Chapter 94

Zane POV

I read the comments on Sarah’s website in the car, leaving Ollie to deal with the downtown traffic as we made our way to the legislative board.

Rosemary&Sage: First to post! Whoo hoo! You go, Sarah!

SarahAstorsCat: I get why she doesn’t want pix of the girls but there should be more of her.

Meant2B: Its ridonk the law suit.

JohnPPPPP: The site needs a place we can ask her questions.

Rosemary&Sage: JohnPPPP! Good to see you.

Run4UrLife: Love the hedge-maze graphic. I read they have one on the compound.

JohnPPPP: Lookin’ good, R&S.

Rawkus112: Does anyone actually believe this bulls**t? A single human female adopts a pup, raises her for five years, and it just happens to be Alpha Zane’s daughter? All this talk about the difference between privacy and secrecy? Just what secrets are the keeping with all this? We’re just supposed to buy all this with no evidence?

Jane Dayviellers: Anyone know who this is? [photo]

I couldn’t help smiling at the unflattering photo of Dr. Hayes.

Overall, I thought Wilson had done an excellent job with Sarah’s website. It was professional and straight-forward but jargon-free. I had often considered having a site of my own, but now her site could represent the family, and I wouldn’t have to put yet more of myself in the public eye.

I did have a few social media accounts, but I had set up a proxy for that, and not even Whitfield knew my online name.

Ollie pulled into the parking structure for the building where I kept my downtown office, and I put my phone in my pocket. A quick trip up in the elevator later, and I was walking into my board room with its long table and twelve chairs, three of which were currently occupied by Anna Pfizer, Thomas Wolridge, and Bertrand Straus.

“Good morning,” I said. They all got to their feet, Anna in a sharp yellow suit, Thomas in his plaid shirt, jeans, and work boots, and Bertrand in yoga pants and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt.

“Let’s sit,” I said next with a smile I couldn’t make anything other than polite. “We all know why I’m consulting you.”

Bertrand nodded. Unlike the others, he didn’t use notes during our meetings, having an almost eidetic memory. “We’ve all read over the brief from Whitfield.”

Anna looked at her tablet as she spoke. “I’ve been through the entire membership, and there’s not a single alpha, so there’s no one you can challenge. Moreover, I’ve looked through some old lists, and they used to have some alphas when the group formed seven years ago, but when Charlotte Cho took over they all left or were asked to go.”

“Do we know anything about her?” I asked.

“She’s got the typical activist profile of activist parents. Mother was an omega, and her beta father married her before she got pregnant.”

“Before?” That wasn’t typical. But then, nothing about omegas was typical.

“Yes. She attended Pride Academy, went to Gray University a year early, and graduated with high marks. Spent the next two years in law school, but didn’t get a degree. She’s been an activist since and has a talent for fundraising.”

“Her platform’s the basic ‘alphas get too much’ BS,” Bertrand said. “She’ll give lip service to beta and gamma equality, but mostly she rants about how the Alpha Voice is abusive, alpha challenges are medieval, and alphas are just biological manifestations of toxic masculinity.”

“Toxic what?” I asked.

“It’s a human term before when they raise their boy pups to suppress their emotions and think they’re automatically better than women.”

“Really? Why? Because men are physically stronger?”

“Exactly, and since alphas are physically stronger than other wolves, alphas suffer from the delusion of being superior.”

“If Cho and the group are so anti-alpha, why are they suing to protect two alpha children from a supposedly inappropriate situation?” I asked.

“Oh, but that’s the best part,” Anna said. “The claim is that if the Family Justice United’s appointed guardians raise Chloe and Grace, they’ll grow up into ‘proper’ leaders of their packs by recognizing the unfairness of the current system, installing democratic elections, and skipping off into the sunset.”

The thought of something like that happening to my girls brought out a growl I didn’t bother to excuse. “Those people won’t get within a mile of my children.”

“They don’t have to,” Thomas said, breaking his usual silence. “And they know it. The goal is obviously to bring you down, not rescue your children from anything.”

He looked down at the file in front of him and read it. I could see it was a copy of the notice we’d been served of the lawsuit, reading the words upside down: Describe the nature of the relationship between you and the third-party defendant. Attach any contracts or documents showing the nature of the relationship.

“We don’t have a relationship,” I said aloud. Thomas frowned at me, then looked down at the form and shook his head. “Well, technically, you do. You’re her pack alpha, and that doesn’t change just because she would rather you have been elected to the position, which she’s completely ignoring would have happened.”

Thomas leaned forward in his chair. “Alpha Zane, I realized how frustrating it is to be challenged in a way that stifles your natural advantages, but do not for a moment think they don’t have enough of a case to bring this to court, and you absolutely cannot allow this to go to court.”

“I know,” I said.

“Do you? Look at what they have on their side. Really look at it.

“First, Chloe was kidnapped, and you couldn’t find her for five years. Now, Whitfield can argue that since you had her twin sister at your house, you had no way to scent Chloe. Also, whoever took Chloe put her with someone in a neighborhood you would not have reason to visit, officially or unofficially.

“But you’re still the pack alpha, and you still couldn’t find your child. When you did find Chloe, it was through the incredible coincidence that your sister-in-law was employing Sarah as a maid, and you gave Sarah a ride home. And that’s just the kidnapping.

“Since you’ve gotten Chloe back, Grace has been attacked by a rogue werewolf you hunted into a suicide instead of capturing him alive to be questioned. Again, you were saved not through your own alpha strength, but through Grace’s incredible, Luna Temple-assisted prepubescent partial transformation.”

“I helped with that, and I have witnesses to attest to it.”

Thomas nodded, and I could see he was making a mental note. Then he looked at me sternly.

“We haven’t gotten to the worst part. You elevated a human female to the status of goddess-mother in your household. You did not consult with the temple beforehand, and they’ll be able to argue that you should have had the foresight to consider that such an action would anger the anti-human fringe groups out there.

“As a direct consequence of your actions, a nut job took a shot at Sarah in public. A guard was injured and was able to heal, but what if, they’ll argue, it had been Grace or Chloe or even you? They’re going to say you’ve made your household, and by extension, your pack unsafe.”