The growling from between their vehicles where the brothers had moved was low and menacing.
“Did you know that werewolves who do a lot of drugs can’t shift as easily as sober ones? I bet these guys couldn’t do it if you gave them ten minutes. There’s also the fact that while wolves are stronger, vampires are the fastest.” I beamed a smile at the asshole. “Do you wanna see how fast exactly?”
He was starting to realize they were outnumbered, if not in actual numbers, then in power balance.
“Was this really your plan?” I asked, cackling. “To come here to what,intimidateus?”
He backed away slowly, as if we couldn’t see him doing it. His men started to get into the trucks, dodging the brothers as best as they could.
Ben and Max were growling and snapping their jaws at them, which made the humans especially alarmed. When they squared off with the old betas, they swiftly herded them apart from the vehicles and started to push them toward the side wall of the house.
“Hey, hey, we’re not here to cause any trouble,” one of them said. “B-Ben and Max, right?”
Ben snarled viciously in response.
“Y-you know your dad—”
Max cut him off by leaping at him, flattening him in the ground and snarling in his face.
“The sheriff said—”
“Shut the fuck up!” The leader bellowed, now at the driver’s side door of his truck. “Get in or you’re running!”
Max let the sorry excuse of a beta to get up and they rounded on the duo again, watching them scramble back to the trucks.
“In case anyone asks, you donotunderestimate the McRae pack,” I called out to the leader. “But please, come try again. Could’ve been a fun evening, eh?”
Cussing up a storm, he practically leaped into the seat when Rian gracefully jumped from the top of the stairs to the hood of said truck, as if it was nothing at all.
Seeing him crouch there, tilting his head in a way a predator would while observing a prey made me grin. Carys giggled.
“Stop playing with your food!” I told Rian.
The men in the trucks couldn’t get away fast enough. Rian stepped down from the hood as soon as the truck rumbled into life, then cheerily waved at them with his still elongated claw-tipped fingers.
The brothers chased the trucks away, vanishing from view where the road dipped down into the curve.
Rian turned to us. “Girl, put that shotgun away, it’s not even loaded.”
Carys giggled and went to do as told while I put the safety back on the handgun.
“And you,” he continued, pointing at me with a regular index finger now. “I wouldnevereat anything that revolting.”
“My apologies,” I said, bowing theatrically.
The guys trotted back into view with their tongues lolling out of their mouths.
“Did you call or message Brodie and Holden?” I asked Rian.
“I wouldn’t have, but I knew he’d get really upset if I didn’t. I’m pretty sure the only thing keeping him from getting ticketed for speeding right now is the deputy sitting next to him in the truck.”
“Fair enough.” I handed the gun to him and leaned down to pat the brothers on the head. “You did so good, guys. I’m proud of you. Your Alpha will be too. I don’t know why you came back early, but I’m glad you did.”
Ben lifted a front paw then, and I could see there was a smear of blood in the light gray fur.
“Oh, that’d do it. Go shift and I’ll meet you with the first aid kit.” It was obvious now that he was limping, but he hadn’t been moments before, which told me he’d been hiding it from our visitors. “And don’t start, you might heal fast, but I’ll still clean it anyway. Try and fight me, I dare.”
Max let out a little chuffing sound and they vanished inside. Whether the chuff was about amusement or to tell his brother to obey, I couldn’t tell. I wasn’tthatfluent in wolf yet.