The Porch Wolf
The Mediator

Ivan Volkov (John Petersen’s) POV

Marengo Lake Pack Border

The moment I stepped over the border on the north side, my fate could only go two ways. I’d be Alpha alone, or I’d be dead.

I had driven from Minnesota to northern Wisconsin, parking my car at a trailhead in the state forest that bordered the territory of my old Pack. Marengo Lake Pack shared no borders, and the nearest Pack was fifty miles away. As such, we’d never spent much time on patrols. I used to run the perimeter every week, or after a heavy rain, and refresh the scent markers. That was part of the duties of an Alpha Male, spraying my scent on the Pee Trees and our territorial claims.

I had waited for two hours after sundown before I moved, and no movement was detected. I couldn’t believe it; with Leo pissed and me missing, she should have constant patrols going. A complete circuit took just over an hour in wolf form. It was fortunate for me and potentially fatal for her. I moved forward, setting a pace slow enough to stay aware of my surroundings, but quick enough to minimize my exposure. The Alpha’s Home was three miles away; the other Pack houses were spread along the private road that circled around the small, private lake.

I stopped short of the homes, hiding in the woods under a thicket. I waited for five minutes, looking out for patrols. The Pack was not in any state of readiness for an attack. The homes had lights on, I could smell dinners being cooked, and I could see families through the windows. I moved between the houses, making my way to the edge of the clearing where Brenda’s home overlooked the water. I could see the back of the home, and the shades weren’t even drawn. I could see my children watching cartoons in the family room with Patrice, a seventy-year-old Pack member who was their nanny.

Brian was almost four now, and Laura was eighteen months. They were innocent in all this, just as Vicki was, but they would be irreparably harmed by what was to happen tonight. To save all my children, I had to take their mother from them. When tonight was over, all three of my children would have reason to hate me. They would live, though.

Marengo Lake was living on borrowed time. When I broke the bond with Brenda, both of us were weakened. We each retained the Alpha mantle, but that just made her more of a target. An ambitious male could take her as his mate and get the Pack and Mantle, or could just kill her and take over the Pack. She would not be able to overcome an Alpha-blood male in his prime.

I could see the light on in the kitchen and dining rooms, but the curtains were drawn. The longer I stayed out here, the higher the chance of discovery. As a banished wolf, the entire Pack would descend on me and tear me apart. I moved through the shadows to the side door from the garage, shifted, and went inside.

I reached into the extra clothes bin, grabbing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Pulling them on, I made my way to the door leading to the kitchen. Amazingly, it wasn’t locked either. I turned the handle and went inside.

Brenda was there at the table, but she wasn’t alone. Two men and a woman were sitting with her. I could feel the dominance and power they exuded. It filled the room and made my wolf shrink back. “Sit down, Alpha John. We’ve been expecting you.”

“Mr. Chairman. It is my honor.” The Regional Chairman, Lewis Wolfe, stood up and pointed to his seat. I walked around the table and took his chair, which was opposite Brenda on the long side. “I will be brief. Now that you are here, the conflict between you will be resolved permanently. It is up to the two of you whether that resolution includes your continued existence. One way or another, you will not leave this table until that is done.”

I gulped; the two men with pistols walking in from the living room were all I needed to see. One moved to stand where he blocked the exit to the living room and hall, while the other guarded the way to the kitchen. “That is acceptable to me, Mr. Chairman. I came here to reach an agreement or die.”

He nodded. “This is not the only crisis I need to deal with. I am going to leave you in the capable hands of the National Council’s Chief Mediator, Luna Adrienne McInnis.” He gestured to the elegant woman at the head of the table, as the other Council member stood up. “Adrienne, please advise me as soon as this mess is resolved.”

“Of course, Mr. Chairman,” she said. We all stood as the two Council members walked out the door. “Sit,” she said. I sat quickly; her reputation preceded her. Her skill set made her highly valued in disputes. She had been Luna of a Pack in Maine and had lost her mate ten years ago. She turned the Pack over to her oldest son and went to work for the Council as part of her recovery. She was open, honest, patient, classically beautiful, and intelligent. Strong males were drawn to her, and one word from her could calm an enraged Alpha. The force of her personality alone was enough to get them to sit and discuss things reasonably again.

She was able to mediate conflicts in a way no other person could because she could make all parties feel valued as she found common ground and compromise. If she couldn’t get us to bury the hatchet, a bullet in the back of the head was the next option. “I have had some time to discuss the history of this conflict with Luna Petersen. I would like to hear it from your side. Luna Brenda, you are not to interrupt at any time. If you have any comments, write them down and hand them to me when we are done.”

“He’s a lying sack of shit,” she said before Adrienne slammed her hand on the table. She went white as she felt the glare from her.

“Rules are simple. I ask the questions, you answer them. You address all your words to me, not each other. I do this to take the emotions out. Emotions get in the way of facts and resolutions, so they will not be allowed.” She looked over at me. “John, tell me your story.”

Over the next twenty minutes, I laid it all out. My rejection, my bitterness, and my arrangement with Brenda so she could maintain control of her Pack. “I didn’t care that she was a lesbian. It was an arrangement with a purpose; I was free to fuck around with other women as long as it didn’t get back to the Pack. I screwed up, and I got a college girl pregnant. I hadn’t considered the consequences, and by the time I realized she wouldn’t get an abortion, she’d disappeared. When Brian was born without the Mantle, I realized I had a problem. When Laura didn’t have it either, I knew Brenda would not stop until the Mantle was back with her eldest.”

“Did she know who she was?”

“I didn’t think so, but Olivia had called my phone twice, and I knew Brenda would be checking my phone records. We had several arguments about it; she blamed me, rightly, for stealing the birthright from her children and giving it to a bastard child. She’d never loved me, and I hadn’t given her the one thing she wanted with our arrangement; a mantled heir. When she told me she would kill my spawn to get it back, I knew I had to act. A few inquiries got me the name of a person, who got word to another, and eventually put me in touch with the ones who I hired to kidnap Olivia and Vicki.”

“You didn’t order the murder of her grandmother?” Adrienne was taking notes, but at this, she stopped.

“Of course not. I wanted to get my daughter out of the way. I was going to place them with friends in a pack to the Southwest, out of her reach.”

She looked up from her notes again. “Why not just tell her she was in danger?”

“From what? First off, she wanted nothing to do with me. My name wasn’t on the birth certificate, I wasn’t paying child support, and I sure as hell wasn’t welcome in her life. Second, how could I tell her that her daughter was a werewolf? I figured I’d kidnap them, ship them to a Pack, and after they helped Vicki through her shift, she would make the change too.” I looked down at the table. “The people I hired fucked up and ruined any chance I might have of being with my daughter in the future.”

“They did. The murder attracted the attention of local and Federal law enforcement, who have been poking around this Pack and others. The Council wants this attention to go away before anything else is compromised.”

I told her what I had done to frame Alpha Todd. “He tried to kill my daughter, and it’s probably enough to convict him. If the FBI buys it, the investigation stops with him.”

She nodded. “Brenda hired him to kill her, and her hire fucked it up too." I glared at my ex-mate, but didn't say anything. "What did you want to accomplish by coming here?”

“Vicki Andersen is my daughter. She has the mantle, but she is my brother’s Alpha heir now. I want her to be safe, and if that means that Brenda dies, then I will kill her myself.”

She finished her notes, then looked at both of us. “Brenda, you want the mantle. That is not possible now that Vicki has a Pack and has been claimed by the Miesville Pack Alpha. Taking it now would start a war that the Council cannot allow.”

“I need that mantle, Luna! Do you have any idea how vulnerable I am now?”

“I do.” It took another twenty minutes to work out the details. Brenda would formally recognize Vicki as the heir of the Miesville Pack and foreswear any attempts on her life. In exchange, I would remain at Marengo, but not as Alpha, or as her Mate. I would be the Luna’s Champion, her protector, and defender. I would live in my own house on the territory, in a home I would buy. I would work outside the pack, and I could mate another if I chose. My position would allow me Pack status and visitation with my children under shared custody. If Brenda mated again, I would be released from my duties but could remain in the Pack.

When I stood, it was to shake Brenda’s hand and make a blood vow to follow the agreement we had made here this night. Adrienne cut out palms before we pressed them together, sealing it forever. “These men will remain here to observe. The Council has more work to do to manage this mess you two have made. I am leaving for Miesville now. You will not talk to anyone outside of your Pack until I return. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Luna,” we both said.

I couldn’t believe it. My babies were all safe, and I was here to see it.

I wanted to tell Leo she was safe, but I could not. I watched Mediator Adrienne walk away, wondering how she was able to do it all in one night. Now she was headed for Minnesota.

Leo wouldn’t know what hit him.