Page 31 of Homecoming

Darius sighs as he considers the situation. “And you’ll make sure he gets punished for breaking the rules—and then you’ll leave? You’ll go back to the camp, pack up, and leave tonight?”

“I can’t do that. At least not on your say so. I’ll need that demand to come from the pack leader. After all, he was the one who let us stay; he has to be the one to ask us to leave. Unless, or course, you’re challenging your pack leader’s decision?” Mikah grins with an air of authority. “Like I say, if he tells us to leave… we’ll leave.”

“You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?” Darius sneers as he leans in close, staring into Mikah’s eyes. He sighs in annoyance as he sucks air through his teeth. “You know perfectly well that he can’t do that… he can’t because you got him so drunk, he can’t even stand up.”

“Hey, that’s not my problem, that’s yours.” Mikah laughs. “But I would say…sittin’down is gonna be more his problem right now.”

“I don’t like you,” Darius sneers, “but more importantly, she doesn’t like you. She doesn’t want you here. That means I want yougone.”

“I know you do. You already made that clear when we arrived. But like I said, we’ll go when the leader tells us to. Now get her to let my man go.”

Darius turns and again appeals to Luna. Marco also pleads with her and slowly, she reluctantly, slinks away. Her eyes remain focused with an intense predatory stare, like a lion anticipating its antelope prey.

With a loud sigh of relief, Wringer scrambles to his feet, but losing his footing in the dewy grass, he slips and desperate to getaway,he crawls on his knees towards Mikah’s protection. “Boss, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I won’t make that mistake again.” He turns, shaking in fear as he watches the intense green eyes still focused on him. It’s a stare that makes him want to heave up his last meal, reminding him he’s still only feet from certain death.

Gathering up Marco, Darius takes one more look back at the hyenas, and with a loud hiss of a snarl, the pair disappears into the forest behind Luna.

The wolf doesn’t look back, but her feelings are abundantly clear.

Mikah turns his back on the wolves and places an arm comfortingly around the man’s shoulders. “Wringer, what were youdoin’at the house? They’ve gone, so you can tell me without fear. Were you really jerkin’ off like I heard them say? What’d you see? Was it him with the wolf… was he at it with the bitch? Was it good?”

“Yeah,” Wringer grins, showing his mouth full of misshapen and yellowed teeth. His mouth salivates, and he glances his tongue over the drool on his lip. “Yeah, he was getting it on with her. You know, in human form, she’s a right little firecracker. It was good. I mean, I don’t usually get off on wolf porn, but that was really hot.”

“I bet it was. So what did ya get from the house? I mean, you did get into the house and take something, yeah?”

“No sorry, boss, I didn’t manage to get in. I got distracted by the….”

“… the wolf porn, right? Wringer, what did you really go to the house for? I told you not to, so it had to be something worthbreakin’my word for. What could be worth takin’ that would go against what I said?”

“Boss, you know I’d never go against you or put the clan in danger, but I got offered a sweet-sweet deal. It would bring in a lot of money for the clan—for everyone. It would get me a new motorcycle, too. That last bar we were at, I met up with a dealer—a trafficker of goods. I told him we werecomin’up to the commune, and he offered some real good money for a couple of wolf pups. But when we arrived, and I saw that little gray pup of hers… oh hell… I knew I’d be able to wring a lot more money for that one. I mean, who’s not gonna wantsomethin’that pretty, right? Some nice rich wolf couple in the city somewhere—we could sell her for ourselves and cut out the dealer. Boss, I know it was a risk, but it was the deal of a lifetime.”

“And you didn’t think to speak to me about it first?See,that has methinkin’you kept quietcuzyou were gonna keep that entire deal for yourself. You were gonna take that pup, disappear for a day and collect the dough, weren’t you? What I don’t know doesn’t hurt me, right? I could honestly deny it to the vamp. He could even do vamp hoodoo on me and he still wouldn’t see itcuzI didn’t know, right? Because youweren’tgonna tell me.”

“No, it’s not like that. I was gonna tell you. Soon as we left here, I was gonna tell you. Split the take.”

“Split the take? Don’t you meangiveme the take? Wringer, did you forget? I run this clan; I dish out the money. Any deals aremydeals.”

“Yeah uh… that was a slip of the tongue, sorry. So, what do you say? You still wanna go through with it? I can sneak up there while they’resleepin’if you want?”

“Do I still wanna go through with it? Are youfuckin’crazy? You need to go smoke some weed and calm down,” Mikah snarls. “Yeahsure… let’s just go up to the house right now and take that damn pup. Right from under that bitch’s nose.”

“Yeah… yeah, we could do that. Boss, I know how to get in there. There’s a back way, the door is open, and I…” Suddenly, Wringer cries out in pain as Mikah slaps him hard on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground before he kicks him hard in the ribs.

“Youfuckin’mongrel! You’d do that to the clan? Put them in danger like that? That bitch and that vamp… if they find out what you’re eventhinkin’, they’d tear this whole clan apart. There’d be nowhere in this world we could escape that they wouldn’t find us. You are such afuckin’idiot,” he sneers angrily. “I told you… hell, I warned you all… stay away from thefuckin’house. That vamp, Darius, he doesn’t dick around, and neither will that wolf. Now I don’t know what kind of setup they’ve got going on—hell, she can screw that wholefuckin’pack for all I care—but what I won’t put up with is someone in my clan disobeying my orders.”

“I’m sorry. Boss, I just… I guess I gotta a little stupid. I did some coke earlier and I guess it went to my head… I wasn’tthinkin’straight. It won’t happen again. I swear it. I’ll give you blood to swear it.”

“No, you’re right, itwon’thappen again. I’m sorry Wringer, you have disobeyed me too many times and now I have to set an example. I have to stamp my authority back on this clan and wasters, like you, I don’t need.”

“What the hell does that mean? Boss, what’re you gonna do?”

“You’ll find out.” Mikah punches the man hard in the mouth again, knocking him down. He punches him repeatedly until, in the vicious assault, the man can no longer stand up. Grabbing him around the wrists, he slowly drags him from the clearing and follows the path that Darius and Luna took through the forest.

Finally, he stops in the moonlight and dumpsWringer’sbloodied and beaten body on the lawn at the front of the house. “Hey…” he whistles loudly, “come back.”

Darius stops, turns around, and as he looks at Marco, they both frown, watching the unfolding scene. “What the hell’s going on?”

“Seems my man here had a moment of confession. He wasn’t so innocent after all. It seems I can’t trust him and that means I don’t need him in my clan. He was going to steal from the house—but he wasn’t coming near the pups. You have to believe me but still, he broke my word, so I offer him to you for punishment.”

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