Treasure
Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Sawyer Nygaard was nervous as his driver stopped in front of the stairs to the Pack House. His father still did not answer his phone or open the Pack link to him. During the long drive, he had slept with some difficulty. He had heard Chase’s side to the story, and he didn’t like the way things were going.

He stepped out, bringing himself to his full six-foot-five height. He let his dominance out, as this was not the time for him to defer to anyone. The lower-ranked wolves lowered their eyes and moved on as he was met at the door by a Council Enforcer. “Sawyer Nygaard, Next Alpha of the Cascade Pack,” he said to the guard.

“You not expected, Mr. Nygaard.”

“I’m aware of that, but I have urgent Pack business with both Alpha Nygaard and Councilman Forrest. If you could direct me to my father and request an audience for me with the Councilman at his availability.”

The Enforcer linked someone as he waited. “Your father is in the guest quarters number 3. An Omega is coming to show you the way. The Councilman wants to meet with you and your father at one PM in his office.”

“Thank you.” He stepped into the foyer as one of the maids approached, curtsying to him before asking him to follow her. He tried linking his father again, without success. They made their way upstairs to the guest room, and he knocked on the door. “Father? It’s Sawyer.”

He heard movement, and a moment later, the door opened. His father looked like hell. He hadn’t slept, his face was unshaven, and the stench of whiskey was heavy on him and his clothes. “What are you doing here, boy?”

Sawyer moved in past him, closing the door behind him. “I came here because the Pack is in an uproar, and I can’t get them the answers they need. Our Luna broke the Pack bond, and only the family bond being intact kept them from a complete breakdown,” he said. “You aren’t answering your phone, and Mom won’t talk to me, so I had to come.”

“She left me, she left the Pack,” he said. “All these years, and she leaves me.” He grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels and sat on the couch, taking a long swig straight from the bottle. “Ungrateful bitch.”

Sawyer staved off his anger; he needed answers even though he wanted to throttle him. “You should lay off the whiskey, Dad. Councilman Forrest wants to see both of us after lunch.”

“Great,” he said as he put the cap back on. “Another fucking meeting.”

Sawyer sat in the chair and looked at the man he’d always looked up to until this day. “Dad, what happened? How did it all fall apart?”

“Chase defied me, that’s what happened. He knows the rules just like you do.” He told him how they had arrived at the cabin where Chase was tending to his injured mate. “He and Doc were busy stitching her up, and she was still in wolf form when they got there. They had to force a shift,” he said. “You can’t hide that. I went to talk with her stepfather, and the first thing he asked me was if I was like their daughter. When I said yes, he told me what happened.”

“They saw her shift.”

“No, not that time, but they found out she was a werewolf. Her stepfather said he was scared of her at first, but when he saw the wolf’s eyes, they were just like Rori’s. She had jumped between the two of them and the bear and fought it, giving them time to escape. He was worried about her, whether she would survive the wounds after all the time it took to walk her out of the woods. Then Chase goes and forces the shift in front of her Mom.” He looked longingly at the bottle. “At least the exposure was contained. Nobody was in the house with the two humans except our Pack members and Rori. I told him what to do under the Law, I even told him to walk away so he wouldn’t be a part of it, but he refused me.” His hands formed into fists. “He REFUSED ME AND QUIT MY PACK!”

Sawyer waited for his Dad to calm. “Coral tried to talk him out of it, but in the end, she left with him. He convinced me I had to leave because Rori was an Alpha, and it was her territory. By the time I realized she wasn’t a recognized Alpha yet, it was too late. There were bikers everywhere.”

“What did you expect Chase to do, Dad? He had his mate there, she was injured and hadn’t bonded with him yet. She just lost her adoptive father recently, and you were talking about killing her mother and her new stepfather. After losing her birth parents to werewolves, he rightly figured she might reject him if you did that to her.”

He shook his head. “It’s not his decision to make! He’s not an Alpha, and he’s not responsible to the Council. Imagine the danger we would be in if they talked about what she was, and what WE are.”

“There was time to deal with all that, Dad. We could have brought them back to the Pack and involved the Council. There was no need to kill them then.”

“You’re questioning me, boy?” He stood up, a little unsteady from all his drinking.

Sawyer rose as well. “Yes, I am. Just like your Pack, your youngest son, your daughter, and your mate. We’re all wondering what the fuck you were thinking.” That was enough, his father let out a fierce growl and jumped towards him, his fist flying towards his chin. Sawyer sidestepped the clumsy swing and sent his powerful right fist into his father’s exposed stomach. The Alpha crashed over the chair and hit the carpet hard.

“You little shit,” he said as he tried to catch his breath.

“Save it, father. I’m going to lunch. I’ll see you at Councilman Forrest’s office.” He walked past him, ignoring the things he was saying and threatening as he left the room. A pair of Enforcers met him in the hall. “It’s all right; he got drunk and fell,” he told them.

“Great, another drunk Alpha,” the big one said. “Hopefully, he’ll just fall asleep.”

“I’d like to see my mother and my sister Coral before lunch,” he told them. “What do I have to do to get permission?”

“Your mother is gone; she is now rogue, so she was escorted to the edge of Pack lands and placed in her vehicle a few hours ago. Beta Coral is in the cells. Follow me,” the shorter Enforcer said. He led him across to the security building. It took a few minutes to process through, and then he was outside her cell. “I’m sorry, we cannot open the cell without Alpha permission, but you may visit as long as you like,” he said as he brought over a chair. He left them alone, the door clicking shut behind him.

“Coral…” He looked at her; she didn’t look mistreated, and she was focused. It was quite different from the state his father was in. “Congratulations are in order, I hear. I agree with Chase; you’ll be a fine Beta in their Pack.”

“Provided I get out of here, yes,” she said as she moved to the end of her bed. “What are you doing here?”

“Damage control,” he said. “The Pack is in an uproar; you and Chase leaving was a shock, but Mom leaving the Pack was a nine-point-nine earthquake. Neither of them would answer their phones, so I came here to straighten things out. It’s not looking good, though. Dad isn’t taking it well, and I’m planning to challenge him.”

Her eyes got wide. “It’s that bad?”

“I know I can get a third of the Pack to support my challenge. It’s time; he’s losing the support of the Pack, and he’s falling apart. I have to act now, or the Pack will implode.”

“Wow. I can’t believe Mom left the Pack.” She looked up at him. “Trial is set in six days. The charges are defying Alpha orders, harboring a known Council fugitive, and intentionally revealing our nature to humans. I think they are using me to lure Chase and Rori out, though.”

“You need a lawyer,” he said. “You all do.”

“You volunteering?”

“Hell yeah, I love this Pack Law stuff. Dad didn’t let me do enough of it.” He had received his human law license almost seventy years ago, ‘retiring’ before coming back under another name in the seventies and taking the Bar under another name. He still paid dues and kept up his license, with an exclusive private practice. In their world, he specialized in estate law and identities. The advent of the Internet had made it harder to stay in the human world as they got older, yet didn’t look it. He helped werewolves ‘die’ then be reborn under different identities, inheriting their assets from their previous persona.

“You’re it then.” She filled him in on what had happened at her meeting with the Council, along with their Mutually Assured Destruction plan. “We need to get them off this whole kick with the humans and focus on recognition for her and giving her the Pack lands and assets again. Chase and Rori don’t want to harm the Council or others. They want what they are due, and they won’t give up her parents.”

He looked at the clock, and it was time for lunch. He still had to prepare for meeting Councilman Forrest. “I will let them know I will be your lawyer, and I’m going to talk to Chase and Rori and ask them to have me represent them as well. Since I’m challenging the Alpha of the Cascade Pack, I’m required to shift allegiance anyway. Might as well shift it to Rori.”

“I’m sorry about all this, Sawyer. It’s not the way I expected things to happen.”

“It’s not your fault, Coral. I love you, and I’ll get you out of here. Once we’re both settled, we can look for our mates. Why should Chase have all the fun?”

She laughed. “It’s a deal, Sawyer. I love you too.” He walked out of the cellblock, right as an Omega was bringing in the grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Pulling out his phone, he moved towards the treeline to get a little privacy and called his youngest brother. “Chase, it’s Sawyer. I’ve got some news.” He quickly filled him in on the meeting with his father and his visit with Coral. “She’s asked me to represent her at her trial, and I’ve agreed. I’d like to represent the two of you as well if you want me to.”

“You’re leaving the Cascade Pack too?”

“I have to since I’m challenging Dad in about an hour here. It’s standard procedure to make sure the Alpha can’t use his command on the person challenging him. I don’t want to shift my allegiance to the Bitterroot Pack since the Council is placing the charges. I was hoping that I could join you.”

Chase laughed. “My big brother wants to sign on for what could be the shortest Alpha reign in centuries?”

“Yeah, if you’ll take me.” It would be the best situation for all of them; he would have his siblings and a Pack link with Rori. “If I lose the challenge and survive, I’ll need a place to land.”

There was a noise on the other end. “Sawyer, it’s Rori. I’d be happy to have you join our pack, even if it is just temporary until you take over your birthright. We have to do this in person, though.”

“I understand. You can hire me as a lawyer over the phone, though. In full disclosure, I can help you more than you might think. I was called in by the Council to help handle the estate aspects of the Arrowhead Pack’s aftermath. I never told Dad about it. I never told Chase either, since he was still in elementary school then. The Council has far less sway over your rightful inheritance than they think.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It was all done with a human lawyer, in human courts.”

“You’re hired,” Chase said. “Email whatever documents you need to me, and we’ll sign them and send them back.”

“Thank you. I will include a limited power of attorney, so I can take certain actions to protect you until you are strong enough to appear in person,” he said. “I also want to get Coral released from jail.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course, it is allowed if the Alpha commits to producing the person for trial. Coral has done nothing to the Bitterroot Pack, so they have no legal right to keep her.”

“That’s better than our plan, but if yours doesn’t work, we can always do mine.” She told him of the video they had, along with a sworn statement from Tammy. It stated Coral was being held by a cult in their underground prison, and they planned to kill her. It was more than enough to get a search warrant and a whole bunch of law enforcement to descend on the compound. The Council would freak if a bunch of Deputies and State Police showed up at the gate for a search.

“The Pack lands and assets are in a private corporation, and the bylaws drove the actions. Everything ended up in a trust, with a human property manager and an accountant to run it. If no survivors from the those listed in the Pack roster emerge in twenty years, the assets get sold, and the funds transferred to the alternate beneficiary.”

“Who was that, Sawyer?” Rori’s voice showed she had some idea.

“The North American Council,” he said. “If you can’t get to them and prove it is yours, they get it all. Tens of millions of dollars.”

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