Reservoir of Power Ch. 08-09

Lad... Take it from your grandfather; you will have less time than you think. Look at me; I'm an old man now and I still haven't finished all of the goals from when I was but a callow youth. So, don't waste your time trying to complete the lists that others give you. Finish your own list and tell Mrs. Grundy to go fuck herself. ~~ J. Milton O'Leary

~~

Reservoir of Power, Chapter 8

The drive from Medford to Whiskey Lake proved to be an easy journey. The roads were mostly empty, and the entire trip took far less time than they had feared, so Lena and Lochlainn were in a surprisingly optimistic mood when they were entering the outskirts of the small tourist village. The high altitude town was lushly surrounded by virgin groves of pine and cedar, and it was tucked just above the dam of the crystal blue waters of the lake. Impressed with the natural beauty of the Sierras, they could almost forget that they'd come here to confront a wolf pack.

Neither of them had ever been in this part of California before, and beyond their belief that the town supposedly contained werewolves, they knew nothing about the area. Lochlainn needed to find a hotel for the night, so he decided to do what most tourists do when they reach an unknown destination; he stopped at the combination gas station and general store and hoped that one of the clerks would be able to direct him to a nice place.

Needing to find a restroom, Lena jumped out of the van before it even came to a full stop. She breezed into the general store, not bothering to peruse the obligatory small town bulletin board where the locals offered their goods and services. Lochlainn, on the other hand, spotted the board and the kiosks of free newspapers and tourist trap information that stood underneath it, but before he could approach close enough to actually read any of the notices, he was hit with a more important chunk of information. It was an odor, and it hit him as soon as he stepped out of his van. The musky smell was definitely coming from the inside of the grocery store, and it was the stench of wolf. His human sense of smell was nowhere as acute as that of his bear form, but there was no doubt in his mind that this town positively reeked of wolf.

Lochlainn hissed at Lena in an attempt to get her attention, but it was too late, she was already inside the building. "Shit!" Lucky exclaimed as he rushed toward the small store. He darted up the wooden steps and into the building, but he saw no sign of her and he told himself, "Don't panic, don't panic; surely she's already in the bathroom. Yes, he told himself again, every woman on a road trip is the same, especially when she's made her breakfast on a pot of coffee and a half box of Danish."

Then he spotted the bathroom sign and had begun to make his way there to find Lena when he chanced a quick glance to where three cashiers stood behind the service counter. Two of them, both men, were frowning at him and the third was speaking quietly into her cell phone. The fact that she was doing this while staring at him intently didn't reduce his stress over the situation.

Seeing the stern looks on all three faces, and realizing that in all likelihood that the three of them were wolves, Lochlainn decided that his best bet was to confront them directly. He figured that it was too late for any other approach, so he altered his path and walked directly to the polished hard wood counter.

He held his hands up in a gesture of supplication to the two men and said, "I'll be honest. I've never met a wolf before today, but I mean you no harm and we're certainly not here to cause you any trouble. I apologize if we've done anything incorrectly, but I really don't know the proper protocol for entering a pack's territory. If I've offended you or broken any rules, we'll be glad to leave as soon as my girlfriend comes out of the bathroom."

"No worries," replied the woman as she stood holding the phone to her ear. Lochlainn was surprised that the female was doing the speaking for the three wolves, but he didn't let it worry him, he merely switched his focus to her. "Here..." she said, handing him the telephone. "Alpha William wants to speak with you."

Surprised at her easy manner, but eager to avoid causing problems, Lochlainn took the phone and tried to present a friendly face, "Greetings Alpha William, my name is Lochlainn Thorsson, and I'm a bear. I'm sorry if I've broken any rules by coming into your territory, but as I've told your people here, I've never actually met a wolf before. I've come here looking for you because I'm in dire need of some help."

William would have freely admitted that he was shocked by William's polite demeanor as his Betas had told him that bears were notoriously difficult, but then again, he understood that both Sam and Tom tended to exaggerate a bit. He spared a quick look to where his mate and her uncles sat quietly listening to his discussion before continuing, but none of them said a word, so he answered, "No, Mr. Thorsson..."

"Call me Lochlainn, or Lucky," Lochlainn interrupted. "I hope that we can be friends."

"Okay," William said easily. Then he said, "No Lochlainn, you haven't broken any rules, and it speaks well for you that you've contacted us directly. So... what can we do for you?"

"I'm desperately in need of some information that I've been led to believe that you might possess."

"Can I ask who sent you our way?" William responded quickly before Lochlainn could continue.

"Well... There was a message written entirely in wolf prints on our Van when we stopped in Medford, but that only confirmed what my vision with Artio had already suggested. She said that I'd likely be sent to the wolves for the answers to my questions."

"Hold on a second," William said politely as he muted his phone. He then looked to the corner of the room where his grandfather was perched upon the Alpha's easy chair. "Artio, I've never heard of that one. Grandfather, do you have a clue?"

Ja-mul responded casually, "Bear Goddess... She's just another aspect of Xwun. She's not much fun."

"What?" Sam hissed! "You are saying that our biggest enemy worships the same deity that we do? How is that possible? Bears and wolves hate one another!"

William had only been a wolf for several months and he was not really well-versed in wolf culture yet, and even though he tended to listen to Samoset and Tisquantum and their four hundred years of experience, something in Sam's anger about bears didn't ring entirely true. Now was not the time for that conversation though, so instead of pressing the point with Sam, he raised his hand for silence and unmuted the phone.

"You say that Artio sent you to us?"

"Yes, Alpha William; I spoke with her in a vision. She materialized as an ancient redwood, and she said that I'd probably end up having to speak with the wolves, although she didn't actually say which wolves. Can Lena and I come and speak with you in person?"

"Lena... Who is Lena?" William asked curiously.

"She's my girlfriend, and we have some questions that we really hope that you can answer."

Still confused, but reassured by Lucky's polite tone and Ja-mul's insistence that Artio did indeed exist, William replied, "We'd love to speak with you." Then giving Sam a sharp look before he continued, he said, "Come on up to the resort; we're on the far side of the lake from where you are now. Just follow the road along the lake shore and you'll be here in about thirty minutes or so. When you get to the lodge, just use the valet parking and then go to the main desk and ask for Oliver. He'll lead you to my office."

"Thank you sir," and upon seeing that Lena was just exiting the ladies' room, he said, "We'll leave right away!"

"There's no need for formality, you can call me William... and by the way, don't stop for lunch in town. We'll feed you when you get the resort."

"Thank you William; Lena and I are pretty hungry. We mostly skipped breakfast; we were in a hurry to get here."

Will chuckled upon hearing this, saying, "I'm familiar with a wolf's appetite, but I'm guessing that you'll eat even more than one of my men. No worries though; my chef is used to big appetites; we'll see you soon!"

William disconnected the call and immediately glared at Samoset sternly, saying, "What was that all about? Are you actually worried about this guy or are you just still pissed-off that the girls went home with Tristan last night?"

Sam's blood brother snorted at this, but Tom didn't bother to say anything aloud as every eye in the room was now focused upon Samoset. Sam wilted just a bit, because even though he was roughly four hundred years older than William, Will was the Alpha; and while Sam knew that William probably wouldn't tear him limb from limb (he was family after all), he also knew that if William were mad enough, he just might damage him before he calmed down.

Sam hurried to explain himself, "Will, you've never actually seen what a bear is capable of... To be honest, I don't think that there are any wolves left alive that have actually seen it besides Tom and me. Even Alpha John never actually saw it for himself; he just saw all the bodies afterwards."

No one was surprised when Tom took it from there. These two had been finishing one another's stories for centuries. "Ja-mul, have you ever seen a werebear fight in one of your visions?"

The old man shook his head saying, "Nope, my visions have always been focused upon Alpha John and the wolves until now. I mean... I knew that bears existed because Xwun mentioned them, but they are such solitary creatures; I just never expected to actually have to deal with one."

Florence spoke up, "You said, 'all the bodies', tell us about that."

"Tell them Tom," Sam prompted.

Tom took a deep breath and began, "Alpha, this bear sounds like the others that we've met. He seems polite, well mannered... even reasonable, but just wait until one of them gets pissed off. You just think that we wolves are uncontrollable when we are in our hybrid form. A werebear is... terrifying."

"Terrifying?" William replied with skepticism.

"You have no idea," replied Sam.

"Why?" asked Flo. You two have never been afraid of anything but Beth.

Ja-mul snorted at this, but he didn't say a word.

Sam shot the shaman a dirty look, but he kept going anyway, "We wolves, we win battles because we fight as a team. While two or three of us act as a distraction, the rest of the pack tears chunks from our enemies from the other angles. Bears are nothing like that; one werebear is a good match for a medium sized pack of wolves. Individually, they are much stronger than we are. I'm guessing that a bear is about as much stronger than a wolf, as a wolf is to a human, but it may be even worse than that."

The Tom took over, "Sure Alpha, We've got the best warriors in the Americas, and I'm positive that we could take out a single werebear, but it would be damned expensive for us. While we worked together to cut through his thick skin, we'd likely lose a dozen warriors taking him down. We'd have to try to hamstring him or bleed him out, and he'd be killing us one at a time."

Sam continued, "Their hands work better than ours do, almost as well as a human hand, and they're much, much stronger. Every wolf that a bear gets his claws into... dies. Bears don't just slash and bite; they also grab their victims and then tear them in half. Then they throw the body aside and reach for the next one of us who gets into range."

Tom then said, "While a bear kills us one by one, the rest of the pack does as much damage as they can. It's a war of attrition, but with all that floppy skin and fat on them; they are damned hard to penetrate with our claws and teeth."

Upon seeing that both Will and Florence's faces had gone pale, Tom added, "...and that's in their natural bear form, the Lady only knows if they have a hybrid form. That possibility gives me nightmares."

"Wait," Will exclaimed, "Everything that you've described comes from a regular werebear?"

"There's no such thing as a regular werebear," both men said in unison.

"Fuck me!" spat William.

Florence had been relatively quiet through this conversation, but she chose this moment to ask the real question that hung over their heads. She looked at Ja-mul and asked, "Grandfather, did Xwun happen to mention why we are supposed to be dealing with something this dangerous?"

Ja-mul frowned and upon seeing the old man's expression, William sucked in his breath with a hiss; Will knew from long experience that whatever his grandfather was going to say, they were going to hate hearing it. Even worse, the old shaman looked deadly serious for a change; he was not playing games any longer.

"Well..." the old man dithered.

"Spit it out, grandfather," William growled, his eyes spinning golden.

"Something even worse is coming, and Xwun is ready to help the bears overcome their weakness."

Tom exploded, "Their weakness? What the fuck are you talking about? I just explained how strong bears are. Have you lost your freaking mind? They are the single most dangerous creature on Earth!"

Florence placed her hand upon Tom's arm and said quietly, "Let him finish uncle, you know that the Lady would never do anything to hurt us."

Tom angrily snapped his mouth shut with an audible pop, but it was obvious that despite Florence's calming touch, his control was hanging by a thread, his eyes having begun to glow. Everyone in the room knew that the old coyote liked to stir the pot, but Ja-mul was no fool and he knew better than to drive an angry wolf over the edge. His tone was surprisingly soothing when he resumed speaking.

"I can't tell you all of what Xwun is thinking, because quite frankly, He has kept me in the dark about what exactly he intends to do here, but I do know that the Billington pack was specifically chosen for this task. I suspect that it has something to do with our pack's construction; all of the perspectives are combined here. I'm an old human and a member of the People. As a child, Will as a member of the People, lived in the European world for awhile, and then became a werewolf—a strong one. Florence was born an actual wolf, the first wolf to make the jump to Were status, and now she's the strongest female Were on the planet. Tisquantum, you and your blood-brother Samoset were members of the People for a time, but you've been Were for hundreds of years now."

"I think... I suspect that the Pack knows something about this, something that we don't even realize that we know yet. If your Lady... my Xwun has brought us here together to face this; then there has to be a reason. Our deity has not brought us here to die." Then he paused for a moment before saying, I keep thinking that an important change is coming to the bears in the same way that it came to the wolves. Florence climbed all the way from a normal wolf to a werewolf; and then again to Alpha Madam. This just doesn't happen! Turned wolves normally take hundreds of years to gather enough power, and yet... she happened, and she happened in time to save us all. I know that you don't want to hear it, but this looks like a similar situation to me."

Then Ja-mul turned to his grand-daughter and said, "Florence, tell me, how many of the bitches are pregnant right now?"

Flo looked startled for a moment, but then she answered, "Quite a few, grand-father, certainly more than have admitted it to their mates."

"And yet, before you and William came together, there hadn't been a birth in years, right?"

She shook her head and then said, "...and there hadn't been many in the other packs either."

"Does anyone not see the Lady's hand in that," Ja-mul asked, looking from face to face.

When no one disagreed with him, Ja-mul said, "I think that maybe Artio needs more bears for the mess that is coming. There may be a lot more werebears soon."

"Shit," hissed Tom.

Florence considered Ja-mul's prophecy for a moment before saying, "That may be true, but it seems to me that this change will bring opportunity as well. Maybe if we help the bears, they'll be more favourably disposed towards wolves in general. The People were always our cousins, but since our unmasking and the short War with the humans, we've been closer than ever. We've learned to trust one another all but completely. It wouldn't be a bad idea to make friends with the most fearsome creatures on Earth as well."

"Umm..." Ja-mul hedged.

"It's going to get worse isn't it," William snapped with disgust in his voice.

"That depends on what you mean by 'worse' grandson," Ja-mul said soothingly.

"What now?"

"Well... I never exactly said that the bears were THE most fearsome creatures on Xwun's Earth. He says that there is one more species that has yet to rise."

"Oh for the love of..." Sam began.

Ja-mul smiled at Sam and replied, "...and surely Xwun loves his last creature too; He won't even tell me what this creature is; only that it can take down even a bear when it is defending its home turf."

"Fucking wonderful," spat William.

...and that's when the real yelling began.

While this argument was occurring, Lena had sauntered out of the bathroom. Lochlainn had been relieved to see her face and he was preparing to share Alpha William's words with her when he noticed that something, or rather someone had changed. The normally staid Lena was approaching him with a seductive swing to her hips. He also noticed that she'd changed her clothing while she'd been in the bathroom. She now wore a green satin blouse that clung to her every curve, accentuating her figure, rather than concealing it as most of her clothing did. Her sports bra was long gone and Lucky could see the shape of her nipples quite clearly.

He thought that he'd seen the best of it, but then he realized that her sweats had been replaced by a slinky skirt that hung just above her knees, and her athletic shoes had been replaced by a pair of pumps that came with a very bad reputation. He saw no sign of the clothes that she'd been wearing, nor did he see the backpack that she had carried into the restroom with her, and Lochlainn had to assume that she'd just discarded everything into the bathroom trash.

At least, this is what he had assumed until Lena held her fist outwards and deposited her still warm panties into his open hand. Too stunned by the changes to refuse her gift, or even clever enough to close his hand upon them, her underwear was exposed for all to see. Eventually, he'd be embarrassed by the fact that the store's personnel were still standing only a few feet away from him, but right then, Lochlainn was absolutely tongue-tied by Lena's actions, and he froze for the first time in his life. He'd never met this sultry version of his love that stood before him.

Lena, understanding the pole-axed look upon her lover's face, smiled seductively and cooed, "I got everything in emerald green, since it is your favourite colour. Soooo," she said, drawing out the word, "You'd better find us a nice room tonight, because this is your very last chance to get this right. You do want to finally become Lucky... don't you?"

Then, she waltzed around Lochlainn and approached the service counter. She smiled coquettishly at the cashiers and asked. "Where in your cute little store might I be able to locate the condoms?"

Lochlainn found that he had forgotten to breathe for a moment and he was forced to fight off a bout of vertigo. It was clear from the store employee's expressions, that they'd heard every word that Lena had uttered. The two men were doing their best to hide their amused awe for this towering woman, for in their minds, humans just were not supposed to be taller than werewolves, and the way that she swung her hips as she walked... even the legendary Madam Beth would have been taking notes.