Wolves among men (28 page)

“
Of course I am. He has my
sister. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.” Grant nodded
lightly, the sound of cheering poured in from outside. We looked
behind us toward the large doors and smiled, I could only imagine
what was going on out there while we exchanged words.

“
Well don’t worry,” he
assured me as he placed his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find her
and bring her home. I can promise you that.” He smiled at me and I
tried my best to believe him.

“
Can you really?” I asked
skeptically. He lowered his eyes and offered me a slight
smile.

“
No I guess I can’t but I
can promise that I will die trying if I have to.” I chuckled
softly. At least we were on the same page about it and that’s all
that really mattered.

“
Can I ask
why?”

“
Why what?” He asked
quickly.

“
Why are you so willing to
help me? You don’t even know me.” He sighed heavily and
nodded.

“
I suppose you’re right
but you’re family to Samantha and she is like a daughter to
me.”

“
So by process of
elimination I’m family as well?” He chuckled lightly and
nodded.

“
If she is willing to go
to such great lengths to help you then so am I.” The sense of
appreciation I felt in that moment was immense. I never expected to
find others like myself let alone a family I would be so openly
welcomed into.

“
Alright well,” Grant
smiled as he broke the silence between us. “how about we go and
join the party.” I nodded at him happily before grabbing the binder
off of the table and following him out into the crisp night air. A
crowd of smiling faces and cheering voices greeted us and we
stopped just outside the doorway and watched as their excitement
quickly grew. Matt wrestled with a man I didn’t recognize in the
middle of the courtyard, their faces red and dripping with sweat as
they entangled themselves in a fierce battle for
dominance.

“
That’s Colt,” Grant
whispered to me as I watched him untangle himself from Matt’s grip
and get to his feet. The younger man stood a head shorter than Matt
and twice as wide, his shaggy brown hair hung down over his eyes as
he glared at Matt’s ready frame. They stood facing each other,
ready to pounce as they watched and carefully gauged the others
next move. It was tense and exciting all the same as we held our
breath and waited for the next strike.

Matt swung but missed by nearly a hair
as Colt ducked down and sidestepped around him, a wicked laugh
filled the air as the crowd cheered for him. Impatiently Matt swung
again only to be stopped by Colt’s hand as he grabbed his arm
midair and twisted it behind his back. The smile on his face
screamed of victory and power as Matt struggled against his
grip.

“
Let me go!” Matt roared
into the night. Colt kicked his legs out from under him knocking
him to his knees and holding him tight as they dropped down
together. In one swift motion Colt wrapped his thick arm around
Matt’s neck and pushed him onto his stomach, holding him down for
the final pin. I watched as a sinister smile crossed over Matt’s
face and in a flash, barely an instant, his body began to change.
It was faster than my transformation, in a matter of seconds I no
longer saw Matt but a hulking gray furred beast as it shot to its
feet throwing Colt off of its back and howled into the night
air.

An eruption of cheers and whistles
came from the crowd as Colt got to his feet and faced the beast, a
grin and a wink was all he shared before he hunched over and
allowed his body to change. No longer was it two men in a sparring
match but two hulking beasts staring each other down and for a
moment I caught myself wondering how it was even possible that they
had managed to fit themselves into a space so small.

The air grew tense, electric as Colt
readied himself for the attack. Hunched down and balancing on his
knuckles a deep guttural growl escaped him as he locked eyes with
Matt and his glaring form. I smiled as my eyes darted between the
two of them, I had never seen another pair of wolves fight and I
was excited to get a glimpse of what these creatures, what we, were
capable of. I could feel the crowd tense as they circled each
other, letting out small growls and warning snarls, neither wanting
to make the first strike and neither wanting to let the other out
of their sight. And just like that in a flash of fur and claw’s
Matt went in for blow.

Colt bit down on his arm sending a
howl of pain through the air. Thankfully he didn’t bite hard enough
to draw blood. This was a sparring match, not a fight to the death
after all. Matt swiped hard with his free hand knocking Colt to the
ground but not for long as he got to his feet and lunged at his
opponent with a roar. He knocked Matt onto his back and shoved his
large menacing paw into his throat, holding him to the spot as Matt
bit and snarled at the air. The crowd cheered them on as Matt
thrashed at his opponent in an attempt to get the upper hand but no
such luck was to be had as Colt held steady and kept him in place.
The crowd began to count down as Matt thrashed violently to free
himself.

“
Five, four, three, two,”
in one singular voice we all chanted and just as we were about to
declare the winner Matt lurched up knocking Colt onto his back. He
stood quickly and once again lunged, arms outstretched. Matt
stepped to the side dodging his attempts and whipped around quick
as lightning. He grabbed Colt from behind, wrapping his massive arm
around his neck and taking him down to his knees. Matt stood behind
him, holding him in a death grip as Colt struggled against his
grip. He clawed at his arm, kicked with his legs but it was no use
as Matt held firm.

“
Five, four, three, two,”
we began chanting again. Matt looked up at the crowd and a smile
crossed his face as we reached our final verdict.

“
One!” We all shouted, all
of us erupting in applause as Matt released him and Colt fell to
his hands and knees gasping for breath. I watched curiously as Matt
regained his human form as easily as he had shifted before and
began to run through the crowd with a victorious grin, his arms
stretched up to the sky.

Colt slowly regained shape and Grant
nudged me to the side as he ran to his friend and patted him on the
back. Despite losing this fight, his face was beaming and the crowd
began to cheer for him as loudly as they cheered for their
victor.

“
Impressive wasn’t it?”
Sam stood next to me and smiled as she applauded her
champion.

“
That was probably the
coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.” I smiled happily as I
turned to her. “Why were they fighting?” She shrugged and shoved
her hands into her pockets as the crowd began to calm and return to
life as it was before the show.

“
They weren’t fighting,
just sparring.”

“
There’s a difference?” I
asked.

“
Well yeah, if they were
fighting one of them would be dead.” She smiled as Matt came
around, gasping for breath.

“
Hey man.” He smiled at
me. “Did you catch the show?”

“
Yeah,” I nodded. “That
was awesome.”

“
Colt’s a good fighter,”
he spoke as he turned to get a look at his opponent. “I like that
guy.” Sam laughed loudly, bringing Matt’s attention back to
us.

“
Well at least you’re
making friends this time.”

“
The hell do you mean by
that?” Matt grinned. Sam’s eyebrow rose as she shifted her weight
and crossed her arms in front of her.

“
Seriously, Matt, every
time we run into another pack you find one reason or another to
make an enemy.” Matt nodded proudly.

“
Well yeah, that’s because
there’s always one to be had. I’m sure I’ll find someone to hate
here soon enough.” He chuckled. Sam rolled her eyes and turned her
attention back to me.

“
So what have you got
planned for tonight?” I shrugged and held up the binders I had been
gripping at my side.

“
Grant gave me these,
thought I might look them over.”

“
What is it?” She asked as
she pulled one from my hands and flipped it open
curiously.

“
Just some stuff on
Malik.” I shrugged. “Grant said it was basically everything they
know.” She nodded as she turned the pages slowly.

“
Do you mind if maybe we
go over it together? I wouldn’t mind learning a bit more about him
myself,” she asked quietly.

“
Sure.” I shrugged. “If
you’re up to it.” She snapped the binder closed and tucked it under
her arm with a smile.

“
Alright then, let’s get
to it.” She beamed as she hooked her arm around mine and led me
through the courtyard.

“
It’s gonna be a long
night.” I chuckled as I held the door open for her. She stepped
inside and turned to face me as I let the door close loudly behind
us.

“
Well here’s hoping we
learn a thing or two.” She smiled, taking my arm in hers once again
and leading me down the hall.

Chapter
Nineteen

“
Find anything
interesting?” I asked curiously as I lay on my stomach and flipped
through a stack of loose papers quietly. We’d been at it for nearly
an hour and I hadn’t stumbled across anything earth shattering yet.
No pearls of wisdom no secret piece of information that would lead
me to victory in a battle against something I didn’t truly
understand. Just a lot of loose facts and information scattered
around me as I looked up at Sam.

She shook her head tiredly from the
edge of the bed as she poured over her own thick stack. “Nothing we
don’t already know.” She sighed heavily. “This sucks.” She groaned
as she dropped the papers onto her lap and rubbed her eyes
gently.

“
What’s the matter?” she
took a deep breath and lay down on her back, staring up at the
ceiling as she spoke.

“
We have nothing,” the
frustration in her voice was thick as she turned her head to face
me. “The last few months have been nothing but dead ends and false
leads.” She sat up and sighed. “I’ve, we’ve, spent so much time
chasing him, chasing his kids and it’s like running after a
shadow.”

“
What do you mean by
that?” I smirked.

“
It’s like,” She sighed.
“It’s like no matter how close you think you are to catching it,
it’s just another trick of the light.” I nodded. “I guess I’ve just
been hoping for this big flash of insight or something you
know.”

“
Honestly,” I smirked. “I
have no idea what that’s like.”

“
Really?” She sat up and
turned herself to face me.

“
Maybe it’s just because I
haven’t been at this as long.” She nodded understandingly as she
stared off at the loose stack of papers next to us. “I did have a
thought though.”

“
Okay what is it?” I
reached over and pulled one of the binders toward us as I thought
about what I wanted to say.

“
I was just thinking,
maybe we’re going at this all wrong.” Her eyebrow rose and a
skeptical smile crossed her face. “Don’t look at me like that.” I
chuckled.

“
Fine.” She rolled her
eyes with a smile. “What do you mean?”

“
Well,” I thought for a
moment. “I’m not entirely sure but after reading through all this
crap it seems that Malik is pretty good at staying hidden.” She
nodded. “I mean other than the fact that he seems to get off on
destroying entire towns and has been around since the dawn of time
for all we know, there really isn’t anything new here.”

“
True.” She chuckled as
she flipped open the binder between us and began thumbing through
the pictures slowly. “But I thought you had fresh new perspective
or something.” She smiled.

“
Yes and no.” I took the
binder from her and flipped it open to a particular article
detailing the slaughter of a small Mexican village in the early
nineteen fifties.

“
What’s this?” She asked
as she peered over it.

“
What happened isn’t
important, see where Malik’s standing?” She nodded as she looked at
the worn out photograph. “Do you see the man standing next to him?”
She squinted, bringing the page closer to her face.

“
Isn’t that the guy that
tried to kill you back on the reservation?” I nodded.

“
His name’s Jonathan, I’m
surprised you remember him.” She looked up at me and rolled her
eyes.

“
He nearly killed me and
my pack, of course I remember him.”