Cry of the Wolf

Chapter Three

I sipped my drink, agitation growing more and more with each second that went by. Ty sat by me, watching the crowd with half-closed eyes while playing with a coin in his hand, passing it over each knuckle before flipping it around to make it go the other way. He couldn't do this when we started our miniature hunt, but since it had been over a month since we got Marianne and Lou's names... Well, he had a lot of practice to say the least. I took another drink. I wasn't even sure what it was, Ty had ordered it for me since I usually didn't have alcohol. Didn't like the feeling of losing control over myself. But I had needed something to calm me down while we sat in another bar for another day completely wasted.

We had been through every bar, every casino, seemingly on every single street corner. We had even shown people the crappy pictures we had and yet we had nothing! I growled quietly in frustration and Ty bumped his knee into me as a warning. I sighed, sitting back and turning my attention to the patrons. Not a single one had even acknowledged seeing Marianne or Lou before.

"Calm down," Ty pushed into my jumbled thoughts. I looked over at him, lips pursed. Anger was starting to take control. "Jaz, I mean it. Calm down. Your eyes are becoming a wolf's." I startled at his statement.

"Really?" He gave a slight nod in response and turned away from me as I ducked my head. "I'll be right back," I said out loud, hopping off the bar stool and heading towards the bathroom. I went directly to the sink, glancing in the mirror and immediately confirming what Ty had said. I then disappeared into a stall, for the next ten minutes I sat in there, regaining my composure. Bargaining with my wolf until she, too, settled down.

I pushed open the stall door right as two girls came in laughing. I headed towards the sink as they chatted and splashed a small amount of water on my face. Tuning into their conversation as I dried off.

"So, we're on for meeting up with Marianne tonight?"

"Yeah, she said that she would be getting there around nine, apparently has something important for us to do." By now they had both noticed me staring at them and trailed off. "You need something?" The tall blond one asked me, hand on hip.

"Yeah, uhm, the Marianne you're talking about is a redhead right?" I stammered out, fingers crossed that we had finally hit on something.

"Yeah? Why do you want to know?" They were both getting suspicious so I forced myself to calm down, flipping my hair back over my shoulder I answered her question.

"Lost a bet," I stated simply, "Been trying to find her to pay her back but she disappears really well." They nodded knowingly and this time my muscles began to relax for real, maybe this lie was doable.

"She'll be at the bar down the road tonight, you can pay her back then."

"Thank you..."

"Just make sure you aren't late, she only sticks in one place for a short time." The other one, a shorter brunette stated, "She bar hops." I nodded in acknowledgment and headed out the door before they could ask any more questions. Beelining to Ty I grabbed his arm.

"Let's go," I muttered in his ear. He immediately stood and paid the tab before walking out the door with me.

"What's up?" He demanded. "You find out something?" I looked behind us as I continued to practically pull Ty along, taking a long, winding route back to our motel. Only once I had closed the door and locked it did I finally turn to face him. I sighed.

"Marianne will be at a bar tonight, I know which one," I stated simply as I went to the bed and sat heavily on it. "Sorry, the people who told me were getting really suspicious so I just grabbed you and left." He nodded knowingly; sitting down next to me, he wrapped one arm around me. I turned and buried my head in his shoulder. "Why do I feel an overwhelming sense of dread at the first breakthrough that we've had in months?" I muttered into his shirt. The sickening feeling had only grown in my gut as time passed, which is probably why I grew so agitated earlier. For some reason, all of my senses were screaming at me to give up, run. Run far, far away and never look back at the cursed place and the 'wolves who occupied it. Ty heaved out a breath and shrugged.

"I don't know." He finally answered, "I really don't. But it's not in you to give up and run, especially when it could put others in danger. You swore to protect people years ago, you swore to make sure that justice was given to those who had been dodging it or had too much power. That's what you been doing. You protect the small and weak. You still are, we're going to go to that bar tonight, we're going to find Marianne, and we're going to figure out what they have been doing, then," He pulled back and forced me to look at him, "Then we will take them down." I nodded, leaning into him again. Forcing myself to settle down, telling the feeling in my gut that it didn't have a place there.

"Alright," I sighed after a few minutes, "We should plan out tonight." I yanked out my laptop and began to google the bar, figuring out the floor plan and where all the exits were. No doubt that this place would be crawling with werewolves of all sides and if anything broke loose it would be safer just to run for cover instead of staying to fight. I didn't need my face plastered all over the news for a bar fight, everybody would be able to see my face and track me down. So, instead, we planned for the worst. Escape routes, including alleys and streets, all possible hiding holes that we could use. Buildings we could use to hide, places to disappear into. Once we had exhausted that route of planning we switched to what my story would be. Marianne would obviously know that I never lost a bet to her, so there had to be a better story for me to spill to her to satisfy her enough that she would ask minimal questions.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed after more than an hour of tossing ideas back and forth. "I don't know," I repeated, calmer. I looked at Ty helplessly. "We don't know what they stand for, we don't know what she'll want to hear, we don't know what the safe route it for this!" I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. Crossing them as I stalked over to the window to stare out onto the street, brooding. A pang in my jaw alerted me to the fact that I was clenching my teeth so I shoved my tongue in between them and chewed. What could I tell her that would make her trust me in even the slightest way? What could I say to make her be at ease around me?

Ty stared at me on the bed, watching calmly as I stared daggers into the world outside our room. I turned back to him and went to sit by him. "I'm just going to have to play it by ear," I stated. Ty startled.

"Absolutely not!" I flinched slightly at how loud his voice was. "You are not going in there unprepared! We have been hunting these guys for months unable to find them! That means that they know at least something about what they're doing! They could be dangerous!" I stared at him the entire time he ranted. He stopped when he noticed, my arms were still crossed. "And you're going to do it anyways..."

"Yep," He sighed.

"Fine, but I'm coming in with you." I opened my mouth to protest and he shut off my response with a raised hand. "No arguing. I'm coming. That's final."

"Fine," I relented, backup inside would be nice. It would just require some slight reworking of our original plan. "Let's get ready to hunt." He grinned at me and practically skipped into the bathroom to get changed. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the map of the bar. There was no way to overstudy for an escape.