Page 20 of Memphis Heat
Butch nearly slammed the door shut, whirling to face the colonel, his lips pulling back to bare his teeth.But what he saw when he looked up made him freeze in his tracks.The colonel’s snarling orders came from a face that was more wolf than man.Half wolf, and all Alpha.Butch was more than a little Alpha himself, but he recognized the authority in this man’s bearing.This was his colonel, a man he’d always respected, and alpha to his alpha.
“Sit.Down!”
They sat.Flanked by two other teams, men they barely knew, all of whom shared their slightly deer in the headlights look.The colonel came to stand in front of his desk, leaning back against it as if he were about to give a speech he’d rather not.“Let me spare all of you the excuses I’m sure you’ve come up with by now.You’re not losing your minds, and you’re not here because you’re under investigation.All of you are here for the same reason.You’re werewolves.You didn’t ask for this, but it’s not something that can be undone.Carson, O’Malley, sorry you had to let yourselves out when you came around.Our med team’s been kinda overwhelmed.Like it or not, you’re now members of Memphis’s finest.Welcome to the Fraternal Order of Police, Memphis Pack.”
Snorrasan passed out guns and badges -- their own -- as if to do so were routine.Butch noticed his had been wiped clean, but not all that well.There was still more than a trace of blood on the back side, against the leather.
“You will get along, and you will learn to work together, because I said so.”The colonel leveled his icy stare at each of them in turn.“And because we have a far larger problem on our hands.Someone is doing their best to kill off Memphis cops.”He let that message sink in before he continued.“The only reason all of you are alive is because of this man right here.Lt.Snorrasan’s team found each of you moments after you’d been attacked.There are only two things you can do with a dead cop.Bury him, or make him a werewolf.Hard on the teeth, but it beats the hell out of the alternatives.”
“Sir?”Butch shook his head, trying to wrap his brain around the sudden onslaught of information.“You turned us?”
“The cops who found you did.If they hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
Cops.Plural.More than one.“So… there are more of us?More werewolf cops?”
“Memphis PD’s had a paranormal division since shortly after our founding in 1827.In more recent years we’ve worked closely with the K-9 units.But never before have we been faced with a criminal element that’s intentionally hunting down cops in our precinct.The last thing we want to do is turn our fellow officers.But we can and we will, if it means not letting good men die.What I need from you, gentlemen, is your help finding the men who attacked you.We don’t believe they were acting on their own.We want to know who sent them, and why.And then we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen to any more members of this precinct.”
* * *
“For the record,” Butch muttered to anyone who happened to be listening, “this is a very bad idea.”
“Why didn’t you say so before?”
That had to be Callahan.The man had more muscle and courage than good sense, but Butch had liked him the moment he’d met him.If he had to go into battle with a questionable outcome, he wanted Callahan at his side.“I did say so before.For some reason, no one ever listens to me.I don’t understand it.”
“Could be because you never let us forget when youareright,” Callahan answered.
“Or because you bring it up at every opportunity.”That was Reginald.
“And then we have Sundance over there backing you up.”Their little pack rounded out with Smith, the prankster of the group.“Which is more than a bit sickening.Touching, but sickening.You two should get a room and be done with it.”
“Already did.”Regan head-slapped Smith before peering through the field glasses again at the alley where two “bad guys” had set up their trap and waited for an unsuspecting team.“Sorry you missed it.Was fun.”
The two volunteers, Black and White -- really, those were their names -- checked their weapons and tracking devices before moving into position.If the pair was nervous, neither gave any outward sign.Butch had never seen anyone so cool.
“Be ready,” he warned when the pair made it to the alley entrance, using the prearranged signal to let the others know they were ready to proceed.“We want to intercept the wolf pack before they try to kill our guys, and take as many prisoners as we can.It would be nice to question at least one of the bastards.”
“You think?”OK, that was Regan.Butch glanced sharply at her, but she kept the field glasses glued to her eyes, not looking at him.He didn’t miss the twitch of her lips though.Or the snickers of the others.He’d definitely lost some of the fear the others had for him.Might be time to do something about that.
“Look alive.Bogey coming in above the alley.North fire escape.”Just like that, Regan was all business again.
“Snorrasan and his men are waiting.We’ll have backup, right?”That was Callahan.
“That’s the plan,” Butch affirmed.“Move!”Butch hissed, taking the lead himself.The team circled the alley, coming in from the front as well as above, following said bad guys.Butch had to hand it to the villains.They’d planned the attack well.Only problem with the tactic was they used it every single time.Which bothered him…
Then he was loping into the alley behind Black and White just as the wolves sprang their trap.Four other wolves were already waiting in the alley, something that had never happened before.Not only that, but those wolves ignored the two decoys altogether and went for the teams converging on them from above and to the southwest.
One launched himself at the fire escape on the south side of the building where Callahan dropped on top of him.Another came straight at Smith, who took a hard hit before firing several times at the beast.Before Butch could confirm Regan’s position, two of the big beasts attacked him, knocking him to the ground.Pain seared his left shoulder even as he pulled the trigger on his SIG P229, firing repeatedly into the thing’s gut.
The second wolf was on top of him even before the first one stopped moving, going for his exposed throat.Before the massive jaws of the werewolf could close over him, however, its head disintegrated in an explosion of fur and blood.Regan stood over him, gun tracking the alley, firing at the beasts as they darted from area to area.As Butch got to his feet, he noted several of her bullets hit their mark, but the things kept coming.
Christ!Where the fuck was Snorrasan?“There’s no taking prisoners,” he shouted over the gunfire.“Shoot to kill!Shoot to kill!”
Immediately, the others changed tactics, opting for head shots rather than winging or even gutting the wolves in their sights.Several more of the things sprang down from the rooftops.In the melee, Butch lost sight of the two volunteers.Fuck!This was such a cluster fuck!“Pull back!Everyone get out.Back out of the alley!”
Snorrasan chose that moment to arrive with his own wolf pack.Butch ground his teeth in frustration.Snorrasan was supposed to have been waiting for the attack!He’d insisted on radio silence, so Butch and the others had no way of knowing if they were delayed, which, apparently, was the case.
The second the more experienced pack arrived, the bad guys turned tail and ran.Like flicking a switch, they simply scampered away, not bothering with their prey anymore.Not that it mattered.Both Black and White lay in growing pools of blood.
