Chapter 14
<A/N: This chapter contains some homophobic content>
Avery
Visiting my mom's grave has always brought me peace. I miss her so much, and even though she's gone now, being there makes me feel like she's still with me.
It's been a long day though, and I'm looking forward to taking a long bath when I get home. I'm not really hungry even, just tired from the long day and having transferred between several busses so many times both getting there and back.
"Well, well, well, would you look what we have here." A voice coming out of the darkness startles me, sending shivers down my spine. It took a moment, but I recognized Clay's voice.
Why can't these three just leave me alone?
"Hey little faggot; we have a bone to pick with you. Your boyfriend caused us some trouble and we're here for payback." Clay spat out.
How did they find out where I live? I'm too far away from the building to make a run for it; they would easily catch me before I had a chance to key in the passcode to the building and get inside.
"Don't you guys ever take any responsibility for your own problems?" I foolishly replied. My damn mouth doesn't know when to shut up... that slipped out before I could stop myself.
"You guys attacked him first, and you were threatening me before he even showed up. If you would just stop bothering other people you wouldn't have gotten the fight in the first place. You started it."
If I'm going to get beaten anyway, I may as well mouth off and get my feelings out in the open finally. I'm just too tired tonight to care.
"Watch your mouth you disgusting little faggot." Dave yelled at me. "People like you are a stain on society and should be in hell where you belong, not out here corrupting decent people."
He shoved me to the ground, then swung his leg and kicked me in the stomach. I curled up into a ball, the wind knocked out of me, gasping to get my breath back.
Just as he drew his leg back to kick me again, a deep growl burst from the park across the street. A large animal stood in the shadows; it looked like a very large dog standing there growling at us. All three of my bullies stood there gawking at the animal as it suddenly started barking aggressively and made a short lunge in our direction. The three of them yelped and bolted towards an old beat-up pickup truck, jumped in and then raced off down the road.
I was left there by myself, struggling to get up, which I finally managed to do after catching my breath. I Looked across the street at the animal and could tell that it was a wolf and not a dog. I had no idea that wolves could bark; that was interesting. He stayed in the shadows until I was on my feet, then went behind a tree, stepping out a minute later in human form, wearing a pair of shorts. I recognized him as one of the men who came to collect the bodies of the wolves Pete had killed that day, along with the small wolf he had called an "Omega". I couldn't recall his name though, but I was grateful to him for saving me from a worse beating.
Teagan
I was out patrolling the new territory we had added to our lands after the incident with Pete and the rogues. Alpha Andrew met with the town's leaders about expanding the territory to include the forests surrounding this newer area. The town had grown quite a lot since the original agreement between the pack and town's leaders. It made sense to expand the territory to include the new developments, especially since rogues had been in the area; this way, we could also patrol the area in order to keep the rogues out. So, with the agreement of the town's leaders, we had expanded; thus, I was out on patrol nearby.
As I was passing through, I caught the scent of Pete's young boyfriend in the air. Normally, as a wolf, I would avoid humans out at night, but this one was someone I had met, if only briefly, and I know that he knew about us. I had initially intended to check on him to make sure everything was okay without interacting. That all changed, however, when I approached and caught the scent of three others. I definitely didn't want to be seen now, but the three men seemed to have stopped the boy and were threatening him.
"Well, well, well, would you look what we have here." One of the men cackled at the boy.
"Hey little faggot; we have a bone to pick with you. Your boyfriend caused us some trouble and we're here for payback." Another one sneered.
"Don't you guys ever take any responsibility for your own problems?" The kid mouthed off to them. "You guys attacked him first, and you were threatening me before he even showed up. If you would just stop bothering other people you wouldn't have gotten the fight in the first place. You started it."
The kid surprised me by talking back to the men. I didn't think he'd be that brave, or stupid, as the case may be. I had to give him credit though, it made me respect him a little bit more. There was no way he was a match for any one of them separately, much less as a group. From the look of things, he had nowhere to run as well.
"Watch your mouth you disgusting little faggot." The second guy yelled back. "People like you are a stain on society and should be in hell where you belong, not out here corrupting decent people."
He then shoved the boy to the ground, swung his leg and kicked him in the stomach as he lay there helpless. Nothing pisses me off more than to see people bullying those weaker than themselves. As he was getting ready to kick the boy again, I growled menacingly, drawing their attention away from their victim. I stepped out from behind the tree enough to ensure I was seen. I kept to the shadows though, knowing that I would appear to be a large dog if they didn't see me clearly. I started barking along with the growls; the dolts simply stood there gawping at me, so I made a lunge in their direction, sending them scurrying off to an old truck, which they jumped into before racing away.
I waited for the youth to get to his feet before I stepped behind the tree to shift and pull on the shorts I had tied around my leg.
As I stepped back out from behind the tree, I spread my hands to my sides to show him I meant him no harm. I slowly crossed the street to where he waited.
"Hi," I called to him as I approached, "I'm Teagan, we met a few weeks ago. Are you okay?"
He eyed me walking towards him, warily, but didn't move away.
"I'll be okay. This isn't the first time they've beaten me up. I've been worse." He stated matter-of-factly.
I didn't like hearing that and I wondered if Pete was aware of it.
We talked about the attack for a few minutes and I him asked for their names. I told him that as part of the agreement with the town's leaders, we were often involved with the police in matters like this. I planned to report the incident to the police, but he convinced me to let it go this time. I hesitated, but eventually agreed to his wishes, however I decided to pay those three a visit in the morning.
***
"Good morning." I drawled as the three men from last night pulled up in front of the construction company where they worked. I had gotten in touch with some of my friends on the police force; I told them about the attack but asked them to let me handle it. They'd given me information on these three troublemakers dating back several years, apparently, they'd been causing troubles since they were quite young.
Two guys from my patrol and I stepped in front of them, blocking their way. I had brought two of the most fearsome looking men from our pack; they were covered in tattoos and piercings; both giving off an aura of deadly killers, although both of them were as kind as you could possibly imagine. Family men through and through. They knew the role they were here to play today, though, and the menacing scowls they wore were enough to cause men to shake nervously from terror, if the truth were told.
"I hear you've been bothering people in my neighborhood." I stated point blank, giving the impression that I was from that neighborhood myself. "I don't appreciate it when outsiders start beating up on people I look after. You three were seen beating up one of my neighbors last night. I'm going to warn you, once and once only, if you bother him again... well you're not going to like what we will do to you. Do you understand?"
"We didn't beat up anybody last night." One of them said, obviously lying. They were more stupid than I had thought, it would seem. I gave a nod to Richard, one of my men and he had the man's arm twisted behind his back before the dolt could blink. The other two stood there with their jaws hanging open in shock.
"We're not fooling around." I brushed an imaginary speck of dust off my jacket, as if I were bored by the whole situation. "You've been warned."
Richard hitched the man's arm up a little higher, causing him to grunt in pain before letting him go. We turned and walked back to the black sedan with dark, tinted windows, we'd borrowed from the pack's carpool.
As stupid as they are, I expect they'll foolishly go after Avery again.
"Notify Brian and the others to keep an eye on Avery, and these three as well." I ordered Richard. "They're too dumb to stay out of trouble, those three, and I want to know what they're up to."
***
"Boss, you were right, those three are at the diner." Brian notified me through the pack link.
"Thanks, Brian." I replied. "Go in and keep an eye on them. I'll be there shortly; I'm going to swing by the agency and pick up Pete first."
Brian was short and wiry, but he was a fantastic fighter. He was the packs martial arts expert and there were few pack members who were able to even hold their own against him in a fight. His size made him the perfect wolf to have watch over Avery as he was less likely to be noticed.
After we arrived, I left Pete in the car (didn't want him to be recognized) and moved over to lean up against the old beat-up pickup truck as I waited for them to exit the diner. It was unlikely they would do anything physical inside, and if they tried, Brian would take care of them. I listened to them haranguing Avery through the pack link as Brian looked on. These three morons really were the worst of the worst, and it was time that they were given a little taste of what they were dishing out to others.
"It looks like you don't follow instructions very well." I looked them over as they made their way over to their truck. They stopped walking, clearly surprised to see me here, and looked around to see if my men were nearby. They didn't recognize Brian, standing just a few feet away.
"You were warned." I informed them.
"Give me your keys and get in the back." I ordered.
"No fucking way!" One of them yelled, a look of total panic apparent on his face.
Before they could blink, all three were picked up and tossed into the bed of the truck. Two other massive pack members climbed in with them to make sure they stayed. Brian took the keys from the tall one and hopped into the cab, started the truck, and drove off. I got in my car with Pete, then followed behind the truck. The smell of fear literally flowed off the three bullies as we drove out into the woods.
***
3rd Person's POV
Later that evening, three thoroughly beaten bullies were dropped off, along with their truck in front of the construction company where they worked. There was little doubt they had learned that when they were told to back off, that they had better back off. Pete and I had enjoyed the show, as Brian kicked the shit out of them - of course he gave them a fighting chance - it was three against one.
Two days later, I received word that the three had packed all their stuff and left town. Nobody knew where they went, and nobody even cared. A few of those who knew them, who had also been bullied themselves, breathed sighs of relief as they saw their tormentors leaving town. These three weren't going to be a bother to anyone around here again.