Dominant Species Ch. 59-60

Duane's senses were starting to dull, the drive through the mountains thus far had been boring compared to what they had in the valley. They would make North Fork soon if they didn't run into any trouble, he thought, and he couldn't wait for that. Dogs may like to roll around in manure, he thought, but his human side found it tough to take the stench hour after hour. He couldn't wait to get out and clean up. The cab of the dump truck was quiet, the women up front were not in the mood to talk and he was trying to focus on driving. The passengers in the dump truck bed were keeping quiet so far, not that he would hear them unless they screamed.

He made his way down a hillside and towards the stream below. Something... something wasn't right, he thought, and then the moon cleared from behind a high cloud and he could see the dark shape blocking the road. He slowed as it came into his headlights, the tree was big enough to stop them and the road was too narrow to go around it. "Wake up." He gently shook the woman next to him; he was going to have to get out and clear it. "I'll attach a winch cable to the tree, when I'm done attaching it I need you to use this control to pull it towards us until we can get around it."

Duane moved to the front of the truck, pulling the winch cable towards the tree. The separation from the stench of the poo wagon allowed his smell to search the wind, and when it did, he froze. Dropping the cable, he went back to the side of the truck and pulled off his clothes before shifting into his grey wolf with white patches. Moving forward, he sat in the headlights of the truck and let out a loud howl of greeting.

It was only a few seconds before the distinctively powerful sound of an Alpha returned to him, followed by howls from multiple pack members. He could tell they were surrounding him. Using the link with his remaining Pack members, he told them to get out of the truck and join him. It took a few minutes to get everyone out of the bed of the truck, so by the time the three Alphas walked around the tree and into his view they were all present and waiting. Duane and Luke were in the front and both bowed their heads in respect, along with all of the women and children standing behind them. Many were shivering in fright as the power of the three men washed over them. "Alphas... we come in peace seeking sanctuary. I am Duane Molback, former Gamma of the Wise River pack. The women and children behind me are all that is left of my Pack. Luna told me to bring them to North Fork."

Luke stepped forward then. "I am Luke Morgan of the Wisdom pack, my sister Leia," he nodded to her, "and I are the only survivors of the Wisdom pack. We joined with Duane because Luna in my dream told us to head for the Salmon River."

The three Alphas looked at each other, then broke out in smiles. "Wow," Reggie said, "Luna has been busy." The refugees looked confused. "It's all right, Luna has appeared in our dreams as well. One of the things she said to me was that she would be gathering wolves to us. You guys are just the first of many that will join our three Packs." He looked around. "We need to send you on to North Fork, the Luna there will take care of you. The rest of us have some things to do first." Reggie called up a number of wolves to push the tree off the road while he had Duane start loading his people up again.

"I'm sorry we're making you get back in that stank pit," Donald said, "but we don't have spare vehicles. I'm taking warriors north, Luna is having me establish a new Pack in the Bitterroot Valley to protect the humans and wolves remaining up there. The humans are being terrorized by some criminals out of Missoula."

They started walking towards the buses as they talked. "Could you use another fighter? I want to contribute where I can, once I know my charges are safe I can..." He froze, his nose sniffing the air, and his eyes glowing as his wolf surged forward. The smell, he was sorting it out, but it was there, and it made him instantly hard as he recognized it for what it was.

Donald looked at him, then at the buses. Beta Candice had just stepped off, she was frozen in place and was staring at Duane with wide eyes, eyes that were also glowing. "You're him," she whispered, but it was the sweetest sound Duane had ever heard.

"MATE!" His wolf took over, and he ran forward to her. She broke out of her state and ran to him, jumping in his arms as her legs wrapped around his waist. Their lips crashed together as the tingles worked their magic. His arms squeezed her tight as he spun them around to the whoops and cat calls of the assembled warriors.

"By Luna," Calvin said, "That was quick!" He smiled broadly, any mating was a cause for celebration but he knew how long Candice had been waiting for him. He looked at the other Alphas as Duane carried her off the road, finding a stump where he could sit with her for a moment. He looked around, all work had stopped. "This isn't a party, people, we have a job to do here. Get the dump truck loaded and send it on the way to North Fork, and get back on the buses." It only took a few minutes before they were moving; a young man from the Salmon pack had volunteered to drive them since Duane was, well, "indisposed."

They finally broke their liplock as he heard the truck get in gear. Duane cupped her face and looked at her. "Where are you going, love?"

"Corvallis, we are heading there to protect the humans. I'm a Beta of the North Fork pack, I'm in charge of organizing logistics until Alpha Donald is set up." She hugged him tightly.

"Then I will be going there as well." He stood them up, holding her hand as they walked to the bus she had stepped off.

She stopped in front of Alpha Calvin, hugging him she asked the question over the bond. "Of course," he replied. "Duane, as you are mated to my Beta, do you want to become part of the North Fork Pack?"

"Yes Alpha." He knelt before him and exposed his neck in submission; Calvin gripped his exposed neck with his teeth, and felt the Pack bond form. The removal of his old Pack bond and the forming of new bonds was painful for him, and Candice had to help him stay upright as his mind adjusted. They both helped him to his feet and back on the bus, where she had him put his head in his lap as they started moving again.

The rest of the bus gave the new couple as much privacy as they could as they journeyed north. They passed the dead towns of Gibbonsville and Sula and eventually broke out of the mountains into the Bitterroot Valley. It wasn't long then until they were entering the town of Darby, where they expected to find Terry waiting for them, but he was nowhere to be found.

The buses stopped in the city center, a few of them getting out to stretch their legs. The noise attracted a few of the residents who seemed to expect them. "There a Donald in there?"

Donald looked over at the young man. "I'm Donald, have you seen Terry?"

"Yeah, he jumped up and shifted into his wolf just after sundown, took off to the north like a bat out of hell. He did say we could expect you coming through. My name's Jason Striker. Are you going up to Hamilton?"

Donald nodded. "Good, then a few of us would like to come with. Terry told us what is going on, we talked about it and we don't want those bastards getting anywhere close to our town." As he was talking, a few more men, armed with rifles and pistols, lined up with him.

"Well, hop on then. We don't want to keep you from a good fight." He shook each of the six men's hands as they boarded, then got back on and they started moving north again. "So Terry filled you all in?"

"Yes, although finding out werewolves was a bit of a shock, we frankly can use the help. The past week has been pretty rough on our town, and no one has been able to get things organized until he showed up." Jason looked at the other men. "We are down to about thirty people. Whole families have been wiped out. I spent most of my time trying to save those who were sick, but very few remained. Terry bit the four that were left last night, they are improving but have the fevers now."

Donald smiled, at least that was going well. "My charge is to bring safety and organization to this Valley. I'm the Alpha, the leader of the wolves that will be here. These two," he pointed at Calvin and Reggie, "are the Alphas of North Fork and Salmon. They are here with some of their people to help me push those criminals out of the valley."

Reggie shook their hands first. "I'm Reggie, and we know that until we bring stability to these towns there is no chance of bringing organization."

They continued the discussions until they came up on the next town of Gorus. Barry wasn't there, and no humans were either. "Fuck," said Donald. "Where the hell did he go? These are the times I wish I had a Pack link with them." He got back on the bus and they continued north to Como. There were some people there, but they said Brian and two other wolves had left a few hours earlier to go to Hamilton.

"You get the feeling we're missing the fun?" Calvin looked ahead, hoping to see people. Henderson had people, all right, but it was a good thing they honked three times as they drove into town. They could see a few dozen armed humans on the rooftops, watching them carefully as they came to a stop in the center of the town. The three Alphas got off the bus, looking around for the Sheriff, and not finding them. Eventually, an older lady came out to talk to them.

"Hello Donald, good to see you back with your friends." She gave him a quick hug. "The Sheriff and your other wolves all went north. After you left last night, they talked and decided that they didn't want to meet a threat in town."

"So they went back to Corvallis?" Donald looked north with concern.

"No, they are going farther north. The problem with Corvallis and here is that there are multiple roads into town they could use. They want to catch them before everything spreads out. They left us here in case they got past us." She looked at the men and women in the buses. "I don't think they'll get past you, though."

"Not gonna happen," Reggie said. "Do you need anything here?"

"No, we're just working to get things organized. We're setting up a community kitchen, and trying to gather up useful items from houses where people no longer live. We're also taking the dead we find to the mineshaft; it's not the best burial, but it's all we can do right now." As she was talking, Calvin had mind linked with Candice. She kissed Duane and walked off the bus to stand with him.

"This is Candice, she's one of my top Pack leaders and is gifted in organization. Candice, I need you to stay here and help get things running well." She nodded, she knew that her job here wasn't to fight, even though she wanted blood just like the rest of them. She pulled her T-shirt up to cover the fresh mark on her neck Duane had given her, then linked him to stay safe. She waved at them all as they headed back out of town.

When they rolled into Corvallis, this time Terry was there to meet them. He hopped on the bus as it was coming to a halt. "Hey Donald, glad you're here. Too bad you missed the fun."

(Hours earlier)

Terry, Barry and Brian huddled over a map at the Hamilton City Hall, along with the Sheriff and a half dozen townspeople. Terry was worried, their plans relied on intercepting any bad guys outside town, but there were two north-south routes, 93 and 290, and they didn't have enough people to set up for ambushes on both roads. They needed people, as they didn't know what kind of military vehicles the guys up in Missoula had stolen. Terry drew his finger along Highway 93. "This is where they came down last time, right?"

The leader of the Corvallis group nodded. Jesse Anderson was a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters . "Yep, then they came up from the river on the Woodside Crossing." He pointed to where that road crossed the Bitterroot River. "The bridge here is a natural choke point, that would make a good blockade area. We should be able to push some vehicles onto it and slow them down a bit." Looking back at the Eastside Highway, he shook his head. "Too much open land here, too many ways to go around a blockage. I think we need to be closer to town for this side. Put up some barriers to slow them down, but basically we need to know which way they are coming then we flow the people that way to respond. Our problem is communication."

Barry smiled. "I think we can help there. What we can do is to put one of us on each major road, then the third stays here in town with your response force. Terry and I will shift to wolf form and push well north of town until we see them, and use our telepathy to contact Brian back here. I don't think we're dealing with high level tactics here, these are criminals and gang members we are dealing with."

Terry nodded. "We need to draw them out of their vehicles if we can, I'd rather not shoot up something that we could use afterwards." He looked at the other men. "Of course, if they are going to make it to town, do anything you can to stop them. We can't have a repeat of last night."

Terry and Barry took off their clothes just outside the building and shifted into their wolf forms, one heading out of town each direction. Within an hour they were both in a good position overlooking the approaches to Corvallis, and it wasn't long after they made contact.

"Highway 93. Looks like two Army trucks, one jeep, and one pickup truck. I count eighteen hostiles, all heavily armed. They are ten miles out." Terry waited until the convoy passed, then broke cover and followed them at his top speed back towards town. The fifteen minutes notice he provided them would prove critical to the town's survival.

When the convoy reached the Woodside Crossing, the next part of their plan came into play. A young woman volunteered to decoy the men; she was dressed somewhat provocatively, showing off her assets to full effect, as she stood in the road just past the intersection and waved her arms. "Help me! Help me!" The vehicles came to a halt in a line and a half dozen men jumped out.

"Well, well, looks like we found us a good one!" The men approached her, some openly leering, as she put her hands down and started to walk backwards. "Don't worry, little lady, we have plans for you tonight." With this, she turned around and started to run back up the road. The six men took off in pursuit as the vehicles moved up to cut her off. She jumped off the south side of the road, into the brush on the west side of the river, and as soon as she was past the waiting men they stood up and opened fire.

The first volley of rifle fire took out all but two of the pursuing men. As their cohorts fell dead, the two tried to turn for the safety of their vehicles but were cut down before they could run ten yards. More men jumped out of the trucks, seeking cover on the north side of the road before finding out that this was a bad idea. More men stood up, blasting the men into oblivion before they could turn their rifles towards the new threat.

The drivers had seen enough, so the lead truck accelerated towards the bridge. He saw the cars blocking it, and staying in low gear he tried to push his way through but was ground to a halt. He was getting ready to back up and try again when Brian jumped up on the passenger side rail and reached out with his right arm, his pistol firing twice as the driver was instantly killed.

The town's forces moved forward, mopping up resistance as they found it, and within two minutes of the ambush's start it was quiet again. "Everyone all right?" Brian heard a man call for a medic, he had been shot in the arm through and through and his friend was already tying a shirt around the bleeding wound. Other than that, everyone had made it through all right.

They pulled the dead to the side of the road and collected their weapons. As they were going through the trucks, Terry trotted onto the scene, shifting from wolf form to human as Barry tossed him a pair of shorts. He had blood covering his face and chest. "You all right?"

Terry smiled. "Not mine. A couple guys thought they'd sneak back the way they came. Idiots didn't even have guns."

(Present time)

"So, Donald, we now have their working vehicles and arms. What's the next step?" Terry sat next to Donald on the bus, and felt his Alpha power as he did so. "This is new. When did you become an Alpha?"

"Last night," Donald said, "When Luna told me to be the Alpha of this valley. You want a pack again?" Terry nodded and he formed the Pack bond with him. Barry and Brian came on board and also submitted to him, giving him his first three Pack members. While they were recovering from the change in their bonds, the Alphas were meeting with the leaders of the Corvallis resistance.

"I think we make a thunder run," Jesse said to the group. When they looked at him quizzically, he sat back and smiled. "Remember the Gulf War? An Army unit drove a column straight into Baghdad, not stopping for anything or anyone. We use their vehicles and do the same thing; they are expecting the guys back, so that works in our favor. That group runs straight for the center of town while the buses and wolves unload outside of town and sweep in towards the center, cleaning up any resistance as they go."

Calvin smiled. It sounded like fun, and he wanted this over as soon as possible. With the men he had lost tonight and last night, the leader of this gang couldn't have much left. "I like the sound of that. Let's liberate our friends up in Missoula."

There were cheers, tears and hugs as the convoy loaded up. The newly captured vehicles were driven by the new members of the Bitterroot pack, with a member of the North Fork and Salmon packs riding along for communications. Volunteers armed with rifles loaded into the back from the town, leaving the buses full of Pack warriors and a few townspeople. Most of them would be in wolf form when they entered town, as they could move much faster that way.

They were ten miles south of the city limits when Donald heard something he hadn't heard in a week. "Quiet!" He pulled off to the side, soon followed by all the others. He looked out the window in shock as a black helicopter flew north along the river, until it disappeared into the distance.

--

The column pulled out after they were sure the helicopter wasn't coming back out again. Donald was driving the lead Jeep they had captured earlier that night, followed by the two Army trucks and the pickup. Behind them were the two school buses carrying the majority of the fighters, both human and werewolf. Donald spoke to the North Fork wolf sitting next to him, and he relayed the message to the twin boys riding in the bus behind them. He knew that it was important to bring stability to Missoula after all they had been through, but he had a selfish interest in this town, one that was critical to his mate. He had to find her family, for without knowledge of them she would refuse to settle down in North Fork with him.

Eric and Derek were thrilled to be given this task; they would head straight to her parent's house as the rest of the group swept into town. It was an honor for such young men as them to be trusted with the Alpha's family.

It wasn't long before the buses were pulling aside, just out of sight of the outskirts of town. The column waited until the warriors had dispersed along a line over a mile wide, in small groups of humans and werewolves. The line as one moved forward, and as they swept through the mostly deserted housing developments they heard the engines roar behind them.

The four vehicles sped past them, their new banners flying proudly from flagpoles newly mounted. They didn't have much, but they did have the Corvallis High School flags, and the Blue Demons logo snapped in the wind as they shot past. The column ignored the people that came out of their houses, ignored the stalled vehicles and burned out buildings, and pushed forward towards the downtown. As they passed, the men in the line raised their arms in salute as they passed.