Chapter 10 : THE FIRST PACK
Six figures emerged from the tree line at sunset.
I watched them approach from my position at the territory boundary—the exact coordinates I'd given Jenny three days ago. She led the formation, moving with the careful alertness of someone who expected ambush. Behind her came the rest of the Blackwood pack: two men in their thirties, a woman about Jenny's age, and a teenager who looked barely old enough to drive.
Five. She'd said they lost Marcus to the hunters.
[INCOMING: WEREWOLF PACK — 5 MEMBERS] [THREAT ASSESSMENT: NEUTRAL — DIPLOMATIC CONTACT] [SPECIES UNIFICATION PROTOCOL: STANDING BY]
Ruth stood ten paces behind me, silent and watchful. I'd told her to stay visible but non-threatening. First impressions mattered, and the last thing I needed was a jumpy werewolf attacking my only remaining subordinate.
Jenny stopped at the invisible line where my territory began. Protocol. A werewolf didn't cross into claimed land without invitation.
"You actually did it," she said. Her eyes swept the mountains rising behind me—the caves, the mine entrance, the defensive positions I'd established over the past weeks. "Killed an Alpha."
"Killed the Alpha. Cormac held these mountains for forty years. Now they're mine." I stepped forward, extending my hand across the boundary. "And they can be yours too."
She didn't take my hand. Not yet. "Show me."
Fair enough.
The tour took two hours. I walked them through the main cave system—the chambers I'd designated for different purposes, the natural spring that provided fresh water, the tunnel network that offered escape routes in six different directions. Jenny asked intelligent questions about sight lines and defensive chokepoints. Her beta, a scarred man named Cole, tested the structural integrity of support beams with his bare hands.
The teenager—Anna, Jenny's niece—found the hot spring I'd discovered in the lower levels. Her delighted yelp echoed through the tunnels.
"How many could this place hold?" Jenny asked.
"Comfortably? Thirty. In an emergency, twice that."
"And food?"
"Hunting grounds extend for fifty miles. Deer, elk, smaller game. Enough to support a pack your size easily." I paused at the entrance to what I'd designated as the werewolf wing—a series of connected chambers with thick walls and multiple exits. "This section would be yours. Private space. Pack business stays pack business."
Jenny's eyes narrowed. She was testing me, waiting for the catch.
I gave it to her.
"In exchange, you answer to me. Not as individuals—I don't interfere with pack hierarchy. But as a pack, you're part of something larger. Shared defense. Shared enemies. When I call, you come."
"And if I refuse a call?"
"Then you're not really part of the coalition, and you lose its protection." I kept my voice even. This was negotiation, not threat. "I'm not asking for blind obedience. I'm asking for partnership. Real partnership, with real benefits and real responsibilities."
Jenny turned to her pack. They'd gathered in a loose semicircle, watching the exchange with varying degrees of hope and suspicion. Cole's arms were crossed. Anna was practically vibrating with the desire to claim a cave. The others fell somewhere between.
"We need to discuss this," Jenny said.
"Take your time." I gestured toward the hot spring chamber. "There's fresh water down there. Rest. Talk. I'll be outside."
I left them alone. Ruth fell into step beside me as we walked toward the main entrance.
"You're gambling," she said quietly. "Werewolves and Skinwalkers have been enemies for centuries."
"Not enemies. Competitors." I settled onto a boulder overlooking the valley. "Different predators hunting the same territory. That's not the same as hatred."
"The old Alpha would disagree."
"The old Alpha is dead." I watched the sunset paint the mountains gold. "Things change."
Ruth went quiet. She'd learned, in the weeks since Cormac's death, when to push and when to wait. It was one of the things I appreciated about her.
An hour passed. Then two. The moon rose, fat and yellow, casting silver light across the territory.
Jenny emerged from the cave entrance alone.
She walked toward me with the deliberate pace of someone who'd made a decision and was committed to seeing it through. Her pack stayed inside—I could hear them talking, voices too low to make out words.
"My pack answers to me," she said. "Not you."
"Agreed."
"If this coalition of yours ever threatens them—ever uses them as pawns—I walk. No discussion."
"Agreed."
"And if you're lying to me about any of this—" Her eyes flashed gold in the moonlight. "I'll tear your throat out myself."
I stood. Extended my wrist.
[SPECIES UNIFICATION PROTOCOL: BLOOD BOND OPTION AVAILABLE] [BOND TYPE: ALPHA-TO-ALPHA ALLIANCE] [EFFECTS: MUTUAL AWARENESS, BETRAYAL DETECTION, LOYALTY REINFORCEMENT] [COST: 50 EP]
"There's a way to make this binding. For both of us."
Jenny looked at my exposed wrist. "What are you offering?"
"A blood bond. Old magic—older than either of our species." The words came from somewhere instinctive, the System feeding me information as I needed it. "It creates a connection. You'll be able to sense if I'm betraying you. I'll be able to sense the same. Neither of us can lie to the other about the alliance without the other knowing."
"And what's the cost?"
"Trust." I met her eyes. "Once it's done, it can't be undone. We're bound until one of us dies."
The silence stretched. Jenny's gaze dropped to my wrist, then back to my face. Calculating. Weighing.
"You'd bind yourself to a werewolf?"
"I'd bind myself to a leader who keeps her people alive against impossible odds. Species doesn't matter. Competence does."
Something shifted in her expression. Not quite trust—we weren't there yet—but something adjacent. Respect, maybe. Recognition.
She took my wrist.
Her claws extended. Mine met them. Blood welled from matching cuts—red mixing with red, species mixing with species.
The System blazed.
[BLOOD BOND INITIATED] [COMPATIBLE ENTITIES DETECTED] [ESTABLISHING CONNECTION...] [SPECIES UNIFICATION PROTOCOL: FIRST ALLIANCE ACHIEVED] [UNITY INDEX: +75] [TITLE UPDATED: COALITION LEADER] [DOMINION: +55] [EVOLUTION POINTS: +200]
The connection hit like a wave. Not overwhelming—more like suddenly becoming aware of a frequency that had always existed. Jenny's presence bloomed at the edge of my consciousness. Her determination. Her fear. Her desperate hope that this wasn't another trap.
She gasped. Stumbled.
I caught her arm. "Breathe."
"What—" She pressed her free hand against her chest. "What was that?"
"The bond. You can feel me now. I can feel you." I released her arm. "It takes getting used to."
"You weren't lying." Wonder crept into her voice. "About any of it."
"No."
She looked at me differently now. The suspicion was still there—smart enough to know that the bond didn't prevent all betrayal, just made it detectable—but it had been joined by something else.
"My pack," she said. "They'll want to know."
"Tell them whatever you need to. The bond is between us. They're not part of it unless they choose to be."
Jenny nodded slowly. Then, surprising us both, she smiled.
"Welcome to the coalition, Alpha Morrow."
"Welcome home, Alpha Blackwood."
That night, wolves and Skinwalkers shared a meal for the first time in living memory.
Ruth cooked the deer—her idea, a gesture of hospitality that I hadn't thought to make. Cole argued with her about proper seasoning. Anna discovered that Skinwalker caves had better acoustics than anything she'd found in Idaho. The other wolves clustered near the fire, gradually relaxing as the hours passed without violence.
I ate quietly, watching a coalition form over roasted venison and arguments about hunting techniques.
Jenny sat beside me, her presence a warm pulse at the edge of my awareness.
"What now?" she asked.
"Now we find more."
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