She blew carefully on her drink but didn’t take a sip. “I’m not sure. Michael thinks wolves are being poisoned. Two of his people were affected as well. They reacted as you did, but they were younger wolves, not as strong. Michael called the National Council for help. You know what that is?”
“Why don’t you start from the beginning, so I don’t misunderstand anything.” He wasn’t going to share that he’d hacked into their website.
She frowned a bit, but continued. “There are something like two hundred packs in the country. They each have a territory that belongs to them, that they’re responsible for. Some are small areas with large populations and some are large areas with smaller populations. It just depends on the location. Each pack has an alpha, or an alpha pair,” she continued, watching to see how much he understood. When he nodded, she continued. “Then there’s the hierarchy. The first, second, third and fourth. Each position can be held singly, or by a mated pair. Mated pairs have the same power level as each other.”
Again, she paused and he nodded for her to continue.
“There is a similar structure on a national level. Members of the hierarchy of all packs are elected to serve on the National Council. Only one wolf holds each position, even if they’re mated. The post is for one year.”
“And what kind of authority does this council have?”
“Absolute, as far as it goes. Only the more powerful alphas are elected. The position has the effect of bumping up your power level. Which means that for one year, the National President is more powerful than any other wolf.”
“That sounds dangerous to me.”
She pursed her lips. “I can see how it would. And of course, there is the potential for something to go wrong. But it’s actually pretty low. Along with the power boost comes the connection with your wolves.”
He frowned and she sighed. “You don’t know what that means. I was afraid of that.”
He didn’t say anything, not sure what the best play was and figuring silence would serve him for now.
“I’ve been down in Arizona,” she started, but it was already too much for him. It was the last thing he’d expected her to say.
He stood, stalked past her and through the front door. He kept part of his attention on the cabin, on the wolf who hadn’t threatened him overtly but had brought his fear alive again with five simple words. But he scanned the woods in the early morning light, his land, using his eyes, ears and nose to prove to himself that nothing was wrong in the immediate area. Nothing but him.
After a couple of minutes, he ran his fingers through his hair, took a deep breath, and faced the cabin. She stood in the doorway, watching him with sympathy.
He narrowed his eyes. What did she know to be feeling sympathetic? Well, she’d said she’d been to Arizona, so maybe she knew everything. Which meant…what?
“Arizona,” he prompted.
She moved out onto the porch and lowered herself to the step, wrapping her arms around her knees. He wondered if the move was meant to make her appear less dangerous. Not that she appeared dangerous at all. That was only an instinct, and it wasn’t fooled at all by her new position.
“Yes. A wolf out in Idaho found his mate recently, and discovered that she’d been attacked by a werewolf and forcibly turned.”
He couldn’t keep the tension from his body, knew she’d be as aware of it as he was. “Is that right? That kind of thing happen a lot?”
Her face softened even further, and now there was sadness in those eyes. “No. No, it doesn’t happen very often at all. Which is why I was called in to deal with it.”
“Because you’re on this council?”
“This year’s National President.”
Well. “They called in the big guns, huh?”
“Some very tough decisions had to be made, and nobody else could make them.”
“Why don’t you just cut to the chase and tell me what you came here to tell me.”
“All right. Hillary told us she’d been taken to a ranch out in Arizona, where she was attacked and raped and held until the full moon. She managed to keep from turning until the pack thought she wasn’t going to make it and left her to die. Then she turned and made her escape.”
His knees felt a bit wobbly, but he locked them tight, leaned back against a tree.
“Hillary stayed away from other werewolves for the next four years, so we knew nothing about it. As soon as I found out, I went to the pack that covers the territory she was taken to. I discovered that the pack had gone bad, knew they had a rogue contingent, but hid their heads in the sand. They were willing to let these atrocities stand rather than call for help.”
Adam kept his eyes focused on Myra’s fingers, which had turned white from clenching her legs so tightly. There was a barely banked fury in her voice that he wondered at.
“Atrocities?” he managed to ask.
