Now for something…a little different.

This is something new and a little different, a dark, brutal world that we’re toying with. Only 500 words…we only have 1500 or so now, but we’re thinking of making a short 12-15k story to introduce it and see how it goes from there. It’s certainly going to be a target market, and not for everyone. Keith, our anti-hero, will have killed and/or left to die about 4 bad guys before we hit 3k. :p We’ll see where it goes, eh?

################

Gavin rocked back in his chair and watched the harried-looking man and his young daughter walk out the back door of the bar. Then he cast a weary glance at Keith. “It’s different now. Since you left, I mean. Shit like this happens all the time.”

He’d gathered as much, but hearing Gavin say it somehow made the situation more real, more desperate. “Maybe we shouldn’t have gone out into the world. Humans are a lot more cruel than we are.”

Gavin snorted and let his chair legs hit the floor with a thump. “I wish I could blame it on that. If the alphas were doing their jobs, it wouldn’t matter.” He reached out for his beer and drew a hand through his greying hair. “But they’re not just letting too much slide. They’re abusing their power.”

Keith dragged out a chair and turned it around. He sank into it and folded his arms across the back. “Maybe the alphas have been corrupted by the human way. Take what you want and terrify anyone who tries to stop you.”

His alpha just shrugged. “What’s done is done. It’s up to the Lorekeepers now, unless we want to go out, guns blazing, and take over the world.” A tiny smile curled the edge of his mouth. “Sammie tells me I’m too old for that shit now. And she’s right. War is for young men.”

War isn’t for anyone. Keith sighed and lifted a hand to rub at his chin, the rough stubble under his fingers reminding him he needed to shave. “Then I guess I’m not young anymore, because five years of it made me pretty damn tired.”

Gavin finished his beer and flashed him a knowing look. “Does that mean you’re going to stick around for a while? Maybe settle down?”

Maybe find a woman? Gavin didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to. Not when Keith had heard some variation on the refrain a hundred times. The past is past, or Kelly wouldn’t want you to be alone, or, the more damning, You have a duty as a dominant.

That last one was what had finally driven him overseas, driven him to spend five years as soldier in the battle between werewolves and wizards, where his only duty was fighting. He did have a duty as a dominant werewolf, a duty to guide and shelter, to teach. A duty to protect. A duty that comes with too many damn strings…

“Hey, forget I said anything.” Gavin didn’t look the least bit sorry as he returned Keith’s steady gaze. “I don’t make people do things they don’t want to do, remember?”

“Yeah. I know.” Keith sighed and changed the subject. “That guy and his kid going to stay in the motel?”

He nodded. “I’ve granted them sanctuary until they can find a safe place to relocate. They can’t go back to Coeur d’Alene, not while that bastard alpha’s still in charge over there.” Gavin tapped his chin. “Who do we know up in British Columbia?”

“Manuel. We should send them to Manuel.” The voice came from the doorway that lead to the back office, and it brought Keith to his feet in an instinctive gesture of respect. The woman who stood there might not have seemed physically intimidating, but her power swept through the room like a warm breeze.

Samantha Hamilton stepped across the threshold, her eyes focused on her husband alone. There were times when even being in the same room as the alpha pair made Keith feel vaguely voyeuristic, and this was one of them. Sam crossed the room, a walkie-talkie clutched loosely in one hand, and the power that flowed with her found a focus, an answering echo in Gavin. For a brief moment he could almost feel their emotions, taste the depth of their love in the power that sparked between them.

Then Gavin frowned. “Is something wrong?”

Keith had been so distracted by the power, he hadn’t noticed the expression on Sam’s face. She looked worried, tense. A bad sign in a woman hard as nails and afraid of nothing. She thumped the walkie down on the table and hooked a chair with her foot. “Yeah. Just got a call from Justine. Two kids left Helena on their way here, and Alan Matthews is apparently pissed enough about losing his newest girl that he’s sent men after them. Into our territory.”

Her husband bristled as he rose. “He wouldn’t.” It was a blatant challenge, one Keith knew Gavin couldn’t let slide. “Of course he would. Impertinent idiot.” He turned sharp blue eyes toward Keith. “Feel up to it?”

Of all the duties expected of him, this was the only one he felt truly capable of anymore. Keith checked both of his pistols, then snapped them into their holsters. He nodded shortly as he shrugged into his shoulder rig. “Always. How far out do you think the kids are?”

Sam slid the walkie-talkie across the table to him without standing. “They should have been here by now. They had a head start though, Justine said Alan didn’t realized they’d slipped out. The girl’s newly changed, one of Alan’s special picks.” Her lips twisted into a disgusted snarl, one Keith had to fight not to echo. “The boy who dragged her out of town’s one of Alan’s little whipping boys. No one thought he’d have the guts to do it, I guess. But he’s not strong enough to protect himself or her.”

“Get them here, Keith.” Gavin’s words were soft, but an unmistakable order. “Do what you have to do.”