Finding Strength

[Demeter]

Just about the only positive thing about Karisma's life was the placement of the stump she was sitting on. Conveniently placed next to the road, the stump offered her a somewhat dry place to sit while she panicked. Everything else was going completely wrong. Big Red, her beat-up old car, had just croaked on her, Jaya was sick and just getting sicker, and she was down to two hundred dollars.

Life sucked but there was no way she was going back down south. She'd taken a flamethrower to those bridges nine months ago and spread the ashes to the wind.
She'd rather she and Jaya be dead then return to her birthplace.

She sat on the road, the apparently abandoned road, hoping for someone to drive by so she could get a tow or a ride to somewhere. If she could just get a cheap tow to a garage, she could sell the car for parts and maybe have enough for a one-star motel room. There had to be a free clinic with a soft hearted doc who would be willing to help Jaya out with medication.

In the last nine months, it never failed that as things got bad, a windfall of good luck would land in her lap. She only hoped the same held true now.

***
Leo bumped down the road, thinking vaguely dark thoughts about government offices that ignored requests to consider repaving this stretch of highway. If he had fillings they'd be knocked loose by the potholes and cracks. He was headed back out to his pride lands after a bulk grocery store run. Everyone on the 300 acre plot of land had access to the Main House Kitchen so keeping it stocked with basics was vital. He had also filled a few special requests and picked up the medications for their older residents.

He would have made good time back to Haven if he hadn't spotted the streaming beater car and the young woman perched on the side of the road. He pulled the truck to the shoulder just ahead of the rusted car and killed the ignition. Hopping out of the cab, he asked if everything was all right.

The woman popped off the stump as if spring loaded. "Car died on me. Its probably the radiator; its the current concern. So you have a cell phone I can use to call for a tow?"

"Sorry, no cell coverage out this far but I run the hotel that's just down the road a bit. You could call from there."

The woman bit her lip and looked back at her car. "No need to worry, Darling. I'm not a rapist or murderer. No one comes out this way and you can load any valuables into the back."

"Its not that. I'm not alone; my passenger, he's sick and I don't want to leave him alone or move him to much."

Leo had been in the business of finding lost souls long enough to know that there was much more to the story but he'd let her tell it. He rolled a shoulder. "Wife's a doctor at the free clinic in town. She's at home today, with one of her doctor friends, seeing a few of our permanent guests. Bring him along and they could take a look at him."

The woman nodded and scurried back to the car to pull open the heavy passenger side door. Leo ambled along behind her. "Name's Leo. Leo Valenti."

"Karisma Bachchan," she said while half buried in the backseat. She passed him a worn out backpack. "And this is Jaya Bachchan," she said while helping the young boy from the car.

Leo felt his eyebrow go up; he'd been expecting an adult, not a child. The boy didn't look well and was wobbling on his feet. Leo handed the backpack back and plucked the boy up. Both eyebrows went up as he held the lightweight body. Much too light, he thought. Heck, when his boys had been this size, they'd been a hefty handful. His girls too but they'd probably kill him if he ever admitted it. He looked over at Karisma, his eyebrows asking the question.

"Um, unorthodox, backwater living situation with sham witchdoctors? I only got him out of it about nine months ago. Most actual doctors want money for all the treatments he needs."

"Ah, well, Alice and Josse are used to unorthodox living situations and alternative payment settlements. Josse's brother is also a doctor and he often gets paid in eggs, produce and venison. Come on then."

***
Windfall, Karisma reminded herself as she sat against the edge of the truck's bench seat with Jaya against her left side. She'd wished for luck and had gotten it. She sat silently and only half listened as Leo groused at someone over his CB Radio to get the damn all terrains and get over to the big house to haul away the groceries in the back of the truck. She'd seen the sheer amount of food in the bed of the truck and wondered just how big this hotel was.

It was when Leo made a right turn at a sign bearing the name Haven Pride Lands that Karisma felt a little spurt of panic. There'd been something about Leo from the very beginning and, if she'd learned how to integrate her feline half into her human half, she'd have pinpointed it earlier. Leo was at least part lion. Devi, the cat part of her, could barely Cat at all.

Forcing herself to calm down, Karisma cataloged the differences between this place and the swamp. Both had fences but instead of a twelve foot brick wall topped by barbed wire, this was an open, split pole design. Where the swamp was dark, cramped, and crowded with dilapidated buildings, this place was clean and filled with sunlight and well-care for buildings.

***

Leo knew that his passengers were feline shifters. The boy was at least part Lion while Karisma was a Jaguar. He'd only met a few of those but he still knew who was a cat.

"Haven is part permanent residence and part hostel for nomadic shifters. No one will force you to stay but Josse and Alice would probably like you to stay till Jaya is healthy."

"I don't know if I can pay. I need the money to fix the car. But I need Jaya healthy."

Leo rolled a shoulder. "You could work out some sort of alternate payment with them, we always need help. My sons could probably rebuild the engine of that car and do it cheaper then any shop in town."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because its my nature to help people. He's not going to get better sitting in this car and Josse is already waiting for us, rather impatiently probably," Leo said as he came to a stop in front of a large farm house and motioned at the person standing on the covered wrap-around porch. "You hop on out and I'll come around to get the boy."

"I can carry him. You have groceries to put away."

"What are kids and grandkids for if I can't use them for grunt work like putting groceries away."

Karisma sat, blinking owlishly, while Leo clambered out of the truck and rounded the hood. Her gaze shifted, watching as Leo's supposed doctor friend, well, if she had to describe it, it was like he floated down the short flight of stairs. He was much to pretty to be called handsome with his long, blonde hair pulled back in a half tail, his pale complexion and delicate bone structure.

At least, she thought the person floating over to them was a guy. Leo had never actually said but unless there were very tiny boobs under that lab coat, the doctor had to be a guy.

She knew her eyes popped wide when Leo bussed a kiss against Josse's cheek when they reached each other. She'd never seen two men being casually affectionate like that. Most of the guy-on-guy action she'd witnessed had been the Alpha and his generals forcing themselves on the unblooded young males of the pride. Once, when she'd been 16, she'd seen her brother being kissed by one of his friends and her brother had gone homicidal on his friend. It had taken her father and several others to pull them apart. Her brother hadn't wanted to talk about it and his friend, once he'd healed up, had left the swamp.

Her eyes were still wide when Leo pulled the door open and she mechanically got out, moving to the side for Leo to lift Jaya out. She continued to just stare.

***
Josse directed Leo to take the boy to the back exam room. While the small party walked through the main floor of the house, he quietly observed the young woman in front of him. Even without an physical exam, he knew she was several pounds underweight and probably exhausted.

He wondered just what it would take to get her on his exam table for a full physical. For now, though, his focus was on the boy. After Leo set him down, Josse chased the Lion out of the room before turning to the patient.

While collecting vitals, he absently waved Karisma to the stool tucked into the corner. After gathering the baseline information, he turned to her, asking about his medical history.

"Well, we both grew up in a backwater swamp with backwards policies and no real doctor. He's always been in poor health because he has a "weak spirit" and not an actual condition."

Josse snorted; he'd seen to many people die because of weak spirits or messed up humors. "Well, it's a good thing you got him out of there. Getting an actual diagnosis for him will take a little more testing but he obviously has a bad cold. For now, I'm going to recommend some breathing treatments, antibiotics, good food and plenty of rest. I'd have to double check with the front desk but I think we have a cabin you can use for the next couple of weeks while he improves."

"I can't pay for all if this and fix my car. I kept telling Leo this."

"Monetary compensation is not required, as I'm sure he said, and we always need help around here. We'll comp the exams and your food, both you and Jaya need to gain some weight, and you can work off the cost of the room and medications by assisting wherever needed. We'll figure out what to do about the car later. Now, for the record, what's your relation to Jaya? Sister, aunt, cousin?"

"Mother," Karisma said and watched as Josse' pen went flying across the room. "Yeah, he's six years old. I had him when I was fourteen."

Josse knew there was darkness in the world. He'd not only patched enough people up to know it but he'd had it brought on him when his own father had attempted to murder him. But every now and then, the world surprised him. This was one of those times. "All right, then. I'm just going to get this breathing treatment set up and then I'm going to go talk with Leo about that cabin. You can stay here with him."

***

Thanks to the unique connection he had with Josse, Leo was already in his office, calculating how many hours of work Karisma would need to cover the cost of the cabin and medications. Josse, however, had more control over the bond and was able to block him and Alice if he wanted. This was apparently one of those times as he abruptly found himself with a lapful of agitated healer. "Something wrong?"

"The boy's her son. He's six and she apparently had him when she was fourteen."

Leo sighed, sick to death of the packs and prides with power-mad sick fucks for Alphas. Leaning his chair back, he rubbed Josse' back. "We need Alice; where is she?"

"Shanghaied by Mrs. Marcowiz for a physical exam. She's blocking us so we don't have to hear her ranting about Mrs. Marcowiz. She should be back soon."

"We'll wait for her then."

***

It wasn't long before Alice returned and, shortly after that, both men watched the woman rage and stomp around the office. With Alice's gentle ways, she'd teased the tale from Karisma. Leo sighed and rubbed his temples; Haven Pridelands wasn't set up to deal with this situation.

He looked between the two people in his office. "We need Liam and his pride to deal with Karisma and her former pride."

[Maira]

The bulk of the pride members lived in the old hotel they had squatted in, and since fixed up, when they first escaped to Cedar Valley. Liam's family, plus a few others had their own homes in town, and the young males had their own shared home in town as well. Despite having a family home, Liam spent much of his time out at the lakeside hotel doing maintenance and keeping up the bond between him and his pride members. He'd never really wanted to be an alpha male in his own pride, but that was the lot he'd drawn in life as soon as he had run away from his tyrant father's pride and taken a third of the members with him. He had instantly become responsible for all those that escaped with him.

Liam secretly kept hoping that his oldest son Cole would try and step into the role as alpha so he could just focus on the club, but the boy seemingly had no inclination that way at all. He was a great protector for the pride, but his desire to lead was about as non-existant as Liam's. It was actually Ember, his oldest daughter that seemed most likely to step into her father's shoes. Since she was a preteen she had spent her spare time out at the lakeside hotel helping him and other pride members out with whatever was needed. After she had turned 18, she had actually moved out of their family's house and had taken up permanent residence there.

Because she was always at the hotel, Ember heard her father's angry roar from across the hotel's grounds as she helped some of the children of the pride learn to fish in the lake. Concerned, Ember excused herself, and ran up to the hotel itself where she found her father pacing on the front porch and his cell phone shattered in the gravel driveway. A quietly muttered, "shit!", and Ember closed the distance between them.

"Dad! What's wrong? Are mom, Cole, Jack, and the triplets okay?" she demanded as she grabbed Liam by the shoulders and tried to get him to focus on her. She could see his lion close to the surface and she was startled to realize that her father was actually having issues controlling his feline side. Liam never had those issues.

The call had come from Leo out at Haven. Apparently they had stumbled acrossed a malnourished woman and her child, both of feline descent, and Alice had coaxed their history from the young woman. It was far too similar to Liam's own history for him to handle in any sort of calm manner and before Leo had even finished telling him all the details, Liam had launched his phone at the gravel drive and let loose a roar as his lion self surged to the surface, ready to demolish the aggressors of the young woman's home pride.

Just as Ember was about to ask her father again if their family was okay, one of the lionesses came out the front door with the cordless landline phone telling them that Leo was on the phone. Knowing her father was not in any shape to take the call, even if she didn't know why, Ember took it from the older woman and answered abruptly, "What Leo?" and she continued to watch Liam pace as he clearly fought to get his lion under control.

When the man on the other stuttered a bit, it was clear that Ember had caught him off guard. "Sorry Leo, Dad is freaking out and I don't know why. His lion is trying to steal control and if you can't tell me in 20 seconds what you need I'm gonna hang up cuz I need to calm Dad down before he snaps." After that, Leo laid out everything for Ember that he had told Liam. She felt her spine stiffen and while she wanted to follow her father's example of throwing the phone and roaring in anger, she hadn't lived through the same hell that her father and this other young woman had. She didn't have the same connection. This made it so that in an only slightly growly voice Ember answered him, "I'm gonna calm Dad down, we're gonna get Mom, then we'll be out to Haven." Without waiting for the older Alpha to reply, she clicked off the line and turned to her Dad. She took him in her arms like she had seen him and Cole do for Jack when he was first learning how to control his shifts and she willed her lioness to force her father's lion back down.

[Demeter]

Rayne, partially shifted into her Custos form, kept her sharp nails digging into her husband's thigh. The pain was just enough to keep him centered as Alice explained what she knew. A hybrid pride of Lions and Jaguars in the swamps of Louisiana where the Alpha, a Lion, seemed to be modeling his reign after Liam's deceased father's idea.

Alati normally kept out of shifter business but these were special circumstances. The shifters looking to teach the other Pride a lesson were mated to Alati who tended to do the dirty work for them. "What we need to do first is send someone down to get the lay of the area. I trust this Karisma's description of the swamp but she's not looking for defensible spots or were their defenses are weak. We'll have Remi send out some scouts."

Rayne looked around the small group. Alice and Josse were healers and had taken oaths that prevented them from harming others. Leo and Liam were pacifists unless directly threatened. Two of Liam's aunts had joined them, as they were the ones who actually knew what this young woman had gone through, and they looked interested in joining the raiding party. And Ember might have been young but she had promise. If she actually intended to take over the Pride someday, she'd need battle experience. And she was sure that there were more in both their pride and Leo's rag-tag pride that would like in on the action.

***
Karisma sprawled out on the single, queen sized bed and watched Jaya sleep. For the first time in weeks he was sleeping easy, thanks to the medications the doctor had stuffed into him. The nightstand on the far side of the bed was crowded with those medications and she had a direct line to Josse if he worsened at any point. Once he was over this cold, Josse would be doing additional testing to determine what the real problem was.

***

Rayne stood next to Liam, nails now digging into his arm, as she watched Leo mediate an argument between the lionesses of their pride; Ember standing next to him. She glanced up at Liam, he'd alternated between stoney silence and being all growly (and not the good sort of growly) since learning about this young woman. She patted his arm, soothing the half-moon indents before digging back into an unmarred spot. Liam's feelings, and the feelings of the core Pride members, ran deep on this subject but bickering would get them no where.

Since she was technically the Alpha Female, being the mate of Liam and all, she figured it was time to step into Pride Business. She didn't do it often, feeling that as a separate Species, she didn't have the right to the title and power that came with it.

"Enough!"

The volume of her voice silenced the two Lionesses. The one many may have growled at her a little but both recalled the destruction she'd brought down on their former pride. Dragging Liam with her, Rayne stalked forward. "Renna is correct; if her child is seriously ill, he needs to remain close to medical care. After he is healthy, you may offer her a place at the Inn, should she accept. Right now, our focus is not Karisma or Jaya as they are safe here. Our focus is that there is a pride in the swamps of Louisiana that is not only repeating the pattern of abuse you went through but they have enslaved a group of Jaguars as well. If what Alice has told us is the correction interpretation, the abuse is mental, physical and sexual of both genders starting at puberty. It is interesting that this Alpha is not only working and sharing with other males, which, in itself is not usual, but that they have not run off or killed the younger males, suggesting deep, phycological trauma that keeps them subservient for now. Furthermore, it seems to me that this Alpha and his cohorts have repressed the jaguar and hybrid shifters; only allowing them the ability to change forms but nothing else. That alone is cause for concern as any of those abused beings could go feral.

"Right now, the plan is simple, once Remi's scouts return, we will assemble a joint attack force between the two prides, along with the chosen champions of Liam and Leo, and bring down the Alpha and his seconds. We will then install a temporary alpha pair; I nominate Ember and Nico, along with quality medical care and qualified shifters who can tutor the pride on how to be shifters. The ones to far gone will be separated from the pride and hopefully rehabilitated in a separate facility. Once the pride can function on its own, those who wish to leave will be permitted and the remaining members will select new, permanent leaders. Is that clear?"

Rayne glanced around the circle, taking in Leo's approving smiling, the way the two lionesses were grumbling but not talking back and Ember's shocked face. She glanced back at Liam, pleased to see she'd distracted him, at least momentarily, from his anger with her show of force. Rayne turned back to her daughter. "Ember, since you are the least visibly angry, why don't you go check on Karisma and Jaya."

[Maira]

Ember was really concerned about her father. He never had this much trouble with his lion, but it was taking her mom constantly keeping him distracted with her claws dug lightly into his skin to keep him from shifting. Because she was so worried, it was rather hard for her to focus on the meeting. At least, it was hard to focus until her mom basically told them all to shut up and listen. She was smiling with pride at her mother's rare show of alpha status when suddenly Rayne dropped a bomb on her. Rayne had nominated -her- as one of the temporary leaders to handle the Louisiana pride's recovery after the current alphas and seconds were removed. She was nowhere near ready for taking over her parents' pride, but maybe she could manage one temporarily. Especially with Nico for help. He was older than her, and a lawyer after all. Surely that meant something right? She didn't know him terribly well, but she was hopeful anyway.

She was still staring at her in shock when Rayne then instructed her to go check on Karisma and Jaya. Nodding, still somewhat numb, Ember excused herself from the room with the others from the two prides. She knew what room Karisma and Jaya were in, she had spent enough time at Haven growing up to be quite familiar with where the infirmary and its cluster of rooms were in the main building.

When she found the occupied room, Ember knocked softly on the door and waited patiently for somebody inside to open it for her. She sort of hoped that the woman was sleeping if everything Alice had told them was true. The poor thing deserved a nice long rest now that she and her son were safe.

[Demeter]

All sorts of strings were pulled and favors were called in. This, Rayne mused as she watched Liam and Leo spar in the meadow, was an entirely different situation then the one with Liam's father and birth pride. Liam and the others had left, peacefully enough, and things only got violent when they'd tried to force him back to the pride. True, the politics of that pride were twisted but, she thought, within range of how a lion pride would act in the wild.

And they'd personally involved her when they thought kidnapping her had been a smart move. They'd thought to keep Liam happy while he did his duty by giving him a toy. They hadn't expected the toy to have her own claws, Rayne thought with a chuckle.

A great many of the Shifter family groups were like doomsday preppers or extreme religious sects and they couldn't police them all. Really, so long as they kept to themselves and didn't visit harm outside their borders, there wasn't much the world could do unless personally involved like she'd once been. But the sect that Karisma was from was far past the point where it could be ignored. A trio of old, male lions had swooped in and subjugated a family group of Jaguars.

Karisma had told them some of what went on down South. Murders and kidnappings of mortals, culling females from other prides, a culture of rape and pedophilia of both genders. Their scouts told them of a dilapidated barn filled with feral and near- feral shifters.

On learning of the deplorable conditions, Josse had requested back up. Someone from the Healer's Guild in Haven would be on hand to direct and assist in care. And someone from Haven's Northern location would be available to help transport them to the quieter settlement.

What made matters worse, a hundred times worse and the source of Liam's anger and anguish, was that those in charge were the uncles of her husband. His aunties had confirmed it. The matter was personal now.

***

Karisma tried not to squirm as the doctor, a different one then Josse, poked and prodded at her. This one, named Cameo, was a Jaguar like her and was the husband of Josse's daughter's half-sister's wife's brother. At least, she was pretty sure that's how he'd been introduced. He'd also arrived with his mother in tow. Marianna Zabat was exotically beautifully and made Karisma feel like a dusty house cat. Even in a human form, she moved like a cat. Karisma often tripped over her own tail.

Marianna was to tutor her in how to be a feline. Which was so embarrassing.

He'd also brought his husband along and, well, the less said about that meeting the better. Ember called her freak out "fangirling" but really, what was a girl to do when she not only found out that Dragons were a real thing but met one. Her spaztastic moment couldn't be helped, really, when she'd just seen an actual dragon. Even Jaya had looked at her funny.

Meeting a real, live dragon was only the second best thing to occur since her arrival here at Haven. The best thing was that Caleb was here as well. There were people here at Haven who could relate to her history but Caleb Knew. She'd been speaking with the Lionesses when the borrowed scouting party had driven up on motorcycles. She'd watched, warily, as they dismounted and pulled helmets off only to squeal and jump when she recognized Caleb as one of the scouts.

Apparently he hadn't told these people about his past. It had all been spilled out since then.
****

Nico could feel Caleb trembling against him. Still, he corrected himself, Caleb was still trembling hours after relaying his abuse to Liam and Leo. Staring up at the ceiling of his younger half-brother's spaceship themed room, Nico kept a tight hold on Caleb and tried to soothe him.

They were sorta lovers but he hadn't seen Caleb this freaked out in the eighteen months he'd known the younger man. They were only sort of lovers because they both saw other people but slept together on a regular basis. He'd been Caleb's guide into a gay lifestyle and hot man-on-man sex and he now knew the source of Caleb's hang ups.

No wonder he'd had so many issues and it was a miracle that he wasn't even more messed up.

As Caleb pressed closer, though Nico had no clue how, he crooned at the Lion/Jaguar hybrid and stroked his back. And thought dark thoughts about the ones who'd done this to his friend. He had names; he'd twist their balls off and cram them down the bastards' throats.

His thoughts normally didn't turn that way as he was the carefree joker of his siblings, but that didn't matter. As a human rights lawyer and activist, things like this annoyed him. And that made him dangerous.

He growled lightly as Caleb snuffled against his neck. Yes...he'd bury the bastards alive.

Once Caleb was calmer, he'd seek Ember out so that they could plan. He did not want Caleb on the property until they'd taken control.