Crestfire Hill 2 Aspen

Visit to download the full and correct content document:

https://ebookmass.com/product/crestfire-hill-2-aspen/
 Contents
Copyright © 2023 by Summer Aspen
Letter to Readers
Chapter 1: Gatlin
Chapter 2: Haven
Chapter 3: Gatlin
Chapter 4: Haven
Chapter 5: Gatlin
Chapter 6: Haven
Chapter 7: Gatlin
Chapter 8: Haven
Chapter 9: Gatlin
Chapter 10: Haven
Chapter 11: Gatlin
Chapter 12: Haven
Chapter 13: Gatlin
Chapter 14: Haven
Chapter 15: Gatlin
Chapter 16: Haven
Chapter 17: Gatlin
Chapter 18: Haven
Chapter 19: Haven
Chapter 20: Gatlin
Chapter 21: Haven
Chapter 22: Gatlin
Chapter 23: Haven
Chapter 24: Haven
Chapter 25: Gatlin
Chapter 26: Haven
Chapter 27: Gatlin
Epilogue
Summer's Books
 Copyright © 2023 by Summer Aspen

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,
recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the
prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S.
copyright law. For permission requests, contact Summer Aspen.
The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this
production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living
or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should
be inferred.
Hello Readers! I’m so happy you’ve joined me in Crestfire Hill to
meet Haven and his Alpha, Gatlin, and all of their friends and family!
All my best,
Summer

Want more from Summer?

FREE SHORT STORY

Click HERE for Omega Saved, a FREE short story!

 CHAPTER 1: GATLIN

On the way to the fire station, my phone rang, which was weird.
Hardly anyone ever called me, especially this early.
At the same moment the phone first rang, a chill ran from the
back of my neck to the base of my spine.
It was November, and a light dusting of snow was already on the
ground in rural Ohio, but as a wolf shifter I didn’t really feel the cold
so much. I rubbed my hand over the back of my neck while I
glanced at the screen.
I didn’t recognize the number. I got alerts when the station
needed me, and all my co-workers texted. And I didn’t have friends.
Not anymore.
Maybe the call was spam, but after letting it ring about five
times, I picked up my phone and hit the ‘accept call’ button. A few
years of responding to emergencies had me well-trained. “This is
Gatlin Hawk,” I said.
"Gatlin! Help me,” a male voice said. “Please.”
My left hand tightened on the steering wheel. I leaned forward in
my truck, as if that would help me hear him better. “Jackson? Is that
you?”
I was pretty sure that was my little brother on the end of the
line. It sounded like his voice. I’d never heard my brother sound
anything other than carefree. Jackson wasn’t just my younger
brother. He was my younger omega brother.
“Where are you? What’s going on? Whose phone is this? Where’s
your phone?”
 “Gatlin! Stop asking questions and listen.” He panted into the
phone. “Uncle Trevor says I have to marry Zachary Smith.”
Uncle Trevor, my father’s brother, who was a scary motherfucker.
“What’s he doing there? He’s supposed to be in Peru.”
“He showed up and said he was the Alpha now.” My brother
gulped. I heard it clearly. “He said–” Jackson stopped talking. There
was nothing but silence.
“Jackson! What did he say?”
“He said since you ran off like a snot-nosed little bastard, that the
job of Alpha was his.”
Dread curled through my lungs; I could hardly inhale enough for
a breath. With a jerky motion, I let go of the wheel and tugged my
window down, letting in the icy air. “What happened to Kodiak?”
Kodiak was the shifter who’d taken over as pack Alpha after my
father was killed five years ago, when I was only twenty-five.
“He left! Uncle Trevor threatened him or some shit like that, and
he just folded!’
“When did this happen?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” I hadn’t been home in five years, but I
called my brother once a month. He hadn’t breathed a fucking word
of this to me.
“I know you don’t want to be here. I thought it would be fine.”
Fuck. It was true that after my father was killed in a dispute with
a rival pack, I had no desire to be near my pack. Everyone had
looked to me, and I’d folded and run away, letting Kodiak take my
place as pack-leader. It fucking haunted me that I hadn’t been there
the day my father died, and after that, I just couldn’t stay.
God, I hoped Kodiak was still alive. If he wasn’t, it was my fault.
It was supposed to be me there in his place, running the Hawk
pack.
Jackson was the type to pull pranks. But even he wouldn't pull
this. “You’re sure that you’ve got all of this straight? This is exactly
what happened?” Before I left my station chief in the lurch and
hauled ass hundreds of miles to New York State, I needed to know
for sure. “This isn’t a joke?”
 My brother was full of shit, and he always had been. In
comparison, the pack always said I had no sense of humor.
“Yes! Gatlin, I wouldn’t lie about this. I said I wasn’t going to
marry Zachary, and Trevor went crazy. He locked me in my room
and he took my phone.” His voice cracked. “I know I pulled some
shit before, but this is real. You have to believe me.”
I did believe him. The crack in his voice told me all I needed to
know. “I do. I had to ask, you know I did. How did you get out?”
“Duh. I punched through the window.” He huffed. “I ended up
with a high level of power, not as much as yours, but really high for
an omega. Isn't that hilarious?”
It didn’t feel very hilarious at the moment. Although he would be
safer. Not completely safe. That wasn’t possible for an omega in our
world, unfortunately, but knowing he was physically strong was a
relief.
“Did you know that when you hit the window?”
“Nope.”
I wanted to put my head down, but I was driving.
“I ran into town, and there’s a girl at the park who let me use
hers.”
“So you’re in a park right now?” A park, a public place, where he
could be caught and captured.
“Yes.”
Jesus. This was all my fault. I never should have left. Or I should
have forced my brother to come with me. He would have resented
me, but he’d have been safe.
"Gatlin, you have to stop him. Please.”
Fuck. I’d never heard my brother like this. He was reckless,
fearless, and mischievous. It wasn’t right to hear him sound
petrified.
I swerved to miss a bumpy patch of snow on the road. A car
crash wouldn’t kill me, but if I destroyed my truck I was fucked. I’d
have to shift and run to the closest airport, which was over an hour
away in Cincinnati. “I’m on my way.”
“Hurry.”
 It would take me at least ten hours to get there. Flying might be
faster, but I didn’t have a ticket, and with the holidays approaching,
I could end up on standby. Better to drive and not take a chance of
being delayed. “I’m already in my truck. I’m moving as fast as I
can.”
“What are you going to do when you get here?”
“Whatever it takes.”
I’ll fucking kill that bastard.
I had to loosen my grip on the phone before I shattered it. I’d
never killed anyone. But we were made for it, according to my pack.
Killing. Death. Destruction. It was one of the reasons I’d left. That,
and it hadn’t felt like home, once my father was dead.
I didn’t want to inflict violence. I’d do it, when necessary. But I
didn’t want it to be my way of life. My father had been a good
shifter. But he’d been constantly involved in turf wars with other
packs.
After I left, I moved several states away, from New York to Ohio,
and became a first responder. I’d considered law enforcement, but
with my ancient bloodline, and supernatural strength, it would be
too easy for me to overpower someone.
But running into a burning building was something I could do.
“Do you have somewhere to stay?” I asked Jackson. “Somewhere
safe?”
“Yeah,” he said.
I hoped to God that was true. “Then stay there. No risks, okay?
I’m on my way.”
As soon as I hung up, I called my chief. “I have a family
emergency. I need a leave of absence.”
“Oh hell Gatlin, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“No. It’s my brother. He’s run away from home. I've got to go
back.”
“Remind me where home is.”
“Arizona,” I said. Home was always going to be New York state,
on the outskirts of a town called Crestfire Hill, but I kept my new life
– the life I lived as a human firefighter– separate from my life as a
wolf shifter. The chief didn’t need to know where I was going. There
was a good chance I’d never go back to Ohio.
“Keep us updated,” my chief said.
“Will do.”
I wouldn't.
What was the point? I’d likely never see him again. My priority
was getting my brother away from my uncle.
And if my uncle harmed my brother, I'd kill him. That might end
with my death, but I was prepared for that.
When I left my pack in Crestfire Hill, I had tried to get my
brother to go with me. But he liked being a wolf shifter who
belonged to a pack.
“You won’t make it alone,” my uncle said, before he fucked off to
Peru. But he was wrong. I had made it alone. I’d made it alone, and
I was fine. I wouldn’t say I was thriving, but I was okay. I was rich,
and I was strong, and I had a job at the fire station that meant
something.
A wolf needed a purpose, even if we didn’t need much money. If
I’d lost my family’s fortune, I’d be fine. Wolf shifters could survive in
the wilderness. I knew how to stay invisible, unseen to humans out
hiking. I knew how to hide my scent. I knew how to hunt squirrels
and rabbits, and I knew how to catch fish.
I also knew how to live in the human world. Maybe I wasn't as
good at it as humans, but I could get by. I understood banking and
interest and mortgages. I could stay in a hotel, and use a credit
card.
Thanks to my father, everyone in the pack was wealthy. He
wanted them to feel like equals, but in the end, it had made some of
the pack members unruly. He’d wanted the pack to function more
like a democracy than a dictatorship, and some of the members
insisted we take over the land at the edge of the Hawk pack. My
father had disagreed, but he’d gone along with their wishes. And
he’d died for it.
But I couldn't dwell on that right now. I had to stay focused, so I
could protect my brother.
***

Ten hours later, under a sliver of moonlight, I stepped over the

threshold onto our pack land. It had belonged to the Hawk pack for
centuries. A hushed silence covered the forest. Ice glittered on the
needles of the evergreen trees. Beyond the treeline, the glassy
surface of Hawk Lake stretched out under the night sky.
Home.
But that’s not how it felt. I didn’t have a home. The land was
there, but the shifters weren’t. My father was gone. My mother had
died a month later, from silver poisoning she got while trying to
defend my father in the border skirmish. It wasn’t healthy, but I
could barely think about my mother most of the time; knowing she’d
died as well, in a battle neither of my parents believed in. My brother
was in hiding. And my bastard of an uncle was in control of our
pack.
And the rest of my family and our pack members had given up
and let him have the control he’d always craved.
I sure as fuck couldn’t criticise them. I was the one who’d bailed.
But palace intrigue wasn’t for me. I didn’t have the mind for it. I
didn’t follow the subterfuge, the conniving and the backstabbing that
seemed to be a part of an pack-Alpha’s life.
My father had been gifted at those types of machinations. Until
he wasn’t. One bad plan, and he and my mother were dead.
I inhaled the crisp air. Now wasn’t the time for rumination. I
didn’t smell any familiar shifters. Had my entire pack fled?
As expected, I was greeted by a shifter I didn’t know. A guard of
some kind. Surely they hadn’t thought only one could subdue me?
Before I could get past him, my uncle appeared.
“Well well well. Look who’s here.” He snarled at me. He snapped
his fingers. “Bring him out.”
Another guard I’d never seen before stepped out from behind a
grouping of trees, holding my brother by the back of his neck.
Fuck. They had my brother. I hadn’t smelled him. Not a trace.
They must be using some kind of scent blockers or a spell.
“I told you to stay hidden,” I hissed at Jackson.
 He made a face, but didn’t speak.
My uncle chuckled. “He doesn’t listen. You should know that by
now.” My uncle moved to stand beside my brother. “Jackson here
had one simple task. To marry Zachary. And instead of fulfilling that
one simple task, he ran.”
Don’t attack.
I had to be strategic about this. I might have the upper hand
with brute force, but there were three of them, and two were within
striking distance of my brother.
“Jackson is not twenty-one yet,” I said. That was one of our pack
rules. No one mates until they’re twenty-one.
“That was your father’s rule,” my uncle Trevor sneered. “Eighteen
is good enough for the morality-obsessed human law makers, so it’s
more than good enough for us.”
“He doesn’t agree to the mating,” I said. “That’s another of our
rules.”
Trevor bared his teeth. “Yet another one of your pathetic father’s
rules. As of this week, when I took over the pack, all of those rules
have ceased to exist.” He wrapped his fingers around Jackson’s
wrist. “Your brother will marry Zachary. My decision is final. My word
is law.”
Fuck that.
I ignored Trevor’s declaration.
I met my brother’s eyes.
Jesus. Jackson’s eyes were red. A single tear rolled down his
cheek. I wasn't sure I’d seen him cry before, outside of our parents’
death, not since he was ten or eleven.
Without speaking, I desperately tried to convey that I wasn’t
going to let this happen. These motherfuckers needed to die. All of
them. Trevor, Zachary, and these two useless guards as well.
Jackson was a typical twenty year old shifter, which meant he
was full of himself, but he was so goddamn young. There was no
way I was going to just hand him over to this brute. No fucking way.
I’d stop this mating, or I’d die trying. At least my brother would
know that I was willing to do anything to prevent him from being
handed over to this asshole.
 A smirk traveled across Trevor’s face. “He’s yours, Zachary. You
can have him now.”
Still human, my brother leaned sideways and bit down on my
uncle's hand.
I didn’t hesitate. I transformed into my wolf. I lunged forward
and sank my teeth into my uncle’s throat.
 CHAPTER 2: HAVEN

PAST DUE.
All caps. In red print, right there on the front of the envelope.
The words ‘past due’ bounced around in my brain. Why the fuck
had I gotten that credit card? Back when we first made it to college,
Cason, who was one of my closest friends, had yelled at all of us
about the dangers of credit cards. He’d explained how we could get
sucked into the trap – signing up for a card, spending up to the limit,
and then not paying the balance off each month. Then we’d end up
in over our heads, drowning in debt, and all of our heads would
explode.
I pressed my fingers against my temples. My head was definitely
about to explode.
All of my roommates, not just Cason, were going to be so pissed.
Because they weren’t just roommates, they were my family, my only
family. They were my brothers in every way except biology.
Most of the time, I called them my brothers. Hollis referred to us
as friends. In public, Danny called us roommates. The names didn’t
matter. They were mine, and I was theirs. Hollis, Cason, Baylor, Ace,
Danny and I had been friends since we were four years old, and
we’d be family for the rest of our lives.
We were all omegas, all attending the same college in Crestfire
Hill, New York, so we understood each other. And we looked out for
each other, which included not covering stuff up. But I’d ignored
Cason’s credit card warning, and I’d been covering up my debt
problem for months.
 I had no assets. I owned nothing that I could sell. The good
thing was that the creditors had nothing to collect. But what would
happen next year once I’d graduated with my social work degree?
If I went straight to work, any agency would do a background
check. And if red flags popped up that I was past due on multiple
credit card payments, I was going to look like a thief at best, and a
moron at worst. I’d look like a person who wasn't competent to
assist other people with their problems.
And if I decided to apply to grad school, they did background
checks too. The program was competitive. There was no guarantee
I’d get in, even with a pristine credit record. A bad score could hurt
my chances, and that wasn’t even taking the tuition payments into
consideration. I would need a loan, and that wasn’t a possibility at
this point.
I tugged at my hair.
Stop spiraling. You can fix this.
Sitting in our apartment wasn’t doing me any favors. I got on my
bike. At least I could ride to the university while I freaked out. The
air was chilly, but I chose not to wear a hat or gloves. Sure, my pale
skin would dry out, but that was okay. Thinking about being cold
was better than hiding under our rickety kitchen table and having a
panic attack.
Normally I’d be admiring the vivid red and gold leaves adorning
the oak trees in Crestfire Hill. But not today.
I needed money. Like, yesterday. I was less than a year away
from graduating college with my bachelor of social work degree. My
dream was to stay in school and get my master’s degree. To do that,
I needed money.
And I knew how I could get it – at the Silver Moon Exchange.
The name was super high end, and so was the club. But the idea
behind the club was a bit sordid, seeing as how it was for finding
sugar daddies.
A few months ago, my brothers and I found ourselves in a
desperate situation – our rent was going up, and all of us were
stretched thin. Facing eviction, I got creative and found the Silver
Moon Exchange, a sugar daddy club.
 Becoming sugar babies seemed like the perfect solution. I’d even
volunteered to be the guinea pig. I knew Alphas found me
appealing, so why not exploit that?
But Hollis, one of my brothers, the one I was closest too out of
all five of them, flipped the fuck out. He was still traumatized by
what happened to me when we were teens, and he refused to let
me throw myself into the lion’s den, so to speak.
So against my better judgment, I took a backseat and let him be
the one to visit the sugar daddy club. His greatest fear was that
someone would harm me. And I was terrified the same thing would
happen to him. Just because he didn’t look like a typical omega
didn’t mean he couldn’t be a target for some sicko.
But the worst didn’t happen. Hollis met a wealthy Alpha vampire
who, by all appearances, was a gentleman. And now they were in a
contract together. Luke, the vampire, paid Hollis so much money per
month that we didn’t have to worry about rent. He’d bought us
groceries too.
There was only one problem. I’d just promised Hollis, that same
best friend who volunteered to take one for the team and become a
sugar baby for money, that I would not go to the sugar daddy club.
The sugar daddy club, where all of the daddies were supernaturals,
like vampires, shifters and Fae.
But this was an emergency.
Well. Maybe not a real emergency. It wasn’t life or death. But it
was important nonetheless. Ending up bankrupt before I even had a
salary wasn’t a great start for a college student.
So I had to figure out a way to go to the sugar daddy club, but
not let Hollis find out. I parked my bike and trudged into the school.
As I marched through the piles of crunchy leaves, an Alpha fell
into step beside me.
“I could help you carry that bag,” he said, pointing to my
backpack. “It looks heavy.”
I didn’t roll my eyes. I’d just biked with the freaking bag on my
shoulders. The guy wasn’t touching me, and he wasn’t leering. I’d
learned which battles to pick. Was it fair? No. But that was life. “No
thanks,” I said. “I’m stronger than I look.”
 To his credit, he fucked off.
Another Alpha held the door to the student center open for me.
“Aren’t you in my linear math class?”
“I would never take a class with that title, so nope.” I darted
inside. Once I was free and clear of him, I stopped at a kiosk and
bought a coffee. Or I tried to. When I pulled out my cash, I found
out that the Alpha in front of me had already paid. It was hard for
me to protest too much, because I had absolutely no business
buying anything, much less a coffee.
“You have a really nice smile,” the Alpha said.
“Thank you for the latte!” I yelled over my shoulder as I scurried
away.
Yes, Crestfire Hill University was omega-friendly; it sported the
most omega-friendly campus in the United States, which was why
we’d chosen it. Alphas weren’t allowed to overstep. And these
Alphas hadn’t done anything wrong, certainly there was no reason to
report them, or be offended by their actions. But constantly fending
off their advances did get so tiring.
But also, many of the omegas I knew liked the attention. The
omegas here wanted a college degree, but they also wanted a mate.
I didn’t have a safety net to fall back on, so I had to focus on my
degree before I did anything else.
I knew what I looked like. I always had. I knew I’d appeal to
quite a few of the patrons of the Silver Moon Exchange.
I was small and slender with blonde hair and blue eyes. I
capitalized on the twink look by brushing my straight hair over my
forehead, and letting it fall over one of my eyes. While I was running
up my credit cards, I’d bought clothes. Clothes that looked good on
me.
It made my best friend roll his eyes. He only wore the same kind
of polo shirt, every single day. Speaking of Hollis, I found him in the
university library, headed right toward our usual table.
I hugged him with one arm first, then I dumped my bag into an
empty chair and sipped my latte. “I just got hit on by three different
Alphas.”
Hollis pursed his lips. “Seriously?”
 I nodded.
He sighed. “Could you try to look a little less–” He waved his
hands around my face. “You know.”
I mock-gasped. “Are you slut shaming me?”
Hollis’s face crumpled. “No. No, of course not.” He patted my
hand. “I know it’s them, not you.” He scrubbed at his eyes. “I just
worry.”
Shit. Now it was my turn to feel bad. And he felt so guilty that I
couldn’t keep poking at him. Hollis was my rock. He was the older
brother I’d never had, even though he was only eleven months older
than me. And he didn’t want me to change.
Hollis had been my self-appointed protector since preschool. Not
that I didn’t appreciate it. He’d saved my life more than once. And
he’d saved me from a few things that I considered worse than
death.
I usually tried not to think about those threats. But for Hollis,
those incidents were always right at the front of his mind – the times
I was attacked. The times I was threatened, grabbed, touched, and
the time I was almost sold.
Yep. Sold.
I suppressed a shudder and grinned up at him. He was so much
taller than I was, to the point where a lot of people didn’t even think
he was an omega.
He got mistaken for an Alpha all the time. He said he preferred it
that way, but sometimes I think it hurt his feelings.
He took his usual seat and I fell into the one across from him.
We worked in silence for at least thirty minutes. I was typing up
some case notes while he read one of his architecture books with his
usual laser focus.
I whacked him on the arm. “Hey. You have a hot date tonight.
Tell me what you’re going to do with your sugar daddy.”
“Shh!’ His eyes darted around. “Don’t say that so loud.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. If I had a gorgeous vampire taking me
out, I’d shout it from the rooftop.” But I relented. For some reason,
Hollis was deeply ashamed of going to the club.
 I was ashamed. And I was also out of options. I hadn’t spoken to
my parents since I left our hometown in Tennessee, and I planned
to keep it that way, so no help would be coming from them.
Since I was in my senior year of college, my major required
intern hours. Sadly, they weren’t paid. My internship was at a group
home, where I got to help kids like me. Small omegas who were
Alpha-bait, basically. I could relate to what they were going
through.
I also had a job as a caregiver at the omega rehab center, where
I helped take care of babies who were born to omegas who were
addicted to drugs. The center did everything they could to help the
parent get clean, and support the omega’s relationship with his or
her children, for as long as necessary. It was a rewarding job, but I
could only work ten hours a week, which wasn’t nearly enough
hours to pay my bills.
So it was already hard to make ends meet. And I liked to um,
indulge. That was a good word. I liked to have lunch out, even if it
was just a sandwich. And I liked nice shoes too – the kids at the
program where I worked always enjoyed my new shoes. And I liked
being able to buy new crafts and activities for the rec room there.
My brothers would be disappointed, especially Cason who had
ranted many times about the dangers of credit card debt.
But getting a sugar daddy club could be my path to getting out
of debt. I wasn’t going to be able to handle a vampire, no way. But
maybe a mage or something like that. I’d heard the Fae were mean,
so I’d probably steer clear of them too.
I tipped my phone screen so Hollis couldn’t see it. I sure wasn’t
going to use one of the library computers for this kind of search. .
Once I was sure Hollis was completely absorbed, I typed in the
words Silver Moon Exchange Club.
I was going to apply.
 CHAPTER 3: GATLIN

I tore at my uncle’s throat, biting into his jugular. Each of my

movements were precise. Some kind of deep wolf instinct kicked in,
and my wolf body knew exactly what to do to defend my brother.
With a jerk of my head, it was over for my uncle.
Once he was down, I moved to the next guard, who was frozen
in place, right behind my brother. I went for his throat too; it was
the most expedient way.
The other guard had tried to run. With a burst of speed, I raced
after him. I caught him less than thirty feet away. I leaped up,
pressing my front paws against his shoulders and shoved him to the
ground. Once he was down, I shifted back into a human and cracked
his neck to the side. He was dead before he hit the ground.
I saved Zachary for last. He’d lurked behind the trees, watching.
I shifted again, going from human to wolf in a split second. With a
loud growl, I took off. He tried to run, but he was too fucking slow
for me.
He was dead ten seconds later. I looked down at the vivid red
blood staining my fur.
I’d never been a killer. For the last few years, I’d been saving
lives. But those years with the fire department had honed my skills.
The speed, the dexterity, the split-second decision making, all of that
came together to make me good at ending a life as well as saving it
When I shifted back into my human form, someone threw a
towel at me, and I wrapped it around my waist. Too late, I realized it
wasn’t for modesty. I’d spent too much time with humans. They
cared a lot more about nudity than shifters did. Because shifters
don’t care much at all.
I stared down as blood dripped from my hands onto the cloth.
A shifter stepped forward. “Gatlin. That towel is so you can wipe
your hands”
Right. I knew that now. I squinted at the shifter. It was one of
my cousins. I needed to wash off, get my brother, and get the hell
out of here.
“Jackson?” Fuck. Where was he? I had done all that, right in
front of my brother. Hadn’t he been traumatized enough? I found
him standing next to one of our other cousins.
He stared at me with his mouth open. He didn’t look particularly
upset. In fact, when he finally closed his mouth, he curved his lips
into a smile. “Gatlin! Thank you. Oh my God. Thank you.” My brother
threw his arms around me.
“I’m covered in blood.”
“I don’t care. That was amazing. You just…” He shook his head.
“You just ended them. Just like that.”
“Let’s go. I’m going to rinse off in the lake, and then we’ll get out
of here.”
It was only then that I realized the entire pack was standing
nearby, grouped in small clusters, hidden among the tree line.
“Wait,” a woman said. It was the eldest pack member. She’d
been old when I was born.
“You’re the new pack Alpha,” she said. I stumbled backward
while she cupped her hands around mine. “This pack belongs to you
now. Just as it always should have.”
I let her touch my hands without thinking. They were coated in
my uncle’s blood.
New pack Alpha?
I’d just killed four shifters in less than two minutes. I was
justified, sure. But that didn’t mean I liked it. You were always going
to be good at killing.
“I’m not the pack-anything.” I tugged on my brother’s arm. “Let’s
go.”
 I hadn’t come here planning to be Alpha. I hadn’t come here
planning to kill anyone. I’d only been trying to protect my brother.
He was an omega. A twenty year old omega. And our Alpha – or
former Alpha now, I supposed – had planned to force him into an
unwanted mating. The humans I knew in Ohio would call that rape.
“I don't want to leave,” Jackson said.
“Why the fuck do you want to stay here?” Not a single one of
these fuckers had stepped in to help my brother when he needed it
the most. All of them had stood by while my brother was treated like
trash.
I didn’t say that out loud, because I knew pack dynamics were
complicated. Maybe they’d been terrified of my uncle. Maybe he
threatened them all. But that changed nothing for me.
“It’s my home,” he said. “They’re my family.”
As if he could read my mind, my brother stepped away. Shit. I’d
managed to smear blood on him too.
He pointed at a young female shifter. “Jaylen helped me run
away and hide.” He pointed to an older male, someone who’d be our
grandfather’s age, if he were alive. “David has been letting me stay
at his house, when Trevor was going off the rails.” He pointed to a
male close to his own age. “And Nate has been giving me food when
I was grounded.”
Jesus. That prick had been starving my brother? While I was off
playing human firefighter? What the hell was wrong with me?
Jackson lowered his voice to a whisper. “Please don’t blame
them. You have no idea what it was like.”
Fair enough. I’d failed, and they hadn’t done enough in my
opinion, but apparently Jackson had people looking out for him,
which was more than I’d done.
So I was in no place to judge. I just wish someone had let me
know. I’d have come back a lot sooner.
Jackson squeezed my arm. “Will you stay? Will you come back
home?”
Hell. I wanted to say no. But I wasn’t going to leave him alone
again.
 And what did I have to go back to? Yeah, I was good at my job
as a firefighter, but they didn't need me there, not really. Someone
could take my place. I wasn’t sure if that was true here. No one else
could look after my brother the way I could.
Even if he didn’t need me, I couldn’t go back to my life in Ohio.
How could I go talk to human kids about fire safety? How could I
teach them to stop, drop and roll and then pass out fire hats,
knowing I’d just murdered four shifters? I couldn’t. I wasn’t fit for
human life, not now.
Yeah, maybe those shifters deserved it. Or maybe I went too far.
There was no judge and there was no jury in a wolf shifter pack,
which I’d always hated. In many packs, everything was left up to the
Alpha. Some had a council that helped, and my father had insisted
on a consensus, which is what led to his death. So I wasn’t sure
what the hell I thought.
“I’ll stay,” I said. I needed to be here to pick up the pieces. “I’m
not leaving you, not again. Are you sure you don’t want to go? I’ll
take you anywhere. We can be on a plane to Rome in an hour,” I
told Jackson. I’d kept a current passport for us both. “Or London.
Tokyo. Rio. Anywhere.”
“No. I don’t want to run.”
“Moving away isn’t running.”
He didn’t reply. “Come on. We need to get you cleaned up.”
Right. I was still standing there, wearing only a threadbare towel,
and I was soaked in blood that wasn’t my own.
I looked around. The entire pack was staring at me. Were they
afraid of me? It didn’t matter if they were. I could lay low and stay
out of their way. I only needed to be here for Jackson.
I was going to need some industrial soap if I wanted to get this
off of me. Or maybe I should leave it on. I could let the rest of the
wolves smell the traces of Trevor’s blood on my hands, and remind
them of what happened to anyone who tried to hurt my brother.
Jesus. I’d been back for less than an hour and I was practically
feral.

***
Two hours later, I was sitting inside my brother’s home. The Hawk
Pack land spanned several miles, but all of the homes were clustered
together in the center, on the southeast side of the lake.
My brother had made me scrub myself three times before he let
me sit at his table.
“Gatlin. You know what I’m going to say.”
“Do I?”
“You’re the Alpha.”
“Just because one shifter says so doesn’t make it true.”
“It’s what everyone thinks, not just her.”
“I can’t be the Alpha.” I don’t even want to be here.
“It’s you, or someone else steps up. It could be another crazy
person. Someone sadistic like Trevor,” Jackson said.
I’m not Alpha material.
I’m not our father.
But I wasn’t our uncle either. I wasn’t twisted enough to sit by
and let someone else become Alpha, not if that shifter was going to
harm innocent pack members.
Two weeks went by. I was doing my best to try and learn how to
run a pack, but I still felt as though I was operating from under a
thick mental fog. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be back
in Ohio, either. I only wanted to keep Jackson safe.
“You know what? You need a mate,” Jackson said one day while
we were hunting. Each shifter hunted for himself or herself, but
since I was stronger and faster, I went out and hunted the larger
game for our pack dinners.
That was something Jackson had suggested – pack dinners
where we all ate together around a bonfire. Apparently Trevor had
hated stuff like that.
“I don’t want a mate. Not now.” I had a pack to run. I had zero
time for dating.
“The Alpha has to have a mate. That’s how it works. An Alpha
can’t be single.”
“Why not?”
“You know. Because it makes him look unstable.”
 Unstable? Well. That was the last thing I needed.
Jackson nudged Wilder, who was sitting across from us. “Tell
him.”
Wilder was the senior mage now, but he’d apparently been
banned from the pack during my uncle’s rule, and unaware of what
was happening to my brother.
“He’s right. As the pack’s official mage, I have to agree with
Jackson. A pack-Alpha without a mate won’t last long.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. It’s not an exact science, but there are no records of
any single pack-Alpha lasting longer than eight months leading a
pack without an omega. Having a partner to share the mental load
with matters. A lot.”
I sighed.
Wilder clapped me on the bicep. “You don’t have to find a mate
right away. Just dating will help. It’s psychological. I can’t give you
hard evidence, but I can promise that you, and by extension, the
pack, will be much better off if you date an omega.”
Shit. Okay. I wasn’t sure about any of that, but at least I didn’t
have to start with a mate. If I dated, I could buy myself some time,
six months at least.
Since I’d moved back to Crestfire Hill, I’d reconnected with a few
of my old friends, both shifter and non-shifter. And one of those
friends had mentioned a site to me. A site that he’d used himself.
He’d talked it up so much that I now had it bookmarked on my
phone. A site I’d never mention to anyone in my pack: the Silver
Moon Exchange. A club for wealthy supernatural Alphas to find
omega sugar babies in need of financial help.
I didn’t love the idea. But I also wasn’t interested in dating for
real. If I paid someone, he wouldn’t be upset when it ended.
“I’ll start dating again. That will have to be enough.” If I went to
the club, I sure as fuck wasn’t going to tell my brother.
The pack would freak the fuck out if I paid for a date. But that
wasn’t my problem, because they weren’t going to know.
When I was certain I was alone, I pulled up the sugar daddy
website.
 I submitted an application. Thankfully I knew one of the
founders, so I was accepted quickly, but I still had to go through the
background check.
Was I really going to bring an unknown omega into our pack?
At least he’d be vetted too. He’d have a background check, and I
would feel okay about allowing him around my brother.
 CHAPTER 4: HAVEN

IT TOOK ME a few days to finish the application for the sugar daddy
club, and another full day to be approved. Just twenty-four hours
after I submitted my application, I got my approval notice from the
club. Maybe it was because I knew Hollis. Although I’d requested in
the notes that they not use him as a reference and apparently they’d
respected that.
Now I just had to figure out how to get to the club without any
of my brothers noticing. It helped that Hollis was preoccupied with
his vampire. He was the mother-hen of our group.
He was gone on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays with his sugar-
Alpha. I was going to go on a Tuesday. I’d just have to be discreet.
Danny was quietly observant though. And if he or Baylor figured
out my scheme, they’d rat me out for sure.
I could probably talk Ace or Cason into going with me without
selling me out. But either of them could let it slip in a moment of
excitement. Neither was known for their discretion.
When Hollis looked at me, he still saw that terrified sixteen year
old. But that wasn’t me, not for years now. I was a senior in college.
I was a social work major who was doing an internship in a group
home. I’d seen how bad things could really get for an omega.
Thanks to my brothers, I’d avoided that fate. I would never ever
forget that. Even if I got irritated when Hollis was overbearing.
I couldn’t leave dressed for the club. Everyone would notice.
Hollis tried to leave in a polo shirt and khaki pants, but we’d gotten
our hands on him before he got out the door.
 “I’m going to pick up a shift at the rehab center tonight,” I said
to Cason. He was the only one home. “I’m saving up for Christmas.”
This would not be considered unusual by most people, but none of
us bought gifts for Christmas. We bought a tiny tree and made a
meal together, listened to Christmas music and drank hot chocolate.
So normally, there was nothing to save for.
Cason didn’t look up from his controller. When he wasn’t
programming, he was gaming. “Have fun,” he said.
Easy.
I yanked the door open with a spring in my step. Soon I’d be
able to pay off my debt. And maybe think about getting a master’s
degree. I could be a therapist, or a community organizer.
As soon as I tugged open the door to the stairs, Danny
appeared.
Ah. I should have known better. Getting out of the apartment
had been far too easy. His forehead wrinkled. Danny was objectively
beautiful, maybe the prettiest of all of us, with his shiny black hair,
his dark solemn eyes and his thoughtful gaze. But he was so very
serious; he always had been.
My brothers saw me as the one to protect, but really they
needed to be watching Danny instead. He didn’t get chased as much
as I had, back home. But he was the one who was affected the
most. He’d never been able to brush off the past as well as I had.
I’d spent a lot of time dealing with my demons, and now I found
solace in making jokes about them. But Danny didn’t. I also wanted
to let go of the past so I could have a good time and live a little.
Sure, it was hard. Any club I visited ended with me being
swarmed by horny Alphas. Even if they were respectful, it meant
that I had to be on my guard, constantly. Sometimes it just wasn’t
worth the effort. I was hoping the Silver Moon Exchange would be
different, with all its formal rules and procedures about meeting a
potential sugar daddy.
“Where are you going?” Danny asked.
“I’m picking up someone else’s shift at the center.”
Danny narrowed his eyes, semi-glaring at me. “This late at
night?”
 “Yeah.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I am.”
“Haven, what are you doing?” He brushed his hand over my
forearm. “Are you going on a date?”
“No. Of course not. You know I don’t date without my
bodyguards.”
“Is it too much? Are we too intense?” He frowned. “I can get
Hollis to back off. Baylor too.”
“No.” I waved my hands. I definitely didn’t want him ringing any
alarm bells to our group. That would end with more scrutiny focused
on my comings and goings. “You know what it was like. You were
there. Hell, it happened to you too.”
“I know. But you’re an adult now. You shouldn’t feel like you
have to answer to us.” He pressed his lips together. “We could find a
way for you to date that’s safe.”
Oh damn. Now I felt bad. “No. I will never think you guys are too
much. Yeah, it’s a lot knowing that any time I go on a date that
Cason’s going to do a background check that may or may not be
legal and Baylor is going to tag along acting as my bodyguard. But I
know why.” How could I forget?
Sometimes I needed this reminder that my friends went through
all of that shit with me. And Danny’s situation at home had been just
as bad as mine. We’d been the ones to sneak him out of his parents’
house when he was just a few days away from turning eighteen,
making sure they never found him again.
He studied me. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” Jesus. The guilt was going to gnaw my stomach
apart. I hated lying to Danny. I hated lying to anyone really. But I
had no choice.

***

The club itself was amazing. It was all stylish and sleek, while being
understated. Hollis had been holding out on me when he described it
as ‘nice.’ As an architecture major, he was obsessed with buildings,
and there was no way he hadn't admired all the rough stone paired
with expensive dark wood.
“Which room would you like?” the woman at the front desk asked
me.
I froze. Oh hell. I hadn’t decided yet. “Can you tell me my
options?” I asked, like this was a dessert menu and I couldn't choose
between ice cream or chocolate cake.
“Vampires are the top-tier,” she said.
No. Not that one. Hollis went for a blood-sucker, and by all
accounts he was awesome. But I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to have
sex with anyone who drank my blood, or lived for a thousand years.
“Shifters of all kinds, such as bears, foxes, and wolves. There are
Fae, and magic-users, as well as trolls and orcs.”
So many to choose from. “Shifters,” I said. There were a few
shifters at the university. I didn’t know them well, but they seemed
nice enough.
“Which type?”
“Um.” I had no idea.
“There are mainly wolf shifters here tonight.”
“That works.”
Someone showed up to guide me, and the next thing I knew I
was being led into a room full of Alphas. Not just any old Alphas, but
wolf shifter Alphas, supposedly the most territorial beings on the
planet.
Why had I chosen them again? Oh right. Because I'd read that
they were the most protective of omegas.
The least likely to rip out my throat.
This was so awkward.
As soon as I walked in, I felt eyes on me.
What did you expect?
This was how it went. I strutted around, and Alphas salivated.
It would be nice if one of them tried to get to know me, although
that probably was never going to happen. I liked how I looked, but I
also wanted to have real conversations too. I wanted to be taken
seriously, and yet I wanted Alphas to find me hot. That feeling was
possibly contradictory, but it was the truth.
 But here, in this club, I could hardly get mad when Alphas picked
me out because I was hot, or because I smelled good. This was a
business transaction, and it was okay if they didn’t want to get to
know me.
I was here to be a sugar baby, and I was okay with that.
Or so I thought.
“Hello Haven,” one of the Alphas said, looking down to read my
nametag. “Is this your first time here?”
Oh fuck. No. This was all wrong. Yeah, it was my first time here,
and I couldn’t do it. Not because I was scared of the Alpha, but
because I'd lied to my friends.
I ran, bolting from the room.
I’d lied to the only family I had, the guys who’d stood beside me
since we were all four years old. The brothers who’d risked their
lives for me.
And of course they’d forgive me, eventually. This was hardly the
worst thing any of us had done. But I didn’t want to start this entire
plan off with deception. I was going to go home, confess everything
and then start over back at the club with a pure conscience. I would
be honest, but I wouldn’t let Hollis talk me out of it.
I stumbled straight into a bush. I finally stopped running long
enough to realize I’d gone the wrong way. I was outside, in a
courtyard of some kind. I bent over, panting while I caught my
breath. I was in good shape, but the panic had reduced my air
supply.
Once I’d sort of regained my composure, I looked up at the sky.
The night was clear, so I could just keep going. I was definitely not
interested in traipsing back through the dining room, I made my way
over to the brick wall at the back of the property. It was made for
looks, not security. I jumped, grabbing the top and hauled myself
up.
My jeans scraped against the rough stone. I nearly fell backward,
but at the last second I caught myself.
Whew. I exhaled and sat for a minute to collect myself.
I heard a noise, and when I turned to look, a pair of eyes
glittered, right next to me.
 I screamed. I gripped the wall. Hell. Those eyes belonged to a
shifter who was just sitting out here like I was.
“Sorry,” I said to him, but it was too late.
With a graceful twist, the shifter next to me vaulted over the wall
and disappeared.
Seconds later, a Fae guard came running toward me. “Omega.
Why did you scream?” he demanded.
“Um. Sorry. I almost fell.” My words came out in a squeaky rush.
“You shouldn’t be up there.”
Thanks asshole. “I just needed a minute, and the sky looks really
nice tonight.” I tried to force a smile.
“Come down.” His hand reached toward me, but I yanked away.
“Don’t touch me,” I said.
Behind the wall, a low growl sounded.
Before I knew it, the shifter from before was crouched on the
wall. “You heard him, Fae. Hands to yourself.”
It was the Alpha wolf shifter whose eyes I’d seen glimmering in
the dark. And he was very high-powered, if the energy thrumming
off of him was any indication. Usually us humans didn’t notice stuff
like that; we didn’t have the awareness for it. But if the supernatural
was powerful enough, we could sense it.
My stomach swooped. Not only was he high-powered, but his
voice was a deep rich timbre, and he smelled really, really good. I
couldn’t see his face in the dark, but I could see the outline of his
broad shoulders.
I grabbed the back of my pants. Oh hell. I was getting wet. I was
not immune to the charms of a grumbly shifter who was sticking up
for me.
I also hadn’t come prepared. All of us had absorbent underwear,
made to keep any private slickness away from prying eyes.
For me, after years of being hounded by horny Alphas, when
they hit on me, I was either annoyed or wary. I hadn’t gotten
randomly turned on in years, so I never needed to take this kind of
precaution. In fact, the last time it happened was my freshman year
of college.
 The Fae stepped back. “The wall is here for a reason. It is not
safe for you to leave the premises that way, omega.”
No place was ever really safe for me. Morbid, but true. I tried not
to dwell on it too much. Plenty of omegas didn’t have the kind of
backup that I did. “Thank you for your advice.”
“I’ll escort you back in,” the Fae said, ignoring my dismissal.
The Alpha growled again but said nothing. Instead he looked at
me with those glittering eyes. He inhaled, but still didn’t speak.
The Fae guard pulled out a radio. “Office, please make a note
that an omega by the name of Haven is on the south wall. He
refused assistance.”
He pointed up at me. “Do not try and sue the club later.”
Jesus. “I wouldn't dream of it.”
After giving me a steely-eyed glare, the guard left.
Of course the wolf was still there, still watching me. “What are
you doing out here?” I asked. I tried to stay still, hoping to God that
the wolf couldn’t smell how slick I was.
His eyebrows lifted. Had he thought I’d ignore him?
“I shouldn’t have come here,” he said. His low voice rumbled
from his chest.
Oh Christ. Again with that voice. I was a sucker for really deep
voices. Not all Alphas had them. Plenty of the ones who’d harassed
me back home had high-pitched whiny voices.
“Why not?” I asked.
He made a sound but didn’t answer me. He tilted his head. “Are
you okay? You came out here for a reason.”
Wait a second. Of the two of us out here on this brick wall, I was
the social worker in training. I was supposed to be asking the
questions. Or, maybe he was a social worker too. Generally, Alphas
steered clear of any type of job that was deemed ‘for omegas,’ or
‘omega-ish’ and that included being a social worker, a nurse, a
teacher, or a childcare provider.
Maybe he was an open-minded Alpha. Or maybe he was one of
those protective Alphas. I hadn’t met too many of those. Most of
them just wanted in my pants. Some had tried to pretend they were
looking out for me, but it always ended the same way, with them
thinking that I owed them, that I’d get on my knees or bend over for
them as a thank you for sicking up for me.
No, thank you. My brothers stuck up for me, at great personal
risk, and never expected a single thing in return. Which is why I felt
so bad for lying right to Danny’s face.
“I’m good,” I said. “I freaked out a little, decided to leave, and
went the wrong way. Now that I’m out here, I don’t want to go back
in.”
“Why were you freaking out? What happened? This place is
supposed to be safe for omegas.”
Jeez. He was kind of giving me Hollis-vibes at the moment. “It is
safe. Nothing happened,” I said. “I felt guilty because I lied to my
friends to be here.”
“Why did you lie to your friends?”
Was I really going to sit here and tell this stranger my business?
Yes, yes I was. He didn’t know me, so I didn’t have to care what he
thought. All of my school friends would probably judge me. Not
harshly or anything, but they would want to psychoanalyze me and
apply a few therapy buzzwords. They’d also point out that I had run
from the truth, and that I should be honest with my friends, and if
they loved me, they would support me.
All of that was true. Sometimes I just reverted to my old ways of
coping.
“No one knows you’re here?” His eyes flashed. “That’s not
smart.”
“We just finished establishing that this place was safe.”
“Nothing is safe.”
Well. That was a downer. Even if I agreed with him in some
ways.
“You don’t have to call me dumb,” I said. Why was I still sitting
there? I could leave the fence at any time. The guard was still
watching. My instincts were usually pretty good, and I didn’t think
this Alpha had any sinister plans for me.
“You need to be careful.”
Ah, more lectures. “So no apology for insulting me?”
“No, I’d rather you be safe than happy.”
 “I think I can be both.”
“You must’ve grown up under a rock,” he grumbled.
Ha. If only he knew. “More like a wide spot in the road.”
“Sheltered, then. I’m glad for you,” he said quietly, nearly in a
whisper.
“Oh, I wasn’t sheltered. Even if you discount all the times I was
attacked as a teenager, my own parents tried to sell me.”
He exhaled with a hiss. “What did you just say?”
“They tried to sell me to an Alpha when I was a senior in high
school. You know how it goes.”
“No, I do not know how it goes. Where are they? Are you in
danger now? And who is excusing these Alphas who attacked you?”
I held up my hand, palm facing him. “Hey dude, chill out, this
was all years ago.”
“I am not going to chill out. Not when I know there are omegas
in danger.”
“I really do appreciate that. But my brothers took care of it for
me.”
The tension in his shoulders relaxed a fraction.
“You have brothers. Good.”
“They’re not biological brothers. They’re my friends. But they’re
better than real brothers.”
“Are they Alphas?”
“No. We’re all omegas.”
“Not good enough.”
“Excuse me? Each of my brothers is worth ten of you.”
“Not if someone comes after you.”
I was done. No one insulted my friends. He clearly had no idea
what he was talking about.
But I knew. I had lived through it, more than once. My brothers
had rescued me when no one else would, certainly not an Alpha.
A loser Alpha had come after me, back in our swamp-ass
hometown. The Alpha had been young too, a stock-boy at our local
grocery store. I’d only been looking at some blueberries, but that
moment alone was all it took. He’d dragged me off and locked me in
the stockroom, but my brothers had saved me.
 Hollis broke the lock off with a crowbar and charged into the
room after me. Baylor punched the Alpha and held a knife to his
throat. I saw Hollis tap the crowbar against the Alpha’s ribs and then
he made Ace pull me out of the room. Later on, I found out that
Baylor broke the Alpha’s wrist with his bare hands.
It was a good memory in many ways, but a harrowing one as
well. I didn’t need to get stuck there, not right now.
“I don’t need to justify myself to you,” I said to the wolf shifter.
He might be hot, but that couldn’t undo rude. I wasn’t sure how I
was ever going to find a sugar daddy. I was probably way too
mouthy and hot-headed.
I swung my legs around and twisted, slipping to the ground on
the other side.
Woods surrounded me. I was alone. But at least I was rid of that
obnoxious Alpha wolf shifter.
 CHAPTER 5: GATLIN

WELL SHIT. THE little omega was gone.

He’d clearly been pissed off about what I said, but it was true.
There was no way an omega could protect another omega against
an Alpha. Look at what had just happened in my pack.
I rolled my shoulders out. Hell. I shouldn’t have even come out
here. But after arriving at the club, I’d spent fifteen stifling minutes
trapped inside before I started to sweat, so I’d gone outside to clear
my head. After so long living among humans, being packed into a
building with so many other supernatural Alphas was beyond
intense.
Being packed inside with vampires, Fae, orcs, trolls, and other
shifters had my wolf wanting to growl. My wolf knew I was the new
pack-Alpha, and even though it had only been for one week, I’d
been in my own territory for that entire time. This was my first time
out, and I should have known it would have my wolf restless and
irritable.
I hadn’t even looked at any of the omegas. When I got there, I
ate five of the steak appetizers they had out. Clearly they
understood the wolf shifter metabolism, because there was plenty of
rare meat. Once I’d consumed enough food, I’d taken a glass of
whiskey and stood against the back wall.
“Is this boring you?” my friend Saxon had asked, lifting one of his
eyebrows as he stared at me. “Are there not enough potential dates
to interest you?”
“No. I’m not bored. It’s just weird being here.” I waved my
tumbler, nearly sloshing the whiskey out. “I feel like I’m fucking
shopping,” I muttered. All over the room, Alphas were looming over
omegas, while the omegas gazed up at them, batting their eyes.
Saxon and I had met when we were fourteen. His family had
moved over from Iceland decades earlier, settling in the Northwest
Territories for a while, then moving down to Crestfire Hill. His father
had come to our pack to meet with my father. Saxon had been
introduced to me as the future leader of his clan. We were supposed
to practice our diplomacy. Instead we’d snuck off and gone skinny
dipping in the lake. We’d kept in touch on and off through the years,
although I hadn’t seen him since I’d moved to Ohio.
“That is rather the point,” Saxon said, sipping his champagne.
“Although the shopping goes both ways, here.”
At least half of the omegas were human, and they all looked so
fragile. There was no way I could bring one of them back to our
pack.
“I have to go,” I’d said, drinking the whisky down in one gulp. It
wasn’t like it would affect me anyway.
Saxon hadn’t bothered to come after me. That wasn’t how Fae
behaved. He’d always had an air of being above any worldly
concerns, and apparently that included an Alpha who wasn’t fit to be
out in public. It didn’t matter. I’d known Saxon for long enough that
he wouldn’t think my behavior meant I wasn’t suitable to be a sugar
daddy.
But fuck. Maybe I wasn’t.
Either way, I had to go after the omega. There was no other
choice. I’d scared him away, and now he was in the woods alone.
Someone could find him. Someone who hadn’t been vetted, who
wasn’t a part of the Silver Moon Exchange. Someone could hurt him,
and it would be my fault for driving him away.
Seeing him triggered my protective instinct. What if that had
been Jackson, and some rough Alpha had scared him away? I
wouldn’t give up until I found the missing omega.
Shit. Now that I was thinking about my brother, I had an
uncontrollable urge to check on Jackson. I had to know he was safe.
Then I’d find the omega.
I texted my brother. Where are you?
 He replied immediately. Where R U?
He sure didn’t need to know I was signing up to be a sugar
daddy. I’m out. Are you safe?
Are U going to ask me this every time you leave my side?
Yes, I typed. I think it’s warranted. Considering.
Considering my ass.
Did he think this was funny? Jackson. Are you safe or are you
not? Answer me.
Not having good reception really sucked. Maybe my brother
would agree to some kind of tracking device but I doubted it.
Unwilling to waste anymore time texting, I dialed his phone.
“Hey,” he said, as if he hadn’t almost been kidnapped by an
insane Alpha just a week ago.
I kept my voice low so I didn’t spook the omega in case he was
within hearing range. “Listen, you are going to have to work with me
on this. I cannot protect you if you don’t take this seriously.”
“Geez,” he huffed. “Okay, I will.”
Wasn’t he too old to be acting like a petulant teenager? Maybe
he was stunted because he’d spent the last part of his teen years
alone as an orphan, and his older brother had abandoned him.
Don’t spiral.
He was fine. That was what mattered.
I could become the pack-Alpha in order to protect my brother. I’d
stay until he was safe. And if that meant forever, then so be it. I told
him goodbye and focused on the omega in the woods. I’d spooked
him, so I would make sure he was safe.
But that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to see him again.
Wolf shifters could see in the dark. Really fucking well. And while
he was sitting there next to me, I could see every bit of his porcelain
skin, his button nose, and his high cheekbones. I could also see his
plush, full lips.
In addition to his looks, he’d smelled incredible. Like nothing I’d
ever scented before. He smelled like ripe fruit, maybe like mango,
and something tart, like pineapple. Often omegas smelled like
flowers to me, and while that was fine, it didn’t do much for me.
 But this sharp fruit-like scent… Jesus. I had to adjust my hard
cock in my pants.
In addition to his enticing smell, there’d been another scent. The
scent of slick. The smell an omega made when he was turned on.
Wolf shifters had a very well developed sense of smell, and there
was no denying this little omega had been aroused.
Had the omega been turned on when he left the club? Or had it
been when he started talking to me? I wasn’t going to lie to myself.
I wanted it to be because of me. I imagined peeling his tight pants
away from his lithe body, exposing his bare bottom to my gaze. I
envisioned pushing his legs apart and pressing my finger against his
leaking hole.
In the end, it didn’t matter. It was very dangerous for him to be
out in the open smelling like that. There were too many Alphas who
would take advantage.
It wouldn’t take me long to find him.
 CHAPTER 6: HAVEN

MAYBE CHARGING OFF into the night, in a place I’d never been
before, no less, hadn’t been my best idea. But it was too late for
regrets now that I was alone in the woods, at night, with pants that
were damp from slick.
I considered stopping to take my underwear off and stuff them in
my pocket, but that seemed really stupid. I kept trudging along,
letting the wet patch chafe my skin. This was not how I’d planned
for this night to go.
What the heck was wrong with me? How had lust, of all things,
gotten the better of me? I’d barely seen the guy. I had no idea who
he was or what he looked like.
Of course, how he looked wasn’t so important for a sugar daddy.
He only needed to be wealthy enough to pay off my bills.
I let out a slightly hysterical laugh – that sounded way more
shallow than I intended. But I supposed the transactional nature of a
sugar daddy was quite shallow by its very essence.
But none of that mattered because the wolf shifter was an
asshole, and I wasn’t going to put up with his demeaning talk.
“Hello, don’t be scared. But I’m right behind you,” that same
deep voice said.
I screamed and jumped a foot into the air. I’d been far too stuck
in my own head and hadn’t even heard anyone approach.
I put my hand over my heart where my chest was heaving like
crazy. I spun around. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I
yelled. Lord. First this guy scared the shit out of me on the wall,
insulted every omega on the planet, and now he nearly had me
jumping out of my skin in the woods.
“No. But I am trying to save your life. Not only are we in a
secluded place with Alphas of every kind, but there are animals out
here too, like bobcats and bears. and who knows what else.”
He had a point. “And you’re a wolf shifter.”
“Yes. I am.”
“Why are you following me?” I should probably be nervous, but I
wasn’t.
“Because I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“And why do you care about me?”
“I care about anyone who could be attacked out here.”
“Ha. That hasn’t been my experience with most Alphas,” I said.
That probably wasn’t fair.
The Alphas at our college had never done anything inappropriate.
Of course, the campus was highly monitored, and they would face
immediate expulsion for any untoward behavior. There were also far
more omegas on campus than Alphas at our school. And for
omegas, Crestfire Hill was a much more welcoming place than my
hometown in Tennessee.
“You might be the scariest thing in these woods,” I said.
Haven! Jeez! Stop flirting! This guy is a jerk.
What was wrong with me? Usually I only flirted with betas. They
liked me, and they were rarely violent. I’d also never had one of
them think he could have me, just because he wanted me.
Alphas on the other hand… “Look, I’m sure you mean well, but I
don’t want or need an escort,” I said.
“Then ignore me.”
“I can’t do that. I know you’re there.” I had to get out of the
woods, and to the bus stop. I was mostly sure of where it was
located. This guy, with his wolf senses, could probably lead the way,
but I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask. I was fully capable of getting
myself back, even if I made a wrong turn.
“I’m very quiet.”
“Yes, and you’re quite stealthy, evidenced by me having no idea
that you were on that wall to begin. But I can’t just forget you’re
back there.”
“Why not?”
Was this guy for real? “Well, for one thing, historically, having an
Alpha following me, was not a good thing.” Oh. Shit. Why had I said
that? There was no reason for me to give this guy any fuel for his
bullshit.
He growled. “That is unacceptable.”
“Yeah. It’s the truth. Since you seem so concerned about me and
all.”
“I could walk in front of you. Or beside you. But I cannot leave
you alone. I won’t do it. But you could call someone and talk to him
or her if that feels safer.”
Huh. That was actually a good idea. Except that everyone that I
could call was not an option for obvious reasons.
I sighed. I wasn’t scared, just annoyed. And this weirdo wasn’t
going away. I might as well take advantage of the escort. “So why
are you here, acting as my protection detail? I’ve already spilled my
guts to you, so tell me something.”
“I have a brother. He’s an omega.”
“Oh transference,” I said, nodding.
“What?” he asked.
“You know, you’re projecting what you feel about your brother
onto me, and– You know what? Never mind.” No one wanted to hear
me go on about social work. Besides, him thinking of me as a
brother wasn’t the direction I saw this going.
But damn, if it didn’t get me hot. Not the brother angle, God no.
But the protection. I was still pissed off at the way he’d talked about
omegas being helpless, but he was so goddamn sexy, and I couldn’t
even fully see him.
I squirmed. My wet underwear did not feel good while walking.
“Do you have a car nearby?” he asked.
“Uh, no. That would require money. I’m not sure if you noticed,
but I was at the sugar daddy club, and I am definitely not a sugar
daddy. Are you a sugar daddy? Why were you here? I guess I
should’ve asked that earlier.”
“Do you always ask this many personal questions?”
 “Yes. It’s in my nature.” I shrugged. I liked information about
people. “Why? Do you find it annoying?”
“No.”
Clearly he was lying. “Why are you here?” I asked. “Are you a
guard? I guess if you were a guard, the other one would have
recognized you. Unless you’re a super secret guard or undercover or
a private guard or—” I cut myself off before he started to think I was
nuts.
“No. I’m not a guard.”
“You could be, because like you said, you’re very quiet. Sneaky.
And you’re kind of scary.”
He drew back. “You think I’m scary?”
Had I hurt his feelings? “The fact that you’re a wolf shifter makes
you scary. But you yourself are not scary.”
“I didn’t intend to scare you,” he said quietly.
“And you haven’t. If I were scared, I would’ve stayed at the
club.”
He growled.
“Why did you growl?”
“Instinct,” he said instantly. “I didn’t mean to.”
“But what is the instinct behind the growl?” I asked. “I don’t
know much about shifters. We only studied humans in my behavioral
classes.”
“It’s complicated.”
Ugh. This guy was frustrating. Thank God, I was certain I heard
the sound of cars close by. I was almost to the bus stop. “Were you
looking for a date at the club?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“As a sugar daddy,” I said. Sue me, I wanted clarification. I didn’t
like crossed wires.
He made a face. “I hate that term.”
“I found it helps me to just own it,” I said, even though I got that
not everyone was totally comfortable with the arrangement. Hollis,
for example, was extremely reluctant to be a sugar baby. He
definitely had not fully embraced the entire situation. He was afraid
of what his classmates, professors, future employers, and potential
clients would think.
In a lot of ways, the social work field was much more forgiving of
people. We needed a good set of ethics so we could help our clients
and patients, but what we did in our personal time was our own.
Finally we reached the treeline leading to the street, and the bus
stop was just beyond. “This is me.”
“Wait,” he said. He reached out, fingers skimming over my wrist.
He pulled back as if he realized he shouldn’t grab me, which was
really nice. “We got off to a rough start,” he said. “I’m Gatlin.”
I thought about not telling him my name, but what was the point
in that? I’d inadvertently shared a part of myself with him, by
getting turned on just from hearing him growl. “I’m Haven.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Haven.”
Aw Christ. The woods had been pretty dark, not even allowing
any moonlight in. But now I could see Gatlin, under the warm glow
of the streetlamp at the bus stop. He was gorgeous. That didn’t
even cover it. Gorgeous, handsome, sexy – he was all of those
things. He was tall and broad, as most shifters are, with well-defined
muscles and a sharp jawline. His hair was black and cut pretty short,
but it only served to highlight his straight nose and his dark eyes.

Jesus, even the way he said my name was hot. Yeah, he’d pissed me
off with the hovering, and the way he’d dismissed the competence of
omegas, but overall it seemed well-intentioned. And he wasn’t
wrong about the dangers, just way too pushy.
“So do you or do you not want a sugar baby?” I asked him. The
words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. He was
going to think I was offering.
Was I? Did I want to be his sugar baby?
I had no idea.
“I don’t want one. I need one,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
He looked around, as if someone might be listening to us. But
there was no one close by, just a few cars here and there, and a
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
A. D. 1897 (Zanzibar).
Abolition of slavery.

Under pressure from the British government, the Sultan of

Zanzibar issued a decree, on the 6th or April, 1897,
terminating the legal status of slavery, with compensation to
be awarded on proof of consequent loss.

AFRICA: A. D. 1897 (Zululand).

Annexation to Natal.

By act of the Natal Parliament in December, 1897, Zululand

(with Amatongaland already joined to it) was annexed to Natal
Colony, and Dinizulu, son of the last Zulu king, was brought
from captivity in St. Helena and reinstated.

AFRICA: A. D. 1897-1898 (Sudan).

Completion of the Anglo-Egyptian conquest.

See (in this volume)

EGYPT: A. D. 1897-1898.

AFRICA: A. D. 1897-1898 (Uganda).

Native insurrections and mutiny of Sudanese troops in Uganda.

See (in this volume)

UGANDA: A. D. 1897-1898.

AFRICA: A. D. 1898 (Abyssinia).

Treaty of King Menelek with Great Britain.

See (in this volume)

ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1898.

AFRICA: A. D. 1898 (British South Africa Company).

Reorganization.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (RHODESIA):
A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY).

AFRICA: A. D. 1898 (Egypt).

The Nile question between England and France.
Marchand's expedition at Fashoda.

See (in this volume)

EGYPT: A. D. 1898 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).

AFRICA: A. D. 1898 (Nigeria and the French Sudan).

Definition of French and English possessions in
West and North Africa.

See (in this volume)

NIGERIA: A. D. 1882-1899.
AFRICA: A. D. 1898 (Rhodesia).
Reorganization of the British South Africa Company and
the administration of its territories.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA
(RHODESIA AND THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY):
A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY).

AFRICA: A. D. 1898 (Tunis).

Results of the French Protectorate.

See (in this volume)

TUNIS: A. D. 1881-1898.

AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
Railway development.

"Railroad development in Africa has been rapid in the past few

years and seems but the beginning of a great system which must
contribute to the rapid development, civilization, and
enlightenment of the Dark Continent. Already railroads run
northwardly from Cape Colony about 1,400 miles, and
southwardly from Cairo about 1,100 miles, thus making 2,500
miles of the 'Cape to Cairo' railroad complete, while the
intermediate distance is about 3,000 miles. Mr. Rhodes, whose
recent visit to England and Germany in the interest of the
proposed through line from the Cape to Cairo is a matter of
record, and whose visit to Germany was made necessary by the
fact that in order to pass from the southern chain of British
territory to the northern chain he must cross German or
Belgian territory, is reported as confident that the through
line will be completed by the year 1910. Certainly it may
reasonably be assumed that a continuous railway line will be
in operation from the southern to the northern end of Africa
in the early years of the twentieth century. Toward this line,
present and prospective, which is to stretch through the
eastern part of the continent, lateral lines from either coast
are beginning to make their way. A line has already been
constructed from Natal on the southeast coast: another from
Lourenço Marquez in Portuguese territory and the gold and
diamond fields: another from Beira, also in Portuguese
territory, but considerably farther north, and destined to
extend to Salisbury in Rhodesia, where it will form a junction
with the 'Cape to Cairo' road; still another is projected from
Zanzibar to Lake Victoria Nyanza, to connect, probably, at
Tabora, with the transcontinental line; another line is under
actual construction westward from Pangani just north of
Zanzibar, both of these being in German East Africa; another
line is being constructed northwestwardly from Mombasa, in
British territory, toward Lake Victoria Nyanza, and is
completed more than half the distance, while at the entrance
to the Red Sea a road is projected westwardly into Abyssinia,
and is expected to pass farther toward the west and connect
with the main line. At Suakim, fronting on the Red Sea, a road
is projected to Berber, the present terminus of the line
 running southwardly from Cairo. On the west of Africa lines
have begun to penetrate inward, a short line in the French
Sudan running from the head of navigation on the Senegal
eastwardly toward the head of navigation on the Niger, with
the ultimate purpose of connecting navigation on these two
streams. In the Kongo Free State a railway connects the Upper
Kongo with the Lower Kongo around Livingstone Falls; in
Portuguese Angola a road extends eastwardly from Loanda, the
capital, a considerable distance, and others are projected
from Benguela and Mossamedes with the ultimate purpose of
connecting with the 'Cape to Cairo' road and joining with the
lines from Portuguese East Africa, which also touch that road,
thus making a transcontinental line from east to west, with
Portuguese territory at either terminus. Farther south on the
western coast the Germans have projected a road from Walfisch
Bay to Windhoek, the capital of German Southwest Africa, and
this will probably be extended eastwardly until it connects
with the great transcontinental line from 'Cape to Cairo,'
which is to form the great nerve center of the system, to be
contributed to and supported by these branches connecting it
with either coast. Another magnificent railway project, which
was some years ago suggested by M. Leroy Beaulieu, has been
recently revived, being no less than an east and west
transcontinental line through the Sudan region, connecting the
Senegal and Niger countries on the west with the Nile Valley
and Red Sea on the east and penetrating a densely populated
and extremely productive region of which less is now known,
perhaps, than of any other part of Africa. At the north
numerous lines skirt the Mediterranean coast, especially in
the French territory of Algeria and in Tunis, where the length
of railway is, in round numbers, 2,250 miles, while the
Egyptian railroads are, including those now under
construction, about 1,500 miles in length.
{4}
Those of Cape Colony and Natal are nearly 3,000 miles, and
those of Portuguese East Africa and the South African Republic
another thousand. Taking into consideration all of the roads
now constructed, or under actual construction, their total
length reaches nearly 10,000 miles, while there seems every
reason to believe that the great through system connecting the
rapidly developing mining regions of South Africa with the
north of the continent and with Europe will soon be pushed to
completion. A large proportion of the railways thus far
constructed are owned by the several colonies or States which
they traverse, about 2,000 miles of the Cape Colony system
belonging to the Government, while nearly all that of Egypt is
owned and operated by the State."

United States Bureau of Statistics,

Monthly Summary, August, 1899.

See, also, (in this volume),

RAILWAY, CAPE TO CAIRO.

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (June).

International Convention respecting the liquor traffic.
Representatives of the governments of Great Britain, Germany,
Belgium, Spain, the Congo State, France, Italy, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Norway, and Turkey,
assembled at Brussels, in June, 1899, with due authorization,
and there concluded an international convention respecting the
liquor traffic in Africa. Subsequently the governments of
Austria-Hungary, the United States of America, Liberia and
Persia, gave their adhesion to the Convention, and
ratifications were deposited at Brussels in June, 1900. The
Convention is, in a measure, supplemental to what is known as
"the General Act of Brussels," relative to the African slave
trade, which was framed at a conference of the representatives
of European, American, African, and Asiatic states, at
Brussels. The treaty known as the General Act of Brussels was
signed July 2, 1890, but did not come into force until April
2, 1894. The text of it may be found in (United States) House
Doc. Number 276, 56th Congress, 3d Session. The Convention of
1899 provides:

"Article I.
From the coming into force of the present Convention, the
import duty on spirituous liquors, as that duty is regulated
by the General Act of Brussels, shall be raised throughout the
zone where there does not exist the system of total
prohibition provided by Article XCI, of the said General Act,
to the rate of 70 fr. the hectolitre at 50 degrees centigrade,
for a period of six years. It may, exceptionally, be at the
rate of 60 fr. only the hectolitre at 50 degrees centigrade in
the Colony of Togo and in that of Dahomey. The import duty
shall be augmented proportionally for each degree above 50
degrees centigrade; It may be diminished proportionally for
each degree below 50 degrees centigrade. At the end of the
above-mentioned period of six years, the import duty shall be
submitted to revision, taking as a basis the results produced
by the preceding rate. The Powers retain the right of
maintaining and increasing the duty beyond the minimum fixed
by the present Article in the regions where they now possess
that right.

Article II.
In accordance with Article XCIII of the General Act of
Brussels, distilled drinks made in the regions mentioned in
Article XCII of the said General Act, and intended for
consumption, shall pay an excise duty. This excise duty, the
collection of which the Powers undertake to insure as far as
possible, shall not be lower than the minimum import duty
fixed by Article I. of the present Convention.

Article III.
It is understood that the Powers who signed the General Act of
Brussels, or who have acceded to it, and who are not
represented at the present Conference, preserve the right of
acceding to the present Convention."

Great Britain, Parliamentary Publication.

 (Papers by Command: Treaty Series, Number 13, 1900).

AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
Progress of the Telegraph line from the Cape to Cairo.

See (in this volume)

TELEGRAPH, CAPE TO CAIRO.

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (German Colonies).

Cost to Germany, trade, etc.

See (in this volume)

GERMANY: A. D. 1899 (JUNE).

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (Nigeria).

Transfer of territory to the British Crown.

See (in this volume)

NIGERIA: A. D. 1899.

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (Orange Free State).

Treaty of alliance with the Transvaal.
Making common cause.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (ORANGE FREE STATE):
A. D. 1897 (APRIL); and 1899 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (The Sudan).

Anglo-Egyptian Condominium established.

See (in this volume)

EGYPT: A. D. 1899 (JANUARY).

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (Transvaal and Orange Free State).

Outbreak of war with Great Britain.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (TRANSVAAL AND ORANGE FREE STATE):
A. D. 1899 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (West Africa).

Definition of British and German frontiers.

See (in this volume)

SAMOAN ISLANDS.

AFRICA: A. D. 1899 (Zanzibar).

Renunciation of rights of extra-territoriality by Germany.

See (in this volume)

SAMOAN ISLANDS.

AFRICA: A. D. 1899-1900.
Summary of the partition of the Continent.
 "Seven European nations, as before remarked, now control
territories in Africa, two of them having areas equal in each
case to about the entire land area of the United States, while
a few small territories remain as independent States.
Beginning at the northeast, Egypt and Tripoli are nominally at
least tributaries of Turkey, though the Egyptian Government,
which was given large latitude by that of Turkey, has of late
years formed such relations with Great Britain that, in
financial matters at least, her guidance is recognized; next
west, Algeria, French; then Morocco on the extreme northwest,
an independent Government and an absolute despotism; next on
the south, Spain's territory of Rio de Oro; then the Senegal
territories, belonging to the French, and connecting through
the desert of Sahara with her Algeria; then a group of small
divisions controlled by England, along the Gulf of Guinea;
then Liberia, the black Republic; Togoland, controlled by the
Germans; Dahomey, a French protectorate; the Niger territory,
one-third the size of the United States, controlled by
England; Kamerun, controlled by Germany; French Kongo; then
the Kongo Free State, under the auspices of the King of
Belgium, and occupying the very heart of equatorial Africa;
then Portuguese Angola; next, German South west Africa; and
finally in the march down the Atlantic side, Cape Colony,
British.
{5}
Following up the eastern side comes the British colony of
Natal; then just inland from this the two Boer Republics, the
Orange Free State and the South African Republic, both of
which are entirely in the interior, without ocean frontage;
next, Portuguese Africa, and west of this the great territory
known as 'Rhodesia'; then German Africa, which extends almost
to the equator; north of these, British East Africa, fronting
on the Indian Ocean, and merging northwardly with the Egyptian
Sudan, which was recently recovered from the Mahdi by the joint
operation of British and Egyptian troops, and the British flag
placed side by side with that of Egypt; next north, upon the
coast, Italian territory and a small tract opposite the
entrance to the Red Sea controlled by England; and a few
hundred miles west of the entrance to the Red Sea, the
independent Kingdom of Abyssinia. This division of African
territory, nearly all of it made within the memory of the
present generation, forms the present political map of Africa.
With England and France controlling an area equal in each case
to that of the United States; Germany, a territory one-third
the size of the United States; Portugal, with an area somewhat
less; the Kongo Free State in the great equatorial basin, but
having a frontage upon the Atlantic with an area nearly
one-third that of the United States; Italy and Spain, each
with a comparatively small area of territory; Egypt, with
relations quite as much British as Turkish; Tripoli, Turkish,
and the five independent States of Morocco, Liberia,
Abyssinia, and the two Boer Republics—nothing remains
unclaimed, even in the desert wastes, while in the high
altitudes and subtropical climate of southeast Africa
civilization and progress are making rapid advancement."
 United States Bureau of Statistics,
Monthly Summary, August, 1899.

The following table, given in an article in "The Forum,"

December, 1899, by Mr. O. P. Austin, Chief of the United
States Bureau of Statistics, shows the area, total population,
foreign population, and imports and exports of the territory
in Africa held by each European Government and by the
independent States of that continent, at the time of its
compilation so far as could be ascertained; but the statistics
of area and population, especially the latter, are in many
cases necessarily estimates:

POP.
TOTAL FOREIGN PER SQ.
AREA. POPULATION. POPULATION MILE IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
French Africa. 3,028,000 28,155,000 922,000 9.3
$70,116,000 $69,354,000
British Africa. 2,761,000 35,160,000 455,000 12.8
131,398,000 131,835,000
Turkish Africa. 1,760,000 21,300,000 113,000 12.2
54,091,000 62,548,000
German Africa. 944,000 11,270,000 4,000 12.0
4,993,000 2,349,000
Belgian Africa. 900,000 30,000,000 2,000 33.3
4,522,000 3,309,000
Portuguese Africa. 790,000 8,059,000 3,000 10.2
11,863,000 6,730,000
Spanish Africa. 243,000 36,000 … 0.5
… …
Italian Africa. 188,000 850,000 … 4.5
… …

Independent States.

Morocco. 219,000 5,000,000 … 22.8

6,402,000 6,261,000
Abyssinia. 150,000 3,500,000 … 23.3
… …
South African Republic. 120,000 1,096,000 346,000 9.2
104,703,000 53,532,000
Orange Free State. 48,500 208,000 78,000 4.3
5,994,000 8,712,000
Liberia. 48,000 1,500,000 25,000 31.3
1,217,000 1,034,000

Total. 11,189,500 146,133,000 1,948,000 …

$395,299,000 $345,714,000
 According to a statistical table in the twentieth volume of
Meyer's Konversations-Lexicon (third annual supplement), based
upon the latest data furnished by the boundary treaties
between the Powers, it would appear that all but about
one-seventh of the African continent is now (A. D. 1900)
included in some "protectorate" or "sphere of influence." The
French sphere is the largest, comprising about 3,700,000
square miles (about the extent of Europe) out of a total area
of 11,600,000. England comes next with 2,400,000 (including
the Boer territories). Then follow in order Germany, Belgium
(Congo Free State), and Portugal, each with somewhat less than
a million square miles. The Egyptian sphere (about 400,000
square miles) may properly be regarded as part of the British.
The extent of the French sphere will appear less imposing on
consulting the map of Africa here given, which shows that it
takes in the greater part of the sands of the Sahara. The
British sphere (including Egypt and her dependencies) is
estimated to contain in round numbers about 50,000,000 souls;
the French, 35,000,000; the Belgian, 17,000,000; the German,
9,000,000; the Portuguese, 8,000,000.

AFRICA: A. D. 1900 (Ashanti).

Revolt of the tribes.
Siege and relief of Kumasai.

See (in this volume)

ASHANTI.

AFRICA: A. D. 1900 (Togoland and Gold Coast).

Demarcation of the Hinterland.

Late in November it was announced from Berlin that conferences

regarding the British and German boundaries in West Africa
were then in progress in the Colonial Department of the German
Foreign Office, their principal object being the demarcation
of the Hinterland of Togoland and of the Gold Coast, and in
particular the partition of the neutral zone of Salaga as
arranged in Article 5 of the Samoa Agreement between Great
Britain and Germany.

See (in this volume)

SAMOAN ISLANDS.

AFRIDIS, British Indian war with the.

See (in this volume)

INDIA: A. D. 1897-1898.

AFRIKANDER BUND, The.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE, COLONY):
A. D. 1881-1888; 1898; and 1898 (MARCH-OCTOBER).

AFRIKANDER CONGRESS.
 See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (Cape Colony): A. D. 1900 (DECEMBER).

AFRIKANDERS:
Joining the invading Boers.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1899 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER.).

AFRIKANDERS:
Opposition to the annexation of the Boer Republics.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE COLONY): A. D. 1900 (MAY).

{6}

AGRARIAN PROTECTIONISTS, The German.

See (in this volume)

GERMANY: A. D. 1895-1898; 1899 (AUGUST); and 1901 (FEBRUARY).

AGRICULTURAL LAND BILL, The.

See (in this volume)

ENGLAND: A. D. 1896.

AGUINALDO y FAMY, Emilio.

First appearance in the Filipino insurrection.
His treaty with the Spaniards and departure from the Islands.

See (in this volume)

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1896-1898.

AGUINALDO y FAMY, Emilio.

Circumstances in which he went to Manila to co-operate with
American forces.

See (in this volume)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (APRIL-MAY: PHILIPPINES).

AGUINALDO y FAMY, Emilio.

Arrival at Manila, May 19, 1898.
His organization of insurgent forces.
His relations with Admiral Dewey.

See (in this volume)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-JULY).

AGUINALDO y FAMY, Emilio.

Correspondence with General Anderson.

See (in this volume)

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (JULY-AUGUST: PHILIPPINES).

AGUINALDO y FAMY, Emilio.

Relations with American commander at Manila.
Declared President of the Philippine Republic.

See (in this volume)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

AGUINALDO y FAMY, Emilio.

Conflict of his army with American forces.

See (in this volume)

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS:
A. D. 1898 (AUGUST-DECEMBER), and after.

ALABAMA: A. D. 1899.
Dispensary Laws.

Acts applying the South Carolina "dispensary" system of

regulation for the liquor traffic to seventeen counties, but
not to the State at large, were passed by the Legislature.

See, in this volume,

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1892-1899.

ALASKA: A. D. 1898-1899.
Discovery of the Cape Nome gold mining region.

"The Cape Nome mining region lies on the western coast of

Alaska, just beyond the military reservation of St. Michael
and about 120 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It can be
reached by an ocean voyage of ten or twelve days from Seattle.
It has long been known that gold exists in the general vicinity
of Cape Nome, and during the last five or six years a few
adventurous miners have done more or less prospecting and
claim staking throughout the district lying between Norton and
Kotzebue sounds. During the winter of 1898-99, a large number
of miners entered the Kotzebue country, while others spent the
season in the vicinity of Golofnin Bay." On the 15th of
October, 1898, a party of seven men reached Snake River in a
schooner. "Between that date and the 18th a miners' meeting
was held, the boundaries of a district 25 miles square were
established, local mining regulations were formulated, and Dr.
Kittleson was elected recorder for a term of two years. After
organizing the district natives were hired to do the necessary
packing, and a camp was established on Anvil Creek. The
prospecting outfits were quickly brought into service. In one
afternoon $76 was panned out on Snow Creek. Encouraged by this
showing lumber was carried up from the schooner and two
rockers were constructed. … In four or five days over $1,800
was cleaned up with these two rockers. … The weather turned
cold and the water was frozen up. As it was impossible to do
any more work with the rockers the party broke camp on the 3d
of November and returned to the schooner, which they found
frozen solid in 2 feet of ice. They then made their way in a
small boat to an Indian village, near Cape Nome, where they
obtained dogs and sleds, and a little farther on they were met
by reindeer from the Swedish Mission, with which they returned
to Golofnin Bay.

"The lucky miners had agreed among themselves that their

discovery should be held secret, but the news was too good to
keep, and soon leaked out. A general stampede commenced at
once and continued all winter. Every available dog and
reindeer was pressed into the service, and they were soon
racing with each other for the valuable claims which had been
left unstaked in the vicinity of Anvil Creek. As soon as that
creek had been all taken up the stampede extended to the
neighboring streams and gulches, and Glacier and Dexter
creeks, as well as many others which have not proved equally
valuable, were quickly staked and recorded. By the 25th of
December a large party armed with numerous powers of attorney
had entered the district, and as the local regulations allowed
every man to stake on each creek one claim of the full legal
dimensions (660 by 1,320 feet), it was not long until the
whole district had been thoroughly covered, and nearly every
stream had been staked with claims, which in some cases were
'jumped' and the right of possession disputed.

"The news of a rich strike at Nome worked its way up the Yukon
River during the winter, and as soon as the ice broke in June
a large crowd came down from Rampart City, followed by a
larger crowd from Dawson. The 'Yukoners,' as these people were
called, were already disgusted with the hardships,
disappointments, and Canadian misgovernment which they had met
with on the upper river. … Those to whom enough faith had been
given to go over to Cape Nome were disgusted and angered to
find that pretty much the whole district was already staked,
and that the claims taken were two or three times as large as
those commonly allowed on the upper river. Another grievance
was the great abuse of the power of attorney, by means of
which an immense number of claims had been taken up, so that
in many cases (according to common report) single individuals
held or controlled from 50 to 100 claims apiece. …

"A miners' meeting was called by the newcomers to remedy their

grievances. Resolutions were prepared, in which it was
represented that the district had been illegally organized by
men who were not citizens of the United States and who had not
conformed with the law in properly defining the boundaries of
the district with reference to natural objects, in enacting
suitable and sufficient mining regulations, and in complying
with any of the details of organization required by law. It
was intended by the promoters of this meeting to reorganize
the district in such a way as would enable them to share the
benefits of the discovery of a new gold field with the men who
had entered it the previous winter, and, as they expressed it,
'gobbled up the whole country.' It is, of course, impossible
to say what would have been the result if their attempt had
 not been interfered with. … On the 28th of June Lieutenant
Spaulding and a detachment of 10 men from the Third Artillery
had been ordered to the vicinity of Snake River, and on the
7th of July their numbers were increased by the addition of 15
more.
{7}
As soon as it was proposed to throw open for restaking a large
amount of land already staked and recorded an appeal was made
to the United States troops to prevent this action by
prohibiting the intended meeting, which was called to assemble
July 10. It was represented to them that if the newcomers
should attempt, under the quasi-legal guise of a miners'
meeting, to take forcible possession of lands already claimed
by others, the inevitable consequence would be a reign of
disorder and violence, with the possibility of considerable
bloodshed. On the strength of this representation and appeal
the army officers decided to prevent the adoption of the
proposed resolutions. The miners were allowed to call their
meeting to order, but as soon as the resolutions were read
Lieutenant Spaulding requested that they be withdrawn. He
allowed two minutes for compliance with his request, the
alternative being that he would clear the hall. The
resolutions were not withdrawn, the troops were ordered to fix
bayonets, and the hall was cleared quietly, without a
conflict. Such meetings as were subsequently attempted were
quickly broken up by virtue of the same authority. The light
in which this action is regarded by the people at Nome
depends, of course, upon the way in which their personal
interests were affected. …

"The great discontent which actually did exist at this time

found sudden and unexpected relief in the discovery of the
beach diggings. It had long been known that there was more or
less gold on the seashore, and before the middle of July it
was discovered that good wages could be taken out of the sand
with a rocker. Even those who were on the ground could hardly
believe the story at first, but its truth was quickly and
easily demonstrated. Before the month was over a great army of
the unemployed was engaged in throwing up irregular
intrenchments along the edge of the sea, and those who had
just been driven nearly to the point of desperation by the
exhaustion of all their resources were soon contentedly
rocking out from $10 to $50 each per day and even more than
that. This discovery came like a godsend to many destitute
men, and was a most fortunate development in the history of
the camp.

"Meantime the men who were in possession of claims on Anvil

and Snow creeks were beginning to sluice their ground and
getting good returns for their work, while others were
actively making preparations to take out the gold which they
knew they had discovered. More sluice boxes were constructed
and put into operation as rapidly as possible. A town site was
laid off at the mouth of Snake River, and on the 4th of July a
post-office was established. The town which has sprung so
suddenly into existence is called 'Nome' by the Post-Office
Department, but at a miners' meeting held February 28, it was
decided to call it 'Anvil City,' and this is generally done by
the residents of the district, as well as in all official
records. At a meeting held in September, however, the name was
again changed to 'Nome.'"

United States, 56th Congress, 1st session,

Senate Document Number 357, pages. 1-4.

"A year ago [that is, in the winter of 1898-1899] a few Eskimo
huts and one or two sod houses of white men were the only
human habitations along 60 miles of the present Nome coast.
Last June [1899] a dozen or score of tents contained the whole
population. By October a town of 5,000 inhabitants fronting
the ocean was crowded for a mile or more along the beach.
Hundreds of galvanized-iron and wooden buildings were
irregularly scattered along two or three thoroughfares,
running parallel with the coast line. There is every
description of building, from the dens of the poor
prospectors, built of driftwood, canvas, and sod, to the large
companies' warehouses, stores, and the army barracks—a city,
as it were, sprung up in the night, built under the most
adverse circumstances on the barren seacoast, a coast without
harbor, all the supplies being landed through the surf. … The
country contributes nothing toward the support of the
population except a few fish and a limited supply of
driftwood.

"The city is of the most cosmopolitan type and contains

representatives of almost every nationality on the globe:
Germans, Canadians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Russians, Swedes,
Norwegians, Poles, Chinese, negroes, Italians, Spaniards,
Greeks, Jews, and Americans. The dominant type is the
American, through whose efforts, with that inherent talent of
the Anglo-Saxon race for self-government, this isolated
community at once organized a city government. Before the
close of the summer Nome had a mayor, councilmen, a police
force, a deputy United States marshal, a United States
post-office, a fire department with town well, a board of
health, a hospital corps, and charitable organizations. A
majority of the people consists of the shifting population of
the Yukon country, which, upon hearing the news of the
discovery of gold, poured itself into Nome. … Along with the
shifting population of the Yukon from Dawson and other camps
came also many would-be explorers, adventurers, and especially
gamblers, but good order prevails throughout. Drunkenness,
disorderly conduct, and theft are promptly tried before the
police justice and punished by fine and imprisonment. Copies
of the official rules and regulations are kept posted before
the city hall and in other conspicuous places, as a warning to
all: 'Ignorance of the law is no excuse.' Some of the well-known
'toughs' and most undesirable characters are reported to have
been rounded up by the authorities late in the fall and
exported to the States. … There are several printing presses
and three newspapers—the Nome News, Nome Herald, and Nome Gold
Digger. … There are at least 2,500 people now [February, 1900]
 wintering at Nome, and, by estimate, at least several thousand
are on their way there by winter routes. …

"Since, according to the conservative estimate of those who

are best situated to judge, it is believed that the Nome
region will have a population of at least 30,000 or 40,000
people this year (1900), some public improvements there seem
not only commendable but urgently necessary. Among these the
most important are: Some municipal form of government, water
supply, land-office service, and harbor facilities. As the
General Government had never made provision for any form of
municipal government in Alaska, the people of Nome, in
response to the urgency of the hour, called a mass meeting,
and organized the present government of Nome, with a complete
corps of city officers, as aforesaid, though they were
conscious at the time that it was without authority from the
United States Government."

F. C. Schrader and A. H. Brooks,

Preliminary Report on the Cape Nome Gold Region, Alaska
(United States Geological Survey), pages 45-47.

{8}

ALASKA: A. D. 1900.
Civil Government.

Better provision for the civil government of Alaska was made

by an Act which passed Congress after much debate and was
approved by the President on the 6th of June, 1900. It
constitutes Alaska a civil and judicial district, with a
governor who has the duties and powers that pertain to the
governor of a Territory, and a district court of general
jurisdiction, civil and criminal, and in equity and admiralty,
the court being in three divisions, each with a district
judge. The act provides a civil code for the district.

ALASKA: A. D. 1900.
Exploration of Seward peninsula.

See (in this volume)

POLAR EXPLORATION, 1900.

ALASKA BOUNDARY QUESTION, The.

The boundary between Alaska, when it was Russian territory,

and the British possessions on the western side of the
American continent, was settled by an Anglo-Russian treaty in
1825. The treaty which ceded the Russian territory to the
United States, in 1867, incorporated the definition of
boundary given in Articles III. and IV. of the above-mentioned
convention, which (translated from French to English) read as
follows:

"III.
The line of demarcation between the possessions of the High
Contracting Parties upon the Coasts of the Continent and the
Islands of America to the North-West, shall be drawn in the
following manner: Commencing from the southernmost point of
the Island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in
the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes, North Latitude, and
between the 131st and 133d Degree of West Longitude (Meridian
of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to the North along
the Channel called Portland Channel, as far as the Point of
the Continent where it strikes the 56th Degree of North
Latitude; from this last mentioned Point the line of
demarcation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated
parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of
the 141st Degree of West Longitude (of the same meridian),
and, finally, from the said point of intersection, the said
Meridian Line of the 141st Degree, in its prolongation as far
as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian
and British Possessions on the Continent of America to the
North West.

"IV.
With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the
preceding Article, it is understood:

1st.
That the Island called Prince of Wales Island shall belong
wholly to Russia.

2d.
That wherever the summit of the mountains which extend in a
direction parallel to the Coast, from the 56th Degree of North
Latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st Degree of
West Longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than
ten marine leagues from the Ocean, the limit between the
British Possessions and the line of Coast which is to belong
to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be formed by a line
parallel to the windings of the Coast, and which shall never
exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom."

When attempts to reduce this description in the treaty to an

actually determined boundary-line were begun, disagreements
arose between Canada and the United States, which became
exceedingly troublesome after the Klondike gold discoveries
had given a new importance to that region and to its
communications with the outside world. The Alaska boundary
question proved, in fact, to be considerably the most
difficult of settlement among all the many subjects of
disagreement between the United States and Canada which a
Joint High Commission was created in 1898 (see—in this
volume—CANADA: A. D. 1898-1900) to adjust. It was the one
question on which no ground of compromise could then be found,
and which compelled the Commission to adjourn in February,
1899, with its labors incomplete. The disputable points in the
definition of the boundary by the Anglo-Russian treaty of 1825
are explained as follows by Professor J. B. Moore,
ex-Assistant Secretary of State, in an article contributed to
the "North American Review" of October, 1899: "An examination
 of the boundary defined in Articles III. and IV. of the
convention of 1825 shows," says Professor Moore, "that it is
scientifically divisible into two distinct sections, first,
the line from the southernmost point of Prince of Wales
Island, through Portland Channel and along the summit of the
mountains parallel to the coast, to the point of intersection
of the 141st meridian of longitude; and, second, the line from
this point to the Arctic Ocean. With the latter section, which
is merely a meridian line, and as to which the United States
and Canadian surveys exhibit no considerable difference, we
are not now concerned. The section as to which material
differences have arisen is the first. The principal
differences in this quarter are two in number, first, as to
what channel is meant by Portland Channel (sometimes called
Portland Canal); and, second, as to what is the extent of the
line or strip of coast (la lisière de côte) which was assigned
to Russia."

Map of Alaska.

The following is an English statement of the situation of the

controversy at the time the Joint High Commission adjourned:
"The adjournment of the Commission with nothing accomplished
is fresh in all our memories. Nor is it easy to determine on
whose shoulders lies the blame of this unfortunate break down.
America has been blamed for her stubbornness in refusing to
submit to an arbitration which should take into consideration
the possession of the towns and settlements under the
authority of the United States and at present under their
jurisdiction; while they have also been charged with having
made no concessions at all to Canada in the direction of
allowing her free access to her Yukon possessions. I am
enabled to say, however, in this latter respect the Americans
have not been so stiff-necked as has been made to appear.
Although it was not placed formally before the Commission, it
was allowed clearly to be understood by the other side, that
in regard to Skagway, America was prepared to make a very
 liberal concession. They were ready, that is, to allow of the
joint administration of Skagway, the two flags flying side by
side, and to allow of the denationalisation, or
internationalisation as it might otherwise be termed, of the
White Pass and the Yukon Railroad, now completed to Lake
Bennett, and the only railroad which gives access to the
Yukon. They were even prepared to admit of the passage of
troops and munitions of war over this road, thus doing away
with the Canadian contention that, should a disturbance occur
in the Yukon, they are at present debarred from taking
efficient measures to quell it.
{9}
This proposition, however, does not commend itself to the
Canadians, whose main object, I think I am justified in
saying, is to have a railroad route of their own from
beginning to end, in their own territory, as far north as
Dawson City. At one time, owing to insufficient information
and ignorance of the natural obstacles in the way, they
thought they could accomplish this by what was known as the
Stikine route. They even went so far as to make a contract
with Messrs. McKenzie and Mann to construct this road, the
contractors receiving, as part of their payment, concessions
and grants of territory in the Yukon, which would practically
have given them the absolute and sole control of that
district. The value of this to the contractors can hardly be
overestimated. However, not only did the natural obstacles I
have referred to lead to the abandonment of the scheme, but
the Senate at Ottawa threw out the Bill which had passed
through the Lower House, affording a striking proof that there
are times when an Upper House has its distinct value in
legislation. It has been suggested (though I am the last to
confirm it) that it was the influence of the firm of railroad
contractors, to whose lot it would probably fall to construct
any new line of subsidised railway, which caused the Canadian
Commission to reject the tentative American proposal regarding
Skagway, and to put forward the counter claim to the
possession of Pyramid Harbour (which lies lower down upon the
west coast of the Lynn Canal), together with a two mile wide
strip of territory reaching inland, containing the Chilcat
Pass, and through it easy passage through the coast ranges,
and so by a long line of railroad to Fort Selkirk, which lies
on the Yukon River, to the south and east of Dawson City. It
is said also, though of this I have no direct evidence, that
the Canadians included the right to fortify Pyramid Harbour.
It is not surprising that the Americans rejected this
proposal, for they entered into the discussion convinced of
the impossibility of accepting any arrangement which would
involve the surrender of American settlements, and though it
is not so large or important as Skagway or Dyea, Pyramid
Harbour is nevertheless as much an American settlement as the
two latter. I am bound to point out that just as the Dominion
of Canada, as a whole, has a keener interest in this dispute
than has the Home Government, so the Government of British
Columbia is more closely affected by any possible settlement
than is the rest of the Dominion. And British Columbia is as
adverse to the Pyramid Harbour scheme as the United States
themselves. This is due to the fact that when finished the
Pyramid Harbour and Fort Selkirk railroad would afford no
access to the British Columbia gold fields on Atlin Lake,
which would still be reached only by way of Skagway and the
White Pass, or by Dyea and the Chilcat Pass. But quite apart
from this view of the matter, we may take it for granted that
the United States will never voluntarily surrender any of
their tide-water settlements, while the Canadian Government,
on the other hand, are no more disposed to accept any
settlement based on the internationalisation of Skagway, their
argument probably being that, save as a temporary 'modus
vivendi,' this would be giving away their whole case to their
opponents."

H. Townsend,
The Alaskan Boundary Question
(Fortnightly Review, September, 1899).

Pending further negotiations on the subject, a "modus vivendi"

between the United States and Great Britain, "fixing a
provisional boundary line between the Territory of Alaska and
the Dominion of Canada about the head of Lynn Canal," was
concluded October 20, 1899, in the following terms:

"It is hereby agreed between the Governments of the United

States and of Great Britain that the boundary line between
Canada and the territory of Alaska in the region about the
head of Lynn Canal shall be provisionally fixed as follows
without prejudice to the claims of either party in the
permanent adjustment of the international boundary: In the
region of the Dalton Trail, a line beginning at the peak West
of Porcupine Creek, marked on the map No. 10 of the United
States Commission, December 31, 1895, and on Sheet No. 18 of
the British Commission, December 31, 1895, with the number
6500; thence running to the Klehini (or Klaheela) River in the
direction of the Peak north of that river, marked 5020 on the
aforesaid United States map and 5025 on the aforesaid British
map; thence following the high or right bank of the said
Klehini river to the junction thereof with the Chilkat River,
a mile and a half, more or less, north of Klukwan,—provided
that persons proceeding to or from Porcupine Creek shall be
freely permitted to follow the trail between the said creek
and the said junction of the rivers, into and across the
territory on the Canadian side of the temporary line wherever
the trail crosses to such side, and, subject to such
reasonable regulations for the protection of the Revenue as
the Canadian Government may prescribe, to carry with them over
such part or parts of the trail between the said points as may
lie on the Canadian side of the temporary line, such goods and
articles as they desire, without being required to pay any
customs duties on such goods and articles; and from said
junction to the summit of the peak East of the Chilkat river,
marked on the aforesaid map No. 10 of the United States
Commission with the number 5410 and on the map No. 17 of the
aforesaid British Commission with the number 5490. On the Dyea
and Skagway Trails, the summits of the Chilcoot and White
 Passes. It is understood, as formerly set forth in
communications of the Department of State of the United
States, that the citizens or subjects of either Power, found
by this arrangement within the temporary jurisdiction of the
other, shall suffer no diminution of the rights and privileges
which they now enjoy. The Government of the United States will
at once appoint an officer or officers in conjunction with an
officer or officers to be named by the Government of Her
Britannic Majesty, to mark the temporary line agreed upon by
the erection of posts, stakes, or other appropriate temporary
marks."

In his Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1900, the

President of the United States stated the situation as
follows:

"The work of marking certain provisional boundary points, for

convenience of administration, around the head of Lynn Canal,
in accordance with the temporary arrangement of October, 1899,
was completed by a joint survey in July last.
{10}
The modus vivendi has so far worked without friction, and the
Dominion Government has provided rules and regulations for
securing to our citizens the benefit of the reciprocal
stipulation that the citizens or subjects of either Power
found by that arrangement within the temporary jurisdiction of
the other shall suffer no diminution of the rights and
privileges they have hitherto enjoyed. But however necessary
such an expedient may have been to tide over the grave
emergencies of the situation, it is at best but an
unsatisfactory makeshift, which should not be suffered to
delay the speedy and complete establishment of the frontier
line to which we are entitled under the Russo-American treaty
for the cession of Alaska. In this relation I may refer again
to the need of definitely marking the Alaskan boundary where
it follows the 141st meridian. A convention to that end has
been before the Senate for some two years, but as no action
has been taken I contemplate negotiating a new convention for
a joint determination of the meridian by telegraphic
observations. These, it is believed, will give more accurate
and unquestionable results than the sidereal methods
heretofore independently followed, which, as is known, proved
discrepant at several points on the line, although not varying
at any place more than seven hundred feet."

ALEXANDRIA:
Discovery of the Serapeion.

See (in this volume)

ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH:
EGYPT: DISCOVERY OF THE SERAPEION.

ALEXANDRIA:
Patriarchate re-established.

See (in this volume)

 PAPACY: A. D. 1896 (MARCH).

ALIENS IMMIGRATION LAW, The Transvaal.

See (in this volume)

SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1896-1897 (MAY-APRIL).

ALPHABET, Light on the origin of the.

See (in this volume)

ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: CRETE.

AMATONGALAND:
Annexed, with Zululand, to Natal.

See (in this volume)

AFRICA: A. D. 1897 (ZULULAND).

AMERICA:
The Projected Intercontinental Railway.

See (in this volume)

RAILWAY, THE INTERCONTINENTAL.

AMERICA, Central.

See (in this volume)

CENTRAL AMERICA.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES.

See (in this volume)

INDIANS, AMERICAN.

AMERICAN REPUBLICS, The Bureau of the.

"The idea of the creation of an international bureau, or

agency, representing the Republics of the Western Hemisphere,
was suggested to the delegates accredited to the International
American Conference held in Washington in 1889-90, by the
conference held at Brussels in May, 1888, which planned for an
international union for the publication of customs tariffs,
etc. … On March 29, 1890, the International American
Conference, by a unanimous vote of the delegates of the
eighteen countries there represented, namely: The Argentine
Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, United States, Uruguay, and
Venezuela, provided for the establishment of an association to
be known as 'The International Union of American Republics for
the Prompt Collection and Distribution of Commercial
Information,' which should be represented at the capital of
the United States by a Bureau, under the title of 'The Bureau
of the American Republics.' This organ, so to speak, of the
independent governments of the New World was placed under the