Bound by Pride Ch. 03

Author's note: All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

So sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I have another new editor and we have started editing chapter four.

So I wont keep you.

Enjoy.

*

Electra walked into the incident room, to the scene of Vivian trying to keep Mayhem calm but for some reason she was freaking out and struggled wildly in Vivian's loosely wrapped arms. Electra moved almost at lightning speed across the room to the couch and seeing that, Vivian released her struggling bundle and sat back as Electra's arms wrapped around the struggling woman. "Shh... I'm here."

She relaxed instantly as Electra's scent wrapped around her and filled her nose; her saviour's scent was something her body was quickly becoming to crave and now that it was back her panic lessoned to the point that she forgot why she had panicked in the first place. She turned her face and rubbed it against Electra's shoulder before pressing her nose to her neck and breathing deeply. She sighed and let her arms go around her saviour, holding her tightly to keep her from leaving again.

Her beast was close to the surface in their mind and urged her human side closer, urged her to cover her own personal scent with the scent of the woman who was holding her. Her beast recognised her as being her mate but knew her human wasn't ready for that revelation just yet. Still, she would urge her human to get as close to Electra as possible and would wait for her to figure it out.

"What happened?" Electra asked, her anxious eyes still on Mayhem, her protective instincts coming forward. She was also blaming herself for her panic, for leaving her, she shouldn't have, she should have known better.

Vivian shrugged bemusedly, "one moment she was sleeping, the next she was freaking out."

"Nightmare... she'll experience them for months. Vivid ones." Electra explained as she started to stroke Mayhem's pale white hair, which had come loose from its sloppy plait in her struggle, waiting for the purring to start. Sage and her mother loved it when their hair was stroked and when it was, they would start purring in contentment. She smiled as the deep, repetitive rumble started. "Better?" She asked and Mayhem nodded.

Nathanael walked in with a small bowl of food. "She needs to eat now."

"Looks like she doesn't want to let Electra go." Vivian grinned, looking at the two of them.

Nathanael shrugged. It didn't matter if she didn't want to release Electra because it wouldn't stop her from eating. He offered the bowl to Electra as not to panic the already skittish woman. "She has to eat it all."

Electra nodded, only glancing at him to take the bowl before turning her eyes back to Mayhem. "Okay. Mayhem you..."

She tensed for the first time in Electra's arms, "How do you know my name?" She asked.

Electra's head spun as the soft husky voice washed over her. It took her moment to clear away the conflicting emotions of desire and protection before she was able to answer. "One of the men..." Mayhem tensed further, "...not the one you scratched. The other one." Electra said, hoping to get her to relax again.

Mayhem relaxed instantly, "He gave me sandwiches when the other man went out. He also kept the lights off so they wouldn't hurt my eyes when he came down to check on me."

"He told us your name and the name of the man who owned you." Electra explained. "We need to know what you know of the auctions."

She frowned, "Why?"

"The auctions are on tonight at 7:30. We want to stop them."

Her frown deepened, as she realised she didn't know where she was, "Where am I?" She asked suddenly. She had been blindfolded and drugged for the trip here. Wherever here was, she also kind of remembered a small wooden box in which she was placed, maybe the noise of a plane.

"Vegas." Electra answered.

Mayhem took a deep breath then turned back to Electra's original question, she knew all about this auction site, it was hard to forget your first auction. "First... you need to know how I came to be a slave, and then I'll tell you everything I know of the auction site."

Electra nodded and glanced up. Vivian was holding a voice recorder, which she had made appear in her hand.

Nathanael glared at Electra, annoyed that she was ignoring his medical advice. "Food first." He corrected them.

"No," Mayhem snapped; her voice dripped with power; the power of a born Alpha asserting their will over lesser members of their group or lesser members of other groups, although the effect was weaker for those who were not bound to her. "Food can wait, she needs to know this." She told him, still keeping the power in her voice.

Nathanael relented. He couldn't fault her reasoning, not when it would free a heap of people from forced slavery, nor could he fault the fact that she had been born an Alpha and was using that to make him back off. She could go without food for a little longer if she wanted, he just didn't like to be over ridden as Amy and Wolfgang never did, not when it came to his medical training.

Electra stroked her hair, "Your father or mother was an Alpha." She concluded. She couldn't do what Mayhem could although, like Mayhem, her parents had been Alphas, even though technically her mother was beaten for doing what she was meant to as Alpha female. She simply was not meant to be an Alpha; her brother had that power but had never had a chance to use it as he had done the stupidest thing known. He had knowingly invaded another's territory, had attacked humans and turned someone against their will, but that still wasn't by far the stupidest thing he did: he had attacked the central pack and tried to take an Alpha's mate and that had been his undoing. Mayhem, however, was obviously meant to be in charge. It was her birthright, handed to her from her parents in their genes and it is as simple as that.

"My full name is Mayhem Gunnar, and I was born to the Moon Storm Ambush." She said firmly.

Nathanael rubbed his face the moment he heard her name. He knew they were in deep shit, that the fur would fly and all out, anarchy would ensue. "Fuck..." he cursed as he ran his fingers through his short hair. Mayhem stilled and went quiet as she felt his anger. She wanted to hear what he knew because he obviously knew a lot about her. She tucked her head under Electra's chin and waited.

"What is it?" Electra asked, completely oblivious to the reason behind Nathanael's obvious distress.

He glared at her, slightly annoyed that she was so obviously and seriously behind on her pack politics. "You need to spend more time with your pack." He started to pace in his agitated state for pacing to a Were had a therapeutic effect as it let them safely vent that energy without taking someone's head off. "In fact... you need to spend more time with your mother..." he corrected himself. "She's been trying to diffuse the situation in the Moon Storm Ambush for years."

"Are you going to explain or are you going to berate me?" Electra snapped; she knew she needed to spend more time with her pack and her mother but work was always getting in the way of it. It wasn't her fault she was being moved around so much. She barely remembered what her apartment looked like let alone have the time to immerse herself in pack politics.

"I don't know everything... get your ma here because shit is going to hit the fan when she and what happened to her becomes public knowledge." He explained cutting to the chase. "The hasty truce your ma forced them into is going to shatter." He started pacing again across the room running his agitated fingers through his hair.

"What will happen if the truce were to shatter?" Electra asked, not understanding how a pride or ambush could shatter yet still be a group.

"A faction war within the Ambush could lead to a Were war." He answered, not even bothering to stop his motions.

Electra went pale at the thought of a Were War, dug her phone out of her pocket, and dialled her mother as the director, DA and her partner walked in. She heard the phone being picked up, "Ma... we have a big problem." She said as simply as she could.

"What kind of problem?" Amy asked her mind was ticking; there were any number of big problems that she could think of. However, what she considered big was something entirely different from what her daughter considered big.

"Big... I need you here now." Electra said firmly hoping her mother would just come and see for herself instead of debating it with her.

Amy appeared before her a moment later, shocking those who were not used to her comings and goings. She snapped her phone shut and waited for Electra to explain herself. Everything in her manner and the way she stood showed she was clearly unimpressed with the interruption to her schedule.

Electra closed her phone and jammed it back into her pocket. She bowed her head feeling and sensing her mother's displeasure but knew the moment she heard Mayhem's name, her displeasure with her daughter would vanish in a nano second. "Ma... meet Mayhem Gunnar..."

Amy went very still, the displeasure in her body language vanished as her body tensed, her eyes scanned over the obviously mistreated woman and wondered how she was going to explain this; how was she going to keep the Moon Storm Ambush from self-destructing. "What..." She slid a finger under her collar and tugged on it, in an attempt to loosen it. A nervous habit she had developed shortly after it had been placed, as it always felt tighter when she was stressed.

Nathanael pushed her into a chair. Not happy with all the stress she was going through with her children being kidnapped and now this was not healthy for her... or anyone for that matter.

"Will someone explain what is going on?" The DA asked, demanding answers for what was going on.

Amy turned to him after taking a long deep breath, "About..." Amy put a finger in her ear to scratch as she thought about how long ago it was when all the trouble started in the Moon Storm Ambush. She removed her finger before starting. "Seven to eight years ago, before I met Wolfgang, the Moon Storm Ambush, which is a mixed pride of tigers, had a spilt. Half of the Ambush was annoyed with the Alpha and the way he was obviously bypassing the true next Alpha for his nephew who had none of the Alpha qualities which are looked for in an alpha."

"I don't understand." The DA slid in when Amy paused.

Amy took a new deep breath to deal with her frustration, she did not want to go into an in depth explanation about everything. She just wanted to deal with this now. "Humans can become leaders, they can be trained. Alphas cannot. It is a quality that is born; a genetic trait passed from Alpha to cub." Electra explained for her mother, knowing she was getting frustrated at having to explain everything.

Dave frowned, "Then why the fuss... why not simply pick the true Alpha?"

Mayhem shifted so that she could see him better, "One reason... I'm female and there has never been a female Ambush Alpha... ever, in any pure Ambush in our entire history. My father and a handful of arrogant men and tradition bound women sided with him in bypassing me in favour of someone they believed was a better candidate, hoping that by training him he would be able to be the Alpha they wanted. Another faction broke away in favour of me, shattering the Ambush in half."

"So why not form a new Ambush?" The director asked.

Amy sighed a little in disappointment, she didn't mind explaining to the DA for he was ignorant but the director was a different matter all together, this was all in the information she had compiled for the directors for the Non-human departments of the FBI, he had obviously not read it. "Did you read the dossier I sent when this department was formed?" She asked.

Director Johnston went red. He had glanced at it; decided it was too much hassle and hadn't looked at it again.

"I'll take that as a no." She said dryly injecting just a little bit of annoyance in her voice, which told him subliminally to correct this soon. "It's easier said then done; first there must be an adult Alpha and a minimum of eighty adult members plus five elders. They had all that and more but they didn't have the Alpha, the ones who wanted to spilt away and follow Mayhem were all enforcers or strong warriors important for the stability of any pack or pride or whatever. Just as they were getting ready to leave with Mayhem and go to a sympathetic Alpha who would allow them to stay in their lands until their Alpha had grown up, Mayhem vanished. She was twelve."

The DA frowned, "I never knew things were so complex."

"Were politics are more complicated than human politics... I should know... I do both." Amy stood and turned imploring eyes to the Director and the DA. "Any chance of keeping her name out of the press for at least two weeks?"

The DA hummed and slowly shook his head, "We need to list her or we'll loose her as a witness. We won't be able to press charges against the people who did this to her if we didn't."

"Can't you list her as a Jane Doe, at least for the time being? She'll still be listed but her name will be kept quiet until ma can diffuse the Moon Storm Ambush." Electra suggested.

"I'll need to talk to a judge... I'll get one here to talk... a federal one..." He picked up his phone after some consideration. There were precedents for this course of action; it just had to be presented correctly.

Amy frowned and turned to Electra, "Have I missed something?"

Electra quickly explained everything she knew so far. Amy shook with barely contained rage as she realised that Alanna had been destined for this auction. Vivian and Nathanael moved, putting themselves between Amy and the vulnerable humans in the room. "When it rains, it pours." She started to pace which made Nathanael relax a little but not completely. She pulled out her phone and dialled, "Joe, put the call out... I need a video conference with the World Alpha's in an hour; also I need it without Darrel finding out and being involved." She hung up not waiting for her assistant to confirm her orders, confident that she would get the job done with the same precision she did in all her tasks.

"World...? You think this is bigger than simply the US?" Electra asked.

"Yes." Amy answered simply.

Mayhem turned to Electra. "Tired." She said with a big yawn.

"Stay awake just a little longer. Tell me about who owned you and the auction site." Electra asked trying to keep up with what she needed to do later. Mayhem nodded and started to talk.

*

"No." Amy growled less than half an hour later, "You don't understand. If the Moon Storm Ambush learns about what happened to Mayhem the wrong way, an outright war will ensue. You have to keep her name quiet." She argued with the Federal judge.

"I can't... not if we are going to use her testimony..."

"Yes, you can. Witness' names can be repressed if releasing their name will mean their death and/or events unfolding which will lead to the death of others." She insisted.

Everyone else in the room remained quiet, reluctant to jump in to the debate.

"You think they'll kill her?" The stately judge asked.

Amy looked at the man as if he was stupid as well as stubborn. "Did you just hear what I did? Did you hear her tell us that her father... her own flesh and blood, handed her over to the slave trade to keep his power? Yes, he will definitely try to kill her... he'll fail but he will try if it means keeping his Ambush together." She explained, showing her annoyance at him.

"Never try to explain Were culture to a human. They just don't get it." Electra recited what was becoming a common phrase although until this day she had never had a reason to use it. Since Were had come out, humans had tried to learn, to understand but they simply could not comprehend this life. They failed to realise that the protection and stability of the group, outweighed that of the individual. If Mayhem's father had killed her it would have been considered a sad turn of events but acceptable as it would have stopped the spilt in its tracks. However, by selling her he had crossed a line that should never have been crossed.

"Now, Electra that's not true... I understand... a little." Dave countered.

"Then you explain." She asked, doing her best not to snap at him.

Dave turned and ran his fingers over his jaw as he carefully considered how to word this. "If her name is released too soon many people are going to be hurt, Were and human. A full-scale riot will be on your head if you don't keep her name quiet. Besides, what do you know about this... you know nothing, you don't know the ramifications... Senator Luis has been working on this for years, defer to her judgement."

He turned to Electra and raised an eyebrow asking silently if that was good enough. She smiled at him as he had gotten it right. Mayhem was asleep in her arms, not even stirring to the heated debate that was raging around her. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Electra, as if she was afraid to let go of the one stable thing in her life at the moment. Electra rested her head against Mayhem's and gently rubbed her back, causing her to purr.

"Fine, we can with hold her name... it'll make things harder as the accused have the right to know their accuser." The judge reluctantly conceded.

"Not if we can find some evidence in the raids." Electra slid in.

"Yes, we have every available officer on duty across the country and on stand by for the raids." Director Johnston added, it had been a logistical nightmare to get it in place and ready for tonight but he knew they had only hours before word got out about the raid, and in that time he hoped to have everyone involved locked up. He also knew that the Alphas would soon be putting their enforcers at the FBI's disposal once Amy spoke to them.

Amy checked her watch as Electra watched her mother, "You still don't know how to broach this?"

She nodded. "This is going to be a bitch of a day," she sighed as Vivian wrapped an arm around her.

"If anyone can pull this off you can." She reassured her granddaughter.

"The only way I can think of to keep the Moon Storm situation from exploding is to split it. To force the two factions apart into two separate Ambushes."

"But you can't do that without making Mayhem a target. Can you get her father unseated? Charged for his crimes?" Vivian asked.

"That is an option but it won't stop the Ambush from splitting, won't stop a fight. That's the other reason why I need the alphas. They may be able to give me other options." Amy checked her watch and turned to Electra. "I'll be back as soon as I can to take her home."

Electra frowned, not knowing how to react to the thought of Mayhem leaving her. She knew she would have to leave her eventually to get her work done but she still felt uncertain about it. "She'll freak out."

"We'll keep her sedated if we have to. You are needed there." Amy said before she vanished.

"How does she do that?" The DA asked.

Electra grinned as many people asked her that, "She's ancient..." She said with a shrug in way of an explanation.

He frowned, "But how?"

Vivian joined in and grinned in amusement, "She's Ancient."