Chapter 65: Rose Garden

Colletta Grimes’ POV

White House, Rose Garden

I followed right behind the President, standing to her left and a step behind as she reached the lectern. The press corps was out in force, and there must have been thirty cameras pointed at us. “Good afternoon, everyone.” She waited a moment for the noise to die down. “Today, we all watched in shock and horror as a hostage situation narrowly avoided a tragic end in northern Minnesota. A man with a grudge took the wife of a Sheriff hostage and demanded a peaceful group of Americans show their secret to us all. The man was a werewolf, as were the fifty-some residents of Arrowhead Lake under the leadership of Alphas Rori King and Chase Nygaard. Chase’s mother, Colletta Nygaard, is standing with me today, representing Werewolves across our country and the world.”

Everyone was looking at me, and I nervously smiled and raised my hand in a wave.

“Werewolf Council Colletta Nygaard was here in Washington, conducting negotiations with my Administration for how to come out to us all without panic or violence. She and her people have cooperated in the investigation into Jack Coffey’s criminal activities and provided invaluable assistance in our takedown of the violent Sons of Tezcatlipoca biker gang and their drug distribution operation. I am pleased to be here with Colletta as we usher in a new era of cooperation with her kind. Madam Chairwoman?”

I moved forward, embraced quickly by the President before I stood behind the lectern. “Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans, you have nothing to fear from our existence. Werewolves have always been part of this country; we have been your neighbors your entire lives as we kept our nature secret from you. We have worked with you, studied with you, played with you, protected you with our military service, and served in communities as first responders. We ARE like you; we are Americans. We want the same things you do; freedom, security, education, a safe place to raise our children. We want to find love, raise a family, and watch our grandchildren play around us. The only difference between today and yesterday is that you’ve seen what we can become.”

I paused and looked out at the audience, wondering what they were thinking. “If you look at me, I’m just like you. My DNA is indistinguishable from any other human. You cannot look at someone and think ‘that is a werewolf’ or ‘that one is human’ because there is no difference to find. We can shift into a wolf, something that happens first in our late teens. When we change into our wolf, it is under conscious control, and our minds are no different than before. We run, we love, we hunt, we play on four legs instead of two. When we want to, we change back. It doesn’t matter what time it is, or what phase the moon is in.”

“MAKE ME A WEREWOLF,” a man in back yelled.

“Make you a werewolf. It’s not that simple,” I said. “There is one way that we are dangerous. If a human is bitten by one of us in our wolf form, the bite is fatal. Recently we have found a way around that, but ONLY if we find a werewolf mate for the person and have the right medical care. Deputy Mark Brighton, and his K-9 Max, were bitten by Jack Coffey during his escape from the store. The bite wouldn’t affect the dog; he’s recovering from his injuries. We knew Deputy Brighton was going to die unless we intervened.” I had to say this right; a wolf would have killed him, but wolves saved him. “We gathered every single female werewolf from around the world, hoping that he would find the ONE person destined to be with him forever. We got lucky; she saved his life, and he is now one of us.” There was some clapping in the crowd. “That doesn’t mean it will happen again. For centuries we have lived among humans, and the penalty for biting a human has been summary execution. We have not, nor will we ever tolerate a werewolf intentionally harming a human.”

“Has it happened before,” one of the reporters asked.

“It’s rare and is quickly handled. We kept our secret as fear can cause both of our people great harm. We have lived in peace, and we want to keep living in peace. As we speak, there are people in the woods with rifles, thinking they do God’s work by shooting wolves. Let me speak plainly- if you see a wolf, it’s a real wolf, not one of us. No werewolf in the world would risk being out in his wolf form in the climate of fear and panic that is spreading right now. Those hunters are killing protected species or someone’s pet. You’re not helping anyone.”

The President moved towards the microphone, and I moved back. “The Attorney General and I wish to make a few things perfectly clear. Werewolves are humans under the law. They are Americans, with the same Constitutional rights that you have, and the same protections as anyone else. We will not tolerate violence or discrimination against them. I would not be standing here next to the highest-ranking Werewolf in the world if I thought she wasn’t representing our values.”

She moved back, and I thanked her before continuing. “I’m sure you have questions, so I will give you a few basic facts about us. We believe our wolves have been given to us by our Goddess, and that gift passes down in a family line. We live a long time; one of my colleagues on the Werewolf Council was a Doctor in George Washington’s army, and I remember reading the newspaper articles about the Civil War when I was in school.” There were gasps at this. “We live a long time, but we have a difficult time conceiving. We are lucky to have one pregnancy every fifty years or so. As a result, our numbers are stable but small. There are fewer than ten thousand of us among you.”

“I don’t think that number reassured many of them,” Frank sent.

“Family is the center of our life, and the Pack is the social and legal construct for that. Packs are headed by an Alpha pair, with Betas to supervise, and normal Pack members. The close social interactions form strong bonds. You saw one such Pack, Arrowhead, on the news. The entire Pack risked their lives by going out to see that madman, not knowing what he would do. Alpha Rori shifted for him, knowing that she might lose her baby, but she couldn’t watch a hostage die if she refused. For werewolves who are pregnant like I am, shifting is too risky to consider. I can’t imagine what my son’s mate is going through right now.”

“How is Rori,” a woman in front asked.

“Stable, and we’re praying for her to heal and keep her child.”

“You can shift into wolves that can kill us with a single bite, and we don’t know who you are,” a man asked. “Why shouldn’t we fear you?”

“You kill what you fear and don’t understand what you are doing,” I said. “Why shouldn’t we fear you? Jack Coffey hated my daughter-in-law and her family. He fled from our justice and left his money in his car, so all he had left was fear. He thought that by making the Arrowhead Pack shift into their wolves, that human mobs would move to destroy them. I am happy to see that has not happened. The people who know Rori and her Pack count them as friends.” I wiped a tear away. “My entire life, the big rule was not to do ANYTHING that would risk humans finding out about us, because the legends of monsters would spur you to destroy us. We have no desire but to live in peace with you as neighbors, customers, citizens, and friends. The more you learn about us, the less room fear and hatred will have to operate.”

“WHERE ARE THE VAMPIRES,” a man on the right yelled.

I laughed. “I’m not aware of any outside Hollywood,” I said.

“What now,” a reporter in front asked.

“I’ll take that,” President Kettering said. “Now, we all take a deep breath and relax. There is no danger, no crisis, only an opportunity to work together and build a brighter future together.”

“I look forward to a new era of cooperation between our peoples,” I said.

“That is all. Thank you for coming,” President Kettering said. She put her arm around me, and we raised our hands, waving to the crowd, then walked off to the Oval Office together.

Carson Nygaard’s POV

Cascade Pack Entrance

I was hoping for low-key, but we rolled up to the main road to find three Sheriff’s Department vehicles blocking the road with their lights on. “Overkill,” Agent Melissa Deharty said as we pulled to a stop.

“Time to go measure dicks,” Agent Pratt said before he got out.

I let them go first, showing their badges before I got out and followed them. My driver stayed next to the SUV, but I would keep him linked into the conversation along with my Betas. Sheriff Mike Caldwell stood at the edge of the road, two Deputies behind him. We’d talked a few times over the years, but we weren’t friends. “Thank you for coming, Sheriff,” I said as I stuck my hand out.

“You’re werewolves,” he said as he kept his hands behind his back.

“All my life,” I responded. “I asked to meet with you so we can head off any problems that may come up as a result of our kind’s exposure today.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Protestors, trespassers, hunters, end-of-world wackos, religious extremists, furries…”

“Furries?”

I nodded. “There are people out there who find sexual gratification in dressing in animal fur and pretending they are werewolves. I bet dozens are on their way here thinking they’ll try the real thing.”

“Jesus,” he said. “I haven’t got staff for this!”

“I’m not thrilled by people taking potshots at my people either,” I said. “We’ll do our part to keep the tensions down, but I need your cooperation in keeping them off our land. It’s all marked with no trespassing signs, but you can’t fence thousands of acres to keep them out.” I looked off towards the foothills. “What I’m most worried about are the ones with guns thinking they can kill them a werewolf. We are more than capable of defending ourselves from them, but I’d prefer you keep them away or drive them off our land before someone gets hurt.”

“Aren’t you running around as wolves?”

“I’m not allowing it; too dangerous for both sides.”

He nodded. “When do you think this will happen?”

“Seattle is only a couple hours away, Sheriff.”

“Fuck.” We both knew what that meant. Seattle was a whole different way of life than Eastern Washington. It was ‘healthy breakfast’ country; fruits, flakes, and nuts. He turned to his deputies. “Get ahold of Public Works and shut down this road at both ends. Johnson, you stay here and stay in communication. I’m going to see who else I can get to help in this mess.” He looked at me. “Is there anywhere else I need to worry about?”

“We’re the only pack in the state,” I said.

“Aren’t I fucking lucky then,” he said. “Call 911, don’t kill any of those idiots unless you have to.”

“We’ll be staying inside and monitoring electronically,” I said. “We don’t want to kill anyone either.”