Page 18 of Homecoming

“Aww… she’s got pups too. Hey there little guys, you want some candy? I got rabbit chews.” The stranger reaches into his pocket and pulls out two sticks of dried rabbit meat. The pups don’t move and continue to cower behind Noah and their mother as the old man stares at them. “Never mind, I’ll keep them for later.”He smiles with watchful intent as he slides the treats back into the same pocket of his leather gilet. “I'mguessin'those pups are not yours. So tell me, what kind of alpha would let you be out alone with his mate? I don’t mean any disrespect to you sir, but a wolf like her, she’s gotta belong to one of the packalphas, right? I mean, she looks like the kind of she-wolf a pack leader would choose as a mate. I’m curious as to why he'd let someone like you be with his wolf and her pups? Maybe I should be the one asking questions. Such as, where are you taking her?”

There’s a low, deepening growl. Luna steps forward and with a snap of her jaw, her teeth clenched together, her lips pull back in a snarl.

“Whoa… feisty fucker, ain’t she?” the biker man grins. “Wow. She’s got a helluva lot of spirit fora she-wolf. You know, I’ve not seen a wolf like her in a long, long time. Praytellme who she belongs to? Oh no, please… please don’t tell me… no, she doesn’t belong to Ezra, does she? No way… No, there is no way that he could satisfy a wolf like her. Wait, does that mean that hottie Elspeth finally ditched him? Nowthatwoman was one helluva feisty wolf if ever I met one. She knewexactlywhat she wanted, and it wasn’t him most of the time.” The man laughs long and loud as he turns to the willing audience of bikers behind him.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Noah frowns. “And just so you know, Ezra’s not the leader of this pack anymore. He’s dead. He was killed.”

“That true? Ezra’s dead… you’re serious? Wait…” the man gives a suspicious glance. “Did you do it? I mean, I think I know what you are, so did you kill him?”

As he moves closer, Luna quickly fills the space between the stranger and Noah. Her snapping growl backs him away. “Hey, I don’t want no trouble. We’re just looking to—” He turns suddenly to the roar of a speeding black truck as it skids to a halt in a plume of dust that settles behind them.

Digby.He and the team arrive back from their mission and seeing the bikers, he leaps from the truck. “Hey… Hey, who the fuck are you?”

He strides forward at a feverish pace, his hand gesturing wildly as he surveys the numerous motorcycles now blocking the road to the house. “Get the fuck away from them. I mean it. Do you hear me? Get the hell away!” He snaps angrily, as his hand clamps down on the man’s shoulder and drags him away.

Two of the other riders step from their bikes and respond to his advance with a menacing growl. Digby draws in a long sniff of the air and a pungent smell—a mixture of oil, leather, and a whiff of whiskey on a weekday morning, fills his nostrils. “Fucking hyenas.” His lip curls in a sneer. “I might’ve guessed. Hey, I told you to get the hell away from her.”

Grabbing at what he assumes must be the clan’s leader, he pulls him back and with his eyes narrowed, Digby surveys the man. His fist clenches ready at his side and he puffs his chest as hestands tall, displaying his lean muscular body, every inch of him demanding respect.

There’s a sudden scrambled flurry of pushing and shoving.

Zak and Oz step intoseparate the pair as Luna snaps and barks wildly. She lowers her stance, ready to pounce, and continues to growl ferociously—the two black pups behind her yap and jump around, trying to imitate their mother as she continues with her menacing snarl.

“Hey, it’s okay. Luna… Baby, it’s okay. I got this.” Digby turns and stares at the wolf. His hands are raised as he tries to calm and reassure her, but the wolf won’t back down. Her lip lifts and every snarl exposes the rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Noah offers a hand on her shoulder, calming her with gentle strokes over her neck as Digby returns his attention to the strangers standing in front of him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here? This is private land and you’re not welcome,” he snaps.

“Yeah, your, uh… ranger guy there, he already told me that. Hey man, look, we don’t want no trouble. We’re justlookin’for a place to rest up for acoupl’anights and getsomethin’t’eat.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not going to be here. We don’t have anywhere for you to stay, so it’s best you head on down the highway. A few miles up, the road forks, and if you take the left turn, it’ll take you to a small mining town. Go on. Be on your waynow. This is wolf land, and you need to leave.”

“Look, like I said, man, we don’t want no trouble. We were justcallin’on an old friend but this here ranger, he says he’s not here anymore—that he’s been killed? Is that right? Is Ezra dead?”

“Yeah, that’s right. What? You were a friend of his? Well, if that’s true, then you’re definitely not welcome here. So turn your ass around and go before you really get trouble.”

“Hey… Hey Diggs, what the hell… What’s going on?”

“Oh… too late. Now you are in seriousfuckin’shit. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The leader tucks his sunglasses into the pocket of his vest—the only thing he’s wearing above the waist, and it barely covers his tattooed and scarred chest. His clan brand is burned deep into the skin over his left nipple and it indicates to Digby these are a very old group of hyenas.

As Darius brings the black sports car to a halt and gets out, he strides quickly towards them. “Does someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on?” He’s concerned to see Luna still snarling a low growl before she suddenly jolts forward with a threatening bark. “Noah, take the pups back to the house. We’ll handle this now.”

“Are you sure? I can stay if you—”

“I said take the pups and go.” Darius looks Luna in the eyes, but she doesn’t move, her intent gaze fixed on the biker’s leader. “You can’t be…”

“… be here. I know, it’s wolf land, right?” The leader smiles as he and Darius face each other. “But we don’t mean any harm. We’re just a tired old clanlookin’for a place to lay our heads for the night.” He continues to grin as they lock gaze. “Seems to me there’s been a lot of changes around these parts in the past few years. I’m not going to involve myself in wolf politicsandlike I told these good people, we’re just looking to park up and rest for the night—away from the road. Maybe get us some food. We’ve had a long journey and still got a few miles to go. Why don’t we start again…” he offers his hand to Darius—who ignores him—and turns to Digby. “I’m Mikah. This is Seth, my vice president and Boomer, my sergeant-at-arms.Everythin’s cool. Like I was trying to explain to the ranger there, we’re from Kentucky… Louisville M.C. We’re an old clan and I think you might know of us?” he looks back at Darius. “We make this journey up here every two decades to fulfill my father’s land rights.”

“To do what?” Digby frowns. “Land rights? What in the hell is that?” He looks to Darius, who stands with his arms folded in front of his chest, a frown filling his brow, Luna stands at his side baring her teeth.

“My father—may the tree gods bless his asshole—left me some land. It runs east of here to the river, then up to where the road forks. The highway cuts upward right through the mountain pass. I own the land on either side of that highway—made the clan some serious dough by letting them build that. My father was a drunk, but he was also a wily old coot who kept full rights to the land. Mineral, oil, gold whatever’s there, no one can dig an inch of that land withoutpayin’the clan but… also has a covenant and that means we have to inhabit for a year—moon to moon every two decades. We pack up the clan—mostly the males…” he gestures to the numerous bikers behind him, “...turn it into a road trip and visit of some of the other acres of land my father owned along theway. Weeventually stop at Two-Forks—my father named it,” he laughs, “andstayfor the rest of the year. Do somefishin’, a lot of beerdrinkin’and ravage the town. Deflower, some of those pretty shifter girls that workthebars there, if you know what I mean?You’rewolves, yougotta know what that means, right? That’s why we leave the women folks behind. What do they say? What goes on a road trip stays on a road trip—unless one of these mongrels decides to take himself a wife.” Mikah grins. “I got my ownol’lady from a road trip back in the day. Oh man, I can’t even remember when that was. I still think I must’ve been stoned that day or just drunk on the hooty. Where was I? Oh yeah… we make this mountain pass the last part of thejourneythen set off back to Louisville before the fresh winter begins.”

“Yeah, well, this is not that land. So, you need to keep going and be on your way.” Darius sneers.

“Well now, that’s not a very nice welcome. I always seem to remember this as a much more friendly kinda place.” He looks at Darius. “Ezra was always soaccomodatin’.We can pay for bed and board if you want. Isaac…Isaac, wake up! Show the wolf some payment.”

A smaller sniffing man at the back of the line climbs down from the motorcycle, which seems much too big for him, and hauls a canvas duffle from his seat. Searching inside, he pulls out what is an obvious tape-sealed package of drugs.

---