Thatcher

“I’m losing my pack.” Thatcher asked him why. “There is a bigger group coming to town in a few days, and he’ll kill me and my daughters. Because, like your wife here, my daughters will try and tear into whoever he mates them with if he tries. They’re meaner than I am and should be pack leaders. But I’ve not turned it over to either of them because of this threat.”

“If you want, Rogen and I can help you with that. I don’t want them to be hurt any more than I want you to be.” Shane thanked him. “Shane, we can help you. Just tell us what you need.”

“I don’t know at this point. He knows that I have my girls, so there isn’t any hiding them. He also knows that I’m not as young as I used to be. That alone will get me killed. He’s going to come in, take over, and then he’ll kill my entire pack just for the land that we have.” Thatcher asked if he could just turn it over to him and not get hurt. “No. I mean, I could, yes, but he’d still kill them all. It’s happened before with this alpha. He comes in, destroys the pack that was there, and lives on the land until either he is run off by the authorities or—and this is what scares me—he uses up the land and makes it so no one can make it a sustainable place to live.”

“What’s his name?” Rogen stood up when he gave her the name. “Give me two minutes. I have a message that says I have your paperwork. And that you pass. Come with us.”

Shane looked at him after Rogen left. “She said it all came back enough so that she can trust you.” Shane nodded and said that he was still a little afraid. “Yes, you should be with her. She’s not what you’d call a normal working woman. What she does really will get you killed. And while she might not pull the trigger, you’ll be just as dead.”

“You are not helping, if you want the truth.” Thatcher stood up and brought his buddy with him. “Do I really want to know what she has going on? I mean, if something happens and I no longer pass whatever test she has on me, then will she hunt me down?”

“No, never that.” Shane told him that was a relief. “You’ll never know until you’re dead. And I’m not joking. She is that badassed.”

“I know. I’m beginning to think she should be alpha and let me work under her.” That had some merit, but Thatcher didn’t say anything. Instead, he went to the locked door, put in his code, and then opened the door. “Thatcher, are you taking me to my death?”

“No. Too many witnesses know you’re here.” He didn’t laugh, and neither did Shane. Things were about to get serious here, and Shane might well be on the top of the list of ones to die if he told anyone what he was about to see. Christ, this was more fun than he’d had in a long time.

Rogen was sitting at her computer when they entered the area. There were six men there, all of them armed but putting up walls, as if it were an everyday thing to need to have a gun to do this sort of work. Shane sat on Rogen’s right and he on her left. She was so engrossed on her computer that he doubted that she would speak to them.

“This is where they are on your property. If you can see the truck there, they’re offloading things. And this is the first time that I noticed that it was guns.” Shane asked what they might be doing with that many guns. “I don’t know, but I’m betting I can find out by the time my men get there.”

The infrared flashed over ten men creeping through the woods close to where the squatters were. As he and Shane watched, Rogen moved to another computer and typed away. Shane watched the men, moving the mouse back and forth between the men and what looked to him like a camper.

“It’s the alpha that’s threatening you. He’s been using the place as an off load for guns that he’s selling.” Shane moved to where Rogen was. “He’s wanted by the Feds, as well as a couple of other government agencies. It’s the real reason that he moves. Not because he wants to get the resources, but to keep one step ahead of the people after him. He burns the ground, as you said, so that there are no traces of where he’s been.”

“Holy shit. Look at that load he has.” Rogen put a headset on her head and spoke quietly into the mic. Shane asked her, just as quietly, how long before they picked him up. She didn’t answer because she was busy, but Thatcher had a feeling that they weren’t going to be heard from again. When the men she had out there stopped moving, Thatcher watched them closely.

Rogen turned to them both as she continued talking into the headset. Thatcher didn’t want to see what was going to happen next, but it was sort of like a train wreck. He just couldn’t look away. It was then that he realized that Rogen wasn’t speaking English. While he didn’t know what it was, he was sure that he would have to learn it as well.

“Go.”

That was all the signal that the men in the field needed, apparently, before they moved as a single unit on the place. There were flares of light—gunshots, he’d bet—then nothing. A helicopter was seen moving into the general area a few seconds later.

Rogen watched the men as things were moved around. Another truck arrived, then left after being loaded. The chopper lifted off, then the men were all gone. Thatcher didn’t wonder where they’d gone, but it was like they were there then gone from the computer.

“Shane, I’d make both my daughters the new alphas if I were you. Stay on to guide them; they’ll need it.” Shane tore his eyes from the computer to look at him. “With you there, they’ll be fine. I know it.”

Rogen agreed and told him what he’d get for his help in this. “The reward for his capture will be given to you, but in cash. There will be no paper trail that you had anything to do with this. Alfred Derrick will never bother you or anyone else again.”

“What about his pack?” Rogen told him that they’d blend in with the one he had now, after they were questioned. “You’ll keep out the ones that had anything to do with Derrick? Anyone that is still a part of whatever he was up to?”

“As I said, Derrick will never bother you nor your pack again. And that means any of his underlings, as I’ve been told he calls them.” Shane nodded, then looked at Rogen again. “Yes, I’ll take the gift now. Only if you take one from me. I know that you will need more money, Shane. The pack you will inherit will be four times what you have now. And you’ll need funds to help them. As of the moment that you leave here, there will be a hundred thousand dollars in your pack account. Is that all right with you?”

Thatcher had a moment of worry that Shane was going to turn them down, not take their help nor the money. But he was a smart man, and he proved it by nodding as he spoke again.

“Yes.” When Shane didn’t say anything else, Rogen seemed to understand. “Yes, you’re right on all of it. The girls, my daughters, the money, and how much the money will come in handy for the things that will have to be gotten for that many people. So, yes, I’ll take the money. How many more? I mean, four times is a lot of people.”

“You’re going to have a very large pack if my estimations are correct, Shane. About three thousand more. That’s why I would suggest that you do as Thatcher said. Make them both the alphas. They can work together, I’m assuming?”

“Yes, very well as a matter of fact. This money, who is it coming from?” She didn’t answer, but she would when they were alone. “All right. But you’ll take my gift to you, correct?”

“I will, only if Thatcher can have it as well.” Shane said that would be no problem. “Then I’m ready anytime you are.”

Shane looked at her for a long time, and then turned to him. Thatcher had no idea what he might be going to say, but he could see tears in his eyes. For that alone, Thatcher hugged the man tightly against his chest.

“She saved my life. And that of my family and pack.” Thatcher told Shane that he’d do the same for them. “Yes, I will. I will now. Whatever you need, I’ll find some way to get it to you. On this, I swear to you with my life.

I am yours. Forever.”