"The people she killed for the most part won't be missed." I filled them in on the basics of the case. "The Alpha Killer walked into a temporary whorehouse, took out the two humans running it, and left again with one of the sex slaves in tow. The question is why?"
Bear shifted uncomfortably. "Does it matter?"
"The way she ripped out the throat of a human who ran the operation convinces me this was very personal. I've been away at school and training, I've not been following Council affairs and I'm only aware that she is wanted. I took the surveillance photo you sent me and pulled it up on my phone, and one of the officers made a positive identification that the woman in the room was her. With her was another young woman, also with blonde hair, who she said was her sister. She was human, and retrieving her was the focus, but who is she?"
My father sank back in his chair. "The Alpha Killer's real name is Nisha Hunt, but she doesn't go by that name anymore. She was the elder female heir of the Tomah Pack Alphas in Wisconsin. In the course of a few hours, her younger sister Niesha was kidnapped from her Pack and her parents were killed in a car crash while rushing back home. She was sixteen at the time, her sister fourteen."
"Oh Luna... she found her sister in a whorehouse?" My mind was reeling; my wolf pushed forward, outraged that someone would do that to a werewolf, much less my mate's sister. "No wonder she ripped his throat out with a shifted hand."
"Her sister is still missing, there were no clues, no ransom, nothing. Her family searched for years, even now we get enquiries from her aunt and uncle, who are Alphas of the LaCrosse pack. Her Pack declared her dead a year after she disappeared."
"Wait, she was the Alpha heir, why is it not her Pack?"
"That's a longer story," my mother said. "I can hear your heart racing, this is more than an investigation for you, isn't it."
I could never get anything past my Mom. Werewolf senses made it impossible to lie, especially to an Alpha. "When I got to the crime scene, I caught her scent in the parking lot. I must have missed her by minutes because it was still fresh."
"She's...." My mom's hand went to her chest and tears started to fall.
"She's my mate, Mom. I have to protect her, she's MINE."
My Dad leaned forward, his hands on the table. "There's a multi-million-dollar reward, and she's been sentenced to death by the Alpha Council. Now you tell us she's responsible for the murder of four humans. You have to reject her, boy. She will destroy you if you let the bond form."
"I can't. I just can't give her up." I looked down at my hands as my Mom got up and rushed to my side.
What a shitshow my life had become.
Nisha's POV
Second night after her parent's funeral
I couldn't sleep. My mind would just not shut down and let me rest, it was like a ride that wouldn't stop even when you got sick and begged for it to stop. My mind kept replaying things.
My family and friends had rallied around me, and we were all hurting from the events of the past week. The reaction to the Council's edict, requiring me to be marked and eventually mated to Beta Todd, was mixed. For the adults like my grandparents and uncles, it was a pragmatic way to save the Pack and maintain my bloodline in the Alpha position. "We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good," my Grandfather had told me after I left that meeting. "The Pack will be in an uproar without it and may not survive. Mating your Beta is not the worst outcome here. Having you killed and someone taking over is."
"All we have to do is hold on for a few years! Give me a chance to search for my true mate, the man who is supposed to be by my side at the head of this Pack," I begged.
"Your parents wanted that more than anything, but that won't happen now. We have to play the hand we are dealt, not the hand we want." He pulled me into a hug. "I spoke with the Council members before you did, I even tried to push for Grandma and I taking over, but we're old and weak now. Putting me as Alpha makes the Pack vulnerable, and you could end up dead if the new Alpha sees you as a threat to his reign."
"And what about Niesha? Who is going to search for her if the Alpha is not willing to find her?" Grandma pulled me into her side. "It's a hard lesson, but the Pack does come first, always. You will be marked, you have until you are eighteen before you are mated and a full Luna, but everyone will know that is your destiny. We will help you with the transition, I will teach you the things your mother was planning to show you as you became an adult. Now come on, we need to eat dinner, and we can't insult the Council by being late."
The dinner itself was an ordeal. Everyone talked around me, treating Todd like the Alpha while I was no more than decoration, a trophy for the winner to hoist. If I brought up concerns about Niesha, they were brushed off by old men saying everything possible was being done, and I just had to be patient. Anytime something regarding my Pack came up, Todd would talk over me.
I'd had enough and excused myself before dessert was served. My best friends, Erica and Michelle, ran after me as I left. They could see I was about to explode and followed me onto the porch where I pulled off my clothes and shifted. I led them on a chase along the trails, ending at the beach area when my sister had disappeared from. I let out a long, mournful howl as my friends sat by me to lend me comfort. "I miss her so much," I said.
Erica nudged me with his muzzle. "We all do, and we're so sorry, Nisha. We were all having such a good time and then she just wasn't here. No one suspected anything until much later."
"Something just isn't right about her disappearance," Michelle said. "She didn't take clothes, a phone, not even a towel. We searched for ten minutes or so before we called Beta Todd, and there were no other scents around. She just got up and walked away, and the scent disappeared at the road."
"Was she seeing anyone? Did she say anything to her friends?"
"Nothing, and we've been racking our brains to think of anything that could help."
I showed them the meeting I had with the Council and the ultimatum I was given, and they were shaking with rage by the end. "Those bastards," Michelle sent. "They expect you to give up your future to keep your title? What about what the Pack wants? I don't want Todd as Alpha, I want you."
"The Council refuses to consider me as Alpha because of my age, and my Uncle and Grandfather agree with them. By Luna, why couldn't I be eighteen? If I was closer to mating age, I could just find my true mate and everything would be like it should be," I said. "If I let Todd mark me, I'm giving my true mate up forever. Something about Todd just isn't right, and I don't even like him, much less love him."
"What are you going to do, Nisha?"
I got up and walked down to the lake, looking across at the moonlight rising over the waters. I loved my Pack, I loved this land, and I didn't love Todd. "I don't know."
"Hey, I spotted a tub of Rocky Road ice cream in the freezer," Michelle said. "I say we grab it and some spoons and watch chick flicks until we fall asleep. Nothing is going to happen tonight anyway, it's still the mourning period. Tomorrow night is when Beta Todd is being installed as Alpha."
We had binged on ice cream and snacks, and my friends had finally fallen asleep about two. It was now three in the morning and I couldn't sleep. I opened the door, walking out into the hallway of the Alpha wing. There had to be more food downstairs.
The light was on in the Alpha's office, and I could hear voices. Stopping by the door which had not fully closed, I could hear Beta Todd laughing with Chairman Andreas. "Things will work out for the best here, Beta. I know it grates to give up looking for your fated, but it's been decades for you with no success. You'll be a good Alpha, and she will eventually be a strong Luna for you. It doesn't hurt that she's a hot little number."
"Stubborn little princess, more like. Her father spoiled her, letting her think she was more than what she is."
"And that is?"
"Attractive arm candy and a capable pup producer," Beta Todd said. "Don't worry, I have two years to correct her attitude before she is mated, and I will take advantage of every day. She will be a perfect Luna when I am done; meek, caring and absolutely obedient to her Alpha."
There was the clink of glasses, then two tumblers hitting the desk. "When you mark her, she will go into heat, and she might have one or two more before she is of age. How will you handle that?"
"Just because I can't fully mate her doesn't mean I can't have fun with her," he said. "There are skills she will have to learn quickly to meet my expectations."
"It will be easier to control her once she is marked and the bond starts to work its magic," Andreas said. "Women are weak and easily controlled by the bond because deep down their wolves want to be dominated by a strong male. They talk about independence and equality, but deep down they want to be overpowered, pinned to the bed and pounded until they can't walk straight."
"I'll do that soon enough," he said. "What should I do about Niesha?"
"She's gone, and from everything I've seen she left on her own. No one smelled any wolves outside the Pack anywhere in the territory, and there were no signs of struggle. She ran off with a rogue. End the search and wait for her to return when it goes bad, and it always goes bad."
"You're right. She was an impulsive little bitch."
I had heard enough, and I turned and moved quietly back to my room before they could know I was there. My mind was reeling with the news, but one thing was clear in my mind. I'd cut his nuts off before I allowed a man like that to mark me.
I walked back to my room, crawled into bed next to my friends, and fell asleep trying to come up with a plan.
I woke up late the morning of the third day after the funeral, knowing tonight at sundown would be the end of the traditional mourning period for an Alpha. Michelle was our early riser, and she had gone down to the kitchen and brought back breakfast for us all. I was starving and ate a lot despite the nervousness of the day. "What happened last night," Michelle asked as she placed the trolley by the door. "You seem distant this morning, and I know you didn't sleep well. I woke when you came back to bed."
"I don't know what to do," I said as we sat together on my bed. I took their hands and used the bond to replay the conversation I overheard.
"That bastard," Erica said. "That stuck-up caveman BASTARD!"
"Like you are going to just roll over, bake cookies and pop out pups for him," Michelle said. "You are Alpha blood, not him."
"It doesn't seem to matter to them or my family, all they see is my age and my lack of a dick." Harsh, but true. If I was a sixteen-year-old male, they would let me be Alpha, they would just make sure I had a good support structure and mentoring. Why was it so different for me? I had been raised to run a Pack, while Todd just executed his Alpha's wishes.
We didn't come up with anything, so I went to the only people I thought I could trust. I knocked on the door of my grandparent's room, and they opened it and pulled me into a hug. "Grandfather, I have a problem and I need your help," I said. "I can't allow myself to be marked by Beta Todd. Not after last night."
He looked at me and just nodded. "Can I bring your aunt and uncle into this discussion?"
"Yes, it might affect them too."
A few minutes later, we were all together in the sitting area of the guest room they had been given. "Last night I learned some things I was not meant to know," I said. I had us all hold hands, and using the family bond, I was able to share my recollection of the conversation. When I ended the memory and lowered my hands, I could feel the tension in the room.
"That son-of-a-BITCH," my Grandfather said. "I trusted him."
"I did too, until last night. They have no intention of looking for Niesha, and he has no intention of giving me any say in the running of the Pack. I may as well not be Alpha because he's just using me for my bloodline."
My Aunt pulled me into a hug. "We will find your sister, even if your Alpha doesn't. We know her, she wouldn't run off like this. Someone had to take her, and we'll find her."
"Thank you," I said. "What should I do about tonight? The Council is going to install Todd as Alpha, and they expect him to mark me in front of the Pack as his mate. I can't let that happen." Tears started to flow. "I don't love him, and I won't be his toy. My mate is out there somewhere, and I want HIM."
"I know, baby," my Grandma said.
We talked for about twenty minutes before it was time to decide. "So I have three options," I said.
"The simplest one is to leave with us, today, before the ceremony," my Uncle said. "You join our Pack, reach mating age and find your mate. You go to his Pack when you find him, at whatever rank he is."
"And give up the Tomah pack and my bloodline's Alpha right to the Pack." I didn't like it.