Rocky Mountain High

CHAPTER 12

     Lee sat in his brand-new kitchen caressing the scrunchie Aurora had left behind. When they were moving to their current location Margueritte had asked him if he wanted to throw it away. He of course refused, and he had been wearing the puffy velvet thing since then. He missed Aurora something awful but he was positive he had done the right thing. She would hate him for sure but her life would be safe and her dreams would become a reality. His beautiful Aurora had grown into an even more beautiful woman. He replayed the moments when she had given herself to him every day. Like a record on repeat, he recalled what she sounded like while he loved her, her little cries of passion, her laughter...dear heavens, he really didn't want to forget even one moment of the passion they had experienced together in his now vacated farm. He had not wanted to move from his farm but it was obvious that the location was not secure. The SSP knew of the farm and making a new life for his now pack was a priority in his life. He needed to keep them safe and free, and for that to happen they needed a place that the SSP knew nothing about. Thankfully Dorian, one of the pack members that had become a good friend, was an expert when it came to technology. The young shifter was a damn genius if you asked him. He had to tell Dorian some of his truth because they needed a way to disrupt the transmission of the fucking chip in his arm. It was a little gift from the SSP, given to him when he was 13 years old in order to track his movements. Taking the chip out of his body would mean running away for life and that didn't seem appealing to him. Thankfully, Dorian had come up with a patch that would disrupt the signal by making the GPS broader. The SSP would be able to know he was in the Northwest but not his exact location. Lee took a sip of his coffee and thought about the events that had transpired to make him pack Alpha. When he had finally decided it was time to challenge Horizon he let Margueritte in on the plan. He gave her directions to where she could find the passenger van. As soon as he challenged Horizon the pack would gather around to see the fight. Once he won, because he could not even entertain another option at that moment, he wanted Margueritte to get the van and drove it closer to the village. Killing Horizon meant he would become Alpha immediately. Once that happened, he was going to tell everyone to follow Margueritte out of the village. He would make sure that they knew they were not safe in the village. He was pretty sure Horizon's lackeys would not accept the challenge's result but he was expecting that. What he had not expected was the fact they had attacked him during the challenge, before Horizon was dead. They were fighting dirty and it just proved that they didn't even follow pack rules. Lee had begun the challenge as a human and then Horizon half shifted so he followed suit. The clan had quickly gathered around and was cheering him on. He could catch glances of Margueritte talking to the key members of the pack. He wasn't sure what she was doing but his sister had proved to him she was a survivor and she didn't lack in smarts so he just focused on beating the shit out of Horizon, which was not so easy to do. Ultimately it had been his years of training that had made it possible for him to win. While Horizon laid unconscious on the ground he dispatched his lackeys in quick succession. Just snapping necks and throwing the wolves into the fire that had been burning in the clearing. One of the men, now shifted into his wolf form ran away but Lee had no time to go after him. He needed to kill Horizon to take over the pack and be able to save them. Not only that but he wasn't feeling all that hot either. He could feel the gashes in his body bleeding profusely. He walked over to Horizon and extended his long claws before plunging them straight into his heart. The crowd was cheering and he made his pronouncement, hoping these people would follow his commands. He still needed to call the SSP for clean-up and to prove he had completed his mission. He had a bucket of bones to spread and a fire to set before the SSP arrived. And most difficult of all would be staying alive during it all. Thankfully the pack followed Margueritte out of the village and he took some pictures of the corpses before setting the village on fire. It had been a miracle he had survived at all. When the SSP arrived he had been passed out just feet from the burning inferno. Back in the SSP's headquarters, they had treated his injuries and once he could speak he was debriefed. He was glad they had taught him how to lie so well because he lied his ass off during that debriefing session. The next day even if he was still healing, he flew back to Montana. Margueritte had everyone settled on the farm but they were afraid of the one guy who had escaped, Nestor. The farm was a few miles away from the now-destroyed village and none of the pack felt safe. One of the pack members said he had some land that was much deeper into the rocky mountains and offered it to the pack. Lee and a few pack members shifted and ran into the Rockies looking for their next home. After traveling through tall peaks, canyons, tundras, and valleys they finally reached a forested region next to a glacier-carved valley. The forest was thick and the valley had obviously been worked once upon a time. There was a plunging stream that ran into a crystalline alpine lake and the beauty of the place was breathtaking. There was a cabin at the edge of the forest which had seen better days but was not destroyed. It would be a beginning point in any case. The owner of the land, Gordon Savage, had been smart enough to keep the land a secret from Horizon. The former Alpha had pretty much stolen all of the members' money and property to use in his nefarious businesses. Lee had a lot to do and little time to do it. Not only that but he had a wolf to hunt as well. As long as Nestor was alive, the pack was in danger. He would need to keep the farm open so the SSP would not become suspicious but he was going to move in with the pack. Everyone in the pack was excited to have their freedom back and they were all ready to build a home for everyone.