Sacrifice

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

                Gabriel was telling Sophia all about the lions when there was a knock on the door of Sophia’s office. She growled, then told the person knocking to enter. The door opened to reveal Jason with a young wolf in tow. Sophia growled, louder, upon seeing Shane.

                Shane shrunk back when he heard her growling, and then, he looked at Gabriel. He turned around quickly, reaching for the door, but Jason held the door shut, keeping the young wolf in. With a terrified look on his face, Shane bolted for the window, but Sophia was easily able to intercept him, catching him by the back of his shirt.

                “Guess what I heard was true,” she said with a growl. “Jason, get something to tie him up with.”

                Jason hesitated, then left, doing as ordered. While waiting for Jason to return, Sophia threw Shane onto the couch and stood over him, glaring down at him. The boy was shaking and clearly on the verge of tears, but Sophia didn’t care.

                “Hey, Simba!” she called out. She didn’t get a response right away and she glanced back to Gabriel. “Simba! I’m talking to you!”

                “What?” Gabriel said, looking in her direction.

                “Get over here,” she ordered. In the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement, and she reached out quickly, grabbing Shane by the arm and throwing him back down. She growled, and then looked at Gabriel, who was standing behind her.

                “Stand here and look intimidating,” Sophia said, taking Gabriel by the arm and pulling him forward so he was standing where she had been, right in front of Shane.

                “I don’t know how,” Gabriel said. “I don’t do –”

                “Stop making excuses, Simba,” Sophia said. “You’re big enough. Just stand here and look angry.”

                As Sophia had expected, Gabriel didn’t do a good job of looking intimidating, but it didn’t matter. Shane was frightened enough that she thought just about anyone would be terrifying to him. She saw Gabriel mouth something to Shane and she shook her head. He was right about not being good at intimidation.

                Jason returned shortly with some duct tape, and Sophia taped up Shane’s legs and arms. She tossed the roll of tape back to Jason and then looked down at Shane. “All right, kid,” she said. “You want to start talking?”

                “They made me do it,” he blurted out. “They said if I didn’t they’d kill my family. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to but I didn’t have a choice!”

                “How much did you tell them?”

                “Everything I knew…” he said, looking down. “It wasn’t much. I never knew much. Just the names of a few people and some addresses. How big the pack is.”

                “Right, well, Simba, you want to tell him?”

                “Me?” Gabriel asked, looking at her with a confused look on his face.

                “Nevermind,” Sophia said, turning her attention back to Shane. “We think your family is dead.”

                “What?” Shane said. “But…” He looked at Gabriel. “Did you kill them? You did, didn’t you?”