Chapter 1

2200 hours Saturday - Chaos

Jonah sat in his office, monitoring the club. It was a Saturday night, and a ‘leather and lace night’ and the club was busy between his pack members and a bunch of S&M wannabes with a dabble of actual practitioners in the club. The massive building at the north end of a large ravine on the outskirt of the city was on a large tract of private land. The club was a guest list type of affair with only those who were members, and guest allowed, with the occasional open night with subtle advertising in local scene publications and message boards. It was one of the primary sources of revenue for the pack, and employed a good many members. Membership fees were geared to income, and S&M practitioners Were often willing to pay a hefty fee to be able to gather and talk about the practices away from prying public eyes.

Jonah had just taken over the pack, at the direction of the regional council. He had been brought in from outside, and had challenged and killed the alpha of the pack who had been found violating several council laws, including being involved in a white slavery ring. He now had the troublesome task of keeping order in a large pack that was resentful of his presence.

He had only two real allies, and that was his pregnant sister, Lara and her mate, Marcus who was his 2^nd in command, and a powerful fighter who could be an alpha in his own right in a smaller pack.

As he sat watching the security feed, his eyes focused in on a what he had initially pegged as a wannabe sitting at the bar. Red and brown hair, slightly plain looking, eyes often downcast and she was not really approaching anyone, but her eyes constantly cast around the room. She was obviously a submissive and looking for something. Her collar, a black velvet choker did not have a tag of ownership. She was chatting with one of his problem wolves, a beta that though he should have been up for leadership in the pack. He watched the feed as something distracted her and her head turned away, focusing on something other than her drink and he watched as his pack member slipped something into her drink. Her head turned back and she downed the remains of her drink, and Jonah stood up, his fury rising in a dark tide. One of his wolves had just drugged a submissive in his club. That would not stand, and he angrily stormed out of his office and towards the main part of the club.

Mel turned back to the wolf she had been flirting with and downed her drink. It was getting late, and she was thinking about calling it a night. She hadn’t found what she was looking for, an obvious Alpha to approach. Then her perceptions began to alter, and she got a bit dizzy. Something was wrong ... she couldn’t focus. A hand touched her shoulder, and someone murmured meaningless drivel in her ear. But it wasn’t right. Someone brushed her ear and she leaned into the friendly contact but she was confused ... nothing seemed clear, she couldn’t focus.

Then, as her head slowly turned she scented another wolf ... and from the strength of the scent, it was an Alpha. Oh shit ... She tried to focus on the source of the scent, but with the drugs coursing through her body, she couldn’t pin down the source of the scent. Then she heard a crash and turned her head as a man wearing a black leather outfit vaulted the railing from halfway down the stairs and crashed down into the crowd, scattering people as he stormed towards them, black fury evident on his face.

The scent crashed into her brain, and the mix of the pheromones of a pissed off Alpha Werewolf and the drugs from her drink produced a strangely powerful flight response and unreasoning terror crept through her brain and she bolted, running as fast as she could towards the entrance of the club. Her shoulder slammed into a woman that was blocking the door of the club, knocking her down in her haste to get away from the fearsome anger of the Alpha. The woman’s head slammed into the doorjamb, knocking her out. The drugs mixing with the pheromone response had her adrenaline levels so high she didn’t feel the pain from the impact. There was a gleaming black BMW sitting, engine running, with it’s door open next to the entrance of the club. In her panic she took the first visible means of escape and jumped into the driver seat and took off. As she drove the drugs began to take hold. Just over a block away, as the peak of her adrenaline died down, the drugs took over and she lost consciousness. The car slammed into a phone booth and stopped, steam coming from the damaged engine.

Back inside the club Jonah was methodically beating the shit out of the offending beta wolf. He had cracked two ribs with the first blow of his fist. A backhanded blow to the face and then a punch to the gut had the hapless Were on his knees in front of his alpha. Jonah grabbed him by the back of the head and his knee flashed up and took the Were in the jaw, dazing him. Two large Weres wearing leather jackets moved over to back up the alpha. Jonah gave the groaning Were another hard cuff to the side of the head with an open hand.

“Take this one to the secure room. He’ll face me in the circle tonight after I clean up the mess this fucking idiot has caused.” He shook with a mixture of adrenaline and fury, eyes bright and ready to take on anyone who challenged him.

Jonah took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, then went to the entrance of the club and found the pregnant mate of his second being tended to a bouncer. She had a cut on her temple and was still somewhat woozy. Jonah checked with her and Lara said that she would be fine.

“Back to my office and rest until the Doc can check you out. I’m not taking any chances with your health.” Jonah ordered.

“The girl who took your car...”

“SHE TOOK MY FUCKING CAR?”

“Yeah, I had just pulled up and was coming in when she stormed through the door. I’ve never seen a Were that terrified Jonah. What the hell happened here tonight?”

“That fucking idiot Calvin drugged her drink. Drugging a submissive Were ... in my fucking club. He’ll be lucky if I don’t kill him later. I watched it on the Security feed. I will not have that kind of behavior in my pack. That lesson will be learned tonight in the circle after the club closes. Now let’s get you back to my office and I’ll check the location of my car. I can disable it if need be to make sure she can’t get far.”

“She didn’t. Crashed it about a block and a half that way ... Took out a phone booth.”

“Just fucking great. How the fuck am I going to explain this cluster fuck to the insurance company? I swear to god I’m going to beat that shithead within an inch of his life later. God damn it so fucking much. The fucking council should have let me purge this mess and start over.”

He led Lara back to his office and put her on the large leather couch. He activated his PC and logged in to the Low Jack program and just as Lara had said, it show his car a block and a half away.

Jonah picked up his phone and called Doc, telling him that his assistance was needed at the club. ‘Doc’ was a vet who helped the pack out with injuries and medical treatment on the sly, without records for a substantial cash bonus every month. Once he knew Doc was on his way and Lara was comfortable and alert, he jogged back down the stairs, and headed back out the front entrance. He grabbed a first aid kit off the wall and yelled for Alan, one of the two large Weres that had backed him up with Brendan. They jogged down the street and found the damaged car.

The woman who had taken it was out cold in the front seat, and she reeked of fear to the Alpha. Brendan, as one of the clubs bouncers was a trained first responded and checked the girl over for injuries before Jonah simply undid her seat belt and picked the girl up in his arms. He noticed she was a little too thin for a healthy Were. She obviously hadn’t been looked after properly. He again noted the collar without a tag. Jonah’s thoughts were dark as he carried the unconscious Were girl back to the club. A tow truck had already arrived and Brendan dealt with the driver, directing him to have the care to a pack owned garage.

Jonah carried the limp girl back to the club. Marcus, his 2^nd, and the mate of the injured Lara stood at the door with a stormy look on his face.

“The fuck is going on tonight? Who’s ass do I need to kick about Lara getting hurt?”

“I’ll deal with it, initially, but you will get your pound of flesh as well. Spread the word. I want every available wolf at the circle tonight. This kind of shit will not fucking happen in my territory.”

“And her?”

“She’s a submissive Were in my club who was drugged, so we owe her some consideration. But the law is the law and even if she was drugged, some bad shit happened and she has consequences coming to her. She totaled my brand new car, and injured the dominant female of the pack. I’m sure we’ll be able to negotiate appropriate punishment. At a minimum, I think she’s gonna be wearing a club tag, if not my own for a while. You and Lara have the only input besides me on what happens to her. We’ll figure it out after I’ve dealt with that stupid son of a bitch locked in the secure room.”

With that he effortlessly carried the still limp girl in his arms back to his office. Lara was no longer on the couch, instead she was sitting on the desk while an older man wearing blue medical scrubs checked her over. Jonah gently placed the girl on the couch.

“Hey Doc, another patient for you. Drugged and scared as hell. No obvious trauma from a minor car crash. She probably passed out from whatever she was drugged with.”

Doc turned and glared at him. He checked her vitals, noting that her breathing and pulse were fine. She responded to a couple of involuntary reflex tests, so she was just unconscious.

“Drugged? I know you are new here, but I didn’t think you would tolerate that kind of behavior. Seriously Jonah, what the hell happened here tonight?”

“Something that will never happen again after I’m done. I’m going to beat some respect into at least one lousy excuse for a wolf tonight after we close. She saw me coming and panicked. Bolted fast and slammed Lara into the door frame, and then took my car and passed out, crashing my brand new BMW into a phone booth.”

“Well, given your metabolisms she’ll probably be ok by morning. Keep an eye on her until then. I’ll check into her in the morning, or call me again if she deteriorates at all.

Jonah stationed a wolf at the door to his office and then went to deal with his pack.

0300 hours Sunday - Retribution

The pack was assembled. Some two dozen Weres, about evenly split between males and females gathered in the woods to watch as their Alpha prepared to hand out pack justice. Almost all were still in human form. There was two video cameras set up on tripods recording the session, with one record of this going to the council.

Brendan frog marched Calvin, who was shackled in handcuffs into the center of the circle.

“This pack member drugged an unclaimed submissive in my Club. In doing so he caused injury to a pregnant female and severe damage to my personal vehicle. Will anyone here speak anything in his defense? Does anyone claim that drugging a submissive in my private club should ever happen?” There was muttering from several wolves, but no one spoke up for him.

“Fuck you asshole! You never should have been brought in to this pack.” Colin growled. “Fucking outsider.”

“Release him.” Jonah nodded at Brendan, who un-cuffed the snarling Were.

“If you change, this becomes a leadership challenge, and I will kill you. Barring that feel free to fight back however you can.”

The two men closed in on each other and Colin let go with a punch and kick combination that Jonah easily blocked. Jonah then proceeded to administer the beating of a lifetime. His fists and feet flashed with blinding speed, meaty thuds happening almost too fast for the watching Weres to follow, with the sound of cracking bones mixed in. His fists pummeled Colin, fracturing most of his ribs, breaking three fingers with a twist of his wrist when Colin almost landed a punch, and then fracturing his jaw in two places with a wicked backhanded open hand strike. The hit to to the jaw knocked him out cold. A bucket of cold water was thrown over the Were. Colin sputtered and sat up, clutching his ribs and moaning in pain.

“Bind him.”

Brendan moved in quickly and soon Colin was strung up before the pack, his wrists shackled together with silver manacles. Jonah turned to his Second, and nodded.

“He’s yours to deal with now.”

Marcus brought out a silver wire wrapped rattan can and proceeded to give Colin forty strokes with it. The silver wrapped cane left a blistering welt with each stroke. Soon Colin’s back, buttocks and legs Were a mass of welts. He screamed with each stroke of the cane, as Marcus unleashed his fury at his wife being injured. Many in the pack averted their eyes as the pack’s second in command laid the brutal beating on Colin. Finally it was over and Colin stopped screaming.

Marcus unhooked the manacles and Colin dropped to his knees, trying to get his breath back. Marcus cuffed him violently across the back of the head, sending him tumbling into the middle of the circle, the contempt and anger still plainly evident on his face.

Jonah spoke with a loud, but very firm tone to his voice. No one who heard him misunderstood the will of the Alpha. He would be obeyed. “The rest of my judgment is as such. You are forbidden to change to heal until morning.|” Several of the pack gasped, as not changing for that long after a significant injury made healing fractured bones by shifting exceptionally painful. “And as for the drugs, never bring that filth into my club again, and if I find out you’ve drugged another Were I’ll beat you to death slowly. You are exiled for three months to the Pack rig in Alberta. Half your salary will be taken in restitution, one quarter to me to pay for my car, the rest to the girl for your egregious violation of trust. Have fun working twelve hour shifts for seven days a week for the next three months Colin. Don’t come back with the same attitude, or I’ll break your back over my knee like a fucking tree branch. Now get the fuck out of my sight.” The Alpha spit on the floor in contempt. The pack turned their back on Colin and he slowly got up off the floor and two of the packs lower ranked members moved to help him to his rooms to pack his things.

0800 Sunday – Fear, Acceptance, Negotiation

‘ A knock on his bedroom door woke him.

“Alpha, she is awake. She’s changed and is hiding under your desk.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Jonah got up and threw on a pair of shorts and a robe, and went upstairs to his office. He had a bedroom in the basement of the club, and he had decided to sleep there for now, rather than getting an apartment or house until he had a better feel for this territory.

He walked into his office and he could smell the stink of terror in the room.

“Get out from under the desk girl.”

He heard nothing but a pathetic whimpering in response and he growled.

Having little sleep and feeling very low on patience Jonah changed to hybrid form and walked around the back of his desk. The wolf under his desk was wide eyed and quivering in fear. Jonah reached in to haul her out and fast as lightning the terrified she wolf nipped his clawed hand. Jonah growled and slapped her muzzle sharply then grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hauled the quivering wolf out from under the desk. The acrid stench of urine filled the room as her bladder let go with terror.

He gently put her down on the floor but held onto her by the back of the neck, and forced the wolfs head to the floor.

“Now change. We need to talk, and I don’t have a pack bond with you.” A moment later there was a quivering naked girl with her face pressed to the floor, quietly sobbing with fear.