Ansuya was expecting this, but apparently Nicolas had had enough, “Hey! I’m tired of being held here! I didn’t do anything ok?! I’m a US Citizen you can check my social security number and everything! I’m going home! I know my rights and if you’re not charging me with anything I’m outta here! You got that?”

  William tried to grab the Scout’s hand, but Nicolas yanked his arm free and strode to the adjoining tent that was connected to the waiting area by a small tunnel. The pack all turned their eyes to Aceso who was standing upright staring hard at her Scout and began moving quickly after him. William followed his Alpha and the rest of the pack fell in line. Ansuya brought up the rear.

  Nicolas slammed his hand down on a table in front of some government suits. “What am I being charged with?!”

  The man on the left looked up calmly with a smug expression on his face, “I don’t have to tell you anything, nor do I have to charge you with anything. In an incident like this I can hold you for up to thirty-six hours as a matter of National Security, without needing to charge you.”

  “That’s such horse shit and you know it!” Nicolas leaned down on the table staring down at the two suits. “I happen to know that even with international incidents, as soon as we crossed within ten miles off the coast of California, we entered national waters and the international laws you refer to no longer apply. Right now, we are citizens of the United States being held against our will on US soil. International laws don’t apply here.”

  “But National Security always applies,” The agent responded as he slowly stood up. The man was a lot taller than he looked when he was sitting down. Nicolas had to look up at him, he was at least six foot two or six foot three. “Now, why don’t you go back into that waiting room that we had set up, like a good boy.” He never lost the calm tone in his voice, it wasn’t threatening at all, and somehow that made this government agent just a little bit creepy. “Otherwise,” he continued, “I will charge you with obstruction. Now get off my table and go back to the sitting room.”

  Ansuya placed a warning hand on Nicolas’ shoulder. The Scout looked like he may want to defy the Elder. For a moment he stood there staring up at the smug agent with Ansuya’s hand on his shoulder. He suddenly whipped himself around and threw Ansuya’s hand off him as he stalked back to the holding area and threw himself down on a chair.

  Aceso sat with her back arrow straight staring hard at her Scout. She wanted to attack the idiot. She had been gassed too and it was embarrassing for her as well. At least Nicolas and Katherine could still move around freely and talk. She was stuck in her wolf form, looked at like a dog by the humans around her. She realized she was growling lowly in her throat as she stared at the selfish Scout sitting in the chair staring off over his shoulder looking outside of the tent, towards freedom. She forced herself to stop growling and walked back into the waiting room, glowering hard at Nicolas and wanting nothing more than to shift and rip his head off.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  William leaned in close to Katherine’s ear, “We have to get out of here and soon. If these guys try to hold us for that long, the story we cooked up won’t hold up. As soon as they bring forensics and do blood tests, they are going to know that the evidence doesn’t match up with what we told them.”

  Katherine nodded, “Yeah William, and what do we do about it?” She felt more than saw someone come into the waiting room and she turned around and hugged William tightly with affection as she whispered into his ear, “we’ll figure something out.”

  A strong finger tapped William’s shoulder. The shock of the affectionate hug was nothing more than a ploy he noticed as Katherine was trying to cover up their covert conversation. The sudden shock of the hug, and the finger stabbing his shoulder was a bit, jarring.

  He unfolded Katherine’s arms from around him and turned around. He was staring at a medium height guy, but he was built. His uniform was tight over his oversized chest and arms. William could take him in a fair fight, if he was shifted in werewolf form. He had learned a lot of fighting techniques from Efraim but a guy like this? He’d rather not have to fight at all. He followed the guy out of the tent.

  The next several hours were spent being questioned, one by one, just as it had been on the ship. Their make-believe story telling in the galley had given them a few more details to give to interrogators, but they had all been warned to not get too caught up in details. Stick with the story of what happened on the boat.

  They were all getting very tired. They had been offered food and they had eaten pretty well. They had been offered catered sandwiches and paninis with ice tea and water. It did seem to brighten everyone’s mood. Though it was not enough to please Aceso, who was given a plate of ground meat. She was happy with the food, just not being served on a plate on the floor. It just reminded her of dogs. She was not a dog, but she ate her food hungrily anyway growling with distaste over every bite.

  It wasn’t until the sun started rising that the groups were separated. William silently thanked whatever gods were watching out for them that they were finally alone. It wasn’t for long though.

  “Hello folks,” Commander Simmons said as he came into the now mostly empty sitting room where they had been kept all night. Ansuya smiled at the Commander and the rest nodded respectfully, Nicolas gave a derisive hand wave at the officer.

  “Are we like, free to go Commander,” Ansuya asked still affecting her dumb persona and mannerisms.

  Simmons sadly shook his head. “I’m sorry Ansuya, I really am. But they haven’t said that they were ready to release you yet. The forensics team haven’t finished their tests.” The Coast Guard officer sat down heavily in one of the empty chairs. “I’m just really amazed that you guys survived this whole ordeal. I mean surviving a ship wreck out at sea is one thing, then to survive an attempted mutiny by slavers on a cargo ship? That’s damn incredible.”