“You know what might have to be done, correct?” Nickolai asked Grange quietly. Grange nodded and patted his horses neck.
“Yes, I know.” Was all he said in reply. He prayed it did not come to that. This town and the people in it had been all he’d had for a long time.
Best case scenario, the sheriff would simply ask him to leave town. Worst case scenario? That involved running for his and his packs lives and killing anyone who posed a threat on the way.
It was evening, town was fairly empty but their were a few of the long time members of the community casting curious glances at Nickolai and Grange as they walked up onto the boardwalk of the sheriff’s office.
“Brendon said the sheriff’s the only one that knows but I ain’t never got so many stares just walking down the street before.”
“You know how small towns are. I’m sure they know we’ve all been gone and they’re wondering where we’ve been and why we’re going to the sheriff’s office.” Nickolai replied with a shrug.
“Let’s hope they get gone before we come back out. I’d like to leave as few casualties as possible.” Grange stated and Nickolai nodded in agreement. They stopped at the door and Grange hesitated only a moment before knocking on the heavy wooden oak slab between he and whatever fortune fate had in store for he and his pack.
“Come on in.” Sheriff Bishop’s voice called from the inside. Grange opened the door and he and Nickolai stepped in, their eyes taking a moment to adjust to the sudden change in light.
When he could see clearly Grange raised a brow at the sight of the sheriff seated at his desk with his legs propped up and his ankles crossed. There was a shotgun laid across his lap and his smile was tight when he tipped his head.
“Have a seat, men.” he stated. Grange and Nickolai sat down in the straight backed hard, wooden chairs on the other side of the desk. The sheriff laid the pipe he’d been smoking on the desk and then pulled off his hat and tossed it down on top of a messy pile of paperwork.
“I don’t have long. My wife has supper ready at home and I need to be getting to it.” he informed them.
“I heard you wanted to speak to me, sheriff.” Grange replied simply.
“Brendon must have told you. I realized he was sniffing around me quite a bit. I think he thought he was being sneaky.” Grange would have laughed if he hadn’t been so concerned over where this conversation was going to lead.
“We just got back from a trip, sheriff, and we’re mighty tired.” he said pointedly and sheriff Bishop nodded.
“Of course.” he replied. “Can I ask where you were?”
“Just a little sightseeing.” Grange replied with a shrug. Sheriff Bishop nodded and then put his legs down and leaned his elbows on the desk.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Why don’t you just ask what you really want to ask, sheriff?” Grange demanded impatiently. “I never have been one to like to dance around an issue.” Sheriff Bishop leaned back away from Grange at the show of temper and Grange forced himself to take a deep breath and calm himself.
“Alright then.” Sheriff Bishop agreed as he sat the shot gun on the desk. Grange noticed that the barrel was pointed directly at his chest. “I found two dead men fairly close to your cabin. They appeared to have been ripped apart by an animal, giant wolves just like the other bodies I’ve found.”
Grange just nodded and waited for the sheriff to continue, a lump of dread settling down into his gut.
“I followed tracks back to your cabin and found it empty. It looked as if a tornado had blown through the place and the cellar was smeared with blood.”
“Are you wanting to ask me a question, sheriff?” Grange asked, his fists clenching on his legs and his nails digging into his palms as they hardened and grew.
The wolf, the alpha, in him was fighting to come out. It wanted to defend the pack from this threat. But the man in him knew he needed to proceed with caution. Sheriff Bishop was a friend and had not yet offered any sort of threat to either Grange or his pack. Until he did, Grange had to hold the wolf at bay.
“Grange, it’s no secret to most of the long time members of this community that you aren’t completely normal…” the sheriff said and Grange could smell his uneasiness and just a little fear. Grange glanced at Nickolai but the soldier was unmoving and emotionless, clearly just waiting on Grange to give the word on how things were gong to go.
“I guess what I need to know is.. What the hell is going on around here? Five people have been ripped apart and killed by some kind of giant wolf in the last couple of months. You don’t age. You’re gathering folks out at that house of yours like you’re running your own boarding house or something….”
“I was told by Henry that folks around here didn’t mind that I’m not exactly normal, as you put it.” Grange cut in impatiently.
“Well we don’t, just so long as you aren’t the…” sheriff Bishop rubbed the back of his neck and shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “I feel kind of foolish saying this….”
“I’m a werewolf.” Grange cut in quickly. He saw Nickolai tense out of the corner of his eye and Sherriff Bishop’s jaw nearly hit the floor. The man stuttered several times, tugged at the collar of his chambray shirt and gripped the shotgun a little tighter.
“Werewolf? Are you joking?”
“I don’t have much of a sense of humor.” Grange replied with a shrug. “I am a werewolf. Nickolai, Brie, Trig and Dawn are all werewolves. Farrah is a werelion. There are now four new werewolf members of my pack that I picked up while we were gone.”
“So you are a monster?” Sheriff Bishop demanded quietly. Grange shook his head.
“No. I’m a werewolf.” The Sheriff looked as if he wanted to run out the door and cry for help.
“Same thing.” he stated and Grange shook his head.
“I have never killed anyone innocent, sheriff and three of those five bodies you mentioned were monsters like me. One vampire and two werewolves, each of them evil and trying to kill innocents members of the town or my pack.”
“Y…Your pack?” the Sherriff asked as he grabbed his hat and placed it back on his graying hair.
“Yes. I am the alpha.” Grange replied. “No one in my pack will ever harm an innocent and if they do they will answer to me.” Grange’s voice became a low growl as he finished his statement and Sheriff Bishop nodded and just sat there staring at his gun for several long tense seconds.
“Then explain to me the preacher and the young girl. Did you have something to do with them?”
“The preacher killed the young girl. I caught him in the act but was too late to save her and so I avenged her.”
“Vigilante justice?” Sherriff Bishop asked and Grange shrugged on shoulder.
“I took care of the threat. Never again will he harm another innocent girl.”
Sheriff Bishop shoved himself to his feet and began to pace the small jailhouse, though Grange noticed that he had left his gun sitting on the desk.
“I am supposed to believe this! I’m supposed to believe that you’re some sort of werewolf, creature of the night?”
“Since it’s the truth, yeah, you’re supposed to believe it.” Grange replied calmly. Already his fear and dread was easing. If sheriff Bishop was going to try to kill him then he would have tried to do it already.
Sheriff Bishop covered his face with his hands and rubbed up and down roughly for several seconds.
“And there are more things like you.”
“Yes.” Grange replied. “Lots more.’
Sheriff Bishop paced several more long moments and then went back to his chair and slumped down in it.
“Gladys won’t believe a word of this.”
“Sheriff, I have been loyal to this town since coming here. I have run off and killed more dangers than I can even begin to tell you about. I can promise you now that I’m not a danger to this town or the people here…. Unless they become a danger to my family…. My pack.”
“Are you threatening my town?” Sheriff Bishop asked quietly as he laid a hand over the shotgun on the desk. Grange sat back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest and stretched out his long legs.
“I’ve been here and keeping this town safe for a bit longer than you have, Sherriff, so as far as I’m concerned this is my town and I don’t pose no threat to it unless it backs me into a corner. I’ll do what I have to keep what I love safe.”
“You love us?” Nickolai asked dryly and Grange rolled his eyes but chose not to respond. “I’ll be sure to tell Trig. That will have him wagging his tail for a month.”
“Wagging his…..” Sheriff Bishop’s voice trailed off and he let out an exasperated sigh. “You know how to put a man in an awkward spot, Grange.”
“I’ve never been told I was difficult before, sheriff.” Grange replied. Sheriff Bishop shook his head.
“Dammit, Grange, I like ya and that’s the problem. I should kill you….”
“You’d need more than that gun.” Nickolai cut in and Grange glared at him. Clearly the other wolf’s mouth felt freer to run now that it seemed the sheriff was going to take the truth about them well.
“Not helping, Nickolai. I’m beginning to think I’d have been better off bringing Trig.” Nickolai shot him a broad grin and the odd sight had Grange’s mind stuttering for a moment.
“Grange…” sheriff Bishop sighed, Grange’s name coming out sounding like a curse as the Sherriff shook his head and slumped in his chair.
“Yes, sheriff?”
“You’ve just made my life harder.”
“That depends on how you look at it, sheriff.” Grange replied with a shrug. “The way I see it, we’re on the same side.” sheriff Bishop rapped his fingers on the desk and studied the scarred wood in silence for a long while. Grange and Nickolai shared a look and a shrug.
A clock ticked on the wall. A horse snorted outside. Grange shifted, his backside still sore from all the hours in the saddle and not enjoying the hard wooden chair.
Finally, after what felt like hours, sheriff Bishop looked up from the desk and met Grange’ s gaze.
“I guess we’ll just see how things work out then. You can keep the town safe from critters such as yourself.”
‘Critters?’ Nickolai mouthed and Grange shrugged before the Sherriff continued.
“But let me deal with the normal folk that do wrong. If you catch ‘em in the act then bring them to me. It brings up too many questions if there are dead bodies lying around. And if you do kill a critter then get rid of the body quick. Don’t leave it layin’.”
“Sounds good to me, sheriff.” Grange replied as relief washed over him. There would be no running. No leaving behind the bakery that Dawn loved so much and no killing any of these people that Grange had always considered to be under his protection.
“One more thing.” Sheriff Bishop said quickly, causing both Grange and Nickolai to stand motionless halfway out of their chairs. Grange looked at the man expectantly.
“If someone in your… pack… harms a member of this town then I’ll be figuring out real quick what it takes to kill a werewolf.” Grange nodded and then he and Nickolai quickly left the building.
Sheriff Bishop knew he was on duty but that didn’t stop him from opening the second drawer of his desk and pulling out the small bottle of whiskey he kept there.
***
Dawn stiffened when she heard horses approaching but then Grange’s scent filled her senses and she turned to see he and Nickolai rounding the bend. The expressions on their faces were unreadable and Dawn had no way of knowing whether or not the confrontation in town had gone good or bad.
She could only hope that the lack of townsfolk running behind them with torches and pitchforks meant that things had gone well.
She saw Brie and Anika step out of the cabin and Brendon walked out of the barn.
“So?” Dawn asked cautiously as Grange came to a stop beside her and jumped from his horse. She saw the smile slowly curve his lips and happiness filled her.
“We get to stay?” she asked and he nodded as he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around.
“Yes, we get to stay.” he replied as he sat her gently back on her feet.
“What did the sheriff say?” Brie asked as she went to Nickolai. Dawn saw Trig, Farrah and the three new male wolves walk out of the woods still in their animal forms.
“He wasn’t too thrilled to learn what we were but he accepted it and accepted us.”
“You told a mortal what we are?!” Thompson demanded after shifting back quickly. His black hair and silver eyes flashed with anger. “That is against the rules! You have put the entire werewolf community in danger!”
“I would never put my pack in danger.” Grange growled as he moved Dawn aside and took a step forward. He had had an uneasy feeling about Thompson from the start. Something about the other mans scent hadn’t been right but Grange had wanted to give the wolf the benefit of the doubt considering his long imprisonment. Now he was seeing that that had been a mistake.
“You already have. You are no alpha! You are mortal born and not even a true wolf.”
“Thompson, stop!” Anika warned and Thompson shook his head.
“No. This man is not fit to lead a pack.”
“Is that so?” Grange ground out between his teeth. The wolf in him fighting to rise to the surface. Fight the wolf who dared doubt and challenge him. “Do you think you could lead this pack better?”
“Yes. I do.” Thompson replied in a snarl. Dawn looked back and forth between the men. They were fairly evenly matched in height and build but Dawn had faith in her mate’s ability to defeat any threat.
Grange growled, the sound coming from low in his throat and then without warning he lunged, shifting in midair as he fell upon Thompson.
Snarls filled the air and Dawn felt rage fill her when Jacques jumped onto Grange’s back, his brown and white fur quickly becoming entangled with the black and gray that were Thompson and Grange.
Dawn shifted and leapt into the fray, grabbing Jacques by the back of the neck and yanking him off of Grange, throwing the other wolf to the side before turning to face him.
Dawn had hoped he would become submissive at that point but he didn’t. He lowered his ears and snarled, snapping his teeth at her and then he lunged forward.
Dawn was fully prepared to meet his attack when suddenly a tawny colored wolf was there, throwing Jacques to the side and tearing into him. Dawn watched Trig and Jacques for several moments but then her attention was drawn back to Grange and Thompson when she heard a loud whimper.
It didn’t take long to realize that it hadn’t been Grange whimpering. Thompson fell away, bleeding profusely from his torn throat and chest.
He yipped and Jacques broke away from Trig and went to him, supporting him with his body.
Grange shifted back and Dawn saw that his body seemed to be nearly unharmed.
“Leave.” Grange ordered. “Get out of my territory and stay out.”
Jacques and Thompson only hesitated a moment before turning and limping quickly away into the woods. Grange turned to Trig and Farrah.
“Follow them. Make sure they truly leave.” Trig and Farrah nodded and then slipped off into the woods as well.
Grange then turned his attention to Anika and Blain who were standing beside the porch. Blain had shifted back and both he and Anika were looking at Grange’s feet and standing very submissively side by side.
“What about the two of you?” Grange demanded. “Would you like to challenge me or are you content with how I run this pack?”
“You are the alpha.” Anika replied.
“We are no threat to you, sir… I mean Grange. Thompson and Jacques were brothers and next in line to be alpha’s in our old pack….. I suppose they thought that one of them deserved to be the alpha of this one.” Blain added in explanation.
Dawn shifted back then and was instantly covered once again by Brendon’s long coat. She smiled a thank you up at him and he simply tipped his hat.
“Now that all of that is settled, let’s go get some dinner.” Grange stated. He could smell Anika and Blain’s submission. He knew that they offered no threat. They were pack members just the same as Trig, Nickolai and the others.
Grange had just reinforced his own dominance and despite the fact that Grange wasn’t happy she had put herself in danger, Dawn had helped to establish her own as well by jumping in to help him.
“You’re in luck.” Nickolai said as he wrapped his arm around Brie and looked up at the newest additions to the pack. “You’ve not tasted food until you’ve tasted Dawn’s food.”
Grange ushered his pack into the cabin, testing the air and catching Trig and Farrah’s scents. They were already on their way back and death hung in the air. Clearly Thompson and Jacques were no longer going to be a threat. There was no reason to be looking over his shoulder. Finally his pack could live in relative peace.