Gatsby Wolves, Vol. 4

Celine's visit to Kade's office gave him the strength he needed to go to MacIntosh's den. By himself. He hated the place, but he knew that showing up with other pack members would make it look like he had something to hide. He didn't, but that didn't make him any less nervous. Last time he had been there, he had been beaten to a pulp and left for dead in a freezer. And he was still human.

He walked into the seedy pub and felt a dozen pairs of yellow eyes on him right away as the MacIntosh pack stared him down. Wes was sitting at the bar, puffing on a cigar. He blew a cloud of smoke in Kade's face when he approached, grinning smugly when Kade coughed.

"Graceful, Wes," he said, waving the smoke away.

"Once again, you find yourself in my den," he greeted.

"Once again, I'm being falsely accused of doing something I'm not," Kade said. "I was hoping we could talk about it this time instead of you ripping my head off right away. At the very least, maybe we can get by without you traumatizing my daughter a second time."

His smile fell off his face to a look of annoyance when Kade mentioned Emelie and how scared she had been. Wes wasn't a gentle man in any way. He wasn't even gentle with his own children. However, it seemed like even he was a little guilty about what happened with Emelie. A tall woman with broad shoulders and a stern expression showed up next to him.

"You traumatized his daughter?" she questioned.

"Not on purpose," Wes grumbled. "I didn't see her there. She's so small. And sensitive. None of ours were ever that sensitive."

"That's because ours were raised in the woods like little cave children."

Kade looked between him and the woman.

"Your wife, I take it?" he asked politely.

"What?" Wes said, brow furrowed. "No, this is my mistress. That's my wife."

He gestured to another broad shouldered and toned woman at another table, who had been listening intently while nursing a drink. It seemed that Wes had a thing for strong ladies.

"Of course," Kade said, smiling awkwardly at both women as they stared him down. "Your wife and your... mistress. And you all live together. That's really... they seem great. I mean, you're all great."

"Get to the point, Rosier," Wes said. "Why are you here?"

"Like I said, to talk," Kade said. "I've been reading up about shapeshifters and-"

"There's books about mutts?"

"On shifters, yes."

"And I only just learned that I can create other shifters," he said. "My bite is equal to your scratch. That being said, if there are wolves attacking you it's not me or any of mine."

"And I'm supposed to believe you because you read a book?"

"No," he said. "You should believe me because I didn't even know I could create other wolves. Also because I'm an honest man... for the most part. And I have no reason to take you down or attack your family."

Wes thought for a moment before he spoke again. "Swear it on your daughter's life."

"Excuse me?" Kade said, glaring at him. "How dare you?"

"If you truly haven't been creating wolves to attack us, swear it on your daughter's life," he repeated.

Everyone was listening now.

"Fine," Kade said. "I swear it on her life. I have nothing to hide from you. I'm being framed again. Don't beat me up for something I didn't do."

Wes looked at his mistress, then his wife, then back at Kade.

"We'll join you for dinner tomorrow night," he said. "We can discuss it then."

"Dinner?" Kade said, voice cracking. "Like, at my house?"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, of course not," he said quickly. "We look forward to it. You, the missus... the miss..."

Wes waved a hand dismissively for Kade to leave. It was night by the time he was on his way out, but he hardly made it out the door before a pair of yellow eyes in the dark stared back at him. He heard a low growl as a wolf like he had never seen stepped out of the shadows. The wolf was clearly a shifter like Kade, but his fur was matted, his claws were unkempt, and his eyes were wild. He bared his teeth and continued growling as he inched closer to Kade.

Wes looked like he was about to charge, but Kade grabbed his arm to stop him from making any sudden movements. He inched slowly towards the wolf, holding a hand out to him and speaking gently.

"Hey," he said softly. "I'm Kade. I'm like you. Let's just relax and talk, alright? Can you shift back?"

For the briefest moment, the wolf seemed to have a more human gaze. Then there was a sharp whistle in the distance and it went feral again. However, not just the wolf. Kade also felt a sharp pain in his chest when he heard the whistle. Wes looked at him as he stumbled back, snapping some orders at some of his own pack. Kade's hearing was foggy and his vision was blurry, but he saw two figures run in the direction of the whistle and two others taken down the wolf in front of him.

He managed to cry out "No!", but it was too late. They snapped the wolf's neck right as it tried to attack. The whistle stopped and Kade fell to his knees, finally getting some relief from whatever effect that pitch had on him. Clearly, it didn't have that effect on pure wolves because Wes seemed stunned by what he was seeing. Kade scrambled to his feet, but it was too late for the wolf, who had shifted back to his human form.

Kade had no idea who the guy was. He was sure he had never seen him in the neighborhood, let alone involved in these crowds. He was older and wore a business suit, looking more like he worked a normal office job than as a hitman for someone. As the body was dragged off, Kade's hand moved up to his chest.

"You okay, kid?" Wes asked.

"Yeah," Kade said, still in a daze. "I don't know what that thing was. I felt like I was having a heart attack. Did you feel it?"

"We just heard a whistle," Wes said. "You should go home. We can discuss this more tomorrow night."

"Right. Yeah."

"For what it's worth, we believe you now. No way you'd turn a feral wolf on yourself. Not even you're that dumb."

"Thanks, Wes."