Page 40 of Fighting Furry

He stopped and put his finger to his lips. I didn't argue, because his entire body had tensed, the playfulness of the moment before gone. “Alpha,” he yelled. “What the hell are you doing on my property?”

“I'm here to talk.” A tall, skinny man, with a paunch clearly revealed by his white tank top and low-hanging, dirty jeans stepped out of the forest line and walked toward us, stopping when he was ten feet away. “We need to talk.”

“We've talked,” Axel said. “It's done.”

“It's not done,” Alpha said. “And you know it. You were given this territory by the council, and you've done nothing to earn it, nothing to hold your place here.”

“We've earned it by holding on to it.”

Alpha snorted. “By staving off attackers with tranq guns? You might as well go the rest of the way human and move into the city with your champion, Darius.”

Axel stiffened like the man had insulted him. “We are as much wolf as you and your pack, Alpha. We just choose not to use violence to prove it.”

“We have no choice, man. My pack is being besieged by the nightwalkers and they want a safer territory. You've chosen not to help us fight, so you're going to have to defend your place with that violence you hate, or you're going to lose it.”

Alpha slid back into the shadows of the forest and Axel watched him go, his whole body tense.

“What was that about?” I asked.

Axel shook his head. “Philosophical differences. Come on, let's get to that party.”

I didn't move when he tried to pull me forward. “That seemed like more than a difference of opinion.”

He sighed. “I've only been alpha of this pack for six years, and Alpha was the alpha before me. Aspens Whiten pack gets caught up in drama and fights of their own making. The vampires are harrying them because they harry the vampires. This time, though, they've gone too far and the vampires are looking for some serious payback. They want to hide here, but I'm not putting my pack at risk. So Alpha's pack, the Aspens Whiten pack, want to fight. They say I don't deserve this territory and they want to force me to defend it to prove I'm weak.”

“Sounds like you're going to have to fight.”

“We'll resettle somewhere else first. We're a happy, healthy, peaceful pack, and I'm going to make sure we stay that way.”

“And what happens when they come after your next territory? Or someone else does? Are you going to walk away every time someone threatens violence?” That might work for a regular person, but regular people didn't have to worry about a pack of werewolves showing up to take their house.

He crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance, his eyes haunted, his expression bleak. “Darius and the council are mediating the dispute. We own this land and the buildings on it. That should be enough to keep them away, but we've had some…Financial difficulties lately. If they chase us off the land, we won't have support from the bank or the court and the council can't do much to help us. If we fight, though, the council will punish us. If we can get the other pack to throw the first punch, we'll have the council fully on our side. If not…”

“You'll just give up? Just run away with your tail tucked between your legs?”

I expected him to get mad. I was mad and I'd just insulted him at a very primal level. He didn't get mad, didn't narrow his eyes or even frown. He looked worried, sure, but not angry. He was like no other man I'd ever met. “Fighting isn't an option. We live in a different time, Julie, and all it would take is one person with a phone. One person to snap a picture or a video and post it for the world to see. Humans wouldn't just discover werewolves, they'd discover violent, aggressive monsters. Monsters that humans would want to put down without asking questions.”

He had a point, but I didn't like it. I hated the idea of backing down, of giving in. I'd done that as a kid and I'd sworn I'd never do it again. “You said the wolves in the valley were fighting vampires. Why hasn't anyone gotten a picture of that?”

He grimaced. “Fighting isn't exactly the right word. Vampires and wolves have an affinity for one another, an affinity that can easily turn to obsession, especially among the young ones.”

“You mean they…” I had no clue what he was talking about.

He sighed, looking slightly sick. “Vamps love to feed on wolves because we heal quickly. The feeding is most often a sexual experience for the wolves and it can be addictive. Alpha's pack loses at least ten members a year to vamps and they're tired of it. Especially when the vamps use their own wolves against the pack to get control over their businesses or money.”

“The vamps don't come up here?”

“We're too isolated and too close to the sun. Plus, I've made it known they aren't welcome.”

“What do you do to deter them? Growl at them?”

Again, he didn't get angry or frustrated. “I don't have to shift to convince them to leave. I can tranq them and drag them back to the valley. No one has to get hurt and the vamps never get close enough to us to feed.”

I sighed. “I understand why you don't want to fight, but just rolling over and letting them take your home doesn't seem like a reasonable option either.”

He relaxed a bit and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me tight against his side. “The council is working on it and I'm meeting with some pack members to discuss it tomorrow. You can join the meeting. For now, let's go have some fun.”

“Have some fun? Your pack is in danger and you want to have some fun?”

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