The Avestan Viewer -- A Wolf Love Story

Chapter 21 -- Saving the Meriwethers

Stephen got some intel on the Meriwether family. There was a high-level British engineer living in Alaska who had ties to the British SAS and BAE, the well-known defense contractor. But the man was primarily known as a lead researcher on gravity control propulsion science, and was currently a professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. He had also been involved with many research projects at the quasi-secret HAARP facilities near Glennallen Alaska when they were under the US military's control.

Professor Meriwether had a wife and two children, and they lived near the campus. This made access to the family easy for the killers, so Stephen would have to move quickly. It was decided that Timothy would go meet with the man, since he was the most technology savvy wolf in the pack. This also meant communicating with the local Alpha, Davin Fabron , requesting permission to enter the pack territory. Stephen had never had dealings with Alpha Fabron, but his father had included him in some truce talks back in the 1970's to establish peace among the Canadian and Alaskan territories. Matthew was known for being a reasonable treaty negotiator, and was brought in when tensions ran high. Stephen assigned his father to handle the negotiations after contacting the Alpha himself, and Matthew would travel with Timothy to talk to the Meriwethers- they had to be warned and protected somehow. And hopefully the professor could shed light on any connection to the Avestan Machine.

That meant that both Matthew and Timothy needed to be briefed on the machine. I had a twinge of guilt for putting their lives at risk, but the circle of knowledge was expanding out of necessity. I couldn't fight Zeke alone, and Stephen's team was well equipped to handle this kind of danger. Although it also put their families at risk, and they'd need extra protection also. The pack's security was tight, and Stephen made it tighter now that our entire pack was in danger. We needed to find out how Zeke's part of the machine worked, Timothy and his analyst researchers could discover nothing about it.

While all the arrangements were being made, our pup Matt was growing fast. I had plenty of help taking care of him from Marie and Tamara, so I quickly got into a routine where I could have a few hours in the morning to work in my office, or do whatever needed doing. It was fun to remember the first time I showed Matthew to my Guard. Elise just cooed at him, and Buck and Handy both took turns holding him. They both had new pups with their mates, so knew all about taking care of infants. Elise didn't have her mate yet, but had plenty of young cousins, nieces, and nephews in the large family network she was part of.

"He's so beautiful, Luna," Elise said as she rubbed her face against his soft, dark hair.

"He looks an awful lot like our Alpha," Buck said as he gazed into Matt's face. "But he has your eyes and skin tone." I thought about that, and couldn't really tell what color Matt's eyes were. They kept changing, but it would be fun to see when he was a little older. I mostly carried Matt in a front pack that was comfortable, or a stroller when I could. But my Guard loved to carry him and play with him also, weres were a social bunch, and loved children as a rule.

One problem that I needed to solve was to see if Neil would work with me anymore. I didn't know if he would, but he was my first choice to do it. I really didn't want to put anyone else in danger, but didn't want to destroy the man. My problem was that I needed access to the schematics in my brain, and Neil was my best shot. After discussing it with Stephen yesterday, I sent Elise to talk with both Neil and Tina to see if he would talk to me. She reported back that Neil would have to think about it, but that he looked a lot better. He had been talking to the Doctor which seemed to help him. Elise walked up to me in the day care where I was helping the pre-teens. I wasn't exactly banned from helping with the three-year olds, but no one asked me to help anymore. I sighed thinking about my escape, I loved that hour of freedom.