The Alpha Killer
Dinner Invitation

Chief Enforcer Jacque Jones’ POV

Hampton Inn, Sulphur Springs TX

I hadn’t heard from Todd Aldridge in an hour, and their snatch-and-grab of Talia Stillwater should have been done long ago. I pinched my nose, knowing this was going bad. I needed to know how bad, so I grabbed my phone and keys and left the hotel room for my rental car.

The drive took about forty minutes; he had told me she was spotted leaving and which direction, so I had a good idea of where they would have made their move. It was nearing midnight as I reached the crossroads, then took the country road that led along the edge of their Pack lands. The night was warm, my windows were down and I had the radio off so I could concentrate.

I came over a hill and braked quickly, pulling over to the side of the road. My headlights showed nothing but two-lane blacktop, heading down to a bridge over a creek and back up the other side. Nothing appeared out of place, yet everything was wrong.

The smell of blood was strong in the air, as was the smell of gunpowder and bleach.

I turned off my car, closing the door behind me as I took a good smell. There weren’t any houses around and my senses were better in wolf form; moving to the passenger side of the car, I pulled off my clothes and tossed them in. Shifting into my large black and tan wolf, I took a deep sniff of the area.

There was a lot of blood, but no bodies, so the wolves had cleaned after themselves. The bleach was cutting the strong smell, and I could see some places where the road had been power washed. In the scrub I found fresh shell casings, mostly 5.56mm but some pistol caliber as well. It must have been a battle.

I spent the next twenty minutes processing the scene as I sniffed around the kill zone. There had been close to fifty people here, including four vampires. What was shocking to me was that the four vampires had arrived and departed with the Pack wolves. I had confirmed one thing; the Sulphur River Pack was working closely with the New Orleans coven led by Jarrod Covington.

I had smelled the Alpha Killer before, and my mind processed the change in her scent. She was no longer rogue, she had the Sulphur River pack smell, and she was mated. The vampire wildness that was part of her scent was easy to detect, and I froze when I smelled it in another wolf.

The Council would need to know this. There were TWO of these abominations running around this pack with the four vampires. How many more were they making? The new one was also young and female. Imagine if they could breed true!

I needed to call this in. The rogues were dead, and there was no time to raise a rogue army or look for plausible deniability. We had the evidence now that the vampires were turning multiple wolves, and who knew how many more were on the way. It was time to call on the Packs and wipe this nest out before it killed us all.

I trotted back towards my car, my mind on the problem and not on my surroundings. It was a rookie mistake, and when I saw the man sitting in my car I froze. “You’re trespassing on my land. Shift back,” the man ordered. I could feel his dominance, and if that wasn’t enough, I could sense a half-dozen more wolves surrounding me. “Council Chief Enforcer Jones. I didn’t expect to replace you so close to a group of rogues who tried to kill my Pack members. Your presence here is problematic.” He tossed me my clothes, and I pulled them on. “Get in.”

I sat in the passenger seat of my car as he started it up. I saw a few wolves starting to follow us along the road as we pulled back out onto the road. It didn’t take long to replace out that he knew far more about what I was doing here than I thought. “We captured Todd Aldridge, and he’s singing like a canary. Before you even drove out to see what happened, we knew you were his contact and we knew exactly what you were here to do.”

I let a breath out. “Where do we go from here, then?”

“That would depend on how loyal you are to the men on the Council. They hired a rogue army, led by a wanted criminal, to attack and capture members of a sovereign Pack and a Vampire Coven. My Pack and my allies will not stand for this, and when the other Packs learn of the Council’s treachery?”

“The Council is doing what they must. You and Jarrod cannot continue to create these abominations. It will be the END of our species!”

He just laughed as we turned into the driveway for his Pack House. “Do you know how Talia became the Alpha Killer?”

I had my ideas, but no one knew for sure. “She disappeared, then a year later she makes her first kill. We all assumed she had dedicated herself to the warrior arts. It was only in the past few days that we realized she had become hybridized, and her strength and speed was from our enemies.”

“They aren’t our enemies, there is no declared war. Our kind does not have to be in conflict if we can replace common ground.” He smiled at me. “Jarrod is a good man, as is his coven. I am proud to be bound to him through mating.”

My jaw dropped. “How can you…”

“Talia is mated to my son Randall. Jarrod’s blood runs within her, and he and his Coven took her in and became her family. As you suspected, it was Jarrod who turned her.”

“Because his blood was the only one strong enough,” I said.

“Yes. I see you are not completely ignorant of the process.”

At this point, I had to start thinking of myself a little. Alpha Brent was not a power-mad Alpha, he clearly loved Talia and had no issue with her being his son’s mate. “The Council’s doctor, Tara Himen, experimented with blood from captured vampires. She tried injecting their blood into prisoners, but it was a spectacular failure. She was the one who speculated that the vampire blood they had was not strong enough. When we figured out Talia had completed the change, she said it was because of the Master Vampire’s blood being stronger.”

“She is right, though it troubles me greatly to know the depths to which our own Council has fallen. I am glad Talia was able to put an end to that madness.”

I nodded, experimentation like this turned my stomach. “Then you know why they wanted to take Jarrod. They saw how strong Talia had become, a young female with no training, and wondered what an experienced Alpha male would have. They intended to take the change themselves, to become unassailable in their positions over the werewolf world.”

He tapped the steering wheel with his finger as the Pack House finally came into view. “Talia was a good candidate for the turn because she had no interest in the power she would gain. To her, it was just a tool to get the revenge she wanted. That is why she has refused to take a Pack, even when she has won them in battle.”

I had found this fascinating when I was reading her files; it was not natural for a wolf. We naturally followed the stronger wolf, and the strongest were the Alphas. He stopped the car in front of the stairway to the front of the Pack House, where a few large men and their mates were waiting. I saw the chase wolves shift and move past them into the house, not paying any attention to me. It was curious; I was a strong wolf, the head of Council Enforcers, yet none of them showed any concern with my being here. It was like they knew I was no threat.

With three hybrids, an Alpha pair and a couple Alpha blood sons, I wasn’t a threat.

I stepped out of the car and waited for the Alpha to come around by me. He led me up the stairs. “Council Chief Enforcer Jacque Jones, this is my mate Patty,” he said as she nodded to me, “Alpha Heir Dusty Meechum and his mate Kimberly, and my youngest son Bobby and his mate Tania Stillwater.”

“Welcome to the Sulphur River Pack,” Patty said with a smile.

I shook hands with each, pausing when I came to Tania. I knew her story, everyone did after she was found. “You’re a werewolf,” I blurted out. “How?”

She looked at her mate Bobby. “The love of a true mate can work miracles,” she said as she hugged him.

“I hope to replace out someday,” I said.

“Come, let’s go inside and meet the others. We have a lot to talk about.” Alpha Brent lead us into the dining room, where the long table was filled with warriors and family alike. I froze at the door when the scent of vampire hit me. “Come on, don’t be like that.” I gulped and pushed myself past the terror I felt when I came before the Vampire Master and his Coven. I practically dove for the chair he gestured for me to take. “We have had a successful night, and this late dinner is a celebration.”

The bottles of wine were passed, the first course was brought out, and Alpha Brent stood with glass in hand. “I would like to propose a toast,” he said as he looked over the thirty or so people at the table. “Tonight’s operation was as smooth and successful a mission as we could hope for. The intelligence and tactics were first rate, and I couldn’t be prouder about how we executed the plans. The plans were a result of our alliance with Vampire Master Jarrod, and his Coven was key to this night. To Jarrod, Marceline, Anastasia and Eduardo, thank you for trusting us and may our friendship become a beacon for both our kinds.”

“Hear hear!” I joined in the toast, then he sat and we started the salad.

The conversation was beyond enlightening. The family and friends didn’t stay in one place, people were constantly grabbing their plates and moving so others had a chance to visit. At one point I was across from Eduardo and Erica, a vampire and a hybrid, as they explained how they found out they were mates. “I didn’t think it was possible to have a vampire mate,” I said.

“It’s possible it was because I was her human mate before I was turned and that carried over, or it could be she mated with my vampire nature. It’s not like we have a lot of data, our kinds are not in contact with each to replace mates,” Eduardo said.

“I don’t care. I have my Eddie, and now that I’m a hybrid we were able to complete our mating.”

“Was it difficult?”

She nodded. “Jarrod had to plead my case before the Vampire Council, who was not happy with Talia being changed. We got permission to change Randall because Talia bit him, and me so we could mate. The Vampire Council will not grant permission easily. Some of them think we are abominations that should be destroyed, but the votes are in our favor for now.”

I could see their reluctance. “The Werewolf Council thinks that having a captive Master Vampire will allow them to become more powerful and cement their rule.”

“They have no idea what awaits them. The pain, the bloodlust; if it wasn’t for the Coven’s help and my mate’s support, I would have given up. So many times I begged for death just to end the pain. Sure, I gained powers, but I’m as much of an outcast now as I was when Todd carved the traitor symbol on my cheek. I’m not trusted or accepted outside of Packs I have family relations with.”

They moved away, and I started talking with Bobby and Tania. She had a boy on her lap I recognized as Phillip. “Hey there sport, how are you liking Texas?”

“It’s hot,” he said. He let out a big yawn, the frosting from the cake had rubbed onto his cheek. Luna Patty came over and picked him up, telling Tania to relax while she gave him a bath. He clung to his Grandmother as he waved goodnight to everyone.

“He’s doing well?”

“Better than we expected,” Bobby said. “It’s a lot to take in, being taken from the only parents you’ve ever known and handed to others. It helped a lot when Tania got her wolf back and the bond could snap into place.”

“And you, Tania? You went through so much.”

Her eyes moistened and looked towards Bobby. “I did, but my life has completely turned around in a short period of time. I have my wolf, my mate, my son, my family and Bobby’s family. I haven’t been this happy since I was playing at the lake.” We talked about Tomah Pack, and she spoke about wanting to go back and see her friends and Pack again. “At some point, I’ll either have to step up as Luna or ask someone else to step in. They deserve a leader.”

I smiled at the two. “I think they know the leaders they want. Life has a way of putting you where you need to be.”

Jarrod got everyone’s attention and lifted his glass for a toast. “I thank you all for inviting me into your home. I am honored by your friendship, and I can see the love you have for each other so clearly. Some of you have more love than others, which even the safe room concrete doesn’t muffle,” he said to laughter. “Love is what makes life worth living. Without love, immortality is a torture, but with the love of my Marceline and the others in my family, a family that now includes you, it is a joy. To Bobby and Tania, Eduardo and Erica, and Randall and Talia, the newest members of our family. May your lives be filled with joy and pups.”

I raised my glass to this as well.

I was given a room for the night, though it had no phone and my own phone was not returned to me. The guards were unobtrusive but there; I was not free to leave, and they were not going to let me contact the Council. As I took a shower, I wondered what I would even tell them.

Jarrod wasn’t creating an army; he was doing what had to happen so mates could have each other. The Pack was not aggressive or power hungry, something that couldn’t be said about the Council. As I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed, I realized it came down to one simple question.

Who did I trust with the future of the Werewolf race? The Council, so willing to imprison and experiment to gain power, or the Alpha and Master I met tonight who were forging bonds of friendship?

I wasn’t sure about many things anymore, but I was sure of one. I would not allow the Packs to wipe out these good people who wanted to live peacefully.