*DISCLAIMER: This story is fiction, any reflection of real life and any description of an area or person is purely coincidental.
This story is about a young man who discovers himself and love as well as a few supernatural surprises along the way. There is death, love, hate, friendship, and bigotry.
There are potentially scenes of M/M sexual contact in each chapter, do not continue reading if reading text of this nature is illegal where you are located, likewise if you are under the legal age to read pornographic material.
Please enjoy and feel free to send comments. This is my first story being submitted to Nifty.
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Chapter 18:
No one stopped eating but everyone looked at Alpha Black with curiosity on their faces.
He began, "for those of you who aren't aware, the location I moved my pack to many years ago, was basically uninhabited at the time. There were two or three families there and the next closest town was 30 minutes drive away. I took my pack of nearly 100 members at the time and we decided to settle down there and form a town. It was a lot of hard work, but we managed to get a town started. It's now a legitimate town, and about 75% of the town's population is pack. Those who aren't, either know of our existence or have been thoroughly explained that wolves are venerated by the majority of the town so no harm should ever come to a wolf." He stopped at this point to eat some more.
"This has its benefits and its drawbacks. We have enough families at this point that in-breeding isn't a problem, despite that we're beginning to draw lots of new blood in. One thing though is that we have not been having a lot of female babies being born. We've been bringing in lots of outside human men and werewolf men from other packs nearby that have an excess of males, unfortunately though, there are few women available. The total amount of pack is slowly lowering, we're aiming for around 50% of the town ultimately, but the amount of women still remains rather low." He was basically done eating at this point, only drinking occasionally due to the amount of talking he was doing.
"Another thing we don't have, well, almost any of, and I don't mean this in any negative way whatsoever, is homosexuals. I have nothing against them, well, you," he smiled lightly looking at John, and I, "however, we simply don't have the population right now for a homosexual, werewolf or human, to find a mate, male or female. These reasons are why I asked Luke and Matthew to join me today."
He looked at Matthew with a question in his face, Matthew got a little red but nodded. "Matthew here, is gay, he and I have talked and sadly came to the conclusion, that if he is to find a mate, human or otherwise, he will have to leave our pack and search elsewhere. His brother Luke, is straight. However, they come from one of our original, and shall we say, most prolific, families. There are very few families in the pack that they are not directly related to within a single generation separation. His prospects of finding a mate are also quite frankly not good unless he's willing to mate a cousin. Richard, I know your pack is accepting of gay members, obviously, and I know you're looking for some new blood as well. I was hoping you'd be kind enough to accept the brothers into your pack. They're both very strong wolves and intelligent young men."
Alpha Rich quietly eyed Luke and Matthew who both returned his gaze as he looked at each of them in turn. Normally no wolf would dream of looking an Alpha in the eyes for more than a glance, but this was an evaluation, he needed to look into their eyes so they held his gaze. Everyone remained silent. After some time he nodded, "if they wish, I will support their entry into the pack. I believe one of the young people at the table here can help them find a place to settle down whenever they're ready to move. Our pack meetings for pack induction are the seventh day after the full moon each month. I'm sure they have some stuff to tie up at home." They both nodded, Alpha Rich looked at each of us from our pack, "you guys start looking for an apartment or two for them and get it in the pack name for them, and then they can either stay there until they mate or branch out on their own." We all nodded in understanding. "Boys, I'd like to unofficially welcome you to the pack. If you come with Alpha Black's blessing, you are indeed good men and wolves."
The rest of dinner passed amicably and with good natured conversations, I paid extra close attention to William and Celena, and as I had predicted they were each all over the `new meat'. Once dinner was done, the women all helped Mrs. Davies clean up the table and begin washing the dishes, Mr. Davies went to the phone and began calling in the rest of his deputies and enforcers of the pack, a decision needed to be reached about John's father and action taken.
Jake, John and the rest of the younger people sat in the living room quietly amongst themselves. Simon and Henrietta holding each other, each capable of at least beginning to understand the pain John and Jake went through. Jake and John simply holding each other and not moving or separating, no words, just constant physical contact. The other four however, though conscious of the others being quiet, were very excited about getting to know each other.
Celena and Luke were flirting away while getting to know each other.
William and Matthew were a little less flagrant about their flirting but they were certainly hitting it off while getting to know one another.
By time the enforcers and deputies had arrived Celena and Luke, and Matthew and William had made arrangements for a double date for the first full day after Luke and Matthew moved into a new apartment that Celena and William were going to look for and make sure it was very close to their house.
Alpha Rich assembled everyone into the living room, which was now very tightly packed with over 20 people in it, it was a large room but 20 people most of whom were large and built weres made it a tight fit. Alpha Rich glanced at Jake, eliciting a soft sigh from him, he was going to have to tell his story again tonight. He knew he'd have to, but that didn't make it any easier. Every time he retold it, he relived it.
For the next 10 minutes, Jake told his story for the new arrivals to hear, even some of the ones who had heard it already couldn't hold back their emotions hearing it a second time. Mary once again provided her confirmation of Jake's story. Thankfully though, John was reacting a little bit better this time, Jake could still feel the anger in him and some shaking, but he was no longer boiling with rage, progress was progress. After he finished retelling his story he looked around the room. All of the new guys had the same look on their faces as John, Simon and William, one of vengeance. Jake pointedly looked at Alpha Rich who returned his gaze and nodded, cueing Jake to bow his head appropriately now that his message had been conveyed.
Alpha Rich stood up and that was all it took to get everyone to not make a sound and to look at him. He took great care to look at everyone in the eyes for a brief moment, everyone catching his eyes for a second before bowing their heads to him, everyone except Mary and Derrick who didn't understand, and Alpha Black of course, who held his gaze before nodding to Alpha Rich. Their history went back 40 years and they had been as good of friends as two equals who lived over an hour's travelling distance apart could be. They had a lot of respect for one another and Black knew that if he were in Rich's position he would be struggling with what to do. He couldn't have been more right.
Alpha Rich had been struggling all evening with what to do. John and Celena's father had been a strong and loyal pack member for many many years. He'd provided not only 2 strong sons to the pack but a daughter to provide the pack with more pups. Granted he'd caused plenty of embarrassment over the years as well with his open bigotry, chauvinism and racism, however this was an egregious action. Kidnapping with the intent to murder, and it wasn't a human, which, while bad, by pack law can be forgiven by a minor punishment of community service. It was against a fellow pack member. One who had powerful friends within the pack, including himself, though he had to do his best to keep his personal beliefs at bay so he could best serve his pack. There were few options within the pack laws for dealing with this. All but one guaranteed his death, and even that one Alpha Rich had a strong suspicion would result in the man's death.
After he had made sure everyone knew he was still in charge and nothing was to be done without his say, he looked at John, "John, can you come with me for a moment please, everyone else remain here, and begin calling an emergency pack meeting for tonight. He eyed two of his enforcers, go and personally make sure their father gets there on time, do not leave his side, no harming him unless he resists, and only do the minimum needed to subdue him, and please no shit talking to him, just tell him I sent you and it's my orders that you escort him to the emergency pack meeting tonight, don't even let him go piss without you being there." They nodded and left immediately.
John followed his Alpha into his office, the office was designed to be sound proof even to wolves unless they were sitting within inches of the door. Alpha Rich looked over John carefully and with a practiced eye, he came to the conclusion that John had grown up to be a very strong and handsome young wolf. It was too bad he would likely never pass along his genes to another generation. "John. I brought you in here to discuss something very difficult. I hope you can appreciate the extremely difficult situation I'm in. Your father is a long time member of this pack, he has a lot of supporters and friends, many of whom disagree with his beliefs of hate but like him regardless. The actions he's committed leave me very few options, all but one of which will create a lot of dissent and unhappiness in a large portion of the pack, emotions that could destroy the pack. Any of the options of out-right ending his life will potentially cause an uprising within the pack, creating even more problems for everyone involved. Now, I'm prepared to make the decision if needed, however, there is one option, which will not cause as many problems, however, it is dangerous."
John nodded, he knew pack laws, he had hoped to be promoted to enforcer soon and maybe even Beta or Alpha someday. The only option that would retain pack loyalty and provide justice was if Jake challenged John's father to a fight to the death at the pack meeting tonight. In front of the entire pack, his father couldn't back down without losing all respect and thus making Alpha Rich able to level punishment without resulting in a pack coup. However, the pack laws also allowed for a mate to take the place of the offended. The offender must be the one to fight, however, the one offended may be substituted for by their mate. Jake couldn't fight and win against his father, but John could, he was sure of it. It wouldn't be easy, and he'd receive his fair share of wounds, but he was confident he could win. He'd have to get Simon and William to restrain Jake though, Jake would not simply sit back and watch the fight, he knew. He nodded to Alpha Rich, "I understand, I need to talk with Simon and William."
"I'll send them in." He paused and looked at John for a moment, "John, this won't be easy. You could even lose. I just want you to know that personally I'm rooting for you, even though officially to the pack I cannot take a side."
"Thank you Alpha, and I know I could potentially lose. But I also somehow just know that I will win. It won't be easy, but I'm confident I'll win."
Alpha Rich nodded and left the room, soon afterward Simon and William entered.
"Guys. I think you know what I have to do." He looked them both in the eyes. They had both been learning pack law with him, so they both indeed knew what he had to do in order to obtain justice and retain pack stability.
They both nodded, Simon spoke up, "well hold back Jake."
John stepped forward and brought them both into a hug, his two best friends in the world. They all knew that this was more than just holding Jake back tonight preventing him from entering the fight, it was entrusting his mates life to them should he fail. They held each other for a little while before John nodded and they left the office, it was time to go to the pack meeting. John grabbed Jake by the hand and walked with him out to their truck, it was getting full with 8 of them now, in a truck built to carry officially 4. Thankfully that far into the country riding in the cab wasn't illegal and they were werewolves so they'd recover from most injuries.
The ride over was solemn. Luke and Matthew weren't high ranking members of their pack but their father was so they knew pack laws and had a pretty good idea what was about to happen.
By time they had arrived at the pack gathering building, almost the entire pack was there. John's father and mother were seated up front with 4 enforcers close by making sure they didn't try to leave, their father paled as soon as he saw Jake and John enter, followed closely by Mary and Derrick.
It was another 20 minutes before Alpha Rich was informed by his counters that the entire pack was present. He stepped onto the stage and it took only seconds for the entire room to become quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone could see the sadness on his face, and it made them uncomfortable. Anything that made the Alpha sad was not good. There was some uncomfortable shifting around in seats while Alpha Rich waited for the right moment to begin speaking. "Ladies, wolves and children. I was forced to call this meeting tonight under very sad pretenses. Charges have been levied and third party confirmed against one of our pack members. These charges are extremely serious." He let the words sink in for a moment before continuing. "Michael Tillman has been accused by Jake Thorntree which has been affirmed by Mary Huckerson and her son Derrick Huckerson to be true. Mr. Tillman is accused of kidnapping with the intent to murder, Mr. Thorntree."
There was an uproar within the room. Voices of incredulation and surprise could be heard, a few of disbelief and some simply just shaking their heads quietly. Alpha Rich let his pack members get the shock out of their systems for a minute before beginning to request quietness simply by standing there, the wolves could feel him and the women and children took their cues from the wolves.
"As you are all aware, these are very serious charges. I am left with very few options in the matter."
Alpha Rich didn't get to continue much further before John stood up and announced loudly. "I, John Tillman, mate of Jake Thorntree the offended, challenge Michael Tillman to a duel to the death as punishment for his offense."
I could barely breathe. Instantly I felt hands holding me back as I tried to jump up, gasps and whispering could be heard from the crowd. John was challenging his father in a fight to the death. I didn't understand why he was doing it. The pack must have laws to punish his father outright, why go through this? I kept attempting to fight, but Simon and William were too strong for me. Plus Luke and Matthew were both sitting in front of me and looking at me like they'd help Simon and William if needed.
John had made his way to the stage as Alpha Rich nodded solemnly and then looked at John's father. "Michael Tillman. John Tillman has challenged you to a duel to the death as punishment for the charges against you. Do you accept?"
To his credit, John's father did not look happy about the situation at first, but quickly the look turned from whatever emotion it was he was feeling to one of a creepy happiness. "I accept Alpha," he said very loudly and then turned to sneer directly at me and the group holding me back.
Alpha Rich spoke above the crowd, "so it is set. The duel will take place outside in 10 minutes time at the ring. All must be present. This is a duel to the death, no one may interfere, NO ONE" at this point he stared directly into my eyes but I refused to drop his gaze glaring back at him, for his part he received the glare almost physically obviously, his eyes showed their sadness quickly before turning back to the pack, "the fight will continue until one of the participants ceases to live there can be no other ending and no one can provide any assistance in any way to either participant at stake of their own life. Men, guard the participants, everyone else gather around the ring, it's time."*