Page 95 of Wicche Hunt

“I can hear you worrying, but you don’t need to. I’ve seen them. I understand the dynamic. Will they cheat to win? Absolutely. Because I know that going into it, my strategy changes. There’s no expectation of honor or fair play, so I won’t hesitate to put them down.”

He leaned back so he could meet my gaze. “Logan is a weak Alpha, more concerned with having the position than doing the work. His men are likewise weak.”

I scoffed. “They’re werewolves.”

He nodded. “They are, but they don’t train. They’re not a cohesive unit, working together. They’re a loose group that shares one thing: They shift into wolves once a month. They’re like weekend warriors, dressing up in army fatigues to play war before going back to their office jobs on Monday. The pack members run in their fur once a month and then ignore that side of themselves the rest of the time. He hasn’t helped the pack integrate man and wolf. If he had, they’d be far harder to fight.”

“That all sounds nice, but I haven’t forgotten that it’s at least twenty to one. Daniel and Kenji are good men, and they were part of the pack. There are probably others,” I said, referring to the two who had left the pack, recognizing Declan as the true Alpha.

“They are and the hope is that once Logan is down, I can get them to step up to truly be a pack.”

“You’ve never been a member of a pack before,” I pointed out. “How do you know what one should be?”

He kicked off his boots and put his feet up on the coffee table, crossing them at the ankles. “Excellent question. I’ve hung out with wolves, who by the way don’t have a dictatorial Alpha leading them. Wolf packs are more like families. They work cooperatively. What we consider Alpha is usually just the breeding pair, leading the family.

“I’ve also read books on Biology, History, Psychology, Sociology. Basically, I studied to better understand what I am and my place in the world. What I’ve found is that it’s the human side of us that wants a dictator to lead the pack. For many two-natured beings, the human is almost entirely in control. As I said about the Big Sur pack, they get together once a month to shift; otherwise they shun the wolf. They’re not a pack. They’re guys with a similar affliction.

“Single-natured wolf packs are together all the time. They live, work, play, hunt together as a unit. Decisions are made based on the safety and health of the pack. They’re family, so lots of different personalities and temperaments, but a cohesive working unit.

“Dual-natured wolf packs are rarely that. With the human side comes ego and envy, mindless aggression. It’s the werewolf packs that engage in battles to the death to demonstrate dominance and superiority, not natural wolves. Wolves fight for food or territory, but the goal isn’t to kill the interloper, just to make the threat go away.

“Human psychology mixed with an apex predator’s strength often leads to overt aggression and a need to rank themselves first, second, third in a group of individuals who don’t feel the safety and security they should. They’re constantly on edge, waiting for an attack, which is why they like the dictator Alpha. If he’s telling me what I can and can’t do, some of that anxiety settles. Someone’s in charge and it’s not me. He’ll be the one to deal with threats. The problem with that type of arrangement is if you end up with a weak Alpha, like Logan, the pack members feel it and never settle.”

He shook his head. “For some of these guys, anger is their entire personality. The first thing I’m doing as Alpha is instituting mandatory yoga and meditation sessions.”

I laughed.

“They needsomething. I know we hide what happens in the supernatural world from the humans, but I’m surprised more violence hasn’t bled over and exposed us.”

I thought about it. “Maybe it has but there are members of our community in the police. Like Osso hiding what I am and what probably happened when they came to investigate my stalker’s death.”

“Good point,” he said as my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out of my pocket. “There’s no way the pizzas are here that fast.” I tapped the screen, swiping through to find the link to the security cameras. “It’s probably my raccoon buddies.”

Declan stood and growled, hearing something I couldn’t. “It’s not raccoons.” He sprinted to the gallery as I pulled up footage of three guys attempting to break my glass tentacle.

THIRTY-SEVEN

I Didn’t Know Raccoons Could Knock

“Wait!” I called, running after him. “This is what they want. They’re probably here to hurt you, stab you, something so that Logan wins.”

He stood by the door, fists clenched, his breathing ragged. This close to the full moon, I couldn’t believe he’d listened and stopped.

“This is my home. Allow me.” I could see on the video that they were trying to grab the tentacle but then were quickly pulling their hands away. I’d put a protective spell on it so anyone trying to destroy it would receive a sting, much like a jellyfish’s. They were shaking out their hands, the red welts already rising.

Raging, they pounded the door, the wall, the railing, and each surface gave them more stings. Watching them on my phone, I held up a hand, a spell at the ready, and shoved them off my porch.

When they were scrambling up from the gravel, I flicked my fingers, adding a layer of protection to the stairs and porch so they couldn’t come back up. Twirling my index finger, I spun a spell I hadn’t had to use for a while. When I flicked my finger, the men stopped slamming at the invisible wall. Their red, swollen hands flew to their eyes and then shot out before them.

“What did you do?” Declan had settled down and was now looking over my shoulder at the video feed on my phone.

“I blinded them.”

The men were yelling at each other while rubbing at their eyes. I gave it another thirty seconds and then lifted the blindness. With one more shove, they took off running to the truck they’d hidden down the road.

“I heard tires squealing. They’re gone.” After a moment, he added, “I also hear knocking on the back door.” When I turned to go answer it, he said, “Don’t forget your force field or we’ll never get our pizzas.”

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