Page 11

11

BOAZ

I was so impressed with my mate. He trained in human form and learned hand-to-hand combat. He could use a Glock and now hit bullseyes 99% of the time. But most importantly, we had trained his beast to sniff out drugs, or the drug: Duskthorn.

Duskhorn was basically the only thing he could scent and I hated that for him. The doctor assumed it had something to do with being drugged and the synthetically enhanced addictive nature of it. Everything we learned about this drug made us more determined to eradicate its distribution in our city and ideally everywhere.

In cat form, he was a sneaky little feline. Whereas a wolf was almost impossible to disguise in the city, no one paid attention to a stray cat. Keane became our lookout and was able to feed us vital information about the Ironclaw pack and their drug dealings.

We were able to disrupt the supply chains by going to the source: the harbor. A cat wandering the docks and onto ships, one who had been trained to sniff out drugs, was invaluable, though I worried the vessels would set sail with my mate onboard.

They were storing the drug in a warehouse near the dock, but it caught fire and the fire brigade took all night to put it out. That was thanks to my sneaky mate and his beast who set the contents of the warehouse alight.

But while the drugs were cremated, many of the Ironclaw members who harbored and sold them were alive. One more ship docked, and Keane detected Duskthorn on board. That vessel had already departed from its origin port before the warehouse was destroyed, and the captain had no choice but to continue the journey.

With Alpha’s approval, my brothers and I and handful of trusted pack members were entrusted with ending the trade.

We hid on the docks, in amongst the metal shipping containers, piled three and four high. One by one, the Ironclaw shifters carried crates from the bowels of the ship to a container on the far side of the dock. They were wary, treading softly and looking around them as if they expected to be intercepted. Also their scent was heightened, signaling they were scared, and even though the night was cold, their reeking body odor drifted to us on the breeze.

We had the advantage as the Ironclaw shifters needed their skin to transport the goods. Wolves were for tracking and fighting but not for moving crates. If they hadn’t invested so much money in the drug deal, they may have shrugged off the loss of the warehouse and its contents. Or perhaps their Alpha and his Betas were just greedy and didn’t mind losing pack members in a war, as long as they eventually made money.

Keane was crouched low beside me, and I squeezed his hand before he shifted. If the Ironclaw guys caught a whiff of his scent, they’d recognize it as shifter. But I sprayed him with a combination of pheromones and ammonia, basically artificial cat pee. Oof. What a stink!

His purpose was to distract the Ironclaw gang which would give us an advantage.

“What the fuck?” One of the Ironclaw shifters dropped his crate, and it toppled into the water. The others hunched over, their crates thunking on the gangway or deck, and someone fired a shot.

“Stop with the gunfire,” a voice hissed from the gangway. “It’s a damned cat. Probably looking for rats.”

Considering they’d lost the warehouse and its contents, they weren’t being overly careful, but they must have paid off the security people—or perhaps just offed them.

“Keep moving. Our boss will be pissed if we’re late, and Rolo, you have to retrieve that crate.”

“Boss, it's at the bottom of the ocean by now.”

“Rolo, you’ll be on the ocean floor weighed down with a concrete slab if you don’t go get it.”

If we waited long enough, these bozos would eliminate one another and we could go home.

“Shit, that damned feline scratched me.” That wasn’t Rolo. “I’m going to kill it.”

“For fuck’s sake, forget the damned cat.” These fools were yelling and making a huge racket while they were unloading contraband.

Keane had already put some of the Ironclaw guys on edge, but I was worried one would grab him by the neck and bash him against the side of the ship. I conjured up images of my mate’s beast, limp and dangling from a meaty fist.

Stop. You have a job to do. My beast was telling me to concentrate.

I motioned to my brothers and the others to be ready. Keane had one more trick in his repertoire.

“Ahhh.” The yell echoed and reverberated around the containers. “It’s on my face. Get it off.” For a wolf shifter, that guy was a big baby.

There was another thunk, a crash, and more swearing. A second gunshot and a screech, the scent of blood replacing the salty aroma of sea water.

With the Ironclaw members in disarray, shooting at one another, we took our fur and attacked. They were at a disadvantage, and our beasts leaped on them, sinking their canines into their flesh before they could shift. One died before he hit the ground, two went overboard and screamed they couldn’t swim.

Bye-bye.

But the remaining Ironclaw guys took their fur, and they were worthy of the title warrior. One tore Lake’s beast’s ear half off, while Thiago’s opponent clawed his underbelly. The gangway and desk became slick with blood, but as one large wolf leaped at me, a tiny beast flew through the air, clamping onto the wolf’s head. He shook himself, trying to get rid of my mate, but while he was blindsided, I ripped his throat out, and he collapsed with blood gushing from his wounds.

One of the shifters escaped, his wolf's footfalls thumping along the dock until they faded in the distance. But even if we had killed them all, they would rise again. They reminded me of that arcade game Whack-a-Mole where you eliminated one and five took its place.

I took my skin, and my mate’s beast flew into my embrace as Ironclaw blood mingled with our own.

“You were the hero of the night.”

* * *

My brothers recovered from their injuries, and Keane insisted on training with us even after we’d quashed the supply of Duskthorn.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be using your mate like… you know, a dog.” Lake adored Keane and didn't want to insult him and his beast.

My mate shifted and grinned at my youngest brother. “That’s sweet of you, but humans have trained rats to ferret out landmines, and there’s research into whether elephants can be trained in similar techniques.”

“Wow! From small animals to huge ones.”

“And honey bees!”

“No. You’re kidding me.” Lake tapped his phone. “Oh, you’re not.”

“That’s enough for today.” Thiago waved us away as he was headed to the woods to shift and hunt.

But my phone beeped just as he tossed off his clothes.

“Glad I’m not the pack Beta.” Thiago took his fur and bounded off.

Keane shrugged on his shirt and studied my face. “I was looking forward to a night alone, but I’m guessing Alpha needs you.”

“Needs us.” I flipped the phone around so my mate and Lake could read the text.

“But we did our job and stopped the supply of Duskthorn. How could there be more deaths?” Keane took the phone and tapped on the link. He dropped the device, but Lake swooped in and caught it.

“Leave a message for Thiago, and get Ezra and Riggs to meet us at headquarters.” Maynard was off on a job and wouldn’t be back until this evening.

I left Lake to round up our brothers and took Keane aside. “This is bad. Are you sure you want to be involved?”

“Of course. I’m part of the pack.”

At headquarters, I consulted with Alpha before he spoke in front of pack members.

“This latest incident involved the death of Crescent Moon shifters, our kin, and we assume the Ironclaw shifters are again responsible.”

The initial deaths, on the night I met my mate, were on our territory but the shifters who died were from packs in and around the city.

“But Alpha, how are they bringing in the drugs?” one shifter asked, and the rest of the crowd murmured in agreement.

“Rather than storing the drugs in a warehouse, they’re hiding them in children’s toys, and that is how they are getting through customs and to the general population.”

Children’s toys. The scumbags. We had to stop this.

“I have a suggestion.” Keane put up his hand.

Alpha nodded. He preferred using as few words as possible.

“Why not inform the human authorities? The drugs may be intended for shifters, but if the police discover drugs secreted in toys, they won’t know who the intended victims are.” He elaborated and explained that most of the police didn’t know we existed.

I was so proud of my mate for his suggestion but wondered how Alpha would react. Shifters liked to deal with our problems ourselves and not farm out the responsibility to humans.

“That’s an excellent idea, Keane.” Alpha approved.

We had contacts in the police department, but it would be sensible to do it anonymously because the police might think we were dealing and just going after a rival gang.

But we had suspicions humans in law enforcement had been bribed by the Ironclaw Alpha. We bribed them too, but we weren’t hiding drugs, just expecting them to overlook run-of-the-mill city hall business.

“That was clever,” I whispered to my mate after the meeting.

Ezra, being the tech genius, was tasked with planting anonymous messages while we waited, hoping it couldn’t be traced back to us.

The raid was front page news a few days later, but Alpha informed us not to get too cocky.

“They won’t give up. They’ll find another way.”