares you more: the possibility that he is lying or the one where he is telling the truth?" 

"You don't even have to ask that question, Beth; you know the answer to that! A liar would be really easy to deal with, but a real, live, breathing Goddess? A Goddess who wants something from us? That is terrifying! You know, like you... times ten." 

Beth laughed at this. "Oh come on John, I'm not that bad!" 

"Not to the women," John replied glumly. 

Beth just laughed even louder at this, but she did reach out and put her hand over John's comfortingly. "You know that we all trust you with our lives, John. You have the biggest heart in the entire pack. You will do the right thing. You always do." 

"No pressure huh Beth, just get it right like always?" 

Beth's laughter pealed again, "Oh C'mon John, do I need to crawl into your bed and reassure you?" 

"You have not crawled into my bed in over a hundred years, Beth. Hell, I could barely handle you then, and I know that you've learned all kinds of tricks since then." 

"Ha! You couldn't handle me then. You always treated me like I might break." 

"You were a mess then, Beth." 

"And I'm a bigger mess now...but we might get grandchildren!" 

"Oh, that reminds me," John said slowly, "Jefferson is coming along with his lawyers. He's going to be bringing Carol with him. She's due to have another grandbaby. You need to buy a gift." 

"I need to buy a gift? Buddy, you are the one that pissed her off; she is mad at you!" 

"Okay, fine, I need to give her a gift, but you need to buy it...umm, by Friday. Here, she sent a list." 

Beth didn't growl often, but this time, she looked into John's eyes and let fly. A lesser wolf would surely have flopped over on his back and exposed his neck and belly to her, but John was made of sterner stuff; he merely shuddered and changed the subject to the contingent coming from Fresno. 

"Sam says that there are two men and two women coming, and that apart from the three pit bulls they are bringing with them, they are traveling pretty light. They don't seem to be bringing much luggage with them, so we may have to take them shopping for nicer clothes so they can fit in at the Resort. Evidently, they are just not flashy people." 

"Two couples?" Beth responded, allowing John to change the subject. 

"No. Evidently, both men are bachelors, but Medina's friend is bringing his sisters with him. Sam said something about the girls being plenty hot. He didn't say a whole lot more after that, he just started making those sucking noises that he makes." 

"Geez, Sam is such a pig!" 

"Isn't it nice to see that some things never change?" 

"I'm still mad at you, you know." 

"Look on the bright side; you can do all the shopping at once, and pick their brains at the same time. You know, spend lots of money, and maybe get those boots that Tom owes you." 

"John, you are a bad man!" 

"I learned it from you; I was completely pure and unspoiled before I met you." 

Beth just snorted and rolled her eyes. 

Back in Dallas, it had gotten ugly. "What do you mean that you don't know where Yazzie is," Burton yelled into the phone. 

Phil answered, "He left on Monday. He said that he was just going for a run, but I think that maybe he was going to meet that girl who works for Billington, and then he never came back." 

"And you never thought to report him missing?" Burton said witheringly. 

"Boss, I just figured that he got lucky or something, but when he was still gone today, I called you right away!" 

"He is married to my daughter, you blithering idiot! I don't want to hear that 'he got lucky or something'!" 

"Yes boss, that's why I didn't call you." 

Burton took a deep breath before he continued; he'd love to get rid of Phil, but he couldn't afford to fire him as there wasn't another man alive who had William's trust. Burton knew that he was lucky to have a man simultaneously stupid enough to tell him everything that William was doing, but still sharp enough to maintain William's confidence. Yazzie was too smart to leave unmonitored for very long, and Phil Perry was the only man for the job. Burton realized that his son was quite an asset, but he also knew that William hated him with a passion. 

He wasn't happy with the situation, but it dawned on him that it was a damned good thing that Liz could still make Will jump, because she was the only real control that he had on his employee. Burton had no doubt, it was obvious that William Yazzie was too talented to throw away lightly. He wondered if it might be possible to find Liz a boyfriend on the side, thinking that maybe it would keep her occupied and she'd leave William alone to work in peace. 

"Umm...boss?" Phil prompted, "Should I just wait for him to show up?" 

"No, head on down to Fresno and make contact with Medina; we may need to bring him in. I will send Jebidiah to meet you there. It looks like we may have to move on to plan B." 

"Yes sir!" 

Burton ended the call without saying any more. He had no interest in being pleasant to underlings, although he was starting to think that it might be time to make peace with a certain William Yazzie. Clearly the man had a better head on his shoulders than Liz did and Burton wondered if there was a way to swing this situation into a position where the Waters family interests could be protected without actually putting Liz in charge of anything. Burton was feeing his age and he knew that he wouldn't last forever, but he didn't believe that his daughter had what it took to assume the family mantle. He couldn't stand Yazzie, but he knew that William would have to be the bridge between Burton and Burton's grandchildren. I've spent my life building this company, there has got to be a way to make it last beyond me, he raged silently to himself. 

Drumming his fingers idly on his desk for a moment, he reached a decision. He picked up his phone and made the call to bring in his surveillance team. He was far from happy to have to make this decision, he knew that his team was likely riddled with Governmental moles and that using them was taking a chance that the C.I.A. would take an interest. You just never knew when they would decide that something was in the National interest. And then he'd be screwed; this deal needed to remain private. 

He spoke with his operative, ordering spook teams into the Whiskey Lake area. He demanded a full operation complete with infiltration squads and satellite surveillance. It was an expensive gamble, but the potential profit for the company with what was in those mountains justified the risk. He just hoped that his own sources within the agency would alert him if the bureaucratic idiots took an interest in his project. 

He had one last call to make, and unlike the others, this one promised to be less pleasant and would almost certainly come with an argument. He hit the speed dial button for Elizabeth. 

~~~ 

Late in the day on Thursday, the caravan from Fresno arrived at the Resort where John, Beth, and Tom were waiting. Sam's car rolled up, followed by the vehicle carrying the humans. 

John wasn't sure what he was seeing, "What the Hell is that?" 

Beth replied, "It's a minivan, John." 

Tom said, "No, I think it's a low-rider." 

"A low-rider minivan," John said curiously. "And what is that music they are playing?" 

"I think it's the Gap Band, John," Beth said smiling. 

John took a long look at Beth before deciding that she was serious. "And just what the Hell is a Gap Band?" 

"The Gap Band, John" 

"Whatever," he sighed. "Do you think that you can get them cleaned up enough to fit in at the Resort? You know that most of the clientele here are pretty stuffy." 

"I see women in the van, almost all women love to shop, especially when someone else is paying. It shouldn't be a problem. It's just like playing dress up." 

Beth saw that the minivan had now come to a complete stop in the valet area, so she stepped up and greeted their visitors, "Welcome to the Whiskey Lake Resort! I'm Beth and I will be your escort. This is John, our general manager, and I think you've already met Tom. Come with me, and I will take you directly to your suites, you are already all checked in. Stan, our bell page will see to your bags. I see that you've brought your pets with you; you'll be happy to know that we have a very nice pet care area available for their boarding." 

"Wow," said one of the sisters, "Nick, I don't know what you had to do to pay for this, but I sure could get used to all of this!" 

"Mr. Calvillo is it?" Beth asked. 

"Yeah, I'm Nick," he responded. 

"This is Oliver; he will take you to our pet care area and help you get your animals comfortably boarded, and then he will bring you directly to your suite." 

"They can't stay with me?" 

"I'm sorry Mr. Calvillo, although dogs are more than welcome here at the Resort, they are prohibited from entering the Hotel unless they are service animals. I am certain that you will be very happy with our boarding area; our owner is a major dog person! He's made sure that our visiting animals are as happy as their owners!" 

"I told you not to bring them, brother," one of the sisters said. 

"They are like family Maria, Heck, I brought you and Margarita, didn't I?" 

"Right this way, Mr. Calvillo," Oliver said somewhat smoothly. 

Nick collected his dogs as the others walked into the foyer of the Resort. John and Tom, realizing that Beth had their patrons well in hand, took their opportunity and slipped away quietly. Beth, seeing that she'd been left alone with her charges, merely rolled her eyes at the two wolves and launched into her spiel. 

As she walked them to their suites, she informed the four guests that their rooms, meals, and all options within the Resort had been comped, they merely had to charge whatever they wanted to their room and it would be taken care of. She took them to the Restaurant and well as the smaller coffee shop, making them aware that the restaurant was fine dining only and though there was a dress code, all of their food could be ordered from room service. Beth could clearly see that the ladies seemed to be irritated at the men when they heard about the dress code, so she smiled and explained that there would be no need to kill their brother for allowing them to bring clothes more suitable for camping, and that Beth would be taking all four of them on a all expenses paid shopping excursion the very next morning down below in the city. 

"All new wardrobes?" Maria asked dreamily. 

"Everything that you'll need for a week's stay here," replied Beth with a smile. 

"And you said we shouldn't come," Margarita said, laughing at her sister. 

"Shopping?" George said grumpily. 

"Well Mr. Medina, I guess we could take your sizes and have our shopper purchase the clothes that the two of you need for the Resort, but before you take me up on that, you might like to know that there is a very nice sports memorabilia and apparel shop within the mall. There's also a fine steakhouse with a full sports bar attached. There would be no need for you gentlemen to accompany us once we get inside, and I suspect that Sam or Tom would be assigned to assist you." 

"I'm in," laughed George. 

"And Mr. Calvillo?" 

Nick's sisters both began laughing before answering, "If there is a new jersey in it for him, the dumb bastard will even leave his dogs behind." 

"Excellent, and now we are here," Beth replied as she pulled out the suite's key card and opened the door into their rooms. 

"Oh my God," gasped Maria. 

"Wow," said George. 

Their suite was luxurious in the extreme. There were two king sized beds, each in its own private sleeping area. There was a large living room area that extended into a private balcony that looked out over the lake. A full sized hot tub sat just inside the room, on the edge of the balcony, which would allow its occupants the opportunity to open the sliding glass door and experience being outside while they soaked in the tub. The balcony had several lounge chairs and a gas fireplace and grill, giving the feel of 'Resort camping'. A huge high definition television took up a large portion of one of the living area's walls. George took one look at it and thought that it rivaled the Jumbotrons at any of the sports arenas that he had attended. Being a man, he mostly disregarded the fact that each sleeping area had its own private en suite bathroom equipped with showers large enough to hold a small party. 

"This room has been set aside for the boys, the television is bigger." said Beth with a smile, before stepping up and unlocking the connecting door between the suites. "Now, the girl's room was furnished more with a woman in mind." She opened the door with a flourish and continued, "As you can see, the living area is smaller, but the bathroom... ah, but the bathroom is something special!" 

Margarita darted past Beth and ran into the door, then gasped, "Sister! You have to come see this!" 

"Are those massage tables?" Maria asked. 

"Yup," giggled Beth, "We have massage therapists who will come directly to your room, as well as hairdressers and make-up experts. It's all included, there will be no need to tip any of them, and all gratuities will automatically be added to the room's bill, so everyone will be happy to come work on you!" 

"Now, you'll notice that the bathroom comes with wall sized mirrors and full vanities, so the two of you can get the full spa treatment without even leaving your room. Oh... and room service will happily bring cocktails, as long as you order them before 2AM. I would also like you to know that your Jacuzzi seats four, two to a side, with seats facing the lake; it's just the thing for a double date of romance!" 

Maria took a quick look at the tub and then darted over to George and grabbing his ear, she said, "George, whatever these people want... do it!" 

She then looked to Beth and said, "Where does he sign?" 

Beth laughed and replied, "No, no, we won't do any business tonight. Just enjoy your stay here at the Resort and we'll have our people talk to you tomorrow or the next day. We are bringing in our legal team to talk with you, but I'm sure that you'll be very happy with their offer; we want to make sure that everyone is happy when we are done and that everyone knows they were treated fairly." 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 08



"George," Maria said, still holding his ear tightly, "That other guy just promised you free health insurance and then he never even sent you the paperwork. You'd better listen to these people, do you hear me!" George's ear was saved from further abuse when the door to the boy's suite opened and Nick stepped into the room, closely followed by Oliver. 

"Ah, here they are," said Beth. "I'll leave you with Oliver now, and he can explain about all of the amenities and activities available here at the Resort. Just remember to get plenty of sleep tonight, because I will be coming here, bright and early, to fetch all of you and take you on our excursion!" Beth then nodded to Oliver to take over, and casually walked out of the room. 

Easy enough, she sent to John. None of them have ever been in a nice resort before. The women were ecstatic; they loved their room and the idea of a shopping spree. One of them threatened George, told him to sign those papers right now! They actually seem like nice people, John. 

Yeah, Oliver said that Nick was very concerned with his dogs' welfare. Oliver was very impressed by him. I know that it was just Oliver, but still... 

When will Jefferson and his lawyers get here? Have you heard anything yet? 

He said late tomorrow, so get your charges good and tired while you have them out on that shopping trip, and then they'll be too tired to deal with Jeff's boys until Saturday. 

Will do, John! 

"Well, it sounds like Beth has that part under control," John said to Sam and Tom from where they sat in the resort bar. 

Sam snorted and said, "Did you have any doubt?" 

"No, not really, although I was a little surprised when she suggested assigning Oliver to them as their personal guide." 

Tom said, "I can answer that one, boss. We all know that Oliver isn't very sharp, but he's worked here at the resort since we first built it. He's proud of the fact that he knows every square meter of the place, and he lives to serve. Oh, he'll never advance within the pack, or even be able to fight his way out of a wet paper bag, but he's a whiz in the hospitality industry! And to be honest, ever since we got him and Stan those new phones, they've actually been checking in regularly. I think they are setting a timer so they'll remember." 

"Then that means we ought to be good until Jefferson gets here with his team." 

"...and Carol," snorted Sam. 

"Crap, you had to go and spoil my beer didn't you?" John mumbled. 

"What's the matter Alpha? Are you afraid that scary old Carol and I are going to tag team you...umm... again," laughed Beth as she came around the corner into the bar. 

"There is a reason that I don't go visit them," grumped John as he took another long draught of his beer. 

"Yeah, you are chicken!" Sam laughed. 

"Oh come on John, Carol forgave you for all of that years ago!" Beth laughed. "She hasn't looked back since she mated Jefferson." 

John just continued to grumble inaudibly. 

"Toughest damn Alpha in the hemisphere...and he's afraid of women," Tom said, pretending as if he were considering the idea for the very first time. 

"Look, I'm right here! Hello!" John said menacingly. 

"Yeah, you are right, Tom" Sam said, ignoring John completely. "I think that between those cousins and then what he went through with Beth and Carol, I believe our fearsome Alpha has gotten burned...or whipped or something." 

"Maybe he should switch to humans," Beth offered helpfully. 

"Or sheep," suggested Tom. 

"Argh!" John yelled. 

"There, there," calmed Beth, while patting John's hand maternally. "It'll be okay John, I'll keep mean old Carol away from you!" 

Realizing that his friends were not letting up, John thought desperately until inspiration hit. "So Sam, you thought those sisters were hot? Which one did you like best?" 

"I could hardly tell them apart," Sam replied with a leer. "Even their scents are pretty much identical." 

"Tell us what you found out about them," John said quickly, keeping Sam talking. 

That was sneaky John! Beth sent, but she didn't say anything to stop Sam from gushing. 

"Sisters, Maria and Marguerite, they were born a scant ten months apart. Both were dancers until their big brother talked them into quitting their jobs and moving to Fresno to live with him." 

"Dancers?" Beth asked, knowingly. 

"Strippers!" Sam said, waggling his eyebrows in glee. "At a place called the Teaser Pleaser in Bakersfield. Oddly enough, it is located on Buck Owens Drive. They are completely open about it; evidently their stage name was the Habanero Sisters." 

"So which one do I get," Tom replied with a grin. 

"Do not piss their brother off," snapped John. We need him to remain happy! 

Beth sighed theatrically and then said, "Gee, I think I remember telling you something like that about a pair of cousins once, John." 

"Yeah, and I learned my freaking lesson too!" John snapped back. 

"Uh-huh, until you tried to juggle Beth and Carol at the same time." laughed Sam. 

"I need better friends," John said grumpily as the other three laughed at him. 

"No seriously, which one do I get?" Tom pressed. 

"I don't think it matters, Beth put them into the 'double-romance' room. Maybe they'd like to share!" 

"Sam, you are a pig!" Beth immediately snapped. 

Sam began making snorting noises as John and Tom laughed. 

Happy with their unexpectedly easy time with the humans from Fresno, and lost in their revelry, none of John's people quite noticed that Florence and William had neither shown up nor reported that they would be arriving late. So, help was not on their way, and William continued to glare at his grandfather. 

"You said that you'd had this piece of crap serviced!" 

"I did have it serviced." 

"You didn't think that maybe Old Willy needed some new tires? How long have these been on here; was the Viet Nam war still going? 

"Okay fine, my honorable grandson, I screwed up. Happy now? But you are a wolf, why don't you go on a run and scare us up some help?" 

Ignoring his grandfather, William continued to rant, "You've predicted everything else. You couldn't predict that a set of forty year old tires might not last on a long journey? You couldn't be useful for once and predict that two freaking tires would blow at once and leave us stranded out of cell phone range in the middle of nowhere?" 

"What's a cell phone?" Ja-mul responded blankly. 

William looked up at Florence in time to see her eyes bug out at the old man's question. "Don't believe his crap, Florence; the old fart has a television set, he is well aware of what a cell phone is. He is just trying to change the subject; I keep telling you...He's a coyote, do not listen to him!" 

Ja-mul tried to maintain a straight face for a moment, but he couldn't do it as he broke into laughter. "Damn it grandson, she almost bought that!" 

Florence shook her head and said, "You and John are going to butt heads, grandfather. I can see that coming and I'm not even a shaman. But that reminds me; you said something about John not having to put up with you very long, what was that all about?" 

"Granddaughter, honestly, I can't really tell you much more than that, but don't worry about your Alpha. He has worked long and hard for your people, and though he doesn't really realize it, my People as well. Your Goddess will reward him no matter what happens, and I promise I won't make him yell too much. He doesn't deserve that, though I will have to give him a bit of a hard time or he won't listen to me. But Florence, he has my respect; just don't you dare tell him that I said any of that!" 

"So," William interjected, "the tires?" 

"What, are you still here?" Ja-mul said with a grin. 

"What am I supposed to do? Carry my wallet in my teeth while I run to the nearest city, then shift back to human and pay for a tow-truck while standing there naked? We don't have any of those wolf backpacks with us. Besides, it's already starting to get dark; I doubt if anyone will even be open." 

"Oh foolish grandson, maybe you should just take the magic, spirit-summoning stick far enough down that path until you can get a smoke-signal up to the Gods of the network. You know, do the proper rain-dance for triple A, and then run back." 

"Fuck me," William swore as Florence burst into laughter. 

"He's not too bright," Ja-mul said to Flo with a wink. "I hope your cubs take after you." 

"You are a rotten bastard!" William said before dropping his clothes and loping down the road with his cell phone in his teeth." 

"I hope your mighty warrior doesn't drool into his phone, or he'll be running back to borrow yours," chuckled Ja-mul. 

Oh William, Beth sent to her mate, Grandfather says to make sure that you don't drool into your phone. 

Shortly thereafter, Will ran back into camp, dropped his phone into his undershirt and then picked it up and ran back out of sight, not even once glancing at Florence or his grandfather. 

"He's always taken directions well, though. Perhaps you should consider rewarding him with a doggy treat when he gets back," Ja-mul said dryly. 

Florence stifled her laugh, knowing full well that while Ja-mul might get away with this abuse, William might choose to get even with his loving mate if she laughed too heartily at him. So she waited until after she was sure that William had run out of hearing range before she asked, "Have you two always been on one another's case like this? Has it been like this all of his life? Mind you, I see why he doesn't bat an eye at Beth now." 

"Ouch! You are comparing your esteemed grandfather to William's mouthy mother? Didn't your pack tell you to respect your elders?" 

"Ha! She's way older than you. That tack aint gonna work!" 

"But I look way older than she does. Doesn't that count?" 

"No. Now answer the question." 

"Yes, granddaughter, your mate and I have always battled; it makes us smile, and life should be happy." 

"What happened to his parents?" 

Ja-mul spat on the ground, looking troubled for a moment before responding, "White man's poison. My adopted son got drunk... Hell, he stayed drunk, only this time it was much worse. He decided to play chicken with another car on the highway and four people died. The only one who survived that collision was William. If the accident hadn't happened on tribal lands, I would never have managed to keep custody of the boy." 

"You said 'adopted son' and 'never managed to keep custody', does this mean that Will isn't really your grandson?" 

"Is John really your father? How about Beth, is she really your mother?" 

"Yes grandfather, they are, but you know what I meant." 

"No, there is no direct blood-line, although his last name was always Yazzie. I adopted Will's father when he was only a youth. I tried to save him from the alcoholism that killed his parents, but he was too far gone by the time he came to live with me. I had thought that he'd finally beaten it for a time after Will was born, but then he got drunk again and killed everyone in that crash." 

"Grandfather, I'm sorry for bringing it up, I hadn't meant to make you sad; it's just that you and Will seem to love each other so much, and I wondered how it came to be." 

"No child, it is good that you know. You have some shocks coming regarding your own parentage, and I think that it is important for you to realize John and Beth love you as much as Will and I love one another. I've told you more of his story than I've ever told Will." 

"Shocks coming? What do you mean?" 

"Yes, but we won't get to that until later on tonight; Triple A won't be able to bring us tires until tomorrow. We are going to be stuck sleeping out here tonight." 

Florence began to smile, "...and you knew this even before you sent Will out to 'send smoke signals up to the God of the network'?" 

"The Goddess works in mysterious ways," Jamul said, while grinning. "So, since we will be stuck here all night, do you think you might be willing to shift into your wolf and go hunt us up some dinner? While you are gone, I'll rub these two sticks together and make a fire," he said, while holding up a Bic lighter. 

Florence giggled, "Will was right; you are a rotten bastard!" 

When Will returned from contacting Triple A, he found the two calmly cleaning a brace of rabbits while they sat together next to a small cook fire. Skewers had been cut from a nearby tree, and his loved ones had obviously been preparing for a night spent outdoors while the towing service scared up the required parts to fix Ja-mul's truck. Before William could say a word, Ja-mul responded, "Yes, I know, I'm a rotten bastard. I knew that they'd be unable to come out and help us until tomorrow, but look on the bright side: your mate managed to scare up these wonderful rabbits for our dinner. So it looks like your wife is quite a hunter and you will not be going hungry anytime soon, grandson. Umm, since she hunts, does this mean that you will be doing the farming in your marriage?" 

Will shook his head and responded, "You got us stuck here on purpose?" 

Ja-mul only responded that there was someone that the two of them needed to meet, and he was then unwilling to say any more on the subject despite the couple pressing him for more answers. He'd merely replied that they needed to be patient, and that nothing would be revealed until after nightfall. William accepted his grandfather's response grudgingly, while Florence was quickly learning that Ja-mul only had one speed, slow. To press him for more, when he was unwilling to grant it, would just result in more passive-aggressive abuse. The old man seemed to think that this equated to teaching, but as far as Florence was concerned, the old man's lessons always seemed to have a hook of some kind within them, and she was quickly learning not to be baited; so instead of arguing, she raised one eyebrow and asked, "Is there any particular time we need to be back then? It sounds like we will have time after dinner, so I think I will entice my mate into going on a before dinner run." 

Ja-mul looked up from where he was skinning rabbits, a questioning look on his face, but Florence wasn't biting, she was content to hold her tongue and force him into an answer. Seconds passed as the two assessed one another, waiting for the other to break. William looked on with amusement, understanding that an unspoken power-struggle was going on. 

Realizing that Florence had him where she wanted him, Ja-mul gave in. "Come back in time to eat dinner before the moon is directly overhead. I will cook the rabbits, but don't be late. Yes, patience is a virtue, but stubbornness rarely accomplishes anything for an Alpha." 

"Thank you grandfather," was all she said. 

William saw that some sort of resolution had been achieved, but he hadn't a clue as to what they'd been arguing about. Must be above my pay grade, he thought to himself absently. Then, taking a second look at the string of rabbits that Florence had found, he asked Ja-mul, "This is a fair number of rabbits, I remember that it used to take you all day to hunt up one or two; how long did it take Florence to bring these down?" 

"About ten minutes," grumbled Ja-mul. 

"Maybe you should learn to farm?" William offered helpfully. 

Ja-mul merely snorted and continued cleaning another rabbit. 

Seeing that Will and Ja-mul were preoccupied with yet, another argument, Florence slipped behind the truck, quickly removed her clothes and then crept silently into the trees, shifting as she moved. 

"Grandson..." Ja-mul interjected, "Are you missing something?" 

"Missing?" 

"Something very important to you, something that you would quite likely cause your death if you ever lost it." 

Belatedly realizing what his grandfather was hinting, William noticed that Flo was gone and grinned in thanks to the old man before hurriedly shifting and loping off into the forest. Ja-mul's eyes twinkled, remembering a certain girl from his own youth, but he had dinner to cook and a ceremony to prepare for, so he walked over to his truck and began digging through his boxes in the bed for his gear. 

This time, William knew that he was not far behind his target; he hadn't spoken with his grandfather for long, and in any event, Florence's scent was very strong here, her arousal wafting through the wind behind her as she ran. He knew that she didn't know that he was already on her trail yet, and he wasn't about to wreck the surprise by sending her any warnings. He quickly estimated her speed by the distance between paw prints and then attempted to match her pace, not wanting to get so close that she heard him coming and he didn't want to catch her too near his grandfather's camp. 

This time there would be no home-field advantage for either of them. Neither wolf knew these woods and William briefly wondered if that might not be the reason that Ja-mul had conspired to strand them here. Chasing his mate required his full attention however, so he didn't linger on this thought for long. He knew that he had to keep her close for if she managed to increase her lead too much, his nose might not be able to track her so readily. 

As Florence ran on, she smiled as she remembered William chasing her as a human that first time. She'd been so lonely and so miserable, and yet, she had never fully realized this, even though everyone around her had seen it very clearly. She also knew that her life was much better now, she rarely stopped smiling. William had proven to be the answer, and he was rarely out of her mind; his sensual smell was always with her. It was almost as if she could smell him now. Wait... I can smell him now! Dammit! 

You think you are pretty slick, don't you? 

About like my mate sneaking out of camp while I was speaking with my grandfather, don't you think? 

Yeah, but you screwed up and got too close, and now I caught a whiff of you and know what you are doing. 

Yes my love, but that means that I'm practically right on top of you...and umm, you mentioned the word 'slick'... and from that wonderful aroma that you are leaving behind you, I am guessing that your pu... 

Don't say it, you pig! 

No mate, I'm not going to say it, I'm going to catch you and then make you say it. I'm eager to hear you say the word and ask me to do something with it. Besides, I'm not a pig, I'm a wolf; you saw to that! 

Looking for an escape route of some kind, Florence was slow to respond to this. She had to find a river to mask her scent, a mountain to climb...anything. Instead, she found herself running into a muddy bog of a meadow. Sticky and wet, it was surrounded by hundreds of flowering thorn covered berry bushes. 

Crap! If I skirt this, he'll likely just take a route directly through it and gain even more ground on me. If I go straight across, I risk him seeing me, and then it will all be over, he's faster than me and would surely run me down. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll get stuck in the mud. She quickly decided to hope that the middle of the bog would prove to be a barrier and the hundreds of thousands of blossoms would mask her scent, so she started skirting the edge of the meadow, fully aware that her paw prints were leaving a clear trail behind her in the mud. 

Her plotting was for naught though, as she was barely a third of the way around the meadow when he reached its edge. Immediately seeing her struggling through the densely growing bushes, he did exactly what she had though he would do, he made a bee-line directly for her, and unfortunately for her, his path was one of the dryer parts of the meadow. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 08



I got you now, my lovely bitch! He chortled, as he got closer and closer. 

Florence knew that victory was his; she had run directly into an impassible thicket of woody thorns, and William was smiling wolfishly as he thought about all of the things he was going to make her say when he caught her. But then Florence saw one last opportunity, a small bolt hole directly into the heart of the bush. It was too dark to see what it contained, but she was desperate to win this time and she decided to take her chances as she darted into the dark. This was a decision that they'd both live to regret as she dove directly into a bee hive with a resounding splat of broken hive wall and oozing honey. 

Never had victory turned into ignominious defeat so quickly. Instantly, every single inhabitant of the hive poured out and began attacking. Unfortunately for the two wolves, these were not domesticated honey bees, instead, they were larger than this. They were wasps capable of stinging their victims repeatedly, and they were quite upset at the two wolves who had just destroyed their hive. 

"Run" screamed Florence mentally, and the two wolves did just that. But as they fled, they were being stung repeatedly by the savage swarm that followed them. 

"Into the mud!" William yelled desperately. 

The two headed directly into the center of the bog, finding it's stickiest, slimiest, smelliest heart. All the while, they were being stung repeatedly, leading them to run faster than any wolves in recorded history. They slogged through the muck as it got progressively deeper before finally throwing themselves into the mire, rolling in it to coat themselves in bee-shielding mud. They closed their eyes and ears tightly, hoping to keep the worst of the mud out, and somewhat impatiently waited for the storm to pass. Eventually, it did; the bees lost interest and flew back and began rebuilding their hive. 

Covered in slightly stagnant, and extremely sticky muck, Florence sent, "You were saying something about my pussy being slick, dearest?" 

"Yeah, well at least I caught you. But now I've been stung all over my body and I'm wondering, how do wolves react to venom?" 

"When we combine it with alcohol, it becomes a pretty strong hallucinogen. Come to the clubhouse on almost any Friday and you will see the men ordering a drink called a 'venom'; only on Friday's though, no one manages to work the next day after downing one of those!" 

"So, with all those stings that we took, do we need medical attention?" 

"No, we heal pretty quickly, and without the activating alcohol, the pain will be gone in a couple of hours, all we will be left with is a pretty annoying itch. We will need to find a way to get this disgusting mud off before it dries completely though; I mean, you stink!" 

"Florence, I hate to say it, but I'm betting that the disreputable old bastard back at the truck..." 

"Knows where the water is," Flo finished. 

"Do you want to kill him, or should I?" William said grinning. 

"Would you miss him?" 

"Life is never dull with grandfather around." 

"Let's go face the music then, but if he says even one sarcastic word about this, I'm going to rub this mud all over him." 

William snorted and the two began to make their way... slickly, back to the truck. When they caught sight of Ja-mul, he wasn't saying anything sarcastic, merely pointing over his shoulder and shouting, "There's a small river over that way, and when you get back, I've got something for the bee stings." 

"I think he knows that you are mad at him," William sent. 

"Are you sure that you'd miss him?" Florence responded. 

"Some days," William laughed. 

After an ice-cold rinse in the shallow water that was more of a creek than a river, Flo and Will found themselves back in camp. They had shifted and were now warmly dressed, but both still smelled faintly of stagnant mud. Their mood was grumpy, and they were not saying much to Ja-mul. Oddly enough, the old man was smart enough not to mention their adventure, but he didn't bother to hide his amusement when he told them to sit by the fire and eat dinner; their guest would be arriving before long. 

All three of them dug into their stringy, unseasoned rotisseried rabbit with relish. It wasn't very good, but there was plenty of it, and it had been many hours since any of them had eaten. They finished their meal fairly quickly and clean up was a snap, they just tossed the remainder into the fire and called it a day. One thing had become apparent however, all through the meal, both Florence and William had been scratching more and more openly, clearly the venom in their bodies was causing both to itch more than they wanted to admit. 

Producing a small bag, Ja-mul pulled out several chunks of a home-made granola. "Here, eat this," he said, "It's made from morning glory seeds and it is a very effective anti-itch medicine. I put honey in this batch, although I suspect that you two have had enough honey for a while." 

He then scuttled away quickly before Florence could lash out at him, disappearing into the bushes behind his truck. "Yes, I'd miss him," William said, before she could ask. "And don't discount the honey either, most of his remedies taste awful, but they do usually work. 

They ate their granola in comparative silence, and Florence found that it was surprisingly good, certainly much tastier than their dinner had been. Indeed, the concoction was very pleasant, heavenly...even euphoric. It was almost... "Shit!" Florence exclaimed. 

"What?" William cried, leaping to his feet and taking a defensive posture. 

But before Florence had an opportunity to explain, Ja-mul returned to the clearing, chanting in a language that neither knew. He was dressed for some sort of ceremony, clad only in a loin-cloth and deer-skin moccasins, his long gray hair was now braided and festooned with feathers. He wore a necklace, bracelets, and anklets made of carnivore teeth. 

His chanting alternated both in volume and tempo, and was interspersed with interludes of atonal mumbling. In each hand he held and shook some sort of crystalline fetish. Florence thought they looked like some sort of maraca, although she had no idea what the crystalline heads might be made from, she was sure that the handles were made out of polished manzanita wood. 

As he approached the campfire, he threw a handful of some sort of powder into the fire which exploded with a flash and produced a large cloud of white smoke which enveloped them all. He then switched to Na-Dene, Ja-mul's birth language and a dialect with which both William and Florence were more comfortable. Ja-mul began to praise Xwun as both a God and a Goddess, thanking her for appearing above them in the sky tonight. He implored the God to come down from her home in the sky and to share her wisdom, and to direct all of them on the right way of life. 

He then raised his fetish to the moon, repeating his praise, as well as his requests for Xwun's help and guidance. The fetish seemed to gather the moon's light and focus it onto a single point, acting as a spotlight-like trail through the white smoke and directly into Florence's face. 

Florence felt the light as if it were a physical blow, it rocked her back and made her head spin. As the light bathed her features, she heard a humming sound that seemed to surround her, making her feel as if she were suspended in a single musical note. But before she could think what to do about it, she heard Ja-mul's voice screaming, "Goddess, join with us!" 

Suddenly, she remembered. "The venom..." was all she managed to gasp before she was gone. No longer within her own body, she went completely limp and pitched forward into William's arms. 

Ja-mul then turned his wrist slightly, refocusing the Goddess's light into William's face, as he shouted, "and her mate with her". He then screamed loudly in Na-Dene once again and tossed more powder into the fire, causing another explosion and with it, William to crumple to the ground with his beloved mate. 

"And now we wait," he said, switching back to English as he walked back to his truck. He sat down and pulled out his medicine bag, removing one more chunk of his morning glory seed granola, and beginning to consume it, he said "It's more comfortable in here anyhow."



Artiface of Strength Ch. 09



By ten ante meridiem on Friday morning, Beth had played cowboy and wrangled her herd, hustling all four of the Fresnans into one of the pack's S.U.V.s. Tom had done the driving, and had successfully led them down the mountain and into the city below. Beth had fed everyone during the trip, and all six were now walking into the Lower Sequoia Mall as it was opening for business. 

"Okay ladies, we are going to lose the children now. I'm sure that they are going to find the sports bar and go play with their penises or something, but we are going to be doing some more productive, we're going shopping!" 

"Tom, you make sure that they buy some decent evening clothes before you babies sneak off to the jersey store, do you hear me?" 

Tom rolled his eyes as he drove his charges away from the crazy women; why was it that shopping appealed to women? He made sure that neither George or Nick were actually listening to Beth by murmuring words of 'signed Derek Carr jerseys' into their ears as he led his men out of Beth's firing line. 

Continuing to fire away, Beth said, "When those idiots get back, you two are in charge of checking their purchases. If they don't buy anything nice enough to get into the restaurant, you will get stuck eating in your room. Make sure they bought several pairs of everything, you don't want them wearing the same thing into the Restaurant every night." 

"You know my brother?" Maria asked suspiciously. 

"I know men. Once those babies get a new jersey and have a beer in their hands, it'll be all over, they will forget about anything else. 

Nick's sisters laughed at this, and then Margarita asked, "Is Tom any better?" 

"Not a bit, and besides that, he owes me a pair of boots today." 

"Boots?" 

"Umm, he lost a bet. He's gotta buy me a new pair of Ropers." 

"Is he your man," Margarita probed. 

"Nope, you are welcome to him," Beth shot back. 

"And his brother, anyone got her claws in him? No one's got a ring on him?" 

Beth instantly stopped walking and stared at the sisters, "Are you two interested in the idiot brothers?" 

Maria said, "They seem like they'd be fun. They've got that bad boy vibe." 

"Fun yes, sensible no." 

"So...are they available?" 

"Those two have been available so long that I think their sell-by label has disintegrated into dust. Do you two know how to dance?" 

The sisters laughed scornfully at this, "You know we were strippers? Right?" 

"Okay...So let me put that a different way. Do you two know how to dance in a honky-tonk?' 

"We lived in Bakersfield, of course we honky-tonk. There's a bar there; it's called Trout's," Maria replied. 

"...and then there's Buck's Crystal Palace, but that place is for the geezers, mostly." Margarita added. 

Beth grinned in response and instantly changed direction in the mall, "Well then, let's go buy the boots first; I'll get you set up with the idiot brothers later." 

~~~ 

Florence was asleep, curled around her mate, lying in the lush grass. As her eyes began to flicker open, she felt the warming presence of her mate at her side and began to snuggle back into his heat when she suddenly remembered the end of Ja-mul's ceremony. Her eyes snapped open at this memory and she sat up quickly. She was reassured to find that William was asleep at her side, and Ja-mul slept nearby. 

She glanced around quickly and felt a sense of déjà-vu, even though she was reasonably sure that she had never been here before, it seemed awfully familiar. "This was the home you should have had," a musical voice said softly. Florence turned her head and saw that it was coming from a striking looking woman who was addressing her. 

No normal women, she was well over two meters in height, her coloration an ethereal shade of such bright white that she almost glowed. Her features were those of the People even if her coloring was not. Flo idly considered that Beth's cosmetics could probably allow this woman to appear Cherokee, if only they were caked on thick enough. 

"This world is exactly like the 'new world' would have been, except there are no human beings in it. No white men, no members of the People; you might call it an alternate world, but I prefer to think of it as a better one." 

"Lady..." stammered Florence questioningly. 

"Or Xwun, as Ja-mul thinks of me... or several dozen other names over the years, many call me Luna. I'm delighted to finally meet you Florence. I have waited a long time for one of your birth. I think that we can finally put things right." 

"Of my birth? What do you mean by that?" 

"Would you like to see your parents as they were? They won't see us or even know we are watching them, but you can learn where you came from in the process." 

"My birth parents?" 

"Yes Florence, are you ready?" 

Florence glanced nervously at where her mate continued to sleep peacefully. 

The Lady saw the look and reassured Florence that both he and Ja-mul would be perfectly safe here alone. "Indeed," she said, "I am speaking with them now, and he did the exact same thing that you did; his first thought was for your safety. The two of you have a very strong bond for such a new pairing. It bodes well for all of us." 

"He'll be safe here? And the old coyote too?" 

The Lady laughed at this, "He'd like that. The old coyote... He loves being a pain! And yes Florence, they will be perfectly safe here all alone. Shall we go?" 

Reaching down with a glowing hand, the Lady grasped hands with Florence, and they were instantly elsewhere. 

They were now in a small cave where a wolf bitch was in the process of birthing her pups. Florence continued to watch as four wolf pups were born, one right after another, and as a huge, scarred wolf stood guard in the cave opening, defending his family. 

"That one is you," the Lady said, pointing at the last and largest pup to be born. Now, we'll slide forward in time a little ways and see how things developed." 

Florence's vision blurred for a moment and she realized that they were now outside the cave, where the large male was dragging a small doe back to his family for dinner. She watched as three pups came forward and began to feed. She looked for the fourth pup, but he was nowhere to be found. 

Sensing Florence's unspoken question, the Lady said, "He died young, it's just you and your two brothers now." 

Florence saw the adults were calmly standing guard over their pups feast, and she noticed that the one female pup was now quite a bit larger than her brothers. 

"Yes, you grew quickly, but your brothers were not so lucky. The gene that produced you was not so kind to the males." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Let's jump forward again, but let me warn you, this part is far from pleasant; but watch your parents in action, they gave it everything they had." 

Once again, Florence's vision blurred for a moment and when it cleared, she saw that the cubs were even larger, and that the female was now at least half again as large as her brothers. The Lady said, "They were a bit undersized for their age, but by this time, you were huge, much bigger than average. This next part is the unpleasant part." 

Florence saw that the family was feeding on a downed calf, and she almost groaned before saying, "Why are they feeding on human food; surely they are aware of the risk?" 

But the Lady said nothing for the moment, and Florence was surprised to see that the danger came from a pack of feral dogs, rather than from a rancher with a gun. The pack swept into the family violently, with madness in their eyes. 

"Rabies," the Lady supplied. 

When it was over, both of her brothers were dead, as was her father and almost all of the feral dogs. The Madam was grievously wounded, and was gasping her last breaths as she lay beside her dead mate. Only young Florence was unwounded, having displayed an unearthly speed in battle that no pup should have been able to produce. 

"Why didn't they shift?" Florence asked sadly. 

"They were wolves Florence, not Were." 

"What?" Florence gasped, "What do you mean that they were not Were?" 

"Florence, you were born a full wolf, not Were." 

"But...how is that possible?" 

"Werewolves were supposed to be a marriage between the best of the People, and the best of the wolves. Only the strongest would come together to lead their combined peoples, but before it could come to fruition the Europeans came to our world with their diseases and their greed. The People and the wolves were nearly destroyed." 

"There were never very many Were to begin with, and shortly after the Europeans landed, all of them were gone, most of them killed by diseases that they had never experienced before. The wolves then fell to the white man's agriculture and his herding, and the few People who survived were herded into desolate death traps where they lost their way of life." 

"It took generations to bring wolves back from the brink, and now, there are almost no People left who keep to the old ways, but there are a few. Only a bare few left to right the wrongs, and to bring the world back into balance." 

"So why did I become Were?" 

"You had the gene, and you were the very first of your kind to be brought before the Alpha's Alpha. You are the very first wolf to make the jump since the Europeans landed. Now you've begun to fulfill your destiny by mating the strongest living warrior of the People. If the two of you survive what is coming, you will inherit this Earth," she said, indicating the forest around her." 

"What is coming?" 

"War." 

"Is there any way to prevent it?" 

"No Florence, it has already begun." 

"Why does it have to be like this?" 

"All the usual reasons that motivate Europeans: This time, the gold under your land, and the ever-present fear of anything new or different." 

"So what am I supposed to do about any of this?" 

"Just live your life honestly, Florence. Give of yourself for the right things and leave no regrets behind. If you live your life trying to make the world a better place, then you win. We win, no matter how everything else turns out." 

"Lady, you make everything sound so simple. You tell me that war is coming, but that it doesn't really matter if we win or lose, only that I have to behave honourably. That doesn't make sense to me." 

"Why is that so hard to believe?" 

"It's the responsibility; you are telling me that the fate of our people depends on me." 

"And William... Florence, if you and your mate can't do this, then no one can. And that means that we'll pass into the afterlife, and that won't be so bad either. Sometimes even Gods fade from this world, and usually when that happens, their people go with them. So, just behave honorably, and if we lose, then we will take our honour and go." 

"So just stop worrying and do my best?" 

The Lady's face broke into a beatific smile, and she said, "See Flo, it isn't so hard." 

Florence's face clouded momentarily at the use of her hated nickname, but when the Lady unleashed peals of laughter, Flo realized that she'd been had, and her irritation passed almost immediately. 

"Flo...rence, do you have any more questions before I send you back," the Goddess asked, grinning. 

"No Lady, nothing else I guess, but thank you for sending William to me. He allows me to be stronger than I was before. Without William, my strength was only an artifice; it was as easy to pierce as tissue paper." 

"Make one other happy," the Goddess commanded as Florence felt herself fading from the plane. 

When Florence awoke for a second time, she realized that she had shifted and fed at some point during the night. Her belly was full and she was curled up comfortably into a ball with her mate; it was a pleasant way to wake, although it was somewhat chilly as their fire had gone cold during the night. 

William was waking as well, and from the comfortable smile on his face, he seemed to be as content with his situation as Florence was. He licked her snout and ears in a wolfish good morning, and Flo knew that waking up with her mate made her life complete. She didn't really care if they were wolf or human, she knew that if they were together, life would prove to be manageable. She leaned into him, curling into his warmth and protection. 

She had just gotten relaxed again when Ja-mul yelled out, "Hey, you two better shift back. Triple A will be here before too much longer, and I don't think the repair guy will be comfortable with two wolves watching him work." 

Florence growled at Ja-mul momentarily before accepting that their all too brief period of relaxation was over, and that she and her mate would have to shift back and rejoin the human world. It was nice while it lasted she thought to herself. 

"I wish that I had a clearer memory of everything that happened last night," Ja-mul remarked. "I hadn't eaten rattlesnake in many years, and now I'm not even sure that I enjoyed it." 

"You ate rattlesnake? When was this?" Florence asked. 

"You and William caught them last night; evidently you found a nest of them somewhere. I can't say that I'd ever eaten them raw before though. I sure wish I could remember what they tasted like now, but the lights were still popping on and off then; we were in the in-between place." 

"Wait..." William said, "We caught, and ate, rattlesnakes?" 

"Yeah, a bunch of them, check out the heads and the rattlers," Ja-mul said, showing them a coffee can filled with them. "These came from in-between, and they will have great power." 

"...and we didn't get bitten?" 

"Oh Hell no, you were both repeatedly bitten, but I think that it just added to the power of the seeds you had eaten; I've never seen a trance last that long." 

Florence realized that the old man had played her yet again, and growled at Ja-mul saying, "That 'anti-itch' medicine that you gave us..." 

"It worked didn't it. You don't itch anymore, now do you?" Ja-mul replied dryly. 

Florence's eyes narrowed as she continued to growl as she took a step towards the old man. 

"Now grand-daughter, don't be like that. The Lady wanted to talk to you, and it was the only way to cross the divide. But I will admit that I didn't know that wolves had that strong of a reaction to venom however. I may have to write that down." 

"See there Florence," said William, reaching out to calm his mate, "We taught the old crook something new." 

"Yeah, so he can be even more dangerous," she spat. 

Seeing the now venomous look upon Florence's face, Ja-mul did something he rarely did, he kept his mouth shut. He just lowered his head respectfully and wouldn't meet her glare. 

Florence found that continuing to stare the man down wasn't making her feel any better, so instead, she switched gears and began pressing William for details about his conversation with the Goddess. Eager to defuse tensions between his loved ones, William began to explain his experience. He had not gotten far however before the repair truck pulled up, and they were forced to end their discussion before it had really started. 

~~~ 

Back in the city, Beth was just pulling on her brand her new pair of boots. "Hey, you dumb bastard," she sent to Tom. "These boots that you are buying for me; I bet that you didn't know they come in red. Darlin' I've finally found myself some little red boots." 

Tom merely chuckled to himself and sent back, "Ah, but remember your promise. You said that whatever I pay for, I get to take off of you." 

Beth paused for a moment, and then she decided to tell him the truth. "Yeah Tom... about that... Our new pack number two instructed me to spend all of your money, flirt outrageously with you, and then to leave you hanging with a stupid look on your face. You might remember that she was pretty mad at you guys when we set this up." 

Tom snorted, "Oh yeah, I thought she'd freaking explode when Sam brought her your doggy-style t-shirt. I bet she tore that thing to shreds." 

"Actually... she brought it back washed and folded. She set this whole thing up in order to get even with you guys." 

"No way!" 

"Way. She was madder than a wet hen, but she kept it together and then just stabbed you back...hard." 

"So why am I buying you boots?" 

"Because I'm nice enough to be letting you know that your new number two is smarter than you thought she was. Even back when you two thought she was an easy target, she was just working you two." 

"Crap. You are teaching her to act like you do." 

"Why thank you Tom, aint you so sweet!" 

"That wasn't a compliment, Beth." 

"Sure it was, and besides all that, these boots are only a couple hundred bucks and now you get the pleasure of seeing me wear them when I'm dancing." 

"You women aint right." 

"I still love you like a brother, Tom. So, maybe I owe you one. Which one do you want, Maria or Margarita?" 

"What?" 

"Evidently these bitches like to honky-tonk with bad boys. Have you got anyone in mind?" 

"So, I'm buying you new Wranglers too?" 

Beth laughed to herself and closed their connection before waving the sales girl over to let her know that the boots were perfect and that she could wrap them up. She then sent the shop girl to the other girls, directing her to help them find boots for dancing. Her work done, she headed over to the western wear racks and began looking for the perfect pain of jeans, something that would accent her new boots. 

As she began to dig through the offerings, she kept a wary eye on her charges, but it was pretty clear that the two sisters would require little supervision, obviously quite happy to shop until Beth ran out of money. Beth knew that was pretty much impossible, so she relaxed and began to consider her own situation. 

She knew that Florence was more than ready to take over the duties of running the various businesses of Whiskey Town, and that she probably had been ready for some time now. Beth had not chosen to move forward only because of Florence's past emotional state, Flo had been so frazzled and unhappy that neither Beth nor John had thought it to be a wise move; she had been entirely too unstable. Clearly things had changed though, and the changes were accelerating as Florence was growing into her own skin. It was clear now that she was going to become a very strong Madam Alpha, and while Beth was extremely proud of her adoptive daughter, she wasn't sure what these changes meant for her own life. 

Beth had been operating as de-facto Madam Alpha almost from the day of her turning. She loved her job and she was far from ready to retire from it. It wasn't as though she was an old wolf, and no one really knew how long wolves lived anyway. Sam, Tom, and John were all hundreds of years older than she, and none of them had shown any indication that they were slowing down. All three of them looked to be in early middle age, pretty much how they had looked when they had been turned. 

What the Hell will I do if Florence replaces me? It's not like I have a mate or a family to focus on! I'm not sure that I'm the one for some sort of senior advisor position. I'll never stand in Florence's way, but Goddess, I sure hope that you have something in mind for me too. 

Beth knew that she would have to be patient, but she also knew that this was not one of her strengths. Grabbing an angry wolf by the balls and getting him to change his attitude, she was good at that. Waiting? Not so much. This reflection calmed her though, and she found herself smiling despite the stress. 

Well, I guess I can still steer John around. Goddess knows that he needs the help. 

And then she sent a silent prayer, "Lady, You know that we've all worked long and hard for you. Please have a new job for us if you are going to take our old one!" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 09



"Hey Beth," Maria called, breaking Beth's reverie, "What do you think of these? They have two pair of this style and Margarita thought it would be fun to play the twins game when we go dancing. What do you think?" 

Beth grinned as she remembered that Sam had said that the two of the sisters even smelled the same. "I think you girls are going to drive my two idiots crazy, and that they pretty much deserve it. So, yes the boots will work; so, do we go with jeans or short skirts?" 

At the other end of the mall, Tom made an elaborate show of pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, looking at it, and then sighing. 

"What do they want now," asked Nick. 

"Beth told your sisters about the Roadhouse." 

"The Roadhouse," George asked. 

"It's a honky-tonk in town. It plays modern country music and has dancing." 

"Oh crap," mumbled Nick while George just frowned. 

"You two don't dance?" Tom asked slyly. 

George snorted, "Not unless someone is shooting at our feet." 

"Well, I guess that maybe I could get my brother to take them; he owes me a favour." Tom said slowly. 

"We'd owe you!" Nick said quickly. 

"Yeah," George added, "We could just hang out at the Resort bar while you are gone." 

"Hell," Nick said, "We might just stay in our room if there is a good game on. Did you see the size of that screen in there? 

"Well..." Tom said slowly, as if he'd just thought of something, "If Sam and I are going to take the girls off your hands for a night or two, we really need to get serious and go buy you guys some nice evening clothes for when you are in the Resort bar. Heck, you might meet some nice ladies in there. So, grab whatever jerseys that you want and we'll get cracking on finding you some fancy clothes or your sisters will drag y`all to the Roadhouse with them." 

Both men immediately grabbed the Derek Carr home jerseys that they'd been eyeing, and followed Tom up to the register. Like taking Candy from her stripper pole, Tom grinned to himself. He then sent his report to Beth and began paying for their merchandise. 

Beth held her laughter long enough to get her phone out and pretend to read a text message. She then snorted and told the girls, "Tom threatened your brothers with having to take you dancing unless they beat feet to the gentlemen's store and picked out some suitable clothes. Do you two want to oversee that, or are we going to trust Tom to do it?" 

Margarita laughed, "Like we care if those two look like dorks!" 

"Let Tom handle it," agreed Maria as she continued to look for the right skirt to go with her boots. 

"Oooo, look at this one," Margarita said excitedly! 

"Are there two of those?" Maria asked quickly. 

Beth ended up being just as happy with the skirt that she found, it was jet black and would set off her boots very well. It was a little bit longer than she had initially envisioned, but it was very blousy, and she knew that it would fly up nicely when she spun, giving the men a chance to think that they were stealing a peek. Now I just need to find the right top for this. 

While all of this was going on, Burton Waters was having a very bad day back in Texas. It had started with a phone call from Walker who told him that Medina and Calvillo had taken emergency leave from their jobs and were nowhere to be found. Walker had then weathered the torrent of threats and abuse that Burton had unleashed upon him with aplomb and had calmly informed Waters that he and Phil had indeed visited Calvillo's home and found it to be empty—even his sisters and his pets were gone. 

Walker had then checked with the men's employer, and spoken with everyone in their neighborhood who knew them. They'd found nothing more than one old woman who had agreed to gather their mail every few days until they returned. They were at a dead end as neither man had any family in the area, although they had not given up yet. He and Phil were now hitting the area bars, trying to locate any one who may have spoken with the men. 

Burton had listened to the solicitor's report with growing anger until he finally snapped and threw his cell phone into a concrete wall, destroying it instantly. The remnants of the phone were still rapidly spinning on the ground when Liz walked into the office unannounced, "Bad day Daddy?" she asked with little evident concern. 

Still furious, Burton did not answer her immediately. Liz sat down in one of her father's chairs, saying, "I heard you yell something about Phil and Fresno; were you yelling at Will?" 

Burton's eyes narrowed as he came to a decision. "No, Elizabeth, William has disappeared. Even Phil doesn't know where he is." 

"But you always send him on stuff like that, Daddy. It isn't unusual for him to disappear for days at a time when he is working for you; you know that!" 

"Phil says that he left with a woman, Liz." 

"What woman," she spat dangerously. 

"He was with the same one that he was with that night at the Resort; she works for our target." 

"So, he's working then?" she replied, still far from calm. 

"Liz, I'm not sure about that; even Phil doesn't know this time." 

"Are you suggesting that he is cheating on me?" Liz snapped, staring daggers at her father. 

"Elizabeth, you two have been legally separated for well over a year now. Isn't it possible that he might be on a date?" 

"Not if he ever wants to see the kids again," she snapped back. 

"Liz, I really need to speak with him, and he isn't answering any of his calls. Can you..." 

"Yeah, he will take my call. He always answers it if it is about the kids." 

"When will you talk to him?" 

"Let me calm down and give it some thought before I open my mouth; can you get one of your spooks to get me a report on that woman first? I'll call him when I know what I'm going to say. Fair enough?" 

"Yes, Liz; I think that would be fine." 

Burton watched his daughter stomp out of his office and he wondered if she might indeed be tough enough to succeed him at the head of the family empire. She handled that much better than he had expected that she would. She hadn't flown off the handle; instead, she had immediately started to plan her next move. Maybe he wouldn't need William Yazzie after all. Getting rid of the Indian trash might make all of this worthwhile. Burton smiled at this, and for once, his smile was real. 

Ja-mul drove old Willy directly through the compound and to John's office. He hadn't asked for directions; like everything else, he'd known the way without being told. Sam, looking out the window and seeing the old truck pull in, remarked, "Hey boss, your shaman is here, and it looks like he is parking in your parking spot." 

"Of course he is." 

"You never actually park there." 

"Still...it's my spot Damn it!" 

"Don't tell me; tell your shaman." 

"C'mon Sam, let's get this over with; let's go greet our new Di-yin," John said with resignation in his voice. 

"Why bother? It looks like he is coming right directly to us anyway." 

"Of course he is," John sighed, reaching for his beer. 

And all of this was true. Jamal set the old truck's parking brake, calmly exited old Willy, and walked directly into John's office. Florence and William grinned at one another and then just followed their grandfather, looking forward to the upcoming show. Ja-mul entered the home and then turned immediately right into John's private sanctum, speaking colonial-era Abenaki as he entered the room. 

"John Billington, Samoset... I'm pleased to meet the two of you. I've been honored to follow your lives in the dream time." 

Both men's eyes goggled. Neither had heard Sam's native language in centuries; indeed, neither was even certain that anyone still spoke it. 

Ja-mul waited a moment for either of them to respond, but when neither said a word, he continued, "Most people who have heard of you two have had to look you up on Wikipedia or in some dusty old book, but I've gotten to see the real story. Where is Tisquantum? I had so looked forward to meeting him too!" 

Not thinking clearly, Sam replied in his dimly remembered Abenaki, "He took some people down the hill." 

"Ah yes, the Chimariko from Fresno." 

John's head spun and he looked to Florence. 

"No father, I have no idea what he just said, but whatever it was, it is probably best just to believe it. It seems to be less painful that way." 

John looked back to Ja-mul, but the old man wasn't saying any more, he was content to wait for the Alpha to catch up. After a moment, John grimaced and said, "Okay, I don't want to believe you, but I do. What are you here to tell us?" 

"Can I switch to English now?" Ja-mul asked, "I think the only word they caught was Wikipedia." 

John nodded again and Ja-mul switched back to modern English. 

"Alpha, the Goddess has sent me. She wants me to tell you that she is very proud of everything that you and your Betas have done for Were society, but unfortunately, now is the time of the changing. There will be one last battle, and this time, there is no guarantee that any of us will survive, but that you should know that she is proud of you no matter what happens." 

"What does she require of us?" 

"Nothing specific John Billington, she just wants you to continue to live your lives as you have been living them. She says that if it is meant to be, you will win, and if it isn't, you won't. Live with your honour, and die with it intact." 

"We don't have to change anything?" 

"Why would she want you to change anything, John?" 

"But you are here." John replied. 

"John, I'm a shaman, not some sort of Puritan Pastor. The Lady loves you and likes how you live your lives. I am just here to reassure you that you are upon the right path... and to be honest, I think getting to be here for the fun is part of my reward for raising this one in the ways of the People," he said, pointing at William. 

Ja-mul then turned his head and looked into his grandson's eyes before continuing, "I've led a lonely life Will, but I don't regret a moment of it, nor do I regret any of the choices that I have made. Getting to be a part of this makes it all worthwhile. If we are to die, we will all die together." 

"Grandfather, you can't tell us what is coming?" 

"No, it would change how you all respond to your challenges, and how you respond to them has to be clean from any influence. Just act with honor, and do your best for those you love." 

John turned to William with a questioning look. 

"He never tells lies, Alpha. Oh, he distorts...and scams...and cons, but he never actually lies and that sounded more truthful than he normally does. 

Ja-mul laughed at this, but he didn't say anything. 

John then looked to his Beta, but Sam merely shrugged. Then John turned back to Ja-mul and asked, "You seem to know everything else, where should we put you?" 

Ja-mul answered immediately, "There is a small, unoccupied cabin just south of the medical area. Put me in there so that those wishing to speak to the Goddess during difficult times can find me when they want my help." 

John looked to Sam and said, "Do it. Give him whatever he wants or needs, but see if you can get it done before dinner, remember, tonight's the party." 

"Yes, I'm looking forward to that," smiled Ja-mul. I'm dying to see someone order 'venom', maybe even more so after what I saw last night." 

John sent a questioning look to Florence. 

"Tell you later," she promised. 

"C'mon Di-yin," Sam said in Abenaki. "Let's go find you a bed so we don't miss any of the party. I may not have heard my native tongue in four hundred years or so, but that doesn't mean that I want to miss out on roast pork and beer." 

"Some things are sacred," Ja-mul replied in the old tongue as the two of them left John's office laughing. 

What the Hell did you two bring me? John sent to the couple before him. 

Careful father, we think he might be able to hear our sendings, Florence sent before switching to speech. "But I'm not completely sure about that either. The more I think about it, the more I think that he just knew that we could send, and just guessed what we were probably saying to one another. 

"What on Earth have we done to deserve this?" John asked in exasperation. 

"Clean living?" William offered with a grin. 

John sent a look that would have burned a lesser wolf's fur, but William merely grinned before saying, "Come on Alpha, wouldn't you rather he was on our side?" 

John began to snap at William before pausing instead. He took a long cleansing breath and then said, "Okay, my young Alpha-to-be, I understand it. I don't like it, but for some reason, the Goddess thinks that we deserve him. You just make sure that you try to read between his lines for us, and then explain to me what he is actually saying. Do you understand me? Can you do that?" 

"Umm...yes Alpha, but what do you mean 'Alpha-to-be'?" 

John looked to Florence, "Beth told me that he had no idea, but she also said that she suspected that you do. When were you going to tell him?" 

Florence blanched, clearing unwilling to have this conversation right now. 

"Come on daughter, don't sugar coat it for him. Lay it out for him; give the poor fool fair warning." 

Florence nodded and then turned to William, taking his hand. She looked into his eyes and said, "Will, you ran me down." 

"Yeah...so?" 

"I didn't let you." 

"Again... so?" 

"No one can run me down." 

"You've lost me darlin'." 

"It's like a challenge. If you can run me down, it also means that you can likely take me in combat, and I'm number two. I actually came pretty close to beating John." 

William's face showed that he was beginning to add it up, and that he wasn't happy with the sum, "But I don't know anything about being a wolf!" 

John interrupted, "Son, I think that you do, and evidently Ja-mul and the Goddess made sure of it. That old bastard that just left here, he seems to have spent most of his life making sure that you were ready." 

"Oh God," gasped William. 

"Goddess," corrected both John and Florence. 

"Yes, I met her; she just told me that I had to take care of Florence." William responded. 

"You... met her?" John gasped. 

"Ja-mul fed us something father, some sort of hallucinogen, but I think that everything we went through was real. We all spoke to her independently. She told me that I should live my life honestly and without fear." 

"And what did she tell you?" John asked William. 

"She said to take care of those that I love and that I'd be fine. She put it in more flowery terms, but that's what it boiled down to." 

"And what did she tell Ja-mul?" 

"Like he'd tell us," William scoffed. 

"Of course not," John grumped before changing gears and saying wistfully, "Do you think he'd let me talk with her... I've worked so long." 

"You'd have to ask him, Alpha," William answered, "but I don't see why not. It sounds like she is very proud of you and your efforts on all of our behalves." 

"Five hundred years," John mumbled to himself. He was lost in a memory. 

At about the same time that Ja-mul had exited his truck, Beth had led her charges back into the Resort. She'd managed to keep the humans running all day long and had gotten all four of them good and drunk on the trip back. Her next move would be to make sure they got to the restaurant and were plied with heavy food and lots more alcohol to insure that they'd be in bed early. She knew that the entire pack was eagerly looking forward to tonight's blow-out for Florence and William, so Beth had done her conniving best to make sure that the humans would be out on their feet by the time the party started. Technically, keeping an eye on their human charges would probably fall to Oliver or Stan, but in reality, some of the human staff would likely be pressed into service to physically watch the Fresnans while the party was going. 

"Beth!" a friendly voice called out. 

"Carol!" Beth responded gaily as she embraced her old friend. "I didn't know that you would be here already!" 

"Ha! I made Jeff take the first train." 

"So where is the grumpy old... oh, hi Jeff," Beth said, pretending to have missed him. 

"Same bitchy Beth," Jeff laughed, "and Tom too I see, and four new friends too. Introduce me to your new friends, Beth!" 

While he was speaking words of greeting to Beth, he was also sending to her, "These are the humans who we are supposed to talk with?" 

"Yes," she sent back as she made the verbal introductions. 

"Do you want me to assign a couple of my warriors to watch them while your people attend the party?" 

"I knew I loved you Jeff!" 

"Keep your hands off my man, bitch!" Carol sent laughing. 

The humans were quickly hustled off by two of Jefferson's younger wolves, a young mated pair who had never met anyone from the Billington pack, and who had no real interest in attending the party. Watching four drunken humans seemed like an easy duty to them. This made it easy for Beth to direct Jeff and Carol into the pack S.U.V. and the four were promptly headed back to the compound while laughing and renewing old friendships. 

Carol spent the first half of the trip reminiscing and enjoying old stories and laughter, but then she asked with a sly smile, "So...Beth... this human that Florence found, is he sexier than John?" 

Tom and Jefferson hadn't gotten to their advanced ages by being stupid; both of them shared a look with one another and then bit their tongues, vowing to stay out of what was coming. 

"Sexier than John? Hmm..." Beth delayed. 

"Oh come on girlfriend, we all know that you are still hoping to land the stubborn old bastard." 

Beth's eyes swept from face to face, with both men studiously avoiding her eyes while Carol just stared back at her with a Cheshire-like smile. 

"Now Beth, before you lie, you need to think about who is in this car with you. All of your oldest friends in the world except for the idiot." 

"Hey, that's my brother that you are talking about," Tom objected half-heartedly. 

"Then you already know that he's an idiot," Jeff mumbled. 

Carol snapped, "Shut up, you two! Now, spill it Beth." 

"Yeah William is okay I guess, Florence loves him," Beth replied slowly. 

"And John?" Carol pushed. 

"Same old John," Beth replied. 

"So...He's too stupid to see what is right in front of his face; that same old John?" 

Tom started to defend his Alpha, but Carol shot him a look that promised intense pain if he opened his mouth. He took the hint, and instead began adjusting the vents on his side of the car, doing his best to play off his shiver of fear as one from being cold. 

"Smart wolf," Jeff mumbled. 

Beth stared back at Carol, wishing there was some way to avoid answering her friend's probing, but she knew that even if she could get out of the moving vehicle, her friend would not let her escape for long. 

"No Carol, nothing has changed," Beth replied resentfully, knowing full well that this wouldn't end the interrogation. 

"Beth, you've loved him for over two hundred years. You've loved him since before he even turned you. Why don't you push him?" 

"He's not my mate, damn it!" Beth said heatedly. "The Goddess has never seen fit to give him to me. What good would it do without that?" 

"Have you asked her to?" 

"Of course I have," Beth yelled back, her voice breaking. "Every fucking night for the last hundred years!" 

"So have I," replied Carol, reaching out to hug Beth. "But now, with the lady sending Florence a human warrior for her mate, doesn't it look like maybe John will finally be set free from his duties? Five hundred years of service, don't you think that the Lady has someone special for him?" 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 09



"But what if it isn't me?" Beth said, her voice shaking. 

"Then she'd damn well better have someone impressive for you too. You have worked every bit as hard as he; your entire pack has been the backbone of our entire society for centuries. There isn't a wolf in America who wouldn't risk his life for any of you! We all know that the Lady has something special for you two." 

"And you two," she said turning her attention to the men in the front seats, "Do I even have to say it?" 

"No Carol," the two warriors replied quickly. 

"Dude, Your mate scares me," Tom sent to Jefferson. 

"Try fucking living with her," Jeff sent back.



Artiface of Strength Ch. 10



Margie approached the old ship's bell in front of the community hall. With a huge smile plastered across her face, she grabbed the clapper in her hand and started ringing the bell as if her life depended on it-- repeatedly banging it as if to wake the very dead. She knew that the best party in the pack's long history would take place tonight. It was clear to every wolf in the pack that this mating would signal the end of the mating drought. Word always spread like a summer wildfire in a wolf pack, and everyone was sending to one another. They finally had a shaman, their shaman had spoken with the Lady, and soon many of them would have mates...and more importantly, children.

John watched his pack from the sidelines, and as he saw everyone buzzing around like excited hornets, he knew that if Ja-mul's predictions did not come to pass, then the pack would quite cheerfully tar and feather the old man for giving them hope once again. John was torn; he wasn't positive which way he should be leaning. Sure, he desperately wanted to find his mate, and maybe even finally have some children of his own, but the vision of the old bastard being covered with boiling tar and then being rolled in filthy chicken feathers...well, that had some appeal too.

So John chuckled to himself and wondered how much a cauldron worth of tar would set him back. It wasn't that he really cared a great deal; he knew that it sounded like a worthwhile expenditure. Hell, it might even be tax deductable. Maybe I could find a suitable excuse to tar and feather the old bastard even if his predictions do come true!

All of this meant that John was smiling quite broadly as he entered the hall, but then his life took a turn for the worse. Beth and Carol were whispering to one another in the far corner of building. This caused his smile to dissipate as he got that sinking feeling that always accompanied the sight of these two bitches together.

"Caught sight of them plotting, did you?" Jefferson asked with a sardonic grin on his face.

"Any clue what they are up to this time?" John asked his ex-Beta without even bothering to say, 'hello'.

"If I did, I'd be smart enough to deny it, my old friend."

"Jeff, she's your mate. Can't you control her?"

"Not a chance, she knows where I sleep. And John...some words to the wise, they get even worse after you mate them."

John winced at this, but he remembered that he hadn't yet bothered to greet his old friend. His worry evaporated as he grasped Jefferson in a bear-hug and thanked his old friend for coming so quickly.

"Any time John," Jefferson said, "You do know this...right? You act so surprised that we'd leap at a chance to come help you!"

"I'm not used to having to ask for help, Jeff. It feels weird."

"John, every pack in the Americas is in your debt, and the best part is that we are all eager to help you! You are doing me a favour by giving my pack an opportunity to be part of this, and before you say anything else... Yes, Carol is plotting something evil; so just think of her deviltry as an offset for whatever help we provide. Fair enough?"

John chuckled and said, "You've been spending waaay too much time with your lawyers. They are corrupting you!"

"No, that isn't it at all. It's all Carol, even the corporate guys are afraid of her. I caught a couple of them calling her Judge Carol."

"More like Judge Dred," John shot back morosely. "The second nastiest bitch on the planet!"

"...and she's all mine, buddy." Jeff laughed, "She's like a thrill ride that runs twenty four hours a day."

"Physically...or emotionally?" John asked with a knowing grin.

"Both, thank the Goddess!" Jefferson leered back at John-- his face alit with a manic sort of glee.

This caused John to roar with laughter, which unfortunately for the Alphas, clued the two Alpha bitches that the hunters were scouting them.

"Now, you've done it," Jeff hissed, "You've alerted the herd. Now we'll never manage to sneak off for ale."

"Nope, I have it covered today my friend. Watch this..." Then John yelled, "Oliver!"

The overweight wolf waddled up to the two men. "Yes Alpha?"

"Jefferson, this is the most important wolf in our entire Resort. His name is Oliver, and I am putting him at your complete disposal. I was recently informed that no other wolf knows the Resort nearly as well as he does; I'm also told that he knows every square centimeter of the place. If you or any of your men need anything, absolutely anything at all, you just tell Oliver or his man Stan, and they will take care of it. He will also be heading up our Fresno baby-sitting operation, so these two can be tasked with almost anything."

John paused for a moment to let Jefferson examine Oliver at his leisure, and then sending a private message to his old friend, he said, "Here, watch this."

"Oliver, number two."

Oliver heard this and then put two fingers to his mouth and whistled. Moments later, Stan appeared, carrying two large tankards filled with foaming brown ale. Stan nodded respectfully to the two Alphas and then handed each of them a dripping tankard, before moving back and standing at an approximate posture of attention immediately beside Oliver.

That wolf can't weigh more than one twenty five, Jefferson sent back tightly. ...and the other one, he's gotta go 350.

"Thank you men, you've done a great job!" John said aloud to the two mismatched wolves.

"It's an h-h-h-honor sir," Oliver managed to squeak out, "w-w-we'll do a good job for Alpha Jefferson sir."

"Well Jeff," John said, taking a long draught from his tankard. "We've put this off long enough... shall we go see what sort of mischief that Judge Dred and the tornado are causing?"

Jeff also took a long draught, finally saying, "This ale is superb, and that should help us both survive this. You go ahead and lead the way Alpha, that way, those two will prosecute you first."

Seeing the men eyeing them while fortifying themselves with ale, Carol asked Beth, "Do you think those two are up to something?"

"Not a chance; they have beer. They've found someone to bring them more when they run out, and dinner is almost ready. What more could they possibly want?"

"Sex?" Carol shot back, giggling.

"Like they won't get that after the party of the century," responded Beth dryly. "They are wolves, there's nothing else that they could they possibly desire. Of course they are not up to anything; they've already got everything that they want."

"Okay then, our two are here. Where are the other two idiots and our guests of honor?"

"I don't know how they did it, but somehow Sam and Tom convinced the cook to feed them early. It must have taken a Hell of a bribe; she even snaps at John when he tries to go into her kitchen. And then after they ate, they grabbed Ja-mul and headed over to the Clubhouse, and that has me a little worried. Ja-mul has been hanging out with those two since he got here, and all three of them are completely feral... You know, undomesticated. I'm not sure that even the Goddess knows what those three are doing."

Carol laughed at this and said, "...and our loving couple?"

Beth rolled her eyes and said, "Our loving couple is... loving each other I think. I tried to contact her earlier and all I got back was a wave of lust. I suspect that they'll come dragging in here about five minutes late.

Further conversation was interrupted when Pamela, the long-time head cook, shouted everyone in the room into silence, announcing, "Tonight, there is going to be a pack party, and here's the deal; we aint gonna be workin' while y'all are having fun. The kitchen staff has worked all day, and now, we are takin' the night off...starting right now. So everyone, tonight you get to serve yourselves, and when you get done, you can join us down at the Clubhouse. We've already eaten, so we are outta here! Oh, and before I forget, y'all might want to let the visiting Alpha fetch his own food first!" Pamela then tossed her chef's hat into the corner and arrogantly walked her staff out of the building.

"I think I just saw the bribe," laughed Carol.

"Oh no, she's like that all the time. Although," she said thoughtfully, "I'll bet that Sam gave her the idea."

"...and then she reciprocated by feeding them," grinned Carol.

"...and then he chivalrously escorted the entire staff to the Clubhouse?" laughed Beth.

"Yes, completely feral," replied Carol.

As Pamela was storming out of the Community Hall, she saw William and Florence rushing into the building and stopped them on their way inside. "I made sure that the two of you got a special table. Up there on the riser, can you see where we set up that rolling partition? We've set up a table for the two of you. Go push the partition aside and start eating. Make sure that you grin at everyone as the rest of them are looking for tableware and waiting in long lines."

Florence thanked Pamela, and then dragged her mate to the indicated spot. Pushing the partition aside, she found that the cook was as good as her word. There was a table set for two, set with silver platters, elegant china, and food for at least six. There were five differently seasoned mixes of pork, at least a dozen different sauces for the pork, four different kinds of freshly baked bread, and six different side dishes.

William and Florence smiled hungry smiles and dug right in. Looking down from the riser, they made sure to make a show out of feeding one another savory bites while the rest of the pack struggled to find their own food and serving utensils. Florence even made a point of winking at her father as he was somewhat ineffectually overseeing the set up of a serving line.

Carol sidled up to John as he was working and said, "Are you sure that you wouldn't want to eject Sam from your pack? You realize that this has his fingerprints all over it."

"No way," said John with a grin. "What with mating set to begin again, and with his beliefs about having a mate, I'm going to have to keep him around just so I can watch him suffer when his number comes up. You know, like it did with that poor bastard Jefferson. Watching him flail around as his life was ending...that was pretty funny."

"Not nice, John," Jeff harrumphed.

"But you got the cutest puppy doggie eyes, Jeffie," John needled.

"Hey! Why are you picking on me, she started it!" Jeff replied, pointing at his mate.

"You chose to bring Judge Dred with you; that makes everything that she does entirely your responsibility."

Carol's eyes narrowed at her mate as she said, "We've been here less than an hour, and you've already told him about that?"

"Your fame precedes you, Carol," John said bowing gallantly. "May I escort our visiting Madam Alpha to the front of the serving line?"

"Same old John, using his guests to make sure that he gets fed first." Carol said, smiling indulgently.

"I've missed you too," John replied, putting his arm out to escort Carol. "Let's leave these two to fend for themselves."

"He's gotten sneakier," Jeff said to Beth as he watched his mate leaving with John. "He took her jab and never blinked while he threw me under the bus. Is that your influence, or is it Sam this time?"

"Actually, I think it is Tom's doing. John is getting better at observing what is going on around him, and then formulating a theory about what to do about it. We don't have to point him in the right direction so much any more."

"Hmm...maybe that's why he called you the tornado."

"He what?"

"He also called Carol 'the second nastiest bitch on the planet'; I didn't bother to ask him who number one was. I'm pretty sure I knew who he meant."

Beth's eyes softened for a moment as she stared back at one of her oldest friends.

"Yes Beth, you have his full attention. He's fond of my Carol, but his feelings for you are immeasurably deeper. The things that Carol told you in the car, I'm sure that they were all true. More than just loving you, he respects you, and I'm pretty sure that this is why he refuses to tarry with you. He won't do that unless the Goddess affirms it; he's too afraid of hurting you. Now, before they notice us, we'd better go stand in Sam's damned line."

Silent for once in her life, Beth nodded and grabbed Jeff's arm, allowing him to escort her to dinner.

Florence watched the drama going on below her table and sent to her mate, "looks like Carol is up to something."

"Who is Carol," William sent back.

"She is the Madam Alpha from the Virginia pack. That's her there with John. Her mate is the one escorting Beth. They are really old friends; both were members of the Billington pack at one time, but that was almost two hundred years ago. They are like family to me, and they've been John and Beth's best friends forever. When I was just a cub, Carol used to bring me the best presents! Whenever they are here, she unmercifully torments John. There's history there, but no one has ever been willing to share it with me."

"...and what makes you think that she is up to something?"

"She split John from Beth so Jefferson could say something to Beth without John hearing it. Whatever it was, it shocked her; I could see it in her eyes."

"Was it a happy surprise, or a bad one? Could you tell?"

"I'm not sure, so keep your eye on them and let me know if you see anything strange."

So Florence and William watched her parents as they ate their dinner, but as far as William could tell, nothing unusual was going on at their table. It just looked like four old friends catching up on old times and having a good meal. In fact, William had settled in and become pretty relaxed about the evening until the time when Florence chose to drop her bomb.

"Karaoke?! What the Hell do you mean that 'I have to sing to the pack tonight'?"

The hall got pretty quiet after that, and when William noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him, he chose to stop yelling. "I mean..." he said in his inside-voice, "If it's a requirement, I am sure that my mate would have given me more warning...right?"

"Boy, you are so screwed," John sent to William. 

Still largely unused to receiving these private sendings, William's face must have given him away, as Florence immediately swiveled her attention back to the Alpha's table. William, seeing Flo's eyes dart away from him, began to back-peddle quickly. "Okay, so how about telling me about this 'must sing for my pack' thing. Will twinkle twinkle little star work? I've never been much of a singer."

Florence returned her gaze to her mate, and with mild irritation still in her eyes, she said, "It's not nice to keep secrets from your mate, but I can already tell that you are not gonna narc out whoever sent you that message...are you?"

William grinned back at Flo and said, "Who me? Drop a dime on one of my pack mates? That would be wrong; I'm all about loyalty and stuff."

Trying to keep the stern look on her face, and failing pretty miserably, Florence began to grin and decided to take pity on her mate. She began describing what William would be expected to do that evening.

"Nice save," John sent with a grin, and this time, William showed no reaction.

"Are you through tormenting the young Alpha?" Beth asked, but John just ignored the gibe and began eating, a smirk written large on his face.

"You really think he's that good?" Jefferson asked. "Have you seen him fight yet?"

"Fight no, but I've seen him spar, both as a wolf and as a man. Florence takes him in human form and I doubt if he'll ever catch up with her, she has years of experience on him, being born Were certainly helps her there. But as a wolf, he is bigger and stronger than she is, and most importantly, he is nearly as fast. He also seems to have that otherworldly sense of what his opponent is going to do, just like Florence has always had. If they fought... really fought as wolves, he'd win. It would be bloody as Hell, but he'd win.

Carol put in, "but as a human, she'd take him?"

"There is no doubt of that one," John responded.

"What about as hybrid?" Jefferson asked.

John grinned and said, "That one is going to have to wait until they have their first lover's quarrel."

"...and you headed that off by whatever you just sent him," Beth said, boring in.

"It's my solemn duty as Alpha, to help the next generation of warriors survive their mate's nasty moods. You know, like with poor Jefferson here. The poor fellow is afraid to open his mouth half of the time. I mean, not that I blame him; his mate is a real..."

But John didn't get any farther as someone kicked him, under the table. John began to rub his shin absently as he looked from apparently innocent face to apparently innocent face. "Yup," he said to himself, "I need better friends."

This time, all three of his companions kicked him, and even harder this time. Nonplussed, John merely dipped into his pork and said, "I'll send Oliver out for some shin guards tomorrow. It's tough being the Alpha."

Oblivious to John's difficulties with the women, William continued to navigate his own difficult course, "So," he said, "If I'm going to have to...umm, I mean... since I get to sing for the entire pack, shouldn't we slip out of here as soon as we are done eating so I will have time to find something appropriate?"

"Will, the geeks will be able to find anything that you might want. They've got full 'net access out there. John insisted on having it installed for the security system, and since the tech geeks all seem to like karaoke, it was win/win for all of us."

"You are not worried though, you already know what you are going to sing, don't you Florence?"

"From the first day that I met you, my love," she responded with a grin.

"So, I've got about an hour to figure out something that you've known for awhile now. Seems fair."

Grinning, Flo responded, "Oh no, you'll have longer than an hour, I understand that in most packs the men wait until they are good and drunk before they sing to their mate, so I figure that you'll have most of the night to work it out."

"Drunk? Yeah... that ought to help," Will grumbled.

"Oh there's no getting out of that either. Your challenges will begin tonight I'm afraid. The warriors are going to start giving you grief in about..." she then checked her watch briefly, "about fifteen minutes ago."

Will glanced up from his dinner saying, "But dinner started twenty minutes ago."

"Grace period. You were still getting warnings sent to you during the first five minutes."

Will never stopped eating, he was getting better at hiding his sendings, but he did take the time to send John a message, "Alpha, I need some advice. Will this be less painful for me if I'm good and drunk?"

"There's no 'if' here Will. The warriors are going to feed you drinks until you drop. There is no way around that, but on the bright side, it takes a lot of drinks to drop a wolf. Just make sure that you smile and thank them every time that they bring you a drink; you'll need their goodwill after you beat them in the ring. Oh, and drink lots of water in-between your drinks, that will help you when you feel like dying tomorrow."

"Shit!"

"Oh, and remember that whoever challenges you to a venom is probably the wolf who will challenge you first on Monday."

"There's no 'if' to that either, is there?"

"Not a chance Will; enjoy your trip."

"Earth to Will, come in Will," Florence said with a smirk.

"Yes Florence," William said, feigning innocence.

"Is Daddy-dearest giving you more advice? And before you answer that, don't bother to deny it. If you'd stuck to one or two sendings, you would have gotten away with it, but holding entire conversations is much more obvious."




Artiface of Strength Ch. 10



"Yes... well, ahem...someone was suggesting some things to me, but I'm trying to find the loopholes in what was suggested."

Florence giggled at this, saying, "Good luck with that, and if you are done chatting, we can sneak out now. You have a song to find."

"Let's go," he said as he almost leapt to his feet, he was already considering song choices.

"...and away they go," said Beth with a grin. "What did you tell him?"

"Drink lots of water...and that he was doomed!"

This time, the bitches' kicks hit the legs of John's chair instead of his legs; he had gotten smarter and tucked his legs off to the side.

"I hope you broke your toes," John said with a grin. "Carol, after your party, how long did it take Jeff to find his way back home? Two days wasn't it?"

"You are a bastard, John," Carol huffed.

"I still can't figure out how he got into that shipping crate, or how it got loaded on that train. Boy, you must have really been drunk," John said musingly while looking at Jefferson.

"And you wonder why we moved to Virginia? It was almost far enough away from you and Sam to be safe," Jeff responded while smiling. "And despite what you were claiming, you were not ready to retire yet."

Jefferson paused for a moment, glancing up to the riser where William and Florence had eaten, and said, "Are you ready to retire now John? It's pretty clear that those two won't be contained for very long. She's the toughest bitch that the Lady has ever spawned and he's clearly the warrior sent to protect her. Hell, I knew that I could never defeat you, and yet, I still had the urge to run my own pack. I have not seen him fight, but from what you are telling me, he's going to give you a run for your money. You said that Florence almost beat you...and then you say that he is even better? You'd better make up your mind pretty quickly."

John smiled, saying, "Yeah, I think I'm ready to go now, so we'd better have our fun with him while we still can. Did you bring a copy of the rail schedule with you; I'm pretty sure that Sam has a shipping crate."

"You'd better NOT!" the two women said at once.

"Silly bitches," John said with a grin, "thinking they can talk us warriors out of our fun." Then he whistled for Oliver as he held his tankard aloft, it was almost dry.

Neither woman was really upset at the men's antics; they'd expected every bit of their behavior. They were not especially worried about what they'd heard; they had their own plans ready to go. The girls just grinned knowingly at one another and followed the 'brave warriors' out of the community hall.

Now, over at the Shunkaha, things were heating up nicely. The music was already getting loud, and the pack's Betas were already drinking. The kitchen staff had delivered rolling racks full of appetizers for the evening, and there were an uncountable number of Jello-shots ready to go for the party-goers.

Sam and Tom looked around and decided everything was ready. As the senior Betas of the pack, pulling all of this together had fallen on them. Tristan was helpful, but he was a bit too green to be unleashed on a party of this importance without direction, although he had been pressed into duty as the chief liaison between the deviant brains of the party hosts and the actual workforce. As the three wolves drank their first beer, Sam reached behind the bar and tapped the well-sealed beehive before asking, "So, which one of us gets to challenge him?"

Tristan sighed, responding, "We will see how this goes tonight, but I'm thinking that it almost has to be me. He beat me out of the bitch, and since I'm the low Beta, challenges should start with me...unless one of you wants to take me off the hook?"

"He's smart for a new Beta," Tom grinned.

"Kinda pretty too," Sam replied.

"I hate you two," Tristan replied, clearly not meaning it.

Sam chuckled at this, replying, "Oh dear, yet another Beta who hates us. How many does that make now, Tom?"

"What did we decide about that Seminole back in 1690?"

"I think we decided that he didn't count. John ended up not promoting him after what you did to him."

"Then... if you count Tristan, I think..."

"Never mind," snapped Tristan. "Evidently, the answer is all of them."

"Pretty much," replied Tom.

This discussion would likely have continued for a while longer, but Pamela interrupted, asking if they were sure that her staff had prepared enough food for the evening. Sam quickly assured the woman that there looked to be plenty for everyone, and in any event, it was likely that when the food ran out, the entire pack would go drunken hunting. Pamela smiled at this; the pack had not gone on a good drunken hunt in years. So many of their traditions had suffered along with their mating drought, it was good to see that some of the old ways might be coming back.

She turned to her crew and yelled, "All right girls, you heard him; the drinking light is lit! Shove these stupid men out of the way and start pouring. Shawna, you take beertender until we draw the first name."

"Will do Pam," Shawna said, pushing the Betas from behind the bar.

The women had shown up and were willing to do the work, so the Betas were quick to scurry away, thanking the Goddess that they'd gotten out of it. As their presence wasn't required, they wandered over to the Clubhouse entryway where the prize drum and pegboard were located. Noticing that the kitchen staff's tags were already in the drum, all three Betas quickly located their tags and tossed them in as well. Sam was pleased to see that William's shiny, new tag was hanging on the board in the 'unranked' section. He also knew that it probably wouldn't hang there long.

Smiling as they saw that all of their work was done, the three did what they always did when there was nothing pressing; they sat down and started to do some serious drinking. They were content to wait for the loving couple to arrive, and as they drank, they speculated as to how much trouble they could cause William in just one evening. They didn't have long to wait however, and even less time to plot. Pamela had seen to that by arranging to feed the couple first, it was her gift to Florence; all of the women were rooting for William.

William and Florence walked into the clubhouse hand in hand and were met in the doorway by Sam who hastily jumped to his feet and began explaining the Clubhouse rules to William, but Will cut him off almost immediately, stressing that Florence had already explained everything during their walk to the Clubhouse. William then reached passed Sam and took his new tag from the board, fingered it thoughtfully and then said, "Hmm, how odd, it seems to be a little sticky on this side."

"Must be the fresh paint," Sam said quickly.

Will continued, ignoring Sam's excuses, "and there is a sharp bit here where my name is affixed. I wonder if the other tags have these issues."

He then began examining the other tags that were still on the board, saying, "Nope, these are all quite smooth; it's a good thing that I noticed this flaw, someone might have gotten a splinter or something when they rooted around in the barrel."

He then took the tag over to the bar area and began polishing the tag before he was willing to drop it into the hopper. "Busted," Tom sent, grinning at Sam.

"You warned him, didn't you?" Sam hissed accusingly at Florence.

"Nope," grinned Florence, "Although I did tell him the story about how Beth filled the hopper with fake tokens with my name on them. Sam, what you've got to remember is that he grew up with him," she said, pointing at Ja-mul, who was sitting at the bar, now quite cheerfully flirting with the kitchen staff. "Growing up with that would make anyone naturally suspicious of his friends."

"Good point," laughed Tom to the grumpy Sam.

"There...fixed it," said Will as he returned from the bar with the token in his hand. He then tossed it into the hopper and said offhandedly, "Florence, I threw your token in there too. Now, where is that Karaoke list, I want to see if my song is on there. If not, your tech geeks are gonna have to go online and find it for me."

Tristan watched as the two lovers walked away and then whispered, "Good luck with getting this one to hate you two; it looks like he may be immune to your crap." 

"Ha! Challenge accepted!" Sam said with a swagger.

"So, does that mean that you are conceding your spot to him, Tristan?" Tom said clearly amused.

Tristan snorted, "I've seen him sparring with Flo. I might... might be able to take him as a human after he destroys me as a wolf, but by that time, he will already have smoked right passed you two."

"Yeah, there is that." Tom conceded.

"Pft," Sam snorted, "You two give up too easily. The trick is making sure that he is too hung over to fight on Monday."

"Or out of state," laughed Tom. "Like we did with Jefferson!"

"He'd already beaten you anyway." Sam shot back. "But still...it was fun watching Carol freaking out until he made his way back to the pack."

Tristan hadn't heard this story, so he asked, "What did you do to him?"

Sam and Tom both laughed and began explaining to Tristan how they had gotten Jefferson roaring drunk and then shipped him out of state on a slow train. Soon all three Betas were laughing at the memory, so none of them saw William open his palm and show Florence that he still had both of their tokens. Florence bit her tongue to keep from laughing.

"What did you drop into the hopper? I know that I heard something fall in there."

William sent back, "I just waited 'til they weren't looking and tapped the bottom of the hopper. That creaky old thing makes so much noise; I didn't think that they would notice. As usual, they were too busy talking."

"Serves them right for trying to cheat!" Florence sent back, laughing.

"Those guys are amateurs, but look out, here comes the professional." William said aloud, indicating that his grandfather was approaching.

Ja-mul walked up and held out his hand, palm up. "Trust me," was all that he said.

William didn't flinch; he just dropped the two tokens into the old man's hand without complaint. Ja-mul grinned at his grandson and then pointed at the jukebox, "It's an internet jukebox, and it has pretty much everything ever recorded; go play 'Wild Hearted Son', by the Cult."

Will just laughed as Ja-mul walked away, saying, "That was one of his hints; the smug old bastard thinks he knows which way I am leaning tonight. He's probably right too!"

"About your song?"

"Yeah, he knows me too well. Hold on for a minute while I find his song. He'll want the version with the chanting intro on it. Go figure, the old crook wants to hear another shaman chanting. That's how the song starts."

"What is he going to do with our tokens? And what did he mean by 'trust me'?"

"He wasn't so much asking for our trust... as promising that he was worthy of it, you know... for once. I have no clue what he intends to do with them, but look on the bright side, this way we won't have to hide them. They are out of sight, out of mind!"

Florence giggled as she saw Ja-mul giving them the thumbs up when his song began playing. He'd tucked the tokens away somewhere and was now calmly sitting with the Betas while they drank.

As the music began to get louder, Tom asked Ja-mul, "I have not heard this song in a long time; is it a favourite of yours?"

"No, but I think my grandson is planning on singing one of their songs for his mate later, and I thought I've give him an omen; the fact that the chanting was on it was a nice touch. Have you guys got any idea what Florence will be singing to him?"

Tom thought about it for a moment before saying, "She's a huge Lindi Ortega fan, but she likes Gretchen Wilson too. If I had to make a bet, I'd bet on one of those two, but there is really no telling what she'll sing, her tastes are pretty diverse. If you really need to know, I'm sure we can lean on Oklahombi, he'll have the file waiting for her."

"Oklahombi? That's a mouthful. Who is he?"

"Call him Joe; he's our resident tech geek. You have not met him yet."

"Naw, I'll just wait and see what she sings when everyone else does, but why are you so sure that I haven't met Joe?"

"He thinks that he's a vampire," Sam said snorting.

"He keeps midnight hours," Tom corrected. "He's our security and tech guy. He isn't one of our warriors, but he is invaluable anyway; he just isn't very personable. He will be here shortly as he'll be running the karaoke equipment tonight. Seems like there are always a few singers looking for some song that we don't have and he's very good at finding things."

"Stealing things, you mean" Sam added.

"Sounds like my kind of guy," Ja-mul laughed.

The Betas would have continued their conversation, but the rest of the pack began to stream into the Clubhouse and Sam and Tom were forced into duty policing the pack hopper. Ja-mul repressed a grin as he saw wolf after wolf had to be persuaded to drop their tokens into the bin. Evidently there was not a single wolf in the entire pack who wanted any part of pulling bartender duty tonight. They kept saying something about spoiling their party.

There was a bigger surprise when the Alphas walked through the door. Beth produced two extremely old tokens from her pocket, and declared that visitors were not immune from duty behind the bar when they were ex-pack members. She then winked at Carol and Jefferson and tossed their dusty tokens into the pot. Ja-mul had to repress another grin when he saw that these tokens were of a much heavier construction than the current lot. It wouldn't be hard to find these tokens, even blind-folded. He was even more amused when neither Jefferson nor Carol bothered to complain, and he wondered how people this gullible managed to get to the top of the food chain.

And then the party began in earnest. 

The pack had descended, en masse, upon the Clubhouse, and things got very loud, very quickly. A bartender was drawn, and wolves began to howl. They danced and they sang. They blew off the steam that had been accumulating for decades. They all felt that this was their new beginning.

The music was turned up, and then thirty minutes later, it was turned up again. The dance floor was full, as were the pool tables. After an hour, a new bartender was drawn from the drum, and everyone was a little surprised that there had not been any fights yet. The night was young.

Ja-mul sat on his barstool watching what was going on around him, not quite believing the sheer volume of alcohol that was being consumed, and how little impact that it seemed to be having on the members of the pack. He'd heard that they metabolized it quickly, but he'd really had no idea. The pack had already put down enough firewater to have driven his previous tribe into an alcoholic coma, and he briefly wondered what William's life would have been like if his own father would have had a wolf-like constitution.

Hour two ended, and hour three began as Madam Alpha Carol was selected when Tristan grinned and drew her name out of the hopper. She then calmly took her place behind the counter with a certain amount of regal dignity and grace, choosing to ignore the cat-calls and the peanuts thrown in her direction. She endured the abuse with aplomb, merely directing some of her pack's women to take control of the jukebox, and to make sure that they played every single song that they'd ever heard that involved cheating men. It was not long before 'Goodbye Earl' began playing and Carol began mixing drinks like a pro.

Eventually, she got to where Ja-mul sat. He indicated the juke box and said, "So you know that they cheated then?"

Giving the old human a jaundiced look, she took his order and said, "With those hundred year old tokens, I knew that it would be one of us. I do admit to being surprised that it was the young Beta who drew our name out of the hopper though, he doesn't even really know us. Sam has gotten sneakier."

"Not sneaky enough," Ja-mul said grinning as he opened his palm and showed her that he had Florence and William's tokens.

A short burst of laughter escaped from Carol before she regained her composure long enough to stare into the man's eyes and say, "You really are a shaman, aren't you? They told me that they were afraid that you were real."

"Ja-mul Yazzie, at your service," he said, nodding his head mockingly.

"So what are you going to do with those?" Carol said, indicated the tokens.

"They have to sing later; we might as well let them enjoy the party until then."

"Seems reasonable, but I've noticed that you've parked your ass here at the bar all night long, and that you are not drinking. What are you waiting on?"

"You." Ja-mul said.

"Me? Why?"

"You are Jefferson are going to have to take over the Weres for a while. The Lady says that you should trust yourselves and just step into the job. Preparing for this time is why she gave you your own pack. It trained you for this moment."

"Shit."

Ja-mul didn't say any more, he just reached down and picked up his ice water and took a drink.

"You are the devil," Carol finally said.

"Jefferson was the best Beta that John ever trained, and the Lady noticed that you were nice enough not to kill John and Sam when they sent Jefferson off to the middle of nowhere on your mating night."

"So it was those two! Where was Tom?"

"Acting as the lookout, but I'll deny every word of this if you call them on it."

"Okay, you've proved your point. Is there anything else that I need to know?"

Ja-mul pointed down to the other end of the bar and said, "Yeah, those wolves over there are getting impatient, so you'd better go serve them. Oh, and the real trouble won't start until tomorrow, so you can just enjoy the rest of the party before you worry about any of this." He then stood up and walked away from the bar before Carol could say anything more, and Carol found herself understanding why John had always hated Shaman so intensely.

Hour three ended, and another bartender was chosen. Carol made her way directly to Jefferson and began to tell him of her conversation with Ja-mul. Not that William or Florence was able to notice any of this; they'd been surrounded by well-wishers all evening long. The unmated wolves in particular were very eager to flock around the couple, hoping that some of their mating luck would rub off on them too. True to form though, Sam had maintained a wide berth between himself and the couple; he had avoided this mating thing for over six centuries. 

So the couple did not see the exchange between Jefferson and Carol, nor did they see the worried looks on Beth and John's faces as they were brought into the conversation. What the two did see was drink after drink...after drink. John hadn't lied to William about that, it was as if the entire pack were trying to kill the lovers with alcohol. Will had listened to his Alpha's advice however and had made sure that their table received a steady stream of pitchers of ice water throughout the night. He'd also gotten Flo's cooperation in what he thought of as 'operation drink disposal', an exercise is hauling off as many drinks as wolvenly possible. 

When one of them headed to the bathroom, two drinks would disappear. When snacks were fetched, two more drinks were gone. Several glasses were 'inadvertently' spilled. Clear beverages tended to be poured into empty water pitchers when no one was looking. All things considered, and despite the many shots that they couldn't avoid, neither Will nor Florence were even half as intoxicated as their tormentors. And as their friends got drunker, it got easier to avoid actually consuming anything alcoholic.

Both Jefferson and John had been watching the couple working together and were impressed by the teamwork they were witnessing. The Alphas realized that other than Ja-mul who had drank only water before disappearing entirely; there probably were not two less intoxicated wolves in the entire pack, even though they were supposedly the targets for the evening. "Look, they are making a game of it," Jefferson said. "They are running rings around everyone in your pack, John."




Artiface of Strength Ch. 10



"Don't get too smug Jeff, my pack managed to crate you up and send you to Barstow."

Jefferson grumbled at that, and let the conversation die a grumpy death.

As the blood alcohol percentage rose within the room, karaoke time began and the fights started. Food was thrown, but not any alcohol; no, they knew that this would be wrong, no wolf was willing to commit a party foul at this blowout-- it might bring them bad luck. 

Angry wolves periodically stormed outside to settle their differences, usually returning blackened and bloody, but arm-in-arm several minutes later, all order restored in their world. Chaos had descended, and it was good.

Ja-mul reappeared at the end of hour number five, stepping up to the drum to draw the token for bartender number six. No one was more surprised to see him than John; he'd been unsuccessfully looking for his Di-yin since his conversation with Jefferson. The old man reached into the drum and drew the token that William had expected to see, his own. "Oh wait," Ja-mul declared loudly, "there is a second token here as well; they seem to be stuck together somehow." He then called out, "Florence Yazzie, and William Billington!"

A raucous cheer went up at Ja-mul's announcement, and William took the moment to grab Florence in a fierce embrace, kissing her passionately and only inciting the mob to get even louder.

"Okay Di-yin," William demanded, "Get your old, fugly ass behind that bar and pour drinks for the crowd while I sing a song for my mate!" Ja-mul chuckled and calmly began filling pitchers for the pack as William signaled to Joseph as he took the microphone and the stage. "All right Billington pack, here we go. I know that you've all come here tonight to hear me sing some sappy song for my mate? Haven't you?"

William managed to duck most of the rubble thrown his way, calmly waiting for the rabble to die down before he continued. "But as you well know, if I was to sing a sweet song to this fiery bitch, she'd quite cheerfully kill me. And something you might not know, the fire woman once asked me if I saw Harlequin Romance tattooed across her forehead. Evidently the crazy bitch doesn't want to be coddled; instead, she wants to be taken, and then she wants to be protected like she is the most valuable thing in the entire world... which she is." Will then glanced over to Joseph sitting at the board and said, "My Choctaw friend, fire it up!"

Joseph grinned, no one had thought to call him a Choctaw in years, but he didn't delay, he began flipping switches and the music began to play. He hoped William knew what he was doing-- few had the range to hit the notes in this song. The guitar kicked in and Joseph saw William almost curl around the microphone stand as he let out a howl of desire and launched into the song.

Wound up. Can't sleep, can't do anything right...

Oh since I set my eyes on you.

I tell you the truth...

T-t-t-twistin' like a flame in a slow dance baby.

You're driving me crazy.

Come on little honey...

Come on now.

Fire.

Smoke she is a risin'

"Fire Woman," Beth sent tightly to Carol.

"I think he's trying to get laid," Carol giggled back.

"Oh he's gonna get laid; look at her face. I think it's working," Beth laughed.

Well now, shake it up, you're to blame...

Got me swayin' little honey.

My heart's a ball of burning flame.

Oh yes it is.

Trancin' like a cat on a hot tin shack...

Lord have mercy.

Come on little sister...

Come on and shake it.

Fire. She is a rising...

As William ripped through the chorus, he slowly stepped down from the stage, never missing a note, making love to the microphone as he almost slithered toward his prey. Creeping ever closer to Florence he began crooning to her,

I was thinkin'

What I've been missin'

I'll tell you truthfully,

Well...

The smell of Florence's arousal wafted from her and permeated the room as her lover approached closer and closer, still singing of his need for her.

She's coming close now.

Oh I can feel her.

She's getting close to me...

And I never...

William arrived in front of her and pulled her to him in a fiery embrace, his mouth descending on hers as he took control of her, his tongue demanding entrance. Her will, nonexistent to begin with, crumpled into rubble beneath him as he made love to her mouth in front of her pack.

"Yeah, he's an Alpha, all right," Jefferson said to John.

"If you'd managed to stay sober enough to sing to Carol like that, we wouldn't have been able to ship you," John responded with a grin.

"We didn't have karaoke then, John; Hell, we didn't have electricity."

"We had firewater though," John needled.

"Fuck off, John."

William pushed Florence away from him and spun her back into her chair, striding back to the stage like a conquering warrior, flaunting his dominance and staring at the pack, daring them to get between him and his mate.

Fiiiiire.

Smoke she is a rising. 

Fire.

Smoke on the horizon.

"Oh my," said Carol.

"There is no way any one will take him up on that." Beth replied.

"Which poor bastard is slated to challenge him on Monday?" Carol asked.

"Same one they got to draw your token," Beth replied grinning.

"Ha! Serves him right!"

Burnin' out and shake it baby.

Come on and burn it.

I say, send down fire to me...

Send down fire to me...

Send down fire to me...

Fire woman, you're to blame!

Fire woman, you're to blame!

Fire woman, you're to blame!

"Dude, you are so fucked come Monday," Sam laughed to Tristan. What was it that Hanover Fist said in Heavy Metal, "He is gonna tear you into itty-bitsy pieces and bury you alive!"

Tristan changed the subject, "maybe you were right earlier, we need to get him plowed and ship him off like you did with Jefferson."

Sam looked over at Tom and asked, "How many has he had?"

"Less than half of what he's been sent. Both he and Flo have been dumping drinks all night. The last water pitcher they sent back was mostly vodka and gin."

"Venom!" All three wolves said simultaneously at about the same time William ended the song and the crowd erupted into wild applause and cheering. The scent of arousal was thick as a smoke cloud as it drifted through the room as more than one un-mated female wished that this wolf was here for her instead.

"Back off you miserable bitches; this one is mine," Florence said challengingly and grabbed William fervently, making sure that his scent covered her.

"There's no way she tops that," John chuckled to the other Alphas.

"Any clue what she's planning," Carol responded.

"Yeah, and I thought she'd kill with it, but now I'm not so sure; he was damned good."

"...and he did that cold," John pointed out. "Remember, he didn't have a clue that he'd have to sing until dinner tonight.

"He must have already known the song," Carol guessed.

"Then he already had her in mind before he ever met her," Beth replied.

This produced thoughtful looks upon the faces surrounded the table, although John's look might be better described as stricken. He covered it up quickly though when Jefferson seemed to catch it. Jeff never had a chance to follow up on what he saw though as the first few notes of Ministry's 'Just one Fix' began thumping from the speakers behind the bar.

"Here we go," said John, glad to be able to change the subject. He pointed to where Sam and Tom were now tending bar; Ja-mul was no longer in sight. "They've booted the old man and now they are going after William. This ought to be good."

"How do you know?"

"They always play that song when someone makes a 'venom' challenge, and a venom order is always for two. Look..." he said, pointing to where Tristan was approaching William with two empty hi-ball glasses.

The room was still as everyone in the room except the visiting pack members knew what was about to take place. Although the music was pounding and no one could hear the exchange, the pack knew the challenge word for word. "Just one Fix."

Tristan slammed the glasses down on William's table and then began gesturing angrily at him before shifting into his hybrid form, exploding through his clothing in the process. He then gave a challenging howl and stomped back to the bar.

"What the Hell?" Jefferson gasped. "Hybrid?"

"Stupid men," Beth replied, "Human form can't handle the bee stings, and wolves can't hold the glass; so they came up with this. Don't worry though; no one has died...yet."

"Your pack has gotten weirder since we left, John" Carol said dryly.

"Sam was exposed to technology," John sighed.

William stood up, stopping to give Florence a kiss before leaving her side. He grabbed the empty glass that Tristan had left for him and headed to the bar. As he reached the bar, Tom switched off the music so the entire pack could hear the exchange.

"Do you know how this works?" asked Tom.

"I think I have the basics. Florence explained it to me when were on our way over. Smiley here," he said indicating Tristan, who was still in his hybrid form, saliva dripping from his mouth. "Has challenged me to see who can remain conscious the longest. We add bee venom and tons of alcohol, and if everyone lives through it, whoever stays up the longest... wins. Close enough?"

Tom laughed and looked into Florence's eyes, saying, "My niece is smart. I bet she also told you that you are due to whip this pool fool's ass on Monday. Didn't she?"

"And then you and Sam next," William said, grinning.

"Yes, my Alpha," Tom replied, respectfully, bowing his head. "But, he knows that as well. Don't kill him," he said, pointing at Tristan. "He's done everything that no one else wanted to do."

"I got it. Don't kill him. Tough and smart, does what he's told. He's my Beta. He works for me."

"Good enough," replied Sam, and then indicating all of the bottles behind the bar, said, "What's your poison?"

"Fill the challenge glass with Single Barrel Malt, plus give me two double-shots of ever-clear, on the side."

"Two shots of 181 and Bourbon. Gotcha," replied Sam, filling the order.

Tom whistled in disbelief, "Umm, you know Tristan's glass is just full of Newcastle, right? You are giving him a major alcohol advantage?"

William just grinned.

"Okay, it's your funeral." Tom answered. Then he turned to Sam and yelled, "Get the crate ready, Sam!"

As Sam filled the glasses, Tom began to bang his fist on the hive, making sure the bees were extremely agitated. He then looked to Will and asked, "Any last words?" 

"Nope, I'm good. By the way, has anyone ever done this challenge in human form before?"

"Will, there's no way. The human body will react very badly to the bee stings."

"Just watch," grinned Will, before turning to Tristan and saying, "You are up, Smiley."

Tristan turned to Will and roared in challenge, but then he reached for his glass and downed it quickly. He then leapt over the bar and jammed his hand into the honey barrel next to the hive, coating his hand and forearm liberally in honey, before holding it aloft, before the crowd. After waiting for them to roar their acceptance, he reached through the netting, and stuck his honey-covered arm into the hive. Pulling it out, Tristan raised it to the crowd again, but now his fist was covered in bees. The pack again roared its approval, and then Tristan opened his sharp toothed maw and jammed his entire fist into his mouth, slurping off the honey and being stung repeatedly by the bees as they were eaten.

Say, "Hi," to the Lady for me, William mumbled as he watched Tristan slide in and out of anaphylactic shock.

A large electronic timer behind the bar began timing Tristan's ability to stand.

"You people have lost your minds," Carol said to the entire table.

"Worst hangover ever," John groaned.

"You've tried that shit?" Jefferson said, astounded.

"I lost a bet, and then I lost the challenge too, dammit."

"...and this is reasonable behavior?" Carol asked, laughing.

"Come on Carol. How many peyote-using tribes did we meet on our way here?"

She wasn't listening to John however; she had already returned her attention back to the bar where William was preparing to drink his cocktail of grain alcohol and hornet venom. Will slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Semper Fi!" before slamming down his single-barrel, but he did more than slam it down. Before he swallowed the last of it, he swirled it around in his mouth, coating every bit of it, finally noisily swallowing the last of the alcohol with a grimace. 

He then leaped over the counter just as Tristan had, and repeated each of his movements, with only one exception; he coated his left, rather than his right hand with the honey. After he held his fist aloft to the crowd for the second time, he filled his mouth with the ever-clear. Coating his mouth with the bourbon had almost made the burn of the ever-clear tolerable. His human form wouldn't taste anything for at least a week, but at least he could hold this alcohol in his mouth now.

He removed Ja-mul's Bic from his back pocket and set it to its highest setting. Flicking it on, he placed the lighter in front of his mouth and released the alcohol in a burst. The explosive blast created when the alcohol ignited was enough to incinerate most of the bees instantly, burning their wings off and leaving behind only blackened carcasses and foul smelling smoke.

William then turned to the pack, and more specifically Florence, as he began to suggestively lick the heat-glazed honey from his fist. "It doesn't taste nearly as sweet as you do darlin'," he said in a deep voice.

"You are gonna have to get some new rules for that challenge, John," Jefferson said as he saw Tristan's eyes roll back in his head as he fell to the floor, his timer showing exactly two minutes and fifty-seven seconds.

"Pity, he just missed the pack record too." John replied dryly.

William walked back to his mate and began to share his honey with her. The smell of envious arousal only swelled within the bar as the rest of the pack watched the young couple licking the honey from William's fist.

Sam never bothered to complain that William wasn't eating all of his own bees, he just stopped Will's timer, and then directed Oliver and Stan to drag Tristan's body outside to sleep it off. Will never noticed Tristan leave; he was entranced by the sight of Florence licking the honey from his fingers while she stared into his eyes. She extended her tongue and placed it on his wrist, slowly working up his palm to the base of his fingers, and then to their end where she began seductively sucking on his fingertips, never once breaking eye contact with him.

Thoughts? They had none; for Florence and William, there wasn't another wolf in the bar. Their entire worlds stared back into their eyes, but life has a funny way of interfering with love.

Badger teams one, two, and three had easily breeched the undefended perimeter of the pack's territory and were now approaching the clubhouse. With night-vision goggles and their weapons set to full-auto, these teams were not on Billington land looking for a firefight. They were there only to do reconnaissance, but they were prepared if things went sidewise. 

Team one was on point. Teams two and three flanked team one in case things went really badly. Team one was barely within good video range when Oliver and Stan dragged poor Tristan, still in his hybrid form, and dumped him, rather unceremoniously, face first into the parking lot with the bikes. Fortunately for team one, the wind was in their faces and Stan got no opportunity to catch their scent. Stan wasn't too bright, but he'd always had one of the best noses in the pack.

Badger one had no idea how lucky they were with the wind's direction, or for that matter, the fact that the wind's direction mattered to their lives at all, but the wind did allow them to remain undetected by the pack while Tristan was being deposited.

"What the fuck is that?" one of the video operators asked his team-leader.

"Must be a costume party, but look at that heat-signature. That guy must be over two meters tall."

"Chief, he's out cold. What on Earth took him down? Do we really want to be seen by whatever is in there? If this mission turns into a bloodbath, we will have a huge problem."

"Pull back, I think we have what we need."

"Gladly!"

Leader one made the call and all three teams pulled back immediately, moving directly for the park land boundary. Back inside the Shunkaha, Florence had finished cleaning the remainder of the honey from William's fingers and was now sitting in his lap in one of the iron bar stools in front of the bar. William was enjoying a deep kiss with his mate when he heard the 'snick' and fell the cuff tightly restrain his wrist. His eyes opened and he saw the victorious look on Florence's face, as well as the conniving looks on the faces of Sam and Tom as each of them cuffed one of his hands to the heavy chair.

"Betrayed," William said sadly. 

"She's our number two, you are still unranked" Tom said grinning, "Of course we followed her orders."

"Besides, we thought the venom would take you out," Sam said, laughing.

"So what now, my love?" William asked Florence.

She leaned in and gave him a burning kiss before pulling herself away and saying, "Sit there like a good boy while I go get changed into my outfit. Tom will give you beer if you are thirsty, he may have to get in the ring with you on Monday."

William looked at Tom who only grinned back; Tom wasn't afraid, he knew that he stood zero chance of beating Will, but he also knew that Will wasn't vengeful. Tom shrugged and said, "What brand were you drinking? Still Newcastle?"

"You'd better bring water; I slammed down all of that bourbon during the challenge," William said, watching his mate's behind swaying erotically as she walked away. "...and I'm betting that I'm going to need a clear head for this."

"Count on it," said Joseph as he sidled up to where William was bound. "So how did you know that I was Choctaw?"

"You have the look; and I met a few of y'all when I was active. If you speak the language, I'm pretty sure that my grandfather knows some of it. He knows a crazy number of dialects. He told me the story of the code-talkers when I was young."

"That was a long time ago," Joseph responded, clearly reminiscing. That was before I was a wolf though. I wish there was a way to go back to Europe and see it again now that we are not at war."

"Talk to Ja-mul; he'd love to hear your story."

"I will; I have not had the chance to speak my native language since we faked my death back in Oklahoma. No one here speaks it."

The two men talked a bit longer before Joseph's pocket emitted a buzzing sound and he indicated that this was his cue. He welcomed William to the pack and then walked back to his board, where he started flipping switches and turning dials. The music stopped again and the lights in the bar began to dim until they were all out except for a few footlights on the stage. Joseph took the microphone and started slowly, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Madams et Misseurs, warriors and bitches... tonight there's to be a mating. The warrior princess to her captive barbarian; the protector to his muse; and the Were to the People, and most of us are lucky enough," he said, directing the spotlight on William, "to get to see it unbound. Well, most of us," he said to general laughter.

"Madams, ladies... bitches of the pack, Madam Yazzie has requested that you take this time to strip her mate. In fact... she has suggested that you enjoy the experience. Touch him. Grope him. Rub your desperate selves all over him. Get it out of your system tonight, because, she says, if she ever smells any of you bitches on him again, you will draw your last breath. So feel free, and Florence says that you can leave his hat on."




Artiface of Strength Ch. 10



Will wasn't wearing a hat, and before long, he wasn't wearing anything else either, as the women of the pack had done exactly what Florence had directed them to do-- not that any of them had had any objections to the duty. The unmated bitches gladly ran their fingers over his chest or licked his neck; the more adventurous of them even reached lower and gave him the odd stroke or two, giggling as they thought of the expression on Florence's face when she eventually scented them on her man. His legs were stroked and his muscles were fondled, but he looked right through the women. He was straining his eyes, waiting for his woman to appear from outside the blinding spotlight that prevented him from seeing her.

The women eventually faded away as the first strummed notes of Lindi's song began to play. Florence stepped into the spotlight wearing lingerie that would have starred in any Barbary Coast cathouse. The black and red corset and bustier was the centerpiece of her outfit, but her fishnet stockings that hung low and were filled with holes drew the eye as well. Long black opera gloves and a silky diaphanous wrap around her shoulders completed her outfit. The bright red lipstick only added to the vision as she pressed her lips together and began to sing.

Don't use marijuana...

Don't use heroin...

Don't use co---caine.

Don't use your medicine.

If ya wanna use somethin'...

I've got what you need.

If you wanna get your fix...

Darlin' use me.

William lurched forward without even realizing that he'd done it, but the wrought iron held-- barely. The back of his barstool bent dangerously as he was snapped back into his seat. Sam breathed a sigh of relief as he hadn't been sure that the bolts they'd driven into the concrete floor would hold through William's initial charge.

Don't use alcohol...

Don't use crack...

Don't use cigarettes,

They'll turn your lungs all black.

If ya wanna use something... 

I've got what you need.

If you wanna get your fix,

Darlin' use me.

Florence sashayed forward, and as she sang, she removed one of her gloves and ran it across William's nose, letting him scent her closely. Draping it over his naked shoulder, she ran her nails over his now, very rigid erection. She continued to sing as she removed her over glove and dragged it over his dripping cock.

I'll get you high in all the right ways,

I'll be the drug that's gonna replace...

Every addiction you could ever have.

Well, I'm not illegal and I cum for free...

William jumped forward again, and this time, Tom was pretty sure that one of the bolts snapped as a cloud of cement dust drifted up from the floor.

Go ahead and use me excessively.

Use me when you are happy.

Use me when you are sad.

I'll make it all better when you are feelin' bad.

Use me!

Florence smiled a coy smile at Will as she shimmied out of her bustier and corset and threw it at his feet, standing before him now dressed only in her stockings, stays and wrap. She slowly approached him, reaching out to transfer a sticky bit of moisture from the tip of him to her index finger, and then onwards to her tongue-- leaving a spider-web trail connecting the lovers. And then she sang,

If you wanna get your fix,

Darlin' use me.

Ima give you a fix...

So you can uuuuse me.

Way beyond any rational limit, William's eyes spun into a glowing gold and he threw himself forward with everything he had, and this time, the chair exploded with a sharp crack. He tumbled to the ground, still hand-cuffed to the remnants of the chair. Florence threw her wrap over his body and fled out the front door, shifting as she ran.

Sam and Tom were on him in a heartbeat. "Wait; let us get the cuffs off of you before you break your wrists. We'll go fast Alpha, we swear!"

"Nowwww!" yelled William in a voice that shook the room to its foundations. 

The Betas were as good as their words and it was only seconds later that William was shifting as he flew out the door, knocking it off of its hinges in his desperation to capture his mate.

"Holy crap," Jefferson exclaimed. "He just snapped wrought iron and turned concrete into rubble!"

"You said that she wouldn't top his performance," Beth said to John.

"I stand corrected," John admitted with a laugh. He then stood up and yelled out to his pack, "Is everyone ready to go hunting?!"

Howls of enthusiasm were returned to him as the entire pack shifted and followed their Alpha out of the door and after Florence and William into the night. No one thought to check on Tristan as he continued to lie face down in the motorcycle lot, dreaming of the Goddess. If someone would have checked on the poor Beta, someone surely would have scented the recently departed humans. All things considered, what with the drunken state of the pack and the locked-and-loaded status of the humans, it was a good thing for everyone that poor Tristan was forgotten for the moment.

Instead the pack poured out of the Clubhouse, hot on the trail of William, and while it was true that either Jefferson or John probably could have diverted the pack, neither Alpha considered doing that-- the Alphas were having too much fun. They were dying to know what the young ones would do next.

Meanwhile, in a slightly different place, a melodious voice said, "Hello Tristan." 



Artiface of Strength Ch. 11



"Hello Tristan," a voice said as he was slowly and painfully making his way back to consciousness. 

"Mmph," He responded, the inside of his mouth tasting as though he'd fallen asleep under a chicken coop. 

Laughter pealed from the Lady's lips as she handed the disorganized wolf a silver chalice filled to the brim with ice-cold water. "Here... drink this. It will help, eventually." 

Tristan gratefully took the vessel and began the long and painful process of rehydration. At any other time, he would have bolted down the water, but it wasn't every day that he was in the presence of his Goddess. He tried to maintain a dignified pace of slaking his thirst and ignoring his insanely pounding headache, while simultaneously trying to show the proper respect for his deity. But evidently, trying to juggle all of this at once must have been too much for him, because as he winced in pain, the Lady giggled. 

"Did you try to drink all of it by yourself, Tristan?" 

Jumping to his feet, Tristan swayed for a moment as he fought off a wave of nausea, but he still managed to offer the chalice back to the Lady, saying, "No Lady, I didn't drink it all; there is some left for you!" 

She giggled again as she waved off his offer, "No, drink it all, you'll need it. What I meant was... did you try to drink every bit of the alcohol in the entire Clubhouse all by yourself?" 

Tristan groaned again before answering, "I've had a couple of very bad weeks Goddess, and I think it will only get worse on Monday. I thought that maybe I could out drink him at least. All of my plans have sort of disintegrated since he showed up." 

The Lady smiled encouragingly and said, "Have you considered the idea that she wasn't right for you?" 

"Lately, that idea has been kind of hard to avoid, but now I'm at a loss. I'm not sure what I should do next. Can you, at least, tell me how William did on his venom challenge?" 

"Okay Tristan, but you are not going to like it very much. Here take my hand and I will give you back your memories of everything that happened around your body tonight." 

Without hesitation, Tristan reached out and let the Goddess take his hand in her own. As the visions flooded into his mind, he saw himself fall to the ground, and he saw William torch his own bees and remaining standing. Then he saw himself being dragged out of the Clubhouse and deposited into the parking lot by Oliver and Stan, but more importantly, he caught sight of the armed infiltration teams and the fact that they had video cameras. 

His eyes shot open and he released the Goddess's hand with a start. "I have to get back! I have to protect my pack!" 

The Lady's eyes smiled as she gently said, "Tristan, your life has been completely knocked from its foundations, and yet, your first instinct is to deny yourself and to instead protect your family. Tristan, you will be their Beta, and if you stay true to yourself, you will find your mate as well. 

"But the humans... I need to get back and warn everyone!" 

"You will wake when you wake; maybe you shouldn't have let the old coyote dose your bees with morning glory seed." 

"He did what?" 

"He sent you to talk with me; he finally figured out how to do it." 

"So I can't kill him?" 

"The Lady laughed again before saying, "He gets a lot of that, and no Tristan; you can't kill him. Besides, he likes you. I think he sent you to the Principal's office for a pep talk." 

This finally brought a smile to Tristan's face. 

"So," the Lady said, "You must have a few questions." 

~~~ 

Florence had burst from Clubhouse and dashed directly into the surrounding forest, running as if her life depended on it, and in a very real way, it did. If William was to prove to be a fit mate, he'd have to defend her; and to defend her, he'd have to be able to catch anyone or anything that might run her down. This was non-negotiable for any wolf; their animal natures required no less of them. Any pups that a bitch bore would have a better chance of survival if their father were able to lay his life down to defend them—and this chase was the test to see if he qualified. 

Now, the outcome wasn't really in doubt; Florence had already realized that the Goddess had given her a true gift when She had given her William. Flo knew that Will would willingly run himself to death before he'd let her get away from him, and in a very tangible way, this knowledge was part of her undoing. Her anticipation... her eagerness at the very idea of being captured caused a wave of lust to positively pour from her. Even if William hadn't been faster and stronger than his mate, she was inadvertently leaving him the widest trail that any wolf had ever followed. 

Florence understood that changing directions would be pointless, even counter-productive. If she veered off at an angle, he'd just take a direct path to her and save the distance. So instead, she ran directly south, gaining elevation as she ran farther and farther up Whiskey peak. Unfortunately for Flo, as she gained elevation, she lost cover as there were fewer trees to conceal her. 

William was chasing Florence without any pretense or subtlety. He ran as if his fur was on fire and Florence the only water that would quench his lust. And as he ran, he continually sent her promises, filling her head with a steady stream of visions from their past liaisons, image after image of Florence being taken, memories of her screaming in ecstasy and begging for more. He let it be known. This time, he was going to run her down. He was going to take her wherever he caught her. He was going to breed with her and most of all, she was going to enjoy it, and she was going to want more. 

Florence gasped as she received these images, causing all of her rational thought to dissolve into a haze of smoky arousal. Her preoccupation caused her to miss a step, but she ran on. If he was going to catch her, he was damned well going to earn her. 

As the rest of the pack came storming out of the Clubhouse, there was a moment of shock when, Jarrod Walters, the video operator, saw what he believed to be dozens of dogs emerge from the isolated building in the forest above Whiskey Lake. The man had been on duty the entire night and had only witnessed men and women entering the building earlier that evening. And even though the man did not immediately make the connection that there was an almost identical number of 'dogs' leaving the building as there had been humans entering the Clubhouse, the security analysts would catch that fact the next day when the video footage was examined. He never took his eyes from his monitors, although he did reach for the special phone that he kept on his belt. 

After dialing the number, Jarrod waited for his contacts to answer the call, which they did after exactly two rings. The video man gave a brief report. "Feed 603x, National Security implications". 

"Report acknowledged. Out." 

The phone went dead and the video operator continued his work, doing his best to keep the fast moving 'dogs' in the frame. He knew that he'd still have to prepare some sort of report for his ostensible employer, Burton Waters; but as yet, he had no idea what he would tell the man. He'd have to sit on any report until he got directions from his real superiors who worked in Homeland Security. He was so intent on keeping his cameras on the main pack that he never saw William catch Florence. 

There'd been no subtlety to the catch- none whatsoever, William simply ran her down with a single-minded intent. His eyes were glowing gold and his animal was in control; he reeled her in as quickly as he was able. His need to catch her, to fill her, to breed with her, it was all that he still knew. Now possessed by something much more primal than humanity, he'd kill anything in his way. He'd destroy any wolf who denied him access to Florence without a second thought. He would have her. 

Florence was not thinking clearly either. Her human side was always somewhat tenuous to begin with, and now it had dissolved into a pool of animal lust. She was sopping wet, and she dimly realized that she was nearing exhaustion. She had been sprinting since she'd fled the Clubhouse; she had not been running at a marathoner's pace this time. She knew that if...no, when he caught her, that she'd have zero reserves of strength remaining. There was no way that she would be able to fight him off, and the thought of what he would surely do to her was making her even more feral. She was drenched; the fur on her back legs was completely sodden. She was panting from exhaustion, and more importantly, from need. 

When she broke through the tree line and hit the rocky peak of the mountain, he made his move. He sprang for her, and he didn't miss. His weight bore her to the ground, and as he bore her to the ground, he buried his teeth into her shoulder and controlled her movements. He growled from the very pit of his soul, a growl of need, but more than anything else, it was a growl of command. 

Submit! You are mine. Your body is mine. You will have no other wolf; I will have no other but you! 

His teeth buried in her shoulder, she was only allowed to turn her head part of the way, but it was enough for her to see into his eyes, and she saw that they spun with lust and control. She could also see that her blood dripped slowly from his teeth, so she did the one thing that made sense to her. Florence did the only think that she wanted to do; she raised her tail and gave her body to him. 

He took her, burying himself within her. There was no resistance to his attack; she had never been this wet before. They stared into one another's eyes as he began to thrust into her. 

It wasn't long before her eyes began to roll back into her head and she thought to turn her head forward as she gave into the sensations of their joining. But he would have none of that, "Look at me!" he commanded. Again, she found that she had no willpower to resist him, and she fought to stay with her mate for a little while longer. She began to whine in pleasure as she continued to fight her body's responses. 

He controlled her. Every single time that her eyes would begin to roll, he'd thrust into her even harder, demanding that she share her being with him, to lock eyes with him as he continued to wring every last moan from her body. Then he did something that he'd only done once before, his cock knotted within her in the way of the wolf, and she was lost, losing control as her orgasm hit her with a fury that she had never believed possible. She howled with a shriek of guttural emotion, letting loose with the very last remnant of her strength as William began to pump jet after jet of his seed within her. 

The pack had gathered in the space around where the mates were joined in ecstasy, circled around the lovers, they too began to howl. They were wolves and they instinctively knew that leadership of the pack would be changing before long. When William began howling along with Florence, Jefferson visibly shuddered from the power that William was unleashing upon the mountainside. Even John had a momentary impulse to bow his head to what he was experiencing. 

"Oh Goddess...what are they?" Carol sent to Beth. 

"Ja-mul says that this is their time now," but she said no more as she too was overcome by her urge to howl in celebration. 

Looking down at the monitor, General Cleary gasped, "What the holy Hell am I looking at?" 

The two intelligence men did not respond right away as they had already seen the footage several times and they knew that the most important part was coming. Cleary gasped again when many of the 'dogs' began to shift into one or another of their forms. 

After overcoming his initial shock, the General asked, "this was last night?" 

"Yes general," the senior man responded. "We didn't believe what we were seeing at first. Quite honestly, we thought that we were being hoaxed. It took us this long to authenticate the reality of this. Believe me sir, this is real. We don't want it to be, but it is." 

"If it isn't, you realize that all of our careers are over." 

"Yes sir, we will be out the door so fast that it won't even hit us as we pass through." 

"You are 100% sure?" 

"I wish that I wasn't." 

General Cleary glanced over to his aide, "Call the White House, and may God have mercy on our careers." 

~~~ 

Tristan's eyes opened slowly, so very slowly. He'd never actually realized that wind blowing over one's body could be painful, but then again, he was pretty sure that even his hair hurt now. He knew that he had to report in though, so despite the pain, he made himself rise. Unfortunately for his stomach, even though he had made sure to move slower than an elderly nun, it was just too much. He was immediately struck by waves of nausea and he painfully emptied his stomach onto the parking lot. Oh Lady, dying would be a relief, he thought to himself before he gave up any attempt to stand and decided to mentally send his report to the Alpha while he lay there quivering. 

John took Tristan's report silently, allowing his most conscientious, if extremely hung-over wolf tell his story in his own time, and at his own pace. Tristan didn't bother to apologize for his condition; he well realized that a good percentage of the pack was probably in the same situation as he was currently. Instead, he informed his Alpha of everything that the Goddess had said, and then promised his Alpha that he'd be back on duty as soon as he could stand without assistance. 

John didn't wait; he never doubted his Beta for a moment. He immediately scrambled his entire pack, ordering everyone to arm themselves and disperse. There was no panic and no obvious sign of alarm from anyone. The entire pack donned dark clothing and faded into the surrounding forest, all of them, armed with more than claws and teeth. 

"William," John sent. 

"Yes Alpha?" 

"Go and get your Beta; he's still in the parking lot at the Clubhouse. Evidently he's having trouble with standing on his own." 

"Yes Alpha." 

John then pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial. 

"This is Jefferson." Jeff replied as he answered the call. 

"How's the negotiation going with the humans?" 

"We were done an hour ago." 

"What?" 

"They took even less than our opening offer; I'll tell you about it later when there is more time. I was close enough to the compound to hear you scramble your pack. How bad is it?" 

"Armed infiltration team carrying cameras Jeff, this is as bad as it gets. The Lady says that war has come." 

"We knew the day would come eventually, John." 

"Alert every pack. Hide the women and children. Get the warriors ready." 

"Yes my Alpha!" 

"Cut it out, Jeff. We are equals." 

"No, we're not, and you damned well know it! War has come and every Alpha in the Americas will be following you into battle." 

John sighed and cut the call with a, "may the Goddess protect us." 

Some twenty minutes later William and Florence arrived in the Shunkaha parking lot to rescue Tristan. They'd brought him food, weapons, and most importantly, lots of water to drink. Tristan took the water gratefully and began the painful process of rehydration. He looked up at Florence and William and croaked, "I hear that you cheated in our venom challenge, my Alphas." 

William couldn't help himself, he barked out a laugh. This only caused Tristan to wince and to moan out a request for William to laugh more quietly. Florence, on the other hand, had been a bartender for years and was more used to seeing a wolf with a heavy hang-over. She didn't cut him any slack, she bore in with a "So...you are going to be our Beta?" 

"According to the Lady, I am. I knew better than to argue with her." 

"So you are this hung-over on your first day of duty?" Florence snapped. 

"Oh come on Florence, everyone in the..." he said before seeing that she had a large smile on her face, as well as a hand out to help him to his feet. 

"Come on, my Beta," William said with his own hand out, "John says that we need to ghost." 

Tristan took William's left hand and Florence's right and let his new Alphas hoist him to his feet, and the three wolves faded into the forest. 

They had not been moving long when Will's cell phone chimed the tone that he'd long thought of as 'the bitch tone'. 

"Answer it Will." Florence said. "It's not your fault, and it may be part of all of this. I will kill her later." 

William grumbled but he pressed the screen and replied, "Yes, Liz?" 

"Daddy says that you need to call him as soon as possible. We are at the Sacramento residence." 

"How are the kids, Liz? Is there an emergency?" 

Elizabeth sat in her parlor with Florence Billington's file spread across every bit of her desk, not that it contained nearly enough data for Liz's liking. There were copies of Flo's tax records, a social security number and some school transcripts, as well as some documents showing that she had inherited a small amount of money when her parents died some thirty years earlier. It all looked unremarkable and perfectly authentic, it should, Jefferson's people were very good at creating false identities. 

Liz knew that she didn't have much to work with, so she took a chance. "Daddy says that you are sleeping with another woman!" Tristan immediately winced and Florence set her shoulders tightly upon hearing Liz's words. Sometimes having wolven hearing was something less than a blessing. 

"Yes Liz, her name is Florence and she is the adopted daughter of our target. We are attempting to work out a deal, something to keep this whole enterprise out of court." 

"Are you sleeping with her?" 

"Liz, we've been apart for almost two years. We've been legally separated for over a year; why would you care?" 

"I'm not done with you yet," Liz said with a snarl. 

"Liz, you don't want me; you want some version of me that lives only in your head. The real version of me does nothing but piss you off, because you can't control it." 

"So you are giving up the kids in favour of your bitch?!" 

"Liz, I love the kids more than my life itself, but the best thing that I can do for them is to show them how to be true to themselves. I will always make time for them, and they can have every second of my time when I'm not on assignment, but if you make it impossible for me to see them, then that's on you, not me. Tell your loving father that I'll be in to see him soon, and to have my termination papers ready." 

"You are quitting?" 

"That would depend on what he has to say Liz, but let's be honest, I doubt if he will back down." 

"Daddy back down? Don't be an idiot!" 

"Yes Liz and the apple fell directly under the tree." 

"You are making a serious mistake," she hissed. 

"Maybe, but I got some good advice the other day. A very wise person told me to be true to myself and to always do the right thing. I think that I'm going to try that for a change." 

The phone went suddenly dead. William merely shrugged and put it back in his pocket. "Okay pack," he said with a sardonic grin. "John ordered us to ghost, so this three wolf pack is going to ghost to Sacramento. Your Alpha has something to finalize." 

The three of them were miles away by the time that four P.M. arrived and the military vehicles rolled into the compound through its unusually wide-open gates. Beth, John, and Ja-mul were the only ones on hand to greet the humans as they swarmed across pack property. They sat quietly, drinking lemonade, as they watched several hundred heavily-armed soldiers fanning out through the entirety of the compound. 

The soldiers quickly found that every door in the village was standing wide open and that every set of drapes or blinds were likewise, standing open to permit full visibility and full access to the interlopers. What the soldiers did not find were any wolves, or even any people with the exceptions of John, Beth and their Shaman. The place was as quiet as a graveyard. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 11



Without rising, John looked at the men who were now training automatic weapons upon him and asked, "How can I help you?" 

"Where is everyone else?" asked a tall, blonde officer. 

John took another sip of lemonade and answered, "Who wants to know?" 

"My name is Lt. Colonel Armstrong, and we are here to secure the area before the other agencies arrive here." 

"Ah, more company," John said dryly, "Beth, do you think we have enough lemonade for everyone?" 

"Mr. Billington, I will ask you once again. Where is everyone? It is my understanding that close to one hundred people live here." 

"Well Mr. Armstrong, I have to break it to you; Beth handed out the bells, but most of them refuse to wear them. They claimed that it made them too easy to find when the pack plays hide and seek." 

"It's Colonel Armstrong, and I would advise you to cooperate with us. The other agencies may be less friendly than we are." 

"What?" John said, "Less friendly than sending a company of heavily armed men into a peaceful tribal nation... Breaking yet another treaty and completely ignoring our right to be free?" 

"Again." Ja-mul added. 

"Homeland security takes precedence, sir," Armstrong shot back. 

"But it was our homeland before you ever showed up," Ja-mul stated forcefully. 

"Major Reno, Take them into custody," Armstrong stated imperiously. 

Just then, several large S.U.V.s began to enter the compound, all of them exactly alike, and all of them bearing U.S. Government plates. Beth noticed them driving in and remarked, "Look, more clowns. Do you think these clowns will be any funnier than the ones that we've already met?" 

John grinned and replied, "I doubt it Beth; this circus will be the civilian brigade. Most likely, this group of clowns will even be rude to Corporal Armstrong here. Make sure that you remember to ask to see their clown permits, they hate it when you do that!" 

"I don't think that you'll be laughing later, sir," Major Reno replied quietly. 

"Oh, I don't know about that," John replied smoothly. Corporal Armstrong hasn't thought to wonder why we decided to remain behind when we clearly could have left with everyone else. Maybe our laughter is our message." 

John would have said more, but just as he was about to continue speaking, automatic weapon fire broke out from the forest to the north of the dining hall. John, Beth and Ja-mul took this as a cue to sit back down and continue to drink their lemonade, as they assumed that it would continue to be too loud for conversation for the time being. Ja-mul took the opportunity to whisper softly in a voice that he was sure that only a wolf would hear, "John, I can't hear you when you guys send to one another. I was going to keep that card for awhile longer, but you might need to know it now." 

"Thank you Di-yin," John replied with a respectful nod. 

Thirty minutes later, the lemonade was mostly gone, but the shooting had finally ended. Not that it was quiet upon the cessation of the firefight- that's when the yelling began. Ja-mul once again wished that his hearing was as acute as that of the Were, for his curiosity was getting the best of him, while the looks on John and Beth's faces clearly showed that they were amused at what they were hearing. Not knowing what was going on was almost a novelty for the shaman however, so he sat back and waited for the next act to begin. 

He didn't have long to wait... A few minutes later, two off-the-rack, suit wearing civilians approached, closely flanked by an obviously upset Lt. Col. Armstrong. John didn't wait for them to begin, instead he interrupted with a, "I hear that the Corporal's men got themselves a deer. I hope they had the correct tag for that; the local game warden is a real stickler on that front." 

Armstrong erupted. "Two of my men were wounded, you smug bastard! You will pay for this!" 

"You meant to say that two of your ill-trained and trigger-happy cowards shot each other don't you, Corporal? You chose to wind them up into a pre-mission frenzy, and now you'll get to explain this...event... to your superiors. That won't be fun will it, Corporal. Will they bust you back to Private?" 

Armstrong angrily took a step forward before one of the civilians cut in sharply, "That's enough Colonel; we will take this from here. Go see to your injured men. Then ignoring the military man further, he turned to John and pulled out his identification and said, smiling, "As you can see from my clown papers, my name is Special Agent James Edwards, and I work for Homeland Security. Looking to the departing Armstrong he continued, "I see that you don't suffer fools gladly, and we do appreciate that you've remained behind to negotiate with us." 

John chuckled before saying, "You guys sent Armstrong here just to gauge my reaction didn't you? Oh, and the fact that Major Reno is one of your men. He is wearing a wire, I assume." 

Edward smiled a friendly smile and responded, "Do you mind if Agent Brown and I sit down and speak with you? And yes, we'd love some lemonade." 

"I'll get right on that," Beth replied dryly, not budging an inch. 

The two men seated themselves before Edwards continued, "Okay, let me tell you what we think we know, and then you correct me if I get anything wrong. Is that fair enough?" 

John nodded and the man continued, "You three are John Billington, Bethany Fawn Yellow-Eagle, and Marris 'Ja-mul' Yazzie, and all three of you are werewolves...correct?" 

John replied laconically, "Well, no one ever calls her anything but Beth, but that is technically her legal name. And Marris here," he said grinning at the old man, "is not actually Were; he is something darker and much more twisted than we are, he is our Di-yin." 

Edward took that in for a moment before responding, "Am I right in assuming that you've stayed behind to speak with us?" 

John assented and Edwards asked, "So...what do we need to know?" 

"We only want to be left in peace. We've been in the Americas as long as the People have been here. We've never interfered in your affairs, and we have not broken any of your laws, and yet," he said, pausing to indicate the soldiers swarming through the compound, "here you are. Now, you tell me, what do we need to know?" 

Edwards nodded his head at this and replied, "Some of my superiors are afraid of you. They have no idea what you are or how long you've been here, and this scares the Hell out of them. There was a very real discussion about coming in here, weapons firing, but cooler heads prevailed. The fact that you remained here to speak with us will probably strengthen the cooler faction somewhat, although I suspect that part of the reason that Colonel Asshole was given this assignment was purely to create a problem where none exists. Thank you for being so calm while you insulted him, I suspect that the video of that exchange will be making the rounds soon." 

Pausing for a moment, Edwards then said, "But that said, the people who are afraid of you will likely be incredibly upset that the rest of your people have disappeared. They'll probably urge more violent measures..." 

Ja-mul spoke up, "So, what you are saying is that some men within your Government want to herd us into reservations after we've been forced to sign treaties that we all know that you'll never follow. Then, if we are not willing to do this, they'll hunt us down and kill us like dogs in the street...again? Have I got that right?" 

John and Beth waited silently; rather curious as to how the Homeland Security agent would respond to this. Edwards didn't respond immediately, taking the time to look from face to face to see if there was any disagreement amongst the three. Finding none, he sighed and said, "Clearly, the answer to that question is above my pay-grade. Can we fly you to D.C. and continue this conversation?" 

"We absolutely do not fly; that one is a deal-breaker for us." John replied forcefully. 

"Excuse me?" replied a surprised Edwards. 

"We don't fly. We can agree to accompany you to Washington, but by ground only. Or, we could conduct talks here, or at the Resort, or even in Seattle or Portland if that works for you, but no flying...ever." 

"It's against our religion," replied Ja-mul. Xwun does not allow us to leave the ground for his sky." 

The two agents looked at one another quizzically for a moment before Agent Brown, who up to this time had not said a word; spoke up, saying, "I'll go make a call." 

As Agent Brown walked away to make his call, Beth said with a smile, "Let's go into the dining room and find something to drink. All this talking always makes John thirsty." 

"So... Brown is the senior agent?" John asked as everyone was filing into the kitchen. 

"You don't miss much," Edwards replied, "They won't like that at all." 

"Would you rather negotiate with a stupid man who couldn't deliver on his promises?" Beth said scornfully. 

Edwards stopped moving and took a new look at his three adversaries, and then said, "No, they are not going to like dealing with you three. Can I ask which one of you is in charge here? I had assumed that it was Mr. Billington, but now I'm not so sure." 

John replied, "Well, that would depend on the particular subject under discussion." 

The agent chuckled ruefully, "Yup, way above my pay grade." Then changing the subject, he said, "What do we have to drink?" 

John grinned and replied, "We make our own ale; we have a very fine brown right now. How does that sound?" 

~~~ 

The music was loud in the car; no, check that... the music was very loud in the car as 'Joan Crawford Has Risen from the Grave' came thumping out of the speakers. Will glanced over at Florence and said, "Mate, your taste in music is extremely strange. 

"Don't blame me for this one. I think Tom left this disc in the car; he drove it last time." 

"Yes, but he wasn't the one to turn the volume up to eleven, now was he?" Tristan said quickly. 

"You are not helping here!" Florence snapped. "We are going to see my mate's ex; I'm trying to bleed off some of my aggression before I see her. You don't want me to rip her head off do you?" 

"Ahem," Will broke in, "Bleeding off some aggression is probably a good idea, love. If I know Liz, I can almost guarantee that she will try to make you lose your cool. Quite honestly, I'd say that your best bet would be to return her barbs with sugar. Smile, compliment her, she'll hate that!" 

"Tristan, I will introduce you as Florence's bodyguard. Put your earpiece in before we get there, and don't say anything to them at all. Just frown and play the heavy; that will fluster them. They will wonder how many men we have on the outside listening in. They'll probably envision an army behind us; it will go smoother that way." 

"You think this could get violent," Florence asked appraisingly. 

"No, I doubt it. The fact that this is taking place in Sacramento means that Burton is traveling light. He must be trying to work something with the State Legislature. I doubt if he realizes that Medina has been neutralized yet; he likely thinks that his plans are still moving forward." 

Tristan replied, "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask; what did Jefferson and those lawyers do with that?" 

Florence answered him. "According to the Alpha, Burton discovered that the tribe who were originally on our land had gone extinct before we ever moved here. He was trying to establish a counter-claim with the only known descendent of that tribe, our George Medina. But Waters made a serious mistake there; he decided to shaft Medina too, so we stepped in and gave the man a much better offer." 

"What did we give him?" 

"Jefferson set it up so that Medina was confirmed as the official Chief of the Chimariko tribe, and then we all joined it." 

Tristan burst out laughing, "You are kidding! You mean that our claim is even stronger now than it was originally?" 

"Nope, he and his three friends are now part owners of everything that we've built. They each have full tribal shares and exactly one vote each in any pack decision." 

"No wonder they signed so quickly." 

"Yeah, they are set for life, and better yet, they won't ever have to deal with Burton or his legal team ever again." 

"Are we going to turn them?" 

"We'll give them that opportunity when all of this is over, but can you imagine any of them turning it down?" 

"Wait... Hold on..." Tristan said, slowly adding it up, "I heard Sam talking about those girls. Two sisters who can pass for twins, smoking hot? They both used to be strippers, and now they are going to become wolves? Hot wolves?" 

"That's the rumour," Flo replied with a grin. 

"And you two dragged me to Sacramento before I had my shot," Tristan said accusingly. 

"We've got work to do Tris', and besides all that, I think Beth has already set them up for a dancing date with the idiot brothers." 

"I think I might just have to cut in," said Tristan with an evil grin. 

"Stay sober this time," needled Will. 

"Well yeah, especially since I may have to kick both of their asses in the parking lot!" 

"Men!" Florence said, rolling her eyes. 

"Think you can take 'em?" William said, grinning challengingly. 

"Well, I'm kind of hoping that my Alphas have a new training regimen to follow. I mean, y`all want me to be the best Beta ever? Right? I figure that if you two are going to keep kicking my ass, I ought to get something out of it. I'm thinking that two smoking hot sisters would be about right." 

William laughed and promised that they would see what they could do for their new Beta. Florence merely grumbled about the ongoing stupidity of men. But despite Florence's grumbling, she could see that this conversation had broken her worried mood. Clearly, Beth was right about men; they were large, spoiled children who rarely felt badly about grabbing what they wanted with both hands. This relaxed her even more, as this realization strengthened her hand versus a certain Elizabeth Waters. By the time, Tristan pulled their car up to the large gated entrance into the Waters mansion, Florence was ready for battle; she was even smiling. 

"William Yazzie, Florence Billington, and bodyguard," William announced into the microphone. After a short pause, the mechanical gate buzzed and began to open, allowing Tristan to drive their car up the drive where he parked just in front of the mansion. 

"A kiss for luck," Florence said with a challenging smile before laying an inferno of a kiss upon her mate. 

"Great! Now I walk in with an erection," William said grumpily to himself. Tristan didn't respond though, he was already getting into his role of heavy, taking his time to securely attach an earpiece and to don a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Florence just smiled wickedly and waited for Tristan to open her door and to allow her to exit the vehicle with the proper decorum of an heiress. 

The three wolves were met at the large double doors by a four man security team, all four of whom were well known by William. He'd trained three of them himself. "Hey Dave," he said absently to the leader of the team. 

"Sorry Will, we have to pat you down before you can go inside, and your bodyguard is not going in at all." 

William didn't bat an eye; he just reversed direction and began walking back to the car, saying, "Have Burton fax my separation papers to the Billington estate. Come on Florence, it's a three hour drive back to Redding." 

"Hang on Will," Dave said before using his headset to communicate Will's refusal. 

After a quick exchange of information, the man came back with a counter-offer. "Your man remains here with us, and Liz will come down and escort you and your companion into the residence herself. Will that work for you Will?" 

Will glanced over at Tristan, saying, "Check in with the rest of the team every five minutes. Change codes every second time that you check in." Tristan nodded slowly, not saying a thing. Will then turned his attention back to his old comrade and said, "Send her out." Dave shot a worried look in Tristan's direction, but he did as Will asked and used his radio to call for Elizabeth. 

As William waited, he sent a message to Tristan, "Dave will try to chat you up; he talks a lot when he gets nervous. So the less you say, the crazier he is apt to get. Look at your watch a lot and keep reporting to the rest of our invisible team. It will put him off of his game." 

"You are a cruel wolf, Alpha," Tristan sent back with a mental grin. 

"Just don't kill him. I wouldn't mind hiring him after all of this is over, kind of like I didn't kill you. Just remember, he is the best of these four, and that's why I want you to wind him up and make sure that he isn't thinking clearly. You'll take him out of the game before he even knows that you are working him." 

"Yes Alpha," Tristan sent back without comment. 

Florence sent William a private message, a message that Tristan was unable to hear, "and you said that you didn't know how to be an Alpha!" 

"No dearest, I said that I didn't know how to be a wolf, but you are working on that. Now eyes front, here comes Elizabeth!" 

Liz arrived without smiling and said tightly, "Will, you brought an armed bodyguard to our home?" 

"Florence's father has assigned her a bodyguard. He goes wherever she goes, but since when is Dave ordered to frisk me when I show up?" 

"I didn't order that," Liz denied hotly. 

"No, I'm sure that 'daddy' did." William responded. "But let's get this over with. Is Burton in his office?" 

William saw that Elizabeth was making no effort to lead them deeper into the mansion, and was instead very pointedly examining Florence, so he decided to provide introductions instead. "Elizabeth, this is Florence Billington, she is John Billington's only daughter. He owns the land that Burton is interested in obtaining. Florence, this is Elizabeth Waters, Burton's only daughter and my ex." 

Florence ignored the frown that appeared on Liz's face when she was described as William's ex, and instead turned on the charm, affixing a happy smile on her face while saying, "Elizabeth, I am so glad to meet you! William has told me that you are a great mother to his children. I'm sure that we'll be great friends!" 

A momentary look of shock appeared on Elizabeth's face as she began to realize that while she had very little information on her rival, that the reverse may not be as true. Worse yet, this creature seemed to think that they could be fast friends. Haltingly and with some resentment, Liz held her hand out only to have Florence grab her up in a tight embrace, hugging her with all of her might." 

"Finding a way to scent her, my love?" William sent with a grin. 

"If you ever smell like this, you are a dead wolf," Florence sent back before releasing Liz with her practiced blonde giggle. 

"Err..." Liz stammered, "Follow me," she said before staggering off. 

Will and Flo followed Liz silently sending to one another as Liz seethed in barely controlled anger. None of this was going as she planned. William had actually had the gall to call her his ex and the mother of his children, as if they belonged to him. And that stupid bitch had actually hugged her like she was some sort of southern-fried moron. She would get even if it was the last thing that she ever did. Liz certainly hoped that her father would have better luck bringing them down. 

Locked in her ruminations, Liz missed seeing four eyes peeking out of a barely cracked door. "Daddy!" screamed Sarah and Noah as they burst through the explosively opened door, and they rushed to hug their father. 

"I thought I told you to stay in your rooms," Liz snapped. 

"But Daddy's here!" Sarah said excitedly as she hugged her father. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 11



As William sank to his knees to hug his children, Florence saw that both children made a point of hugging their father's cheeks, one small head on either side of William's. Then she heard William whisper, "580", and then Noah respond, "436", and then finally Sarah whisper "7280". 

Florence knew that Liz's human hearing stood zero chance of picking up her family's exchange. This must be something more private, something for just the three of them. And then it struck her; it was a phone number! Her mate had been preparing for this day since before he had even met her. Her heart swelled in admiration for him; she'd known that he didn't trust his ex-wife, but she had not realized until now that he'd actively taken measures to protect his children, even from his wife. 

Throughout the loving reunion, Liz continued to fuss at the children for being out of their rooms without her permission, but only Florence heard a single word of it. The children and their father had attention only for one another, and it was crystal clear to Florence that despite her mate's beliefs that children needed their mother, there would come a time when these children would likely make a different decision. She resolved to prepare herself to wait for that day. 

"We are so glad to see you Daddy; mama says that we are going on a trip soon and we were so afraid that we wouldn't get to see you before we left!" Sarah gushed. 

Will reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, saying, "Do you remember the number?" 

"xxx-xxx-xxxx," they both responded proudly. 

"Call me every night that you are gone. If you don't catch me, make sure that you leave a voice-mail so I can hear your voices. You know that I'll always be there for you, no matter what anyone else may ever tell you! Now, it looks like I might be changing jobs soon, so before too much longer, I should get to around more—a lot more. 

Florence saw Liz's eyes narrow at this declaration, but before anyone had a chance to comment on Will's words, Burton's voice boomed out from the far end of the hallway, "Let's get this over with, Yazzie. You can say goodbye to my grandchildren on your way out." 

William looked each one of his children in the eyes in turn and said, "I will stop and see you on the way out if I have to fight my way through the security team to do so." 

"We know you will daddy! Besides... they are outside right now, just standing there staring at that guy who you brought with you." 

"That's my girl! Always keep your eyes open and know what is around you. 

"Know our surroundings," replied Noah. 

"Yazzie!" Burton snapped once again. 

"I love you both," William said as he hugged his children to him one more time before rising to his feet, and with a look at Liz and Florence, he said, "Ladies, let's take care of the unpleasantness first, and then maybe we can talk. Shall we?" 

A moment later, behind the closed door in Burton's Sacramento office, the meeting began with a challenging hiss from Waters, "So you are turning your back on your family?" 

Ignoring Waters' opening, Will instead responded, "Burton Waters, this is Florence Billington. She has come to speak for her father and for her tribe. I suggest that you listen to her." 

Florence began right away, "Mr. Waters, as I'm sure that you are aware; our land is sacred to us, and we won't be selling. Our title to it is solid, you know that by now. The original deed is successfully filed and copies have been provided to the State of California, the Federal Government, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And, as far as Mr. Medina goes..." 

Burton sat up rigidly with a start, his eyes sparkling with anger, now glaring at William. 

Florence continued on, ignoring Burton's violent reaction, "He's come to an agreement with our lawyers, and all papers have been notarized and filed. Your play for our land is at an end. We've chosen to come here to negotiate a cease-fire before someone gets hurt. The armed men that you sent onto our land will not be allowed to leave next time. My father says that their bodies will be displayed for the press after he kills them. 

Burton's eyes, which had been glittering with increasing hatred, showed something else with the mention of the armed men, suddenly showing surprise instead, confusion clearly written on his face. 

"We know the men were yours Burton," William said softly, "but I see that you were surprised just now... You've gotten no report back from them have you?" Then William laughed before saying, "They took it away from you, and you didn't even know it yet. National Security has stepped in and squashed your plans for you." 

"Florence," William said, changing his focus to his mate, "Give him the short version. He's got way bigger problems than us right now. He needs to get on his phone and figure out how much of his empire that he has left." 

Confused, but trusting her mate's instincts, Florence continued, "Mr. Waters, you've lost this fight, but my father has authorized a payment of $100,000 to cover your lost start-up expenses. He said to tell you that we expect nothing in return for this gesture. This is a gift. Now, do you have a message for my father?" Florence then placed her father's card and a cashier's check made out to Burton Waters Enterprises on Burton's desk and waited for the explosion. 

Waters was clearly hanging on by an extremely thin thread, but to everyone's surprise, he said nothing. He merely pushed William's termination papers across the desk to his ex son. William skimmed the document, scratched out one clause and then returned it to Burton, fully signed and ready to file. 

"Now...get the fuck out of my house!" Burton growled malevolently. 

"Quickly," William sent, "Liz is bound to be curious about what just happened. That might give us long enough for me to introduce you to the kids before she comes roaring back." 

Eager to meet her mate's children, Florence nodded absently to the Waters and quickly filed out of the room with William. As he shut the door behind them, Will could hear the yelling begin, but he didn't bother to listen. That yelling was the detritus of his past, the eager eyes at the far end of the hallway were his future. The two wolves strode quickly to the young ones and William began the introductions. "Richard Noah Yazzie, and Lynne Sarah Yazzie, this is my mate, Florence Billington. She's been dying to meet you." 

Florence sank to her knees and looked into the children's eyes from their own level and as she shook their hands, William continued, "We won't have long. Your grandfather is very mad at me. He's going to throw me out of the house very soon. Just remember that I love you and that I'd do anything to be with you more often!" 

"Daddy, can we go with you?" Sarah asked. 

"Baby, I'd love that, but you know that you can't come with me until the day that your mother says that you can." 

"Or when we turn eighteen," Noah added quickly. 

"On the day that either happens, I will rush to come get you," William said with a tear in his eye. "Remember the things that we've talked about, because they will be even more important if your mother takes you away for awhile. Remember the things that I've taught you!" 

"Yes Daddy, we will," they both promised. 

Then the children's attention switched to where Florence still kneeled in front of them. "Are you Daddy's new wife?" Sarah asked. 

"Not yet, but I hope to be." Florence said with a hopeful smile. 

"Mama says bad things about you." 

Florence's smile faded somewhat, but she said, "She's just angry, dear. She doesn't know anything about me. Don't blame her though; she's just very unhappy like her father always is. Try to smile for her; I think she needs that from you. And always remember that family is important, even when they are mad at you. I had to learn that one the hard way myself." 

Looking up to his father, Noah said, "I like her Daddy." Then he turned back to Florence and said, "If we ever get to come live with my father, will you be mad at us all the time like my grandfather always is?" 

"No dear," Florence said with a sad smile, "I was always lonely when I was small, so I'd love to have you and Sarah as new friends. I'd really like that!" 

Just then, the door to Burton's office slammed open as Liz flew out of it, screaming at the top of her lungs for that whore to get away from her children! 

"Time for us to go," William said, smiling at his children. "Be brave and always do the right thing until we can see each other again." 

"We love you Daddy," both children said as they sadly watched their father walk out of the mansion, their mother screeching at him the entire way.



Artiface of Strength Ch. 12



There are only two chapters left after this one. Chapter 13 has been written and Chapter 14 is underway. Thanks to all of you who have ridden along with me; your support has made this happen. 

I was asked about sequels. And my answer is a definite maybe. I have a couple of other projects that I'm currently story-boarding, so I may put my Were aside for a while. 

Onwards! 

***** 

Chapter 12 

Agent Brown was outside for well over an hour, evidently the phone call that he had made to his superiors had proven to be more complicated than he had expected it to be. Not that this was an unpleasant thing for anyone but Agent Brown, this delay had given Agent Edwards more time alone with John, Beth, and Ja-mul. Well, it wasn't true that they were completely alone; because while it was true that he was the only human physically present with the Were, everyone knew that he was wearing a wire and at the other end of the transmission, there were rooms full of Nation Security Agency people listening to their conversation. John didn't worry about them though, he knew the score. Every word spoken would be recorded, analyzed, and taken apart by the security agency, so he only spoke of inconsequential things. His only real worry was that he couldn't send to Ja-mul like he could do with anyone else in the pack, but then again, he was reassured by the realization that the old bastard usually knew what was going on before it happened anyway. 

Edward had been complimenting the pack-made brown ale and he truly seemed to be enjoying himself. After a couple of pints of the stuff, he finally said, "You know... most existential threats to humanity show much less hospitality than you guys do."  

John smiled as he responded, "We are no threat to human-kind. We've lived beside you since the People first came to this land. We've been here longer than the white-man, although your coming almost forced us to die out. Your way of life was much more deadly to us than we ever were to you. Worse yet, you Europeans saw us as something less than human, and decided to just sweep us away like you did to everything that you didn't understand. What you did to the People was nothing less than genocide." 

"But Mr. Billington, you speak of the Native Americans as if you were one, and yet, you are clearly from European stock. I don't understand." 

"Yes well, I suppose that I was born just as you, but I left all of that behind me a very long time ago. Since then, I've joined the People, and in any event, Ja-mul keeps telling me that my time is just about over. I suspect that you'll find that the next generation of Were will be of the People. I'm thinking that I was just a bridge back to where we were supposed to live." 

"Am I supposed to understand any of that?" Edwards asked in confusion. 

"No, probably not," John said with a beleaguered smile. "I think I'm just beginning to understand it myself." 

There was a pause and Beth asked, "More ale?" 

"Absolutely!" Edwards replied, holding out his mug. "This stuff is fabulous." 

The conversation returned to lighter subjects after that, with the four finding that they had more in common with one another than not. If Edwards hadn't known that he was dealing with something that he had previously thought of being supernatural, he never would have suspected that these three were not exactly what they claimed to be, ordinary humans who ran several successful businesses between them. He didn't believe that anyone had anything to fear from these people. His supervisors though, they must have had a different opinion, for when Agent Brown returned, they all could see it written clearly on his face. Not smiling, Agent Brown said, "Homeland Security has agreed to meet with you in San Francisco, but they are insisting that all three of you accompany us immediately." 

John sighed as he replied, "I suspected it would be like that; some things never change." Then he paused for a moment and said, "Sure, we will come with you, but we'll need to stop by the Resort on our way out of here. All of our legal papers are stored there in the fire safe and your superiors will want to see those." 

Agent Brown readily agreed to this condition; although he was a little surprised when John didn't argue that they were being taken to a destination that he had previously approved. 

To Beth, John sent, "It's a good thing that you thought to keep Oliver and Stan on duty at the Resort. Once we get close enough for them to hear your sendings, tell Oliver to contact Jefferson and tell him that he is in charge of all of the Were now. There is no doubt any longer; I am being taken into custody and I am unaware of when I will be able to be in contact again." 

"Why don't you tell him yourself, John?" Beth sent back. 

"There is no guarantee that I'll be able to, and besides that, we both know that your range is greater than mine. You women pretend that we men don't know, but believe me, we all do." 

Beth raised an eyebrow at John, but she said nothing. 

"Besides that," John continued, "These bastards may be pretending that they are negotiating with us, and indeed, Brown and Edwards may actually think that they are doing just that, but their bosses just showed us otherwise. By dragging us away from our home, they've signaled that they are in control and that our rights do not matter. We are at war now, so make the call as soon as Oliver is within your range." 

"Yes, John." 

Meanwhile, the more paranoid analysts within the National Security apparatus had heard Ja-mul and John adamantly refusing to fly and leapt forward with their belief that the Were must be preparing to launch indiscriminate warfare upon the nation's air traffic. They took their conclusions to the White House, and the President made the only decision that made sense to him through his European lens; he ordered an immediate 'temporary' shutdown of all passenger travel within the American borders. 

Within hours, the nation was in complete turmoil. The White House had been forced to admit that this was a fluorescent red-level terrorist threat, and that they were sorry that they could not say anything more at this time. The populace was, of course, terrified. But as the American people knew, there was no such thing as Werewolves, so the old bogeymen, Muslims or right-wing militias were blamed by most Americans. Demagogues of all stripes began shrieking from their towers, calling for invasions, or bombings, or mass arrests, or even a combination of all three, though few agreed on who or what the USA should attack first. 

Amidst this insane over-reaction, Jefferson and his pack mates, as well as the four humans traveling with them, left their train at its very next scheduled stop. A convoy of S.U.V.s awaited them and soon their travel transitioned to the still largely unregulated highways. They had disappeared from the National Security radar. 

Having heard John's orders from Oliver during the early part of his train trip, Jefferson began to make phone calls as soon as he was seated in the S.U.V., contacting every single pack in the Americas, giving them John's orders to arm themselves and disappear. Some Were faded into the woods, some disappeared into the teaming human cities, and some of them even hid in plain sight, certain that there was nothing that connected them to Were society. There may have been a number of different strategies, but all of them switched to their network of burner cell phones, and of course, even the older children were now armed and very dangerous. Homeland security would eventually be extremely upset when they discovered what they were up against. 

The American Government, as it usually did, badly over-reacted to a relatively minor annoyance. Worse still, the N.S.A. remained in a locked-down state with regard to releasing information- even to their allies. The countries of North and South America all contained packs of Were, but since the Americans were not sharing information, none of the other nations had a clue that they might have a security problem. If any of the humans had known that Were existed, and worse yet, that they were able to send to one another, they might have begun to understand just what they were up against, maybe found some way to plug the leaking dikes of their security. But no human other than a few elderly shamans knew the real truth, so the wolves were now gone and worse yet; they were armed to the teeth. 

The first hint of how completely the human security apparatus had been outmaneuvered came when an impressive team of lawyers beat the S.U.V.s carrying John and Beth to the Federal building in San Francisco. The sharks were armed with writs of habeas corpus and they were demanding to speak to their clients even as the vehicles pulled into the parking garage. 

Now, a team of eight lawyers was far from unusual at the Federal Building, but this team was unusual in one serious respect. It contained a young lawyer name Jackson Keel, and he was more of a wolf than a shark, and he was well within John and Beth's sending range, and he was communicating with them before they were even out of the cars. He knew his client was in the building. He knew to ignore the denials from the nice people at the front desk, and more importantly, he knew the phone numbers of the local media, and that's when he and his team were also placed under arrest. Mind you, his men waiting outside of the building knew the numbers as well, and the press soon descended on the building with the sound and fury of an ancient fishwife. 

As the press surrounded every entrance to the building with their microphones and their cameras, they were going live with reports that suspects in the terrorism plot were now in custody, while even more lawyers appeared in the courts, demanding that their clients be charged or released immediately. More writs were produced and every member of the press in all of America now knew the name of John Billington, though none of them made the connection between this John and the John Billington of Plymouth Rock. 

Homeland Security wasn't happy. No, that is a serious understatement of just how unhappy the nation's security agencies were currently. They were spitting mad, and the heads of the agencies bristled with barely veiled anger; not only were they being asked to comply with their own nation's Constitution with regard to their prized captive, the hated national press were demanding instant answers from the White House. The men on the ground in San Francisco had lost all control of the situation; and while it was true that they held their man, but with the word out, they were now on a very real clock. 

"How the Hell did they pull that off?" General Cleary shouted! "We had them in custody without firing a shot! We jammed electronic communication around them the entire time we had them. Do we have a leak? Do they have someone inside of the Government?" 

"I don't know what else it could be, General," Colonel Armstrong replied angrily. "Look how quickly they moved: three entire teams of lawyers, flocks of those bastards from the press, there's absolutely no way to put a lid on this, we have no idea how many people they've got on the outside. I'll bet that they've already lawyered up, haven't they?" 

"Colonel, from what I'm hearing, they are talking a lot, but they are careful not to say anything that we want to hear." 

Way down under the complex, in the very comfortably appointed interview room, Agent Edwards had just said, "...but that would produce hundreds of gallons of ale per batch. What on Earth do you do with all of that ale? You don't sell it; where does it all go?" 

Beth laughed derisively, "Where do you think it goes? The stupid men drink it!" 

"But that's enough beer for several hundred men... and you say that you brew a new batch every month?" 

John just grinned and said, "Our men are a thirsty lot." 

Downstairs in the video war-room, one of the video analysts turned from his monitor and said, "I thought you said there were only about a hundred of them. There's no way that fifty men could put down that much beer and still function. If they really drink that much beer every single month, they must have a lot more men than we had thought!" 

"Contact Anheuser Busch and check these numbers," another voice snapped! 

"Yes sir, right away," one of the underlings replied. 

John and Edwards continued to rhapsodize upon the wonders of micro-brewing for another hour or so before Beth hit her daily limit of listening to men talk about their toys and interrupted, "Agent Edwards, are they ever going to let our lawyers in to see us?" 

"Why would you need lawyers," he responded with a smile. 

"Because... despite your pleasant manner, we are obviously in custody here. You insisted that we accompany you immediately, and then you dragged us to San Francisco when we supplied several other options. And now, you've got us locked in here with you without counsel, so I'm going to say this clearly... "Release us, or produce our lawyers...now." 

John grinned as he said to Beth, "You put up with this longer than I thought you would." Then, switching his attention to Edwards, he said, "You heard the lady, it's put up or shut-up time. You now have three options left: release us, give us our lawyers, or hold us and we've stopped talking. It's your choice, and by the way, I mean our lawyers, not some random idiot who you decide to bring in to 'represent' us. His name is Jackson Keel, and I believe that you are probably holding him in a different..." John glanced around the room meaningfully before saying, "cell." Edwards looked into John's eyes and accepted the inevitable. He nodded to John and left the room without a word. 

"Now we wait," Ja-mul mumbled. 

~~~~ 

"Look at this, Will," Florence said, holding out her smart-phone, "Looks like the Alpha is keeping things stirred up. All of the top stories are about the terrorism crisis and the mysterious John Billington who is now in Federal custody in San Francisco. According to this, they are even arresting his lawyers." 

"Grandfather got his wish I guess." William responded with a sardonic grin. "He always said that he wanted to be in the middle of the action. I wonder how he likes it now." 

"The Press is acting like that swarm of hornets that attacked us. They are going nuts asking when normal air-traffic will resume. Looks like the markets are going crazy as well; according to this, the Dow Jones lost about 20% of its value before trading was stopped for the week. Evidently the U.N. is pressing for answers as world-wide commerce is being affected." 

"How much longer do you think we'll have to remain underground?" Tristan put in. 

"I wish that I knew," Will answered. "Every single time that we've come in range of another Were, they've sent us the exact same thing. No one has been captured and everyone is getting bored and antsy for action." 

"Maybe we should drive down to San Francisco ourselves," Florence suggested. "Get close enough to the building where they are being held so we'll be able to send with them. See what we can do to help." 

"Beats sitting on our tails, boss," Tristan put in hopefully. 

"The kids have memorized both of your numbers, Will," Florence said gently. You've trained them well, but now you can't do anything for them until they call. We won't need to be in Sacramento for that; San Francisco just isn't that far away." 

"Yeah, you two are right, let's get going." 

~~~~ 

Ja-mul was getting on John's nerves. He was unable to silently send with John and Beth to pass the time, and left without any access to the outside world, he was quickly going stir-crazy. For the last two days, he'd be alternating between both pacing their cell aimlessly, and chanting tonelessly during his meditations. John well understood that their holding cell was bugged, and while the idea that America's intelligence community was likely going insane trying to decipher all of the extinct tongues that Ja-mul was chanting during his meditations did hold amusement for John, the reality of being trapped in the same room with it was something else entirely. But fortunately for John, every single time that he found himself ready to explode, Beth would lay her hand upon John and murmur soothing words into his mind, generally before John himself even realized that he was close to losing it. 

"He's got no one to talk to, John. This has got to be harder on him than it is on us. He is just as much of a social creature as we are, and the only word any of us is allowed to speak is, 'lawyer'. It would probably be better on him if they do separate us like you've been predicting. He won't feel the need to communicate so much without us actually standing here in front of him." 

Of course, all of this was lost on the men in the surveillance room. Both General Cleary and Lt. Col. Armstrong knew they were running out of time, they had gotten word from on high; the State Department would be taking over if Homeland failed to generate any results. The President already made the decision to let commercial air flight resume earlier that day, and the White House was losing patience. 

"We've got nothing from the language egg-heads?" Cleary demanded. 

"None of the Caucasian Ph. D.s can quite place it sir, although they believe he is speaking several different languages, and stringing them all together." 

"What about the real Indians?" 

"All of the ones who we have played the recording for... they claim that they don't know either." 

"Claim?" 

"It's hard to say General; at first, a couple of them seemed to recognize it, but then they claim that they lost the thread of it." 

"Do you think they are lying?" 

"Frankly sir, we have no way of knowing. Most of these ancient tongues are long dead. The ones that we do understand never actually had written versions of their language. A couple of those elders who we brought in must have been at least a hundred years old. A couple of them didn't even speak English." 

Cleary grumbled and then said, "What did we get from the beer people?" 

"The brewmeisters all told us the same thing; that they were producing more beer than a thousand men could drink each month." 

"And yet, our intelligence says that there are only about one hundred of them?" 

"Yes General." 

"So they have a hidden army?" 

"Sir, I'm sure of it! Their suppliers verified their purchases, and they go back years." 

"And you are sure that they were not bottling any of it?" 

"No sir, not that we can see. They didn't even own any bottling equipment. The beer was either drunk by someone or it vanished into thin air." 

General Cleary closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing his sinuses slowly, trying to shake the headache that had come with these three wolves. Finally, he spoke, "So...we are stuck. We have gotten nowhere and State is ready to step in and negotiate?"  

"Yes General." 

"Split them up. Give the old man to State. He clearly isn't the brains here. Load the other two up and fly them to Guantanamo. That may buy us some more time before the diplomats fuck this up." 

"Gladly sir!" Armstrong said with a feral smile. 

Just under an hour later, an armed team arrived to relocate the wolves. John merely nodded to Beth and then looked to Ja-mul and said in Abenaki, "Stay strong Di-yin, and may Xwun bless you with great amusement." Beth said nothing aloud, though she was already sending to all the Were who were within range, reporting that she and John were now being moved by an armed party of men. 

Jackson Keel and his legal team were also still in custody, albeit in somewhat more comfortable surroundings, and he immediately started to relay orders to his team outside of the building. He let them know that the Alphas were now on the move and to make sure that every single member of the press knew it. His teams scrambled upon his word, and they were well-armed, not so much with weapons, but with a different sort of weaponry, cameras with telephoto lenses. Information was fed to the friendlier press teams, and reporters began to go live with their updates even before John and Beth had been ushered out of the building and into the three S.U.V. convoy that waited ready to drive them to the airport. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 12



The unfortunate men from Homeland realized what they were up against almost as soon as they entered traffic. It would have been hard to miss the dozens of press trucks that followed them. There were not any news helicopters in the area yet, but the more enterprising stringers had come equipped with camera-bearing drones. 

As he sat on the tarmac waiting, Colonel Armstrong yelled, "What the fuck!" into the radio when he got the report from the convoy. "How the holy Hell did they know so quickly?" 

"I have no idea, sir," replied the agent riding shotgun in John and Beth's S.U.V. "but it is an absolute circus behind us. O.J.'s white Bronco chase had nothing on this. We must have a leak somewhere. Sir, there is no way that we'll be able to lose this mob without the Highway Patrol closing the roads and denying anyone else the ability to use them. And now that they know what our vehicles look like, Hell, I doubt if even that would work; surely they've figured out that we're heading to Travis Air Force Base." 

"John, they are planning to put us on a plane," Beth sent fearfully. 

"Yes, it sounds like Armstrong on the other end of that radio call." He responded. 

"What are we going to do? If they put us on that plane, I think I'll lose control; we can't leave the ground, John!" 

Sweat breaking out on his own forehead from the terror he also felt, John sent back, "and don't doubt that I'd follow you right into that madness. There's no way that I'm willingly leaving the ground! Send word to everyone following us to get ready for a battle while I try to get through to this asshole." 

John then growled a wolfish growl to get the radio man's attention and said, "Tell Armstrong that we will not be getting on any plane; he will have to kill us to get us on that plane. We will fight you 'til our last breath; our religion expressly forbids air travel and this is an outright declaration of war between our peoples." 

The radio man relayed John's message, then listened to the Colonel's response before turning back to the back of the passenger compartment and saying, "The Colonel says you can go fuck your religion." 

"Now," John sent as he immediately went into motion, striking one of the armed men who accompanied him in the eight passenger vehicle. As the agent was crumpling into unconsciousness from John's quick punch, John deftly pulled the man's pistol from his jacket as he moved to his second target, smashing that man in the neck with the first man's sidearm. John didn't bother to pull his punches, this was war now. If the men died from following orders, then they died; it wasn't John's problem any longer. 

Beth moved almost as quickly, and within seconds, all four of their captors in the rear of the vehicle were unconscious and bleeding; Beth noting dispassionately that one of her victims was likely dead from a broken neck. She and John each arose, but now with guns aimed at the two men in the front of the van. 

"What was that about my religion?" John growled as he jerked the two men's earpieces from their heads. 

"Stop the van...now!" hissed Beth as she placed her pistol into the back of the driver's head. Survival instinct overcoming his orders, the man hastily pulled to the side of Interstate 80 and shut off the van's engine. The other two vans also hastily pulled to the side of the normally busy highway, both of them instantly disgorging teams of men exploding from their vans with weapons drawn. 

Behind them, the dozens of vehicles containing members of the press also stopped, fanning out into traffic and shutting down the Interstate completely. Flocks of reporters accompanied by camera operators swarmed over the highway, shouting questions and ignoring any attempt by the Homeland men to keep them away from John's van. All three lanes were entirely blocked by the pandemonium. 

"Cover them," John said aloud to Beth. "I think that it is time to speak to the press." 

"Don't do it!" Armstrong's man said. "We can keep what you are quiet!" 

"Then do so, but I'm done trying to work with you; now I'm going directly to your citizens with our story," John stated calmly before stepping out of the S.U.V. 

"Who wants an interview?" John shouted out. A cacophony of voices began screaming out questions, as the armed men slowly slid to the back of the pack, realizing that they had totally lost control of the situation. John held up his arms to call for quiet and somewhat surprisingly, he got it fairly quickly. When the noise level had dropped to a reasonable level, he began to shout out his story over the sounds of the freeway. 

"For three days, we have demanded to speak with our lawyers, lawyers who were immediately arrested and prevented from speaking with us. We've been held by men with guns who have denied us any access with the outside world or even allow us to speak with our families to let them know that we were alive. We have not been taken to any court of law and now a Lt. Colonel Armstrong was preparing to fly us out of the country in order to torture us and keep us from contacting America's legal system. When we informed Col Armstrong...again, that our religion absolutely forbids us from flying, he responded, and I quote, "Fuck your religion!" 

"That is when we decided that we had to defend ourselves by escaping to bring our message directly to you. We want to say...again... that we are absolutely willing to speak to the legal authorities and in a lawful manner, but we will fight back if we are not treated fairly. Now... we'll take questions. You," he said, pointing to the reporter from CNN. 

Just a few miles away, Armstrong looked down at the live scene feeding out on his smart phone, and he realized that his career was probably over. Back in his office at the Federal Building, General Cleary came to the same realization and he slowly began to clean out his desk. He knew that a General's pension was nothing to sneeze at and this had just risen above even his pay grade. In Washington, the President sat glumly in the situation room, surrounded by his closest advisors. "Talk to me," was all he said to start the meeting. 

The head of Homeland Security cleared his throat and began to speak. "Mr. President, our people on the ground screwed the pooch on this, but here is everything that we already know." He then took some time explaining everything that anyone had on the situation- there was video as well. He spoke for about ten minutes, ignoring the disbelieving looks that he received the first couple of times that he said, 'werewolf' out loud. When he finished his presentation, all the faces turned and looked at the President, waiting for him to say something. 

The President steepled his fingers, obviously deep in thought for a moment, but then his eyes focused and he turned to his chief of staff, saying, "Denis, get Mr. Billington on the phone. It shouldn't be hard; it looks like he is still surrounded by our men. And you might want to hurry, according to CNN he is still talking to the press. We might want to get on that before he says too much." 

"Yes sir," Denis responded as he began waving for his aides to take care of it. 

Back in Sacramento, Waters ended his call and then sat staring at his phone absently. Liz was waiting to see what he had to say. Then he spoke somberly, "The man who destroyed us; he just called." 

Liz responded, "I don't understand. What man are you talking about?" 

"The officer who invoked national security and destroyed our Billington operation, evidently he is on the outs now too. He says that he is pretty sure that he can grab Billington and that with him in hand, maybe we can make a deal to get our asses out of the fire." 

"Why would he do that?" 

"Vengeance I think. It sounds like the man only cared about his career and the Billington mess has destroyed that. I don't think he is thinking very clearly to tell you the truth. Telling me the things that he just told me... and on an unsecured line yet, that was an incredibly stupid thing for him to do." 

"So why are you considering using him?" 

"He's taking on almost all of the initial risk, and if his plan works, he'll be able to restore our broken links to the intelligence community. You know our wealth has always been based upon that access. Without that, our operations will become far less profitable." 

"...and if this blows up in his face?" 

"It'd be pretty hard to prove that we knew anything about it, Liz. He only wants the use of one of our corporate jets and we give that access to the military all the time. Right now, we are only out the cost of one phone call." 

"So what's the real problem? I see that look in your eye." 

"He knows something that he's not sharing. It must be something about the Billingtons, and whatever it is, it's probably the reason that the NSA stepped in to begin with. I'm never happy going into these things blind." 

"What about William's stupid friend, Phil? Maybe he can discover something for us. Can we plant bugs on Phil without him knowing it, and then send him to check on his friend somehow?" 

Burton's eyes blinked in surprise, and then he gave his daughter a long look. His face broke into a calculating smile, "Yeah, that's a Hell of an idea! He'd never agree to help us though, but he might go check on Yazzie if he thought it was his own idea. Let me make a couple of calls. Oh... and Elizabeth, welcome to the family business!" Elizabeth's eyes met her father's briefly, but neither said anything; both were already plotting their next moves. 

~~~~ 

The President had indeed managed to reach John by telephone as the wolf had continued to field questions as he stood on the side of the Interstate 80. He had introduced himself to John and called off the Homeland Security goons, and promised to treat John and all of the Were in a lawful manner. As the two leaders continued to talk, Beth allowed the agents from the other vehicles to remove the injured agents from her vehicle and take the survivors for treatment. Gradually, order was restored on the Interstate, as a legion of law enforcement officers arrived to force the press vehicles to move to the side so traffic could begin moving again. 

When the phone call finally ended, John and Beth were issued a new driver to transport them to the nearest train station, where they would be meeting a private train that would transport them to Washington D.C. to speak to the President directly. Things seemed to be going well for the first time in weeks, and as they rode along with only their driver accompanying them, they began to make phone calls from the cell phones they had liberated from their captors. The wolves knew that they could not call anyone directly without exposing their friends and family, but they were able to call the legal offices and message drop boxes for which they could remember the numbers. Secure in the knowledge that the NSA would be listening in, they made sure to leave the message that the government wanted to hear- for everyone to remain in place, and to react only to how John and Beth were treated when they arrived in D.C. 

They also managed to make mental contact with a few Were as they drove along their route whenever other Were briefly came into range. Beth temporarily made tenuous contact with Florence, and even though it didn't last long, it lasted long enough to convey John's instructions for William to head back to Whiskey Lake and take over the pack until such time that John might be able to return. Will didn't complain; he immediately directed Tristan to turn the car around and head for home. 

When their van arrived at the railroad siding, John and Beth were greeted with an unpleasant sight, one old engine and a single decrepit Amtrak car, both of an older vintage. They were also met by a face that they had seen before; waiting in the greeting committee was Major Reno. Seeing the jaundiced looks upon their faces, Reno immediately said, "we know that this one is old and uncomfortable, but it's just to get you to Chico where a faster engine and a private car are waiting." 

"Why Major Reno," John replied dryly, "How did you get reassigned away from Colonel Asshole?" 

Reno chuckled and replied, "I bet on the correct side, and unlike your soon-to-be Corporal Armstrong, I still have a career. Hell, if I can get you two to D.C, in one piece, I might even get a promotion...maybe even two of them. 

"You still are wearing the wire?" Beth asked. 

"Of course," Reno replied, smiling and opening his shirt to show it to them. "I was told that you two do much better when you get complete honesty from us, as well as to answer any questions that you might have, except that I don't know much—which is likely one of the reasons why they sent me. I'm a friendly face who doesn't know a damned thing." 

"So..." John asked Mr. Reno as he was boarding the rail car, "what kind of beer do you like?" Beth rolled her eyes, but she did follow her Alpha into the car. The engine slowly pulled away as soon as the three were safely on board, evidently, they were to be the only passengers on this trip. They were told that the entire Burlington Northern route was being cleared for their trip, and other than a quick stop to change trains in Chico, this promised to be the first non-stop cross-country trip in the history of the United States, the home of the first-world's slowest and oldest rail service. 

Seeing that no one else was going to be on board for this trip, Beth settled into her seat and continued to make calls on her new cell phone, all the while doing her best to ignore the manly talk upon things like beer and motorcycle maintenance. There were only so many calls that she could make however, so before she knew it, she had slipped into a comfortable doze. She never even noticed when John took the chair next to her own and covered both of them with a blanket. 

Neither of them had slept much over the past few days, and in truth, these two had not actually slept together in well over a century. The Billington Pack sure would have been amused when Reno reported in and described the two as an evidently happy married couple, and that they were both now asleep. 

The 'evidently happy married couple' got to sleep longer than they had planned, the replacement train had been delayed and had not met them in Chico, so their engine slowly chugged along to the next major stop on the BN line, a siding just outside the city of Reno Nevada. The Major was not worried though, his charges were sleeping peacefully and he was well aware of the fact that to expect government transportation to be on time was a recipe for disappointment. And besides all of that, he'd never actually been in Reno before, and he knew that his wife would be amused by this. 'Reno is finally in Reno' was what he was typing to his wife as the train slowly came to a stop on the siding, but that's when the Amtrak car's windows exploded inward and the gas cartridges began landing among them, spewing their noxious contents. 

The shattering glass woke both John and Beth who then reflexively threw themselves to the floor in an attempt to avoid being hit. They counted themselves lucky to have been missed by most of the flying glass, especially when they saw Major Reno fall to the ground with a large shard of glass sticking out of his neck, his life's blood spilling from him, his fingers limp and unable to send the final text to his wife. 

Both wolves had heard the first cartridges land in the train car and had possessed the presence of mind to hold their breaths as they began to crawl for the emergency exit. But the second wave of shots landed directly on top of them, and the cartridges burned at an extreme temperature; both John and Beth were burned by the gas, causing them to gasp involuntarily in pain, allowing a full dose of the gas into their lungs. Neither one of the wolves had the time to shift before both were unconscious and being dragged out of the car by an Army extraction team garbed in full hazmat suits. 

The strike had been quick, but Armstrong's problems were just beginning. Besides Major Reno's accidental death, there was an even bigger problem for the rogue Colonel; there'd been one lone press stringer in the area hoping for a story to fall into his lap, and fall into his lap it did. He missed catching video of the initial explosion, but he managed to shoot the rest of the engagement from a position of cover. The attacking men never saw him shooting the video, and the video that he captured had been enough to get him on KTVN Reno's channel 2 with a breathless description of the kidnapping only moments after the Army had fled in their clearly marked vehicles, wearing their standard uniforms. 

The video was quickly picked up by every news organization in the country. Even the lonely, basement bound bloggers had access to it within the next hour. And once again, the press corps went insane, launching questions at every public official they could capture with a microphone or a camera. The press was eager to show that the days of a government cover up were long gone. Technology was their genie and it had gotten out of its bottle; it was forcing truth into the open, as well as a limited sort of honesty out of the nation's politicians. 

Politicians who then did what they always did when their constituents were pissed off about something, they blamed the President. The President's own party began to panic, for elections would be upon them soon. "Why?" they screamed, "was the military launching a surprise attack on that Billington guy?" 

The Press Secretary went before the rabid national press and was immediately buried by a deluge of questions for which he did not have many answers. All he could tell them was that these men might have looked like members of the U.S. Army, but that the White House had no idea about who they really were as of yet. These men were clearly operating outside of the army chain of command and that no one knew who they were or what they wanted. No, there had been no ransom demands, and no one knew if this had anything to do with the previous threats to America's air traffic. 

While the President and his men watched the video of the Press Secretary being bar-be-qued by their national press, they were simultaneously trying to figure out why Col. Armstrong's men had gone rogue. Despite what the man out front was claiming, the Army had readily identified Armstrong's unit by the insignia on his men and vehicles. The White House had reached the apparently disgraced General Cleary on the telephone and the man was quick to tell them that he had no idea what Armstrong was doing and that the crazy Colonel had been off the reservation since the very first attempt. He'd gleefully pointed out that Armstrong was a vainglorious bastard and that he'd repeatedly attempted to get the man out of his command. Things were looking up for the General, he might be able to pin all of this upon Armstrong. 

The nation's Were however, they didn't wait for an answer. They'd seen the army vehicles take their Alpha, and they were on the move almost immediately. Nobody was going to take their Alpha and not pay a huge price for that affront. John had long had left plans in place in the event of hostilities opening between the two worlds, and Jefferson was there to implement them. His orders were to avoid killing any humans, but to target their power stations, their water treatment plants, their mass-transit hubs, and their communication towers. If there was not an immediate return of their Alpha, the explosions would begin before daybreak, and then things would escalate from there. 

Homeland had no clue what they were dealing with. For years the Government had been forbidden to consider the work of internal terrorists. That idea had been politically damaging, and one party had even endeavored to defund any consideration of the destruction that America's own citizens might be able to cause. All of their research and preparedness dealt with 'others', other races and other religions, people who did not look or act like us. All of the systems were in place to look for Muslims and people of a much darker complexion; they never associated Caucasian looking men and women with any real risk. 




Artiface of Strength Ch. 12



The nation was ready to blow and only Lt. Col. Armstrong has access to the fuse. Not that he cared any longer, his treasured military career was now in shambles and all he had left inside was a burning need for vengeance. He'd thought that there was still a chance for his career until he'd seen his men loading Major Reno's body into the helicopter they now flew in. The death of a fellow officer in an unsanctioned attack was a death's blow to his career; they'd never take him back now. Exposing these demonic creatures would now have to be enough. He'd been so sure that when real Americans saw the evil that their leaders had been preparing to deal with, they'd rise up and Armstrong would be regaled as a modern hero. 

As the helicopters flew toward the small airfield where Burton's jet awaited, Armstrong stared down at the unconscious Were and idly removed the magazine from his sidearm, checking to see if he had remembered to load the new ammunition that he had ordered to be made. Seeing the solid silver bullets, he reloaded his weapon and looked back down at the bound and unconscious Were and was surprised to find that both of them seemed to be sleeping quite poorly. This was unusual, as most victims of this gas slept like the dead for hours, and yet, these two were thrashing around and moaning as if in the grip of some sort of nightmare. 

As the helicopter flew on, the Colonel continued to watch his captives, noticing that they occasionally would cease to struggle and sleep silently, and as far as Armstrong could tell, there was no explanation for this pattern. He never noticed that the farther the choppers were from the ground, the more poorly the wolves slept. He'd completely ignored John when he'd told him that their God prohibited them from flying, and it never occurred to him now. In any event, the ride was a short one and before he'd had longer to consider the situation, his birds were landing at the airstrip where Waters' jet was waiting. 

The 'copters landed and were promptly evacuated as Armstrong's team promptly made its way for the jet. The plane was away in an instant and as they left the ground, Armstrong heard the small airstrip rocked by the explosions that came from the charges his team had set in the choppers left behind. He knew that these explosions would burn hot and would erase any clues that his team left behind them. Armstrong gave a mock salute to the fireballs, saying, "Goodbye Major, you always were a useless pratt. I might have known that you'd find a way to screw me." 

The jet hadn't been aloft long when things started to go seriously wrong for the Colonel and his men. Their captives became increasingly agitated as the small jet climbed, thrashing about manically and even beginning to slice their wrists and ankles where the plastic cuffs they'd been bound with began to cut into their skin. 

"What is going on, sir?" the corpsman asked worriedly, I've seen this gas used before and there's never been a reaction like this. 

"I've never seen anything like it corpsman, you'd better hit them with something to knock them the rest of the way out." 

"It might kill them, sir." 

"Do it corpsman, that's an order!" 

"Yes sir!" the man said as he hustled to the captives and injected them with enough drugs to put a small horse into a coma. 

The two stopped thrashing around... for about fifteen minutes, when they started anew, this time, much more violently. The corpsman shouted that he couldn't give them any more without killing them; "they already had way too much in their systems!" Armstrong ran to the man and jerked the kit out of his hands, filling the syringe himself. 

"You can't do it sir!" the corpsman shouted as both John and Beth began to seize spasmodically. "You'll kill them!" 

Armstrong quickly finished filling the syringe and had begun moving toward the Were when John's bloodshot eyes shot open. Glowing yellow and with red rims, his eyes showed that nothing human was at home anymore, and with that, he started to shift into his hybrid form- the form of madness. The ties on his ankles and wrists exploded from him as he shifted, but not before deeply lacerating his skin to the bone, blood spraying over both Armstrong and his terrified corpsman. 

"Arrrmstrrrong!" his now slurred, hybrid voice roared in agony, as he grabbed his nemesis by his throat with both hands and lifted the Colonel off of his feet and into the air. John began squeezing the man's throat, his claws digging into the man's flesh and causing a second explosion of blood. This time, it ran down John's claws in warm rivulets. 

Barely remaining conscious, Armstrong's last thoughts were 'gun...silver bullets" and he managed to raise his pistol and point it at John's chest before it thundered once, and then again before it slipped from the Colonel's nerveless fingers. Beth screamed out a furious roar, knowing that her mate had been shot. Her mate! He was her mate; it was finally clear, he was her mate and he'd been shot! 

John furiously snapped Armstrong's head from his neck and then threw the man's body, still pumping blood into the rest of Armstrong's men, who were just now recovering from their shock at what they'd witnessed and had beginning to reach for their silver-loaded weapons. 

Beth leapt over the sunned and barely conscious corpsman and started ripping and tearing at her enemies furiously. She separated hands from arms, and arms from torsos, tearing out any throat she could reach. Blood pumped from severed arteries while screams of terror and of pain echoed from the walls of the jet. The corpsman, in shock, passed out into a running puddle of gore. 

John staggered to the exit door and began screaming out in a primal release of rage, as he began to punch the door of the jet, bending the metal in a mad attempt to escape. He left large dents and huge splatters of his own blood in the metal with every punch. 

The jet's pilots had been alerted by the gun shots and the screaming, causing the jet's co-pilot to open the door between the compartments just long enough to see Beth ripping bodies into shreds and to catch a quick glimpse of the rampaging John trying to drive his way through the wall of the plane. Quickly reclosing the door and locking it securely he began screaming for the pilot to, "land the plane, land it anywhere, but land it now!" 

The pilot had already made his emergency call and had slightly redirected their course to approach Sacramento's Mather Airport. Waiting a moment for the co-pilot to belt himself in, then the pilot put the jet into a steep dive, hoping to knock whatever was causing the problem in the main cabin from its feet. The co-pilot frantically grabbed the radio and began to report that they were coming in hot and definitely under attack. 

Beth finished disemboweling Armstrong's men and with a roar, she began quickly moving to the pilot's compartment, her blood-lust now clouding any remaining humanity. When the pilot began the dive, his plan worked like a charm; Beth was knocked from her feet and rolled the entire way to the connecting door. She was followed by all of the loose material in the main cabin: body parts, the unconscious corpsman, assorted weaponry and everything else not nailed down- all of it sliding into a bloody pile in front of the pilot's door. The only loose thing remaining in the cabin was John; he had braced himself well and continued to scream and beat wildly upon the door in his panic and in his rage. 

As the wheels of the plane eventually hit the tarmac, John managed to finish destroying the door and he watched while it toppled from its housing and spun wildly behind the plane on the runway. John looked down and saw the ground rushing by and let out another blood-curdling scream. He was back on the ground and while this should have calmed an angry Were, in this case the silver slugs in his chest and the taste of blood in his mouth were too much to overcome. The smell of death was in the cabin and his eyes continued to spin in pain and madness. 

Beth, on the other hand, was unwounded and was slowly returning to humanity. "John." She sent, "John my mate, come back to me. We're on the ground now mate, we can flee back to the forest where we belong!" 

She struggled out of the pile of bodies, and over the unconscious corpsman, and as she approached her mate, she opened her arms and mind to him, doing her best to calm him. "You are my mate! Finally John, the Lady has answered my prayers. You are mine and I am yours forever; come back to me my wolf. We've waited so long!" 

Peace, warmth, and love flowed into John's mind and calmed the ravening beast that he had become. He shook his head to clear it, and his thoughts slowly became clearer and his humanity began to return. Beth was his mate! Thank the Goddess! Five hundred years I have waited for a second chance at life; five hundred years I have waited for the perfect woman. But then too, reality came flooding back. They'd been kidnapped. He'd been shot twice. It burned, oh Goddess, it burned. He needed to protect his mate from whatever this was! But he'd been shot before in his long life and it had never burned like this. Why did it burn like this? 

"Beth, it burns," he said haltingly. 

Beth had heard every single one of John's disjoined thoughts clearly. This must be the mate-bond that she'd longed for. She reached out and put her hand on his chest. The holes bled slowly, but she could see that they were not in his heart. He would survive a normal bullet, but why did this burn? 

The jet taxied to a stop and both Were immediately hopped out of the jet and back onto the ground that they craved so desperately, both still in their hybrid forms. They saw they were surrounded by firemen with their trucks; and press armed with cameras, but most importantly, they were surrounded by men with guns—lots of men with guns. There were enough guns here to kill a dozen Were, and they were all pointed directly at John and Beth. 

The Pressmen were mostly shooting from behind the chain link fence, but modern cameras were more than good enough to zoom right into the blood and spittle that were caked into both John and Beth's fur. Every network was represented; after all, they'd landed in the Capitol of the wealthiest state in America. 

The men with guns were fanning out, and while they were yelling commands to John, but none of the commands made a great deal of sense to him, merely coming at him in a jumble of sound and emotion. But there was one thing that still did make sense to John, and he acted on it; he grabbed Beth in a mammoth embrace and gave her the kiss that he had waited over two hundred years to share with her. He might never get another chance, and he was not going to let the white-man's world deny him once again. Their mouths met with equal abandon as they slowly shifted back into their human forms. Their tongues met and their souls touched for the first time. 

And then, the corpsman appeared in the open doorway of the jet, screaming, "Die demons, die!" while he unloaded all thirty silver rounds from one of the discarded light machine guns that had belonged to Armstrong's men. The silver bullets tore through the lovers and they fell to the tarmac, now locked together in a permanent embrace. The corpsman then sunk to his knees, his body shutting down completely from his shock, the now empty gun falling from his limp fingers. 

The press gasped, but the cameramen never stopped shooting their video, while the reporters continued to describe events that they clearly misunderstood. 

Alone, Burton watched his television screen, his eyes glittering malevolently.