Homecoming

Talia’s POV

New Orleans Coven

I stared at the FBI agent who was able to tie me to the killings in Fort Worth. “Has he identified me to the human authorities?”

“Not that we can tell,” Eduardo said. “The police haven’t gone public with any suspects, and these weren’t the kind of people that are missed. If they have your name or description, they’re keeping it close to their chest.”

“What about the Council?”

“There you aren’t so lucky. We had a person call his office and ask for him, and she was told he was out sick and was not expected to return for a week or more. He’s not at his apartment either, according to the doorman he left two days after the shooting. I think you have to assume he knows who you are, and he’s looking for you for the Council, not the FBI.”

I let out a breath. “Just fucking great,” I said. “It doesn’t matter, the first thing I need to do is get Tania home and safe with our family. Once she’s safe, I’ll head to Denver.”

“I want you to have some backup, especially with Meechum out there,” Jarrod said. “I want Marcy backing you up.”

“I’m going up there on my motorcycle, there’s no place for her,” I said.

“She’s flying to St. Paul tonight, the coven there will host her. As long as you arrange for the transfer after dark, she can watch your back.”

I thought about it, Marcie was a fierce fighter, second only to Jarrod, but could only be out with the sun down. “Emergency only, I can’t have her scent around the Pack or they’ll freak out,” I said.

“I’ll stay well clear,” she said. “If you have to make a quick exit, I’ll make sure you get away.”

“The LaCrosse Pack wolves are family, I don’t want them hurt.”

“I’ll just disable them, not kill them,” she said. “I don’t want you hurt either. Have you given any thought as to how you are going to do this?”

“Erica. She’s near the Pack border, and Tania will trust her. If anything goes bad, I’m off Pack lands in minutes.” We talked for a few more minutes, then I excused myself to go get some rest.

The next morning, Tania and I roared down the driveway and headed north for Wisconsin.

Randall Meechum’s POV

Sparta, Wisconsin

I dropped Michelle off at a café in Sparta to visit with her friends while I had some business of my own at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Tomah was actually a township, and the county seat was here. I showed my FBI identification to the Desk Sergeant and he put me in touch with their Missing Persons department.

I shook Deputy Ben Dover’s hand as he led me back to his desk. “What can I do for you, Randall?”

“I’m investigating a sex trafficking ring in Texas, and a name popped on one of the missing girls. One of the other girls said she was from here, but she wasn’t in the Missing Persons database.”

“Name and when she disappeared?”

“Tania Stillwater, last seen July 18th, 2015.”

“That was before I was an investigator, Deputy Richard Long had the desk back then. Let me see what is in the system.” He typed a few things. “Here we go. You want a printout?”

“Please,” I said.

While the papers printed, we looked through the paperwork. “Everything is filled out, but it never got filed,” he said as he looked through it. That would explain why her fingerprints and DNA were never in the system. We looked through it, there were a few statements but no leads. “The file was closed on July 23rd saying the victim had returned home.”

“Who reported that?”

“Her guardian, a Mr. Todd Aldridge.”

That fucker. Finally, I had some direct evidence. “Did Deputy Long interview her after she returned?”

“I don’t see an interview, he just closed the file.”

“Can I speak to Deputy Long?”

“He passed away last year, lung cancer.” Shit.

“Thank you, Deputy. You’ve been very helpful.” I took all the paperwork and put it in an envelope, then went down the hall and knocked on the Sheriff’s door. I showed my identification and asked him for a moment. “My investigation has taken a turn that involves your department,” I said.

I quickly explained how I had traced one of the victims in Fort Worth back here and found the Missing Persons report had never been filed nationally and had been closed out without actually interviewing the victim. “Deputy Long may have been involved in a criminal sex trafficking conspiracy,” I said. “I can’t interview him, obviously, but I need to dig into his finances and records and for that I’d like your cooperation.”

“Of course,” he said. “It pisses me off to think such shoddy police work could have left that girl out there all this time with no one looking for her.” He called down to Personnel and had Deputy Long’s personnel file brought up. I recorded the banking information, I would need that for later.

There was nothing in his file to raise any questions, so I thanked the Sheriff and headed across the Government Center to the courthouse. I was able to get a judge to sign a search warrant allowing me to search Deputy Long’s phone records and banking records for the period between July 18th and August 18th of 2015. Warrant in hand and scanned and emailed to me, I walked back to my Jeep. I picked up Michelle and asked her to drive as we started back to the LaCrosse Pack.

I called in to the office, directly to our technical staff. “Annette, I have a search warrant I need help on,” I said as I talked to the young tech whiz in the basement of our office. I emailed it to her, and she promised me she would get it going with the bank and the phone company. “Just email me the results,” I said.

“You’re supposed to be resting, word is you’ve got pneumonia,” she said.

“Well, I’m bored as hell, my Mom is smothering me and I can’t get out of bed except to go to the bathroom, so humor me,” I said, faking a cough at the end.

“All right, but rest up, we want you back healthy,” she said with a giggle. I knew of her interest in me, but I never allowed myself to get involved with someone at work since it would never end well. Now that I knew my mate was out there, I had no interest in anyone else. I thanked her again and hung up.

It didn’t take her long, by the time I was back in my room she had the cellphone and bank records. There were multiple calls between the 21st and the 23rd between Deputy Long and her grandfather, plus several with Beta Todd. The kicker was that on the 23rd, there was a five-thousand-dollar deposit into the Deputy’s bank account from the Tomah Pack shell company.

I took the printouts and walked to the Alpha offices. “I’ve got the first hard evidence of Todd’s involvement,” I said as I laid out what I had found today.

“Is it enough to arrest him or take him to the Council?”

I shook my head no. “It’s evidence of his involvement in quashing the investigation, but he could turn around and say he killed the Sheriff’s investigation because he didn’t want them meddling in Pack business. I need something more to go to the Council. As for the human courts, I might be able to get him charged with bribery, but with the recipient dead it’s tough to prove.”

He sat back at his desk. “It builds a case, and that is key to preventing a war when we go kill his ass,” he said. “What do you have left to do up here?”

“Not a whole lot,” I said. “How is Bobby doing with the exchange plans?”

He smiled. “He’s doing well, we have a half-dozen serious candidates. There are others interested in something longer if your father and I can work it out. It would add options for colleges beyond those available in this area.” No Packs controlled territory where colleges were, but it was important to have a Pack around so you could have support and let your wolf out each weekend. If they stayed at my father’s Pack, universities in the Dallas area would be possible. The other thing was that if your mate wasn’t in your immediate area, a rotation would make it easier to visit other Packs across the country.

Luna Teri walked in, carrying two Leinenkugel’s beers with her. “I thought you might want one before dinner,” she said. “It’s been a long day for you,” she said as she patted my shoulder and handed me one.

“Thank you, Luna,” I said.

She went over to her mate, sitting on his lap she opened the beer and handed it to him before leaning back into his broad chest. “Randall, your brother has been working with us and reading as much as he can to learn how to deal with a woman coming out of the kind of abuse Tania has suffered. He’s doing everything he can to prepare for her when he finds her,” she said.

“Bobby’s a good kid, he’ll be a good mate for her,” I said.

“And what are YOU doing to be a good mate for Talia when you find her?”

The question hit me like a brick to the head. She was right; I’d been so busy doing the investigation, I hadn’t prepared at all for my mate. Hell, I didn’t know whether I’d kiss her or cuff her when I found her. “I don’t know what to do,” I said. “My Dad originally said to reject her, that she was damaged goods and would only bring me pain if I allowed the bond to grow. I can’t do that, though. I have to look into her eyes and see what is there before I know what I must do.”

“She’s my niece, Randall. I won’t allow her to be harmed on my lands.” His voice was low and threatening.

“I could never hurt her,” I said. “I just don’t know. She’s not the bubbly sixteen-year-old girl everyone remembers. I’ve read the Council files, I’ve seen the photos of what she has done. She’s under a Council death sentence already, and she killed four people in Fort Worth. Texas still has the death penalty.” I paused and buried my head in my hands. “What if she’s too far gone? She’s a trained killer, she waded through that hotel like she was shooting plates on the range. She must have smelled her sister, she went through them like a hot knife through butter. Straight to the room she was being held then back out.”

“But she covered her tracks well,” Teri said. “The humans would never know, only your wolf senses could pick up where she had gone. Surely that means she is still rational and in control.”

“That’s almost scarier,” I said. “To be too young to buy a beer but have more than a dozen dead people in your wake already. I know Tania is going to have trouble adjusting, anyone would, but she was taken and forced into that life. Talia CHOSE to be a killer, and I don’t know how or if I can bring her back. I don’t even know if I can have a life with her if the Council gets their way.”

Teri got up and sank down in front of my chair, taking my hands. “Then you have to show the Council that she’s the one who was wronged and get them to reverse their decision. Prove she was justified in killing those Alphas. Force them to remove the bounty on her head. That’s the only way this has a happy ending for you.”

“You’re right. About so many things,” I said. “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to spend more time with Erica so I can learn more about my mate.”

Teri linked for a few moments then smiled. “She would like you to pick up her dinner from the Pack kitchen and dine with her tonight. She’d be happy to talk about her best friend.”

“Thank you, Alphas.” I walked out and down the stairs towards the kitchens, a little bounce in my step. Yes, I had to solve the mystery of Tania’s disappearance, but I also had to figure out my mate. I might only get a moment to convince her to give me a chance.

Talia’s POV

We had broken up the long ride into chunks, taking time to relax and see some sights along the way. Tania was coming out of her shell, the open road and the detox bringing back some of the fun-loving little sister I remembered. She still had nightmares, and she still avoided being close to men, but that was to be expected. I’d gotten helmets with Bluetooth, and we were able to talk easily while we rode north.

We crossed the Mississippi from Iowa to Wisconsin at Prairie du Chien, well downriver of LaCrosse, and stopped for dinner. I didn’t want to get close to their Pack territory until it was dark. Our timing was perfect, the sun went down as we traveled north on Highway 35, turning onto a road that went within a mile of their territory border. Marcy was standing by her sedan, she would cover my exit if needed. I parked my bike facing the road, just out of sight and ready for a fast getaway if needed, and made sure my Glock was secure on my belt. “You ready for this,” I asked Tania as she stood by the trail in the light of the full moon.

“I get to see them again,” she asked quietly.

“Our grandfather is here, Uncle Clark and Aunt Teri, plus Michelle and Erica are all in this Pack now,” I said as I pulled her into a hug. “They all love you and will take good care of you, they’ll be with you as you heal.”

She was crying as she looked up at me. “I just got you back, I don’t want to lose you again,” she said before she buried her face in my shoulder.

“I know, sis, I know.” I hugged her tight. “I have to kill a few Alphas, and then I’ll bring your son back to you. I can take care of myself.”

“Unlike me,” she said. “I’m weak as a human.”

“You’re Tania Stillwater, you have Alpha blood and you are stronger than you think,” I told her. “I love you, Tania.”

“I love you too. Let’s do this.”

We walked through the woods; she followed behind me, letting me lead her through the dark hills by her hand. I could sense the boundary as we passed it from the scents of Pack wolves on the trees and the trail from the patrols. “We’re on Pack lands now,” I said. “If anyone comes across us, I want you to sit down and ask to speak to Uncle Clark. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be taking off for my bike.”

She stopped, forcing me to turn around. “Why? Why can’t you stay with me?”

“I can’t do that to them. The Alpha Council has an arrest warrant out for me, and if I am caught on their lands, they will be forced to turn me over or be removed as Alphas. I can’t let them catch me, and I can’t stay and talk with them. Erica doesn’t count, she’s technically not supposed to be there either, but that only matters to the Tomah Pack. I’ve been to her cabin once, and that’s where I’ll leave you.”

We started walking again; the wind was from the south, so I couldn’t scent what was coming. We walked up the last rise and I could see her cabin. The lights inside were on, and I smiled and led Tania forward past the gardens.

I froze when I heard the front door slam open. A big man rushed out onto the porch, Erica behind him. I pushed Erica aside while I drew my Glock. “Don’t move,” I said.

“Hello, Talia,” the big man said as he raised his hands. I kept the pistol centered on his chest, he kept walking towards me. He stepped into the light from the window, and I got a better look at his face.

Randall Meechum. FBI.

As I realized who it was, the wind shifted and blew his scent to me. My wolf rushed forward in my head, wanting to smell him again. “Mate,” she said.

“NO!” I couldn’t do this, not HIM, not NOW. Taking aim, I pulled the trigger then turned and ran for the border.

Erica and Tania screamed, begging me to stop, but I didn’t. I got on my Harley and got the hell out of there.