From what Romeo had told me, he suspected Floyd had been taking females against their will, disregarding family ties, and making a mockery of mated pairs. It was a horrific crime if true. But as I glanced around at the pack which had closed the distance between us, I could see the larger wolves beginning to lower their muzzles as they looked at the ground. Their fear and submission were both amazing and heartbreaking to behold. I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a single wolf who would fight for their families and their way of life. It seemed impossible to me.
Then again, what the fuck did I know about werewolves.
I watched the alpha’s enforcers, expecting at least one of the three wolves I knew as Renaldo, Rudy, and Mike to step forward and challenge Floyd. All three stepped back. Floyd growled and exposed his fangs in a triumphant wolf smile. Saliva dripped from the side of his curled lips like a rabid dog. He suddenly began to move toward Sam who stood unflappable beside his best friend.
The threat to the smaller gray wolf was clear, so I wasn’t utterly shocked when Greg flattened his ears against his head and abruptly stepped into the gap between them. He began stalking toward the alpha. He loomed large as he approached Floyd, head lowered, snarling out a warning with an impressive show of fangs.
Floyd stopped and stared at him, returning the snarl with glowing yellow eyes as he also lowered his wide head. He stopped in the road and instantly morphed into his half-man half-beast form. Savage claws sprouted from the alpha’s massive paws, and I knew what damage a single swipe of one could do. My own fangs were capable of similar damage. Floyd’s claws could easily slice through Greg’s neck like butter if he got close enough. I was quite sure that’s how he’d won his place in the pack. I didn’t have the details, but I knew however Floyd had secured his position, it hadn’t been only because he was the more powerful wolf. Something in his very demeanor told me that he wasn’t a wolf who played by pack law.
I was even more surprised when Greg suddenly transformed. One moment he was on all fours, the next, he stood on two hairy legs, morphing into a half-man half-monster himself. The pack went wild, sending up a cacophony of howls, growls, barking like mad beasts. I had no knowledge of werewolf physiology, but I’d always thought that only an alpha could change into this horror movie form of beast. Perhaps Greg had it in his lineage somewhere. Romeo had not known he was a shifter and certainly not a unicorn until he shifted the first time. Was it possible Greg had a recessive gene in his ancestry as I suspected Rome had? I didn’t know anything about the big bartender werewolf.
I turned to look over at Romeo who was staring right back at me, his dark brown eyes huge and round, looking even more surprised than I was.
“What the fuck is going on?” Sally muttered under her breath. “Greg is an alpha? Since when?”
Sid chuckled from beside me, and we all turned to look at the old witch.
“You knew, old man?” I asked.
The witch shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe.”
I rolled my eyes and glanced back at Romeo. He’d turned away from Sid, lips pressed together into a thin line. He was focused not on the two half-beasts who now circled each other in the middle of the road, but on Sam. The gray werewolf was pawing at the ground and whining, letting out short chuffs and whimpers, in obvious distress at what his best friend and constant companion was about to do. Floyd was an experienced fighter with many battles under his belt. I suspected Greg was an average everyday beta, although Sally wondered if he was an alpha.
I glanced away from the scene in front of me and looked up into the star filled sky, sending up a silent prayer. The moon was huge, hanging low, glowing bright yellow, and lighting up the entire sky. Clouds moved across it, and as I glanced back down at the scene in front of me, I couldn’t help noticing the eerie shadows that were cast on the two men who snarled at each other, circling, and preparing to attack. A moment later, both werewolves lunged for each other.
Greg and Floyd crashed together, two snarling monsters, ripping and clawing, fangs tearing at thick fur. The wolves gathered close, boxing them in as they lifted their muzzles to the air and howled at the moon. I’d never seen a fight like this before. Both massive werewolves clawed through dense coats of fur, desperately trying to reach the sensitive skin beneath.
I watched in awe as Greg drew the first real blood as he reared his wide head back and then in a flash, went for Floyd’s neck. His muzzle filled with vicious teeth barely scraped across the alpha’s skin when Floyd hit him backhanded, tossing Greg onto the ground with the back of one massive paw. Sam was going crazy, whining and clawing at the ground, whimpering as he watched Greg struggle to get to his feet before Floyd was on him, slamming him to the ground again.
Floyd lowered his drooling jaws, aiming for Greg’s neck, and at the same time going for the soft skin of Greg’s belly with his front claws. At the last moment, Greg was able to headbutt Floyd but the blow to his wide forehead only stunned the alpha for a moment. The bartender’s underbelly didn’t get away unscathed as the alpha managed to shred him from chest to groin.
Greg howled and rolled away but Floyd was on his back in seconds,
