Trey never let go of Rebecca's hand as he looked at the little Omega. She was trembling as she tried to hold back tears. She was plain looking for a Werewolf female, mousy brown hair and pale blue eyes.
"We won't hurt you Anneke. I think you want to tell us." Trey looked at his brother who nodded. They both looked at Anneke who was shaking uncontrollably.
She wrung her hands and watched both of them. If she chose to trust them and was wrong about them, she would die. Even if she could trust them she still might die. But to tell the truth, it would be worth it.
"This pack was once a wonderful place to live. We were a family. The old Alpha was fair, he treated the Omegas with respect. We even had Omegas petition to join the pack to escape abuses elsewhere. He always took them in and treated them like family." She spoke in a quiet voice. She knew there was no one listening but she couldn't bring herself to speak out loud.
"So the Old Alpha doesn't lead now? Did he step down?" Troy was trying to remember if he'd heard about the Jensen pack changing Alphas. He had to admit he didn't pay much attention to inter pack gossip.
Anneke closed her eyes tight for a moment. Then looked up. She took a deep breath. "If I tell you everything, will you take me with you when you leave? Please?" She looked at each brother in turn.
The twins looked at each other and nodded. Trey turned to her and spoke as calmly as he could as his own fear level rose. They had fallen into a hole he hoped they'd be able to get out of. She was their only hope. "Anneke, we will take you with us and take you wherever you want to go. Please, tell us everything."
She swallowed hard and began to tell them the truth about the Jensen pack.
"Leif Jensen became Alpha when his father died in 1843. He was strong and a good leader. This area was growing quickly and he kept us safe when the humans came here in large numbers starting after the gold rush. He knew how to blend in with humans and felt that the entire pack should learn. So we attended schools in the human world. That was when I decided to become a nurse."
She stopped for a moment to check the monitors on the women but continued again as she wrote in their medical records. "I loved nursing and went to work in a local hospital. Our pack Doctor worked in the hospital as well. The Alpha sent his sons to college with the humans with the idea they would bring back the knowledge for the good of the pack. His youngest son Rolf became a geneticist. Of course what job would there be with the pack? So he went to work for Council Member Xylon Lukos."
Anneke saw the surprise on the twins' faces. "You know who he is? So you know he owns a DNA company." She continued when she saw their nods. "He became good friends with another Were that worked there, Gary Saunders."
"Gary," Trey jumped to his feet and crossed the room in seconds. "What did he have to do with Gary?" What had they gotten themselves into?
Anneke cringed in the corner as Trey stood over her. Troy touched his brother's shoulder. "Trey, she's only telling us what happened. We need to listen." He didn't move his hand, and felt the tense muscles begin to soften.
Trey looked back at his brother and give him a quick half smile. "You're right." He turned around to face the poor frightened Omega. "Anneke, I'm sorry. You just don't know what happened between us and Gary. I promise, I'll hold my temper. Please, go on. I'll go sit down and I promise not to move from this chair." He sat down and took hold of Rebecca's hand again. "Please, Anneke, go on."
She bit her lip as she thought about whether she should continue. Maybe she'd said too much already. The howling caught her attention and she looked toward the window. "They've begun the hunt." She looked back at the twin Weres. If she were to have any hope of leaving here she had to tell them.
"Rolf and Gary were on a project together. They were working on the DNA of the Dire Wolf. They found the gene that still existed in some Weres and learned out to turn on the gene." She saw the grim looks on the faces of the males. "You've heard this before, haven't you?"
"Yes, we dealt with Gary and his pack of rogues. Are some of them here?" Trey absent mindedly touched the jagged scar across his throat.
"Rolf is one. He came back to the pack four years ago. He was...different. He was bigger, bigger than his older brothers who had always dwarfed him in size. He was more arrogant, more aggressive, more..." She stopped speaking for a moment and paled. "sexual. He took what he wanted, who he wanted. His older brothers both died under suspicious circumstances in a very short time. Rolf challenged his father for the pack. He told him if he stepped down he'd let him live. The Alpha refused and accepted the challenge. It was horrible." Anneke's face had a haunted look as she relived that night. It was like she could still see it happening in front of her.
She looked at the brothers. "It was hideous. He not only beat his father in the fight, he tortured him. He didn't just kill him, he tore him to pieces. The pack went into a confusion. Our bonds shifted, but not to Rolf. We bonded to the Alpha's second, Hendrik. When Rolf realized it he was furious and challenged Hendrik next. The result was the same. He had incredible strength, his wolf was far bigger than any Alpha or Beta in the pack. When he'd killed Hendrik, we lost our bonds and they didn't form with another. We panicked. We didn't know what to do. He could kill anyone he wanted. We swore allegiance to him and hoped the bonds would form."
The howling outside continued. They could tell when a kill was made by the change in the calls.
"I never bonded with the Alpha. Almost no one has. He terrorizes those that aren't bonded to him, he wants us dead. The last few years have not been pleasant for me. Until Dr. Majors came." She smiled as she thought about the day he arrived. "He's always been kind to everyone. He's been a wonderful pack doctor. I've learned so much from him. The Alpha brought him here because of his specialty, reproduction. He'd been unable to sire any cubs with the women he's mated with."
"Women? More than one?" Trey tightened his hand on Rebecca's.
"Yes, he said he wouldn't wait to find his true mate. He said he didn't have the time. But none of them became pregnant. Sometimes it can take years for even true mates to have cubs, but he was impatient. His mates..." She paused for a moment, and then whispered "disappeared. We never knew what happened to them. He had been continuing his friendship with Gary and when he heard that Gary had found surviving Vlkolak females he asked him to send him a few of them. Gary had promised to but never did. The last I heard he had promised a surprise for after the Wolf Moon. But I don't know what the surprise was."
Trey and Troy spoke through their bond. Had Logan set them up? They looked at their mates.
