Mates & Allies

Jett let Deke drive out to the site, the idea of his mate facing down a challenge so soon after ascending to be alpha disturbing him. He should have been here, not dealing with the bullshit back at his claw. They were nothing to him. They’d ceased being family a long time ago.

“Shit this is ugly,” Jett spoke after they’d been silent for a while. “I can’t get over how much we didn’t know, or at least how much I didn’t know. I think when this is all settled I’m going to sit down with Aristotle and make sure he doesn’t withhold things from us. I didn’t think he was, but I’m also trying to figure out how the hell something like this happened without us knowing about it.” He sighed and stared out the window at the bleak, desert terrain. He’d truly thought he’d had a better relationship with Aristotle than that, and if the Herd Stallion had known what was going on and hadn’t shared, well that was going to stop now.

“It’s worse than Shifters United thought. I know they’d much rather I was back on the road trying to convince other packs and claws to join them. I think they also know my days of doing that are done. Even if I eventually pass the alpha role to someone else, I will be staying here with you.” Deke stared straight ahead, his hands at ten and two on the wheel. Restrained anger thrummed through him, spilling over to the connection he shared with Jett.

“I admit between the pack and the claw, both of which will need serious attention going forward, I wonder how we will find time for one another. I suspect that’s selfish of me, but we’re going to be stretched thin for a while.”

The utility vehicle hit a rut and bounced.

“That we are. We’re almost there.” Deke said.

Jett saw the truck up ahead, and as they drew closer a gray-haired figure slumped over the wheel. Deke stopped, and Jett stepped out. “How are we going to dispose of this? Seems a bit dangerous to just light it up.” Jett glanced around at the low scrub brush and thought about embers. Maybe if they drained gas from the tank and scavenged all they could use from it. But it was a working vehicle. Maybe just dispose of the body.

“Probably end up bringing the truck back to the pack. We can either scrap it or someone can repair it and drive it. It got them this far, so I imagine it’s serviceable.”

Jett nodded, pausing as he approached the driver’s side door. He hadn’t seen his uncle in years. He opened the truck door, wincing a bit as the scent of death surrounded the body. Steeling his spine, he lifted the man’s head long enough to get a good look at the grizzled face, a large scar down the side of his cheek. The vibrant blue eyes stared forward and unseeing, and he smelled like piss and beer and probably hadn’t had a bath in days. That was the uncle he remembered. Jett let the head fall forward again, bumping the steering wheel. The horn blared.

Well that was graceful as hell. “Pretty sure it’s Judah.” Tavo pulled the body out onto the sand. He turned the key in the ignition. All the dashboard lights came on and the tank showed half full. He turned the key off, then pulled them out of the ignition and pocketed them. “If it weren’t for the flat tire, I’d be willing to drive it back.” He gave a quick inventory of the truck, noticing the windshield would have to be replaced, some body work done where bullets had hit the hood and fender, and of course that flat tire. Nothing that didn’t look doable.

“I’ll check with Tavin and Cayd and see if we have anyone who knows how to fix them.”

“I do,” Jett said as he walked back to the utility vehicle to get one of the tarps they’d stashed. “I picked up all sorts of handy skills like that hanging out at Redsand. Lucas can probably come pick it up and tow it back. I’ll text when I get back.”

“That’s good to know.” Deke returned to the body and helped Jett check the pockets for anything useful. They grabbed Judah’s wallet, checked the id to confirm, then removed his rings and pulled his fancy, hand tooled leather boots. They’d bring some good money as well.

Judah had a hole in his sock, and Jett thought the big cougar shifter looked rather pathetic laying there dead in the sand with his big toe almost pushed out of his sock. Jesus, how many bodies would they have to get rid of before this was all said and done. Together, he and Deke carried the corpse back to the utility vehicle to dump it in the ravine before returning back to the pack.

“You know someone should probably hike down there and sledgehammer those bones if they’re still there in a few months. Sure would hate for a skull or something to get washed down where someone would find it.” Deke commented after they’d tossed the body over the edge of the ravine.

“Stetson and I can probably do it. Something tells me he wouldn’t be squeamish about such things.”

“Don’t count out our youngest mate. First Colt knows how to stitch up a bullet wound, then he talks about interrogating someone. I think our mate has done things that he probably wouldn’t want to talk about. He can take care of himself.” Deke made a quick turn and headed them back to camp.

“Someday I hope he tells us exactly what those things were,” Jett commented.

~* * *~

Tavo stopped in front of the cabin not relishing what he and Colt were about to do. Adam had been an ass. Kicking the wolf’s teeth in to make him talk sounded like a good way to blow off steam, and normally Tavo didn’t think that way. Of course if his stallion did actually kick in his teeth, it’d make it difficult for Adam to speak.

Colt touched his arm. “I’ve got this. Play good cop to my bad cop, okay?” He glanced at his brother. “Deke said to let us in.”

“You sure you want to do this, little brother?” Stetson asked. “They’re in rough shape and didn’t give us anything.”

“Yeah, I do,” Colt said. “Like I’ve told you before, big brother, you don’t know half the shit I had to do to keep myself and my friends alive. We’ve got this.”

Colt stared at Stetson with defiance in his eyes, and Tavo wondered if he’d misjudged thinking Stetson would have been the alpha of the two. Sure, as the eldest, had he been in line for pack leadership, it probably would have been given to him, but Colt could hold his own, and damn it was sexy to watch.

Stetson stepped aside. Tavin must be in the cabin he shared with Cayd since technically he was still recuperating from his wounds. Deke didn’t want Cayd on patrol until he felt one hundred percent again, and Tavin spent every available moment with him. Tavo had his thoughts about the two wolves, and he approved of them. Friends or something more, it wasn’t any of his business so long as they remained loyal to Deke and the pack.

Colt grabbed a baseball bat that was leaning against the cabin, then removed the bar from the door, then paused before opening it. “Remember,” he said over his shoulder, “Good cop, bad cop.”

Stetson gave him a look as if this was a side of his brother he hadn’t seen before.

Colt swung the door open and strutted inside with enough force that for a moment Tavo wondered if there might be alpha inside of him. “Okay you assholes, sit up. Eyes forward. We’re tired of your bullshit. We need answers.” He pointed the bat at Adam. “You first, you worthless piece of shit.” The growl in his voice dared anyone to question him.

Tavo stepped inside with the lantern Stetson had given him when they’d first arrived and set it in the corner so there would be sufficient light. He watched, captivated by the swagger Colt put in his walk, by that tight ass as he paused and gave Adam a good smack in the ribs with the baseball bat. With his shifter healing, it wouldn’t hurt him, but it also didn’t feel good.

“Ethan was just an errand boy, wasn’t he?”

Adam nodded. “He answered to Judah.”

“Good dog,” Colt said, swinging the bat again and stopping within an inch of Adam’s ribs. “Who’d Judah answer to?”

“Dunno.” Adam crooked a finger at the cougar shifter. “I think he does though.”

The cougar shifter grunted.

“What do you know?” Tavo asked. He stayed just out of reach, balanced on the balls of his feet in case he needed to dodge out of the way.

“Nothin’,” the cougar shifter said with a defiant jerk of his chin.

“Not even your name?” Tavo relaxed his stance. “Look, you and I both know Adam is a worthless piece of shifter trash.”

Adam snarled at him, but the cougar shifter’s lips quirked into a small grin before returning to the perpetual scowl he wore.

Tavo tried again. “What’s your name, cougar?” He let a little of his beast out, letting the stallion show he had no qualms about kicking the cougar into the dirt.

“Kole,” the cougar said. “The head of the nearby claw. Don’t know his name. Just called him “The Boss”.” Kole snorted. “Real Sopranos shit. The couple of times I went with Judah they wined and dined us, made a show of being big spenders, and then stuck us with the tab. Bastards, but you don’t want to tangle with them.”

Adam glowered.

“What are you going to do with him?” Kole asked.

Tavo thought for a moment.

“It’s up to the alpha,” Colt said. “If it were me, I’d put a bullet in his brain for betraying us.”

“You have an anger management problem,” Kole said.

Colt stomped forward. “What I have is a sick and fucking tired of people trying to destroy my peace and shoot my mates, problem,” he growled.

Even Adam took a step back.

Kole held up his hands. “Hey, I smell Jett on you. Judah had a stick up his ass about his nephew being half-human. Me? I don’t care.” He focused his attention back on Tavo. “Look, I know Jett’s father treated him like shit because that’s what the step-mother wanted. She is a real piece of work. Don’t go sniffing around The Boss. But you shot Judah and that left a power vacuum Stella is going to try to fill. She’s who you need to watch out for.”

Tavo thought about the shed he saw, the way Jett had to fix it up on his own, and how he didn’t care for much except whatever was in the manila envelope he’d pulled out from underneath the mattress. “Tell me something I don’t know,” Tavo ordered.

“There’s a lot of support in Judah’s claw for Jett to take over. The claw leader is Zeb and he’ll vouch for everything I said.”

Colt glanced in his direction and stepped toward the door. “That’s what we needed. Thank you. I’ll tell Deke what I think we should do with you,” he added to Adam, who shrunk back as Colt bounced the baseball bat against the floor.

Tavo watched his mate and wondered what exactly they were going to do with their prisoners.