Investigating

Amber helped Leo and Natalie find Eric's personal page. There were pictures of wolves that I didn't recognize and pack gatherings from all three packs. There were pictures of various young people involved in the attack and children that Leo identified as children from the three Alpha and Beta families. Stephen and Grace had two children, a boy and a girl, that were 14 years apart. Joseph and Sheila Millhouse have a toddler.

In one short video, the warm, bright, Sheila Millhouse was speaking to a group and she is absolutely livid. "We are NOT humans! We are NO LONGER Rogues! We are now a PACK! We stick together and train together and live. I WILL NOT TOLERATE anti-pack behavior! We do not go out of our way to socialize with humans! Discovery is DEATH!"

Mere months ago, I would have been horrified by this video. After seeing what has happened because someone thought me human, I understand. Humans, werewolves, vampires, and the Fae (fairy?) are all real. If I was still human, I don't know if I could process it properly. Any video or recording of magic would not be understood by humans and some would come to investigate it... and dissect it, and possibly us. I would defend my family, my pack, with my life.

We had to find this Eric, this "E Purest Wolf," and teach him what he has done to his own people is not acceptable. I knew what would happen to him. I just wanted to know why he did what he did.

Amber spoke up. "He said that he was with the Ohio Tribe pack. He claimed to be overlooked all his life, including now, and he wanted to protect his pack from infiltrators like you and Natalie. I told him that you were human. I believed you were." Tears formed anew.

"You say you believe in the Goddess. How can you doubt a match made by Her? Natalie and Leo are mates. Even if she was human, you couldn't deny true mates, could you?" I try to explain it as gently as possible.

"You can try," Amber said, looking wistfully at Leo. Natalie growled.

....

"There are a few Eric's in my pack, as you can imagine." Stephen looked sheepish. "I know most of my pack by their wolf's name, not the human name."

"That's my job, darling." Grace jumps in. "Like he's said, there are several Erics. Even my Gamma has an adopted boy named Eric. There's also an Eric Johnson, an Eric Holden, an Eric Gottlieb and an Eric Wendowicz. We will happily interview all of them, unless you think you need to? After all, your pack was attacked, not ours."

"May we be there? I think they would be likely to answer your questions, but I would like to watch their reactions." I was hoping my internal lie detector would work on werewolves as well as it worked on humans.

....

The Ohio Tribe and the New River packs were anxious to get their pack members back to their own packs for dinner. They would talk to the whole pack at the dinner to inform them of the attack and injuries, and deaths, and punishments meted out according to participation. Sheila was determined to make some of them wear orange worksuits, "If I have to dye them myself!"

I was to meet with Stephen and Grace at 10 the next morning. Has it only been two days since the attack?

....

Luna Grace and the Beta's mate, Adrianne brought me into the media room, where we would interview the Erics. The logic is that, as women, we would have a more calming effect on the interviewees. One after another, the boys answered the questions: yes, they saw the posts, no they were not responsible, no they did not know who owned the social media page. Eric Wendowicz was impatient and did not focus on the questioning. I knew that he knew more than he was telling, but I did not feel hostility coming from him.

"I brought sandwiches!" Sarah Mendelsen, the Gamma's mate, enters the room with a tray of sandwiches and iced tea with lemon. Her 5 foot six hourglass frame glided to a coffee table. Her long black hair framed her heart-shaped face with brown eyes and large nose and eyebrows.

"Ham and swiss on rye, have I told you I love you?" Grace moans in anticipation. We'd interviewed 3 boys already, and at 45 minutes each, it was tiring.

Sarah was laughing, "You tell me all the time. I love you, too. Unfortunately, I need to change the subject. Is there any way my Eric can go next? He's trying to get out of it by saying he has a lot of homework. I told him that he had to be strong in his interview, as part of the Gamma family. He didn't like that answer, but he will comply."

"For this lunch, and your timing, I will fit him in right now, as long as he doesn't complain about us eating during the interview."

"Good. Let me get him from the living room."

After a few minutes, Sarah leads in a teenager with light blonde hair and brown eyes and cherubic face. I feel his eyes on me and it sends chills up my arms. Tia growls in my head.

"Eric Mendelsen, this is Luna Brianna Canis," Grace introduces me.

"She's not my Luna," Eric grumbled.

"ERIC!" Sarah is mortified. "You will apologize right now!"

"I will not apologize to a human."

Grace was ready to slap Eric, but I stopped her. "You need to know my lineage, Mr. Pure Wolf? I'm half Lycan and half Druid. I didn't find that out until my Grandmother called me by my Council-approved name. Both my parents were Councilors on the Magical Assembly for the Eastern U.S. Also, I am mated to Alpha Edward Canis. That makes me a Luna. You may apologize now." I let my teeth show. I felt the runes pulsate. I felt my entire left side tingle.

"My parents were killed because of humans."

"Because of humans or by humans?" Grace latched onto the precise wording.

"A human girl saw my father. We were rogues, hiding among humans so that we wouldn't be killed for running from my mother's pack. The girl took a picture, posted it on social media, and the pack, or someone similar, found us."

"Then you were adopted by a loving family. Why did you not let go of the hate?" Sarah is heart-broken.

Grace continues pressing, "Where did this happen? You came to us from the Northwest. You were starving and frozen half to death. Did you walk toward us or did you stay where you were left?"

I'm realizing more and more that this could be a threat to all of us from humans seeking magical creatures or even other packs. I add some compassion, "Can you remember what happened when your parents died? I know that I was on automatic pilot for days, but your experience may be different..."

"We were in a hotel room. This little girl wanted to play with me. She kept pestering us until my father's face partially shifted. She had her father's flip phone and took a picture of my father's face. It went viral for three days. Then someone said that the photo was faked, but someone started looking for us."

"About three days later, another hotel room, someone found us. My mother and I came back to find my father with his chest open and organs carefully placed around him. My mother put me in the car, and went back to the room. I heard her screams, but remained in the car, crying, until it was silent. I peaked out the window and saw no movement. I crept out of the car, and saw my parents on the ground with men standing over them. I walked away slowly, until I started to run. I kept running until I couldn't run anymore. I slept in a tree and started walking away from the hotel the next day and the next. I stayed in the woods because it felt safer. Joel and Sarah found me on my fifth day. I didn't care that I had been found, but I loved their smell and hoped that they wouldn't kill me."

"Humans are the reason my parents are dead. Even if those men were not human, that little girl and her ignorance killed my family."

"So, must all humans suffer for actions of a little girl? You're better than that. Someone influenced you to this. I know it wasn't us." Sarah sat next to her adopted son.

"Some dude named Wurtz said that we needed to stop humans from destroying us. He said that they can destroy us and when I told him my story he said that I was a prime example. He said that the people dissected my father's organs to study him on the floor of the hotel. They treated him worse than an animal! They didn't even take his body to a morgue or lab or nothing!"

"So you planned this attack on my pack because you thought that I was human and the downfall of not just my pack, but all three?" Regardless of my incredulity, I had to remain calm. He had a fear and someone whipped his fear into action. Disastrous action.

Eric continued into how he had read about distraction strategy and how he had hoped to kill myself and Natalie and leave the rest of the pack injured, but not destroyed. His plans were incomplete, thank the Goddess, and he didn't know the full effect of his actions on those around him.

We showed him the pictures of the dead that we had not identified. He told us that they were rogues that he wanted to introduce to his family to find them homes after the attack. He did not know where they came from or more than first names, John and Jim. He knew they were not related, but were friends. The three who were still incarcerated claimed to be content on their own. Time to show them some mercy, and how a pack should be.