Council Enforcer Clyde Lassiter's POV
Snake Mountain Pack House
Zionville, North Carolina
The Pack prison was worse than most. An old mining shaft, it was dark and damp and chilly. There were silver-coated jail bars set deep into the rock about a hundred feet down. It was a long, twisting walk to reach them, long enough that daylight from the entrance didn't make it. Left alone in the darkness, with no contact with others and no concept of time, was enough to induce madness in a week or two. The prisoners didn't get fed and didn't have a toilet. If they wanted water, they could suck it from the damp spots on the rocks where the underground water seeped through.
It was a place to be punished before your death.
The smells of sewage, blood, armpits, and fear mixed powerfully in the stale air. I used the same trick cops used when dealing with the overpowering smell of dead bodies; I had Vick's Vapo-Rub dabbed under my nose. "How much farther?"
"Not much now," the guard told me. "Stay back from the bars. He likes to fling poo like some monkey at the zoo."
Wonderful. I thought back to the briefing I'd gotten from the Alpha and Beta earlier. Our prisoner was Rodney Edward Dangerfield, age twenty-two. We'd googled the Terre Haute, Indiana address on his driver's license and found an empty lot. We didn't get a hit on his prints, and he'd paid cash for his motel room outside of Asheville. He was a ghost, a were-coyote up to no good. "How'd you catch this asshole?"
"Luck," the Beta replied. "He was selling Ecstasy at a party near Appalachian State. One of our students there recognized the scent. She followed his car to his hotel room and called it in. Our warriors picked him up and brought him here." He smiled. "No one knows he is here, and no one ever will."
The Beta and his men interrogated him and got nothing. The Council sent me to see if I could do any better. Could I get him to break before his mind and body did?
I wasn't sure. I heard a low growl as our red-colored flashlights reached the cell, the light functioning to keep our night vision going. The prisoner was loose inside the cave spur, a silver-coated collar around his neck to keep him from shifting. Even if he did, the cell bars were numerous enough to keep him from squeezing out. "What do you want with me, you fucker? Too tired to beat me again, so you brought in a new guy?"
I grabbed a folding chair leaning against the wall and sat down a good twenty feet from the bars. "I'm not with these guys. I'm a Wolf Council Fixer," I told him softly. He stiffened at the news; we were the assassins and cleanup specialists of our world. "My authority comes directly from the Council, not from this Alpha. What is your name?"
"Jack." He walked towards the bars, stopping just short of where it would have burned his bare flesh. "Jack Meoff."
Whatever. "Jack, you should understand I'm your only chance to walk out of this place alive," I said. "The Alpha will never let you live, not after they caught you dealing drugs."
"And you'll just let me go?"
I nodded. "My priorities, and those of the Council, are different than those of a local Alpha. You give me one piece of information that I need. If it pans out, I come back here and let you go."
He tilted his head back and laughed at me. "Like I'd trust you."
"You should. You see, there is a were-coyote I want so bad that the Council will order your release. He's not a good person; this coyote worked with the drug cartels, and his associates ambushed and murdered two Pack wolves. In comparison, you're nothing. Give me his name and a way to find him, and you'll walk out of here. I'll personally escort you off this territory and put you back in your car." He was thinking about it. "You know what I am and who I work for. I'm your only hope."
He looked into my eyes, and I stared back at him. "I believe you," he finally said.
"Give me the name," I told him.
He broke into a smile. "Fuck you, Council Wolf, and all your Pack Wolf butt-buddies. I'll never betray one of us. None of us will."
I expected this, but I had to take the chance. Were-coyotes were famously secretive and loyal to each other. It was the only way they had survived as the Packs expanded across the country. What I saw in his eyes was not defiance but fear. He didn't have the information to trade for his life, and we both knew it."I'm sorry to hear that. I'll find him, and the Council will execute him. You'll suffer and die in here. No one will know of your sacrifice, and your death will change nothing." I stood up and put the chair back against the wall. "I hope it is worth it."
"I will go to my ancestors with honor, dog."
"You will. Goodbye, Jack." I waved at the guard and walked away, ignoring the insults and curses hurled into the gathering dark.
Neither of us said anything until we were out of the cave and heading back to the Pack House. "That wasn't what I expected out of you," the guard finally said.
"Beatings and torture don't work as you might think. Your prisoner didn't have what I wanted. You could beat an answer out of him, but by then, he'll tell you anything to stop the pain. A proper interrogation can take weeks, but at least you'll get the truth."
"What are you going to tell the Alpha?"
"The truth. Your prisoner doesn't know who the Cook is, so he's not Council business. Treat him as you will."
The guard dropped me off at the Pack House. I went straight to my room, placing the clothes I'd worn in a plastic bag and taking a good shower to get the smell off of me. I had just enough time to get dressed and meet with the Alpha before dinner. He was disappointed I hadn't gotten my answers but pleased that the Council would not interfere in his affairs.
The Pack ate in one sitting, all sixty members seated on long tables leading away from the head table. It was like a wedding, where everyone could see the Pack leadership from their seats. As their guest, I was next to the Alpha at the head table. The Alpha also gave me a date for the night, a forty-two-year-old female named Allison. She seemed as happy to be forced into the date as I was to have her foisted upon me. I knew what was going on; I could see the sadness in her eyes, the disappointment that comes from scenting a single male and your wolf doing nothing. We carried on a pleasant conversation during the meal, ensuring Allison wouldn't get in trouble with her Luna. I hated these formal affairs as a rule, but I enjoyed the meal thanks to her.
She was a good wolf, attractive and single, but my wolf was indifferent. She was a normal-ranked wolf who would never attend a scratch-and-sniff, and she was well past the age females met their mates. A match with a Beta-ranked wolf like me was unlikely, but who knows what Luna is thinking? I asked her to accompany me to my room while I changed, and she agreed.
"I'm sorry you had to endure that meal for me," I said as soon as the door closed to the guest room in the Alpha wing.
"I've been enduring meetups and blind dates for more than half my life," Allison replied as she leaned against the wall. "You were better than most. You didn't dismiss me as soon as you learned my rank."
I changed in the bathroom into a robe; we wouldn't be wearing clothes for long. I came out and handed over a matching one. "We have to run as the Alphas expect it. What I hate is sticking around after. I plan to grab a bottle from the bar and come back here as soon as I can."
"I don't blame you for that. Do you want company?" I froze, and she took that as a rejection. "No pressure, Clyde. I can't stand hearing the mated couples rutting."
"I think I'd like that. Come on." She changed in the bathroom before we joined the others outside. We hung up our robes on the hooks by the door, shifting into our wolves on the front deck. The difference in our wolves was almost comical. I was a big and intimidating wolf, heavily muscled and scarred from decades of combat. The only males bigger than me were Mantled Alphas.
Allison? Her sandy-colored wolf didn't come up to my shoulders. She looked agile and fast, though. I stood still as she rubbed her scent on my chest. She wasn't going to let she-wolves less than half my age move in on me. I didn't mind; if one of them were my mate, we'd have found out at dinner. Lacking that, I was going to 'dance with the one that brung me.'
The run wasn't enough to work out my aggression as the pace was slow enough for the weakest Pack member. Allison would never keep up if I tried a hard run, and I couldn't embarrass her by leaving her behind. Instead, we trotted along with the Alphas until we returned. We put on our robes, swiped a bottle of spiced rum and some Cokes from the bar, and escaped to my room before anyone knew we'd left.
We talked and drank well into the night, the buzz helping us confess our stories. "I don't know why the Moon Goddess is punishing me like this," she said as we sat on the couch together. Her large breasts were warm against my chest as I leaned back, my right hand stroking her lower back under the blanket. Her right leg draped over mine, and her hand moved softly through my chest hair.
"I have no idea," I said. "I gave up asking Luna for answers years ago."
Her hand moved down my stomach. "Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?"
"No," I said as her hand brushed against my erection. "Both options suck."
"Can I take away your pain, even if it is just for tonight?" Her hand wrapped around my length and squeezed it.
"If I can distract you with pleasure for a night, I will. We both know that in the morning, nothing will have changed."
