Reservoir of Power Ch. 08-09

This just started a new bout of giggling from the two sisters, but before Lena could say hello to them, both women had begun to bite Tristan, one on each side of his neck. They had an audience and were not going to miss a chance to offend someone new. Hell, they hadn't seen Sam or Tom since Tristan had handed the boys their asses in the parking lot the night before. Maybe this bear could provide a bit of fun.

"What do you think sister," Maria sent to Margarita. "Is the big bitch gonna give us a shot at the yummy ginger?"

"I'm betting that's a no."

"Think we can piss her off enough to leave him alone for a few minutes?"

Tristan hadn't heard any of this mental conversation between the two sisters, but he knew these bitches better than anyone else in the pack did. He sent, "You'd better stop it ladies; these two are guests of the Alphas, and you do NOT want to piss-off Flo. Trust me on that one."

"Spoilsport," they sent back in unison, but they stopped showing off for their guests. They hadn't been wolves long, but they'd seen Florence destroy Tristan in the practice ring on a regular basis. Fun was fun, but choosing to anger Florence on something important to her was a death-wish, and they were having too much fun to die early.

Having not heard the sending between the wolves, or even been aware that wolves could do such a thing, Lochlainn stood and approached Tristan in order to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you Tristan... ladies," he said, "and where is Ja-mul tonight?"

"Oh he'll be along after all of the work is done," Tristan replied with a smirk. "I'm sure that he's up to something showy; there are too many people here tonight. He won't be able to resist! He's worse than these two!"

The girls giggled and Lochlainn responded with a confused look, but before he could tell anyone that Artio had said something similar about their Shaman, Florence broke in, "Oh come on. Are you mighty warriors really afraid of one old human?"

William and Tristan... as well as several other warriors within earshot... winced, but they didn't admit a thing.

Florence eyes shot daggers at the sisters as she said, "Okay you two, get your asses behind the bar and finish the rest of this hour's shift, and no one is stripping on the bar yet. It is much too early for that!"

"Yes Madam," the two responded, sounding almost sincere, as Florence vaulted over the bar and took Lena by the hand, "Come on... let's allow the idiot men some private time to compare the size of their... egos. I'll show you around and introduce you to the ladies of the pack."

"Like there are any ladies in this pack," William mumbled as he touched tankards with Lochlainn.

Over the next hour, Lena was introduced to every bitch in the pack. She knew that she wouldn't remember many of their names, but she had to admit that they all seemed nice. She was struck, once again, by the fact that despite the fact that all of them were werewolves, none of them seemed much different than the friendly women that she'd met in Kalispell.

One thing that she did notice however was that a surprising number of them were not drinking alcohol. Then it hit her, many of these women must be pregnant, and from the fact that she saw at least a couple of them dispose of drinks while their mate's backs were turned, she had a feeling that some sort of information black-out was in place with the men.

When she observed yet another bitch spilling her drink and then reaching for her water instead, Lena decided to press the point. "Florence," she started...

"Don't say it," Flo said quickly. "We'll talk later. Most of the men haven't caught on yet. We are waiting until this is over to tell them. The warriors will lose touch with reality when they find out the truth, and once they figure it out, this whole area will get locked down tight. They would have never let you two anywhere near Whiskey Lake if they'd known the truth. We're already worried about how they'll react to our human neighbors being so close!"

Lena smiled for a brief instant, but then Florence saw the trace of sadness that followed. Flo placed her hand on the larger girl's arm and said, "Lena, we'll get you an answer if we can. We understand how you feel all too well, before the unmasking, there had not been a birth in this pack in decades. For awhile there, we thought that the Lady had turned her back upon us; it was not a happy time."

Lena looked at her feet for a moment, but Florence just grasped her arm tighter and said, "I promise that we'll get you an answer. I am sure that whatever is going on with the bears, it will work out for the best!"

"I'm not used to thinking in these terms yet," Lena admitted. "I've only recently learned about this world, and I'm just not sure where I fit in yet. Why should some bear Goddess be interested in me? I mean, I'm just a human and humans don't join the bear world. Lochlainn says that this one is an absolute."

"Maybe not," Ja-mul responded, startling the two women with his appearance.

Once she'd recovered, Flo said, "I wondered when you'd choose to show up,"

"Timing is everything," the old coyote said with a grin.

"What do you mean by 'maybe not'," Lena asked with desperation in her voice.

"We have a way to speak directly with the Lady. When wolves imbibe a mixture of grain alcohol, bee venom, and morning glory seeds, they go on a trip. Sometimes, the Lady chooses to visit them during their vision. Sometimes she doesn't; it's up to her."

Lena glanced at the hive behind the bar, beginning to understand why it was there.

"It's early yet, but soon or later, one of these lunk-heads will call for a Venom challenge. Then two of them will face off to see who can remain standing the longest. We'll make an announcement at the next shift change and make sure that anyone who's stupid enough to drink the stuff has your question in their mind when they get there. Do you know exactly what question you'd like them to ask? You might want to be specific."

"Couldn't I just go myself," Lena asked hopefully.

"Sorry Lena," Florence replied. Venom would probably kill a human, even a large one like you."

Unhappy, Lena thought about it for a moment, but then she decided to share what was really bothering her, "I don't know about announcing our problems to the whole room. That would really be embarrassing. Lochlainn and I aren't really comfortable with sharing our private lives."

"Could Lochlainn go?" Florence asked Ja-mul suddenly.

"I'm not sure. The formula was meant for a wolf. I guess it could be worth a shot. Let me go talk to Will and see what he thinks."

"C'mon Lena," Florence said, "Let's get you a drink to calm your nerves; we'll make it a double! Looks like we need to kill some time before the challenge, and you'll want to watch this anyway. The sight of two men behaving like idiots is always entertaining." This got a smile back to Lena's face and they headed back to the bar, while Ja-mul headed for the parking lot where he knew that his grandson was sharing some of the pack's finest with Lochlainn and his three Betas.

The five men had settled into one of the outdoor tables where they were discussing manly things like proper beer temperature and which strains of leaf produced the best effects. Lochlainn, like Lena, found that he was somewhat surprised by how easily he found himself settling into a comfortable relationship with the wolves. They really were not that different from his friends in Kalispell. Then it struck him... he had friends!! How had that happened? He'd never actually had friends before. Friends were a human thing!

"Oh Lady, here he comes," mumbled Tom.

"Come on, you guys usually welcome his antics," William said after exhaling a cloud of smoke.

Surreptitiously, both Sam and Tom tried to glance at Tristan, but everyone at the table caught them at it, a fact that was not missed by Sam, who sighed and said, "This might be a bad time for the crap that he is about to stir."

William growled, "Tristan won't let himself get involved... right Tristan?" It wasn't a question.

"No Alpha." Tristan replied quickly. He wasn't stupid; he wasn't about to anger his Alpha when William was already growling.

"You guys are going to have to tell me this story eventually," Lochlainn whispered.

"Did I miss anything fun," Ja-mul asked with an evil grin.

"Not much," William replied drily. "Did you get tired of hanging out with the bitches?"

Ignoring William's jab, Ja-mul responded instead, "Yes... bitches are the cause of everything that goes wrong. Isn't that right, Tom?" Ja-mul needled.

Tom just sighed, evidently, the old bastard had already figured out what was happening with the sisters.

"But enough about that," Ja-mul replied with a feral grin. "The bitches and I, as you referred to us, might have come up with an idea. Do you proud warriors want to hear it?"

When no one responded, Lochlainn replied, "I'll bite, I don't know you well enough yet. I'm still too naïve to know that I shouldn't listen to you."

"Hmm... fast learner; that ought to help," mumbled Ja-mul.

"Spill it, grandfather," William demanded.

"The ladies seem to feel that a visit to the Lady might be of help. Lena offered to go, but we told her that drinking the venom would likely kill a human. So then we wondered if it might be a good idea to send in the bear and see if she'll talk to him. But then again, we aren't sure whether the formula will even work on him. And if it did, would he be sent to visit the Lady or would he see Artio? Either way though, the whole idea seemed promising."

William then spoke up quickly, taking the time to explain to Lochlainn how a Venom challenge worked, and how it tended to affect those who went through the rite. He knew that Lochlainn needed all the facts before he agreed to anything. A warrior needed to understand the rules of his battle.

Lucky listened as Will described the entire ritual, and at first, he couldn't imagine why any one would be stupid enough to participate in such a thing, but then he thought back his college teammates and their drunken frat parties, and he realized that stupidity had many forms. Then he sighed and agreed with Ja-mul that while he thought the whole challenge was insane, he was willing to give it a shot.

He looked at the Alpha and said, "So... who should I challenge then? Should I challenge you? Would that seal some sort of inter-species camaraderie?"

William scowled at the thought of the hangover that would follow if he accepted this challenge, but before he could agree to be Lucky's designated foil; Sam surprised everyone and volunteered for the task instead. Will looked at his Beta and said, "You're kidding me? You are going to volunteer for something? Alpha John told me that you haven't volunteered for anything in centuries. If you do this, you realize you're gonna feel like shit tomorrow. Right?"

"You'll give me tomorrow off," Sam asked with resignation in his voice, "I mean... if you don't have to do this yourself?"

"Done," William said quickly. He couldn't believe his luck, but then again, that was worrisome as well. Surely Sam had an angle here, but damned if he could figure out what it was. It wasn't like the old Beta had ever expressed an interest in speaking to the Lady before, and in any event, there wasn't even any guarantee that she'd speak to him. So what the Hell was he doing?

"Well... The shift changes in five minutes," Ja-mul put in helpfully, "and I suppose that there is no use delaying this any longer. Are you gentlewere ready for the venom?"

Lochlainn extended his massive paw to Samoset and said, "Good luck my new friend."

Sam was surprised to find himself thinking well of this bear, he was happy to grasp Lucky's hand in his own, and reply, "Fuck it! To our hangovers!"

The six men casually walked back into Shunkaha and waited until the juke box died. Then William spoke to his pack, "As a sign of the developing friendship between the wolves and the bears, we are going to have an unusual venom challenge tonight. Samoset, our champion, has agreed to challenge Lochlainn Thorsson in a battle between the Weres. In the interests of friendship, we are going to pass on the musical phase of the challenge, as well as the ceremonial making of the threats. We are going to get right to the drinking. Does anyone mind a short pause in the revelry to watch this?"

An enthusiastic round of cheers and jeers met William's speech, so Samoset shook Lucky's hand solemnly before moving to the bar and ordering his choice of alcohol for the contest. While Sam was making his order, Lena approached Lucky and said with concern, "Baby, are you sure about this? You are going to drink hornet venom on purpose? Are you sure that you'll be okay?"

Lochlainn grinned and whispered into her ear, "I'm not even sure that it'll affect me. Do you realize how many bees that I've eaten in my life? Bees aren't exactly a threat to bears you know."

Lena giggled and replied, "I hadn't thought of that. That's sneaky!"

"Not my fault that they didn't think of that, but who knows, maybe the alcohol and morning glory seeds will have an affect on me. I figure that it's worth a shot; just remain calm when I shift."

"They do know that you are going to shift?"

"Yeah, evidently, they shift to their hybrid form when they do this. So it'll be no surprise when I have to shift to my bear form to eat the bees. I'm not even going first, so everyone oughta be ready by then."

The bar became increasingly boisterous as D.J. Joseph announced Samoset's name to the crowd. As the pack record time was posted on the overhead video monitor, Sam shifted into his hybrid form, slammed down his alcohol and then thrust his forearm into the hive. The bees began to sting him even before he removed his arm and started to eat the honey that was now coating it.

No one heard the angry gasp that came from Lena as she belatedly realized that this stupid challenge might preclude the long night of sex that she had demanded from Lochlainn. By the time that Samoset gave his last growl and crumpled to the floor, Lena's eyes had begun to spin dangerously. Once again, her reason had begun to desert her, but only Ja-mul noticed this however, everyone else was watching Lochlainn as he had begun to shift.

Much of the jeering had stopped by now, and more than a few gasps were heard as Lucky assumed his bear form. Wolves began to shout, "Holy crap, that's his bear form? He's got to be close to a dozen feet long? Bears don't get that big. This isn't even his hybrid form!

They were too disciplined to yell it, but most of them also thought, Oh Lady I hope he's really on our side... I hope Will knows what he's doing.

Lucky didn't hear them; he'd already caught the scent of the honey.

They'd agreed to a three drink rule, but Lucky grabbed a handle of Jack into his paws and downed the entire thing. Then he roared and climbed over the bar, heading directly for the hive, crushing part of the gold rush era bar in the process. He ignored the mosquito netting around the hive and dismissively tore through it as though it wasn't there. Then, he tore the entire hive in half, before diving into the center of it head first and beginning to swallow huge mouthfuls of the sweet honey.

The entire swarm of hornets exploded into the bar and began to sting everyone within their reach. Angry welts began to appear on many of the pack members as their screams tore through the building. The entire pack obeyed Will's orders to evacuate, not that he'd needed to make these orders—most of them were already heading for the exits!

Alpha John Billington had designed the Shunkaha to allow an entire pack to flood out of the exits. For that reason, there were doors in all four walls. If the pack was ever attacked during one of its events, everyone could evacuate quickly. John had never assumed that an attack would come from the inside of the large building however. His foresight had never really been appreciated until the day 'the bear came to visit'. Everyone agreed that this was the day the entire Billington pack finally appreciated John's foresight, as everyone managed to escape the brewing disaster inside.

Tristan and Tom dragged Sam's unconscious body out one of the doors, while Will carefully monitored the entire pack to see if anyone else had taken enough stings (and alcohol) to suffer a venom attack. The answer was 'no', and William had been preparing to give a relieved sigh when he heard Flo scream, "John, look at Lena; something is happening."

Yes, he noted, something was happening with the huge girl. Her body vibrated for a few seconds before her flesh began to rupture and tear. Hair was appearing all over her body as she screamed in agony and began clawing at her own skin.

"She's shifting," screamed Florence.

"How is that possible?" Will yelled back. "Grandfather... what the fuck is happening?"

Ja-mul didn't reply immediately, so William sent his pack orders to seal all exits from the outside. The pack was well disciplined and soon all of the doors but one had been slammed shut, the doorways being blocked by rubble. Will was now peering into the final door before ordering it sealed as well, and although Florence couldn't see into the building from where she stood, she could see William's face as it lost all color.

"Seal the door!" William sent commandingly. "All warriors are now on war footing! All non warriors get out of the area immediately. Non-combatants pull back to the compound and await further orders. Tom, escort the women back to the compound and prepare to evacuate. Florence and Ja-mul, I need you by my side!"

Within moments, most of the women were gone, and the pack's warriors had made a ring around the Shunkaha. Loud crashes and deafening roars were now coming from inside of the building as it sounded as thought two monsters were locked in a fierce battle.

"Will... what did you see?" Florence asked desperately.

"Lady preserve us, bears do have a hybrid form!"

~~~

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I'd sworn off their deviltry... really I had. I'd convinced myself that no red-headed temptress was gonna lead me back into her twisted world... but then I met April, and that she-bitch lured me right back into the realm of torment and fire. ~~ J. Milton O'Leary

Don't listen to him lad, the old fool is the biggest liar in three counties! ~~ April Dawn O'Leary

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Chapter 9

Lena's screams of agony didn't last long, but then again, her subsequent screams of anger were even louder as she roared so loudly that glass bottles shattered behind the partially destroyed bar. Lucky pulled his head from the hive and spotted a competitor for his honey, and he dimly wondered about this other enormous bear. Where had it come from, and why hadn't he scented it before now?

As always, his bear form was not as clear minded as his human one. Add in the sour mash and morning glory seeds that he had consumed, and his intellect was now more than somewhat blurred. He didn't recognize Lena, or even the fact that this bear before him was a female. He roared at her in defiance, sticky spittle flying everywhere in the process. This bounty is mine. There would be no sharing! Challenge me and you will die!

Surprisingly, the other bear roared at him in return, and while this new bear wasn't quite as large as he, there was a certain fury pouring from this animal that gave him pause. When the other bear released a tortured scream and shifted into its hybrid shape, Lucky immediately followed suit and prepared to fight for his life. Ripping the reinforced barstool out of the concrete floor, he noted the chunks of concrete hanging from its legs and grimaced. It wasn't much of a weapon, but it was all that he had within reach.