The first was that Protection, Inc. moved their headquarters into this building. Before that, they’d been in another part of town. Hal didn’t want a gang in his neighborhood, making people scared to come there and do business with him, so he arranged a meeting with me. He told me to go straight or move out. He said if we kept on committing crimes and weren’t willing to go peacefully, he and his team would run us out.
I knew they were shifters, but that was all I knew. I had no idea what I was dealing with. I thought he was a condescending jackass and I told him to fuck off. I said if he and his buddies gave me any trouble, me and my pack would run them out.
At that point, Protection, Inc. was just Hal, Rafa, Fiona, and Destiny. I couldn’t beat a grizzly bear or a lion myself, but I had a whole pack. I didn’t think they’d be a problem.
Obviously, I’d way underestimated them. From then on, they were on my ass like white on rice. Every time we did fucking anything, either they tipped off the cops or one of them showed up to stop us in person. They were fucking hardcore. I think I fought every single one of them something like three times over. It always ended with both of us roughed up, but my pack or his team would always break it up before anyone could get seriously hurt. But they’d be back the next day. And, of course, so would we.
I had my hands full just holding my ground against them. So I missed something really fucking important going down inside my pack.
This kid Manuel joined right before Protection, Inc. moved in. He was just seventeen, and he came to us because his parents had been his pack, and they’d been killed in a car crash. He reminded me of myself at that age: pissed off at the world and ready to fight every last person in it. I’d meant to show him the ropes, but then Protection, Inc. showed up and I didn’t get the chance.
I did notice that Price seemed to get along with him, but all I ever saw him do was chat and teach Manuel how to pick pockets. If I hadn’t been so distracted, I’d have kept more of an eye on them.
What I found out later was that Price had taken that kid under his wing and treated him l
ike a son. And Manuel was looking for a father. That asshole told Manuel that he had all the qualities of a true alpha, and the whole pack had just been waiting for someone like him to show up and save them from me. Everyone knew I’d become alpha when I was about Manuel’s age, but Price spun that to convince him that he could challenge me and win. Every time I showed up beat to hell from some fight with Hal or Rafa — a wolf going head to head with a grizzly bear or a lion, and giving as good as he got — Price used that as proof that I was weak and not fit to run the pack.
Manuel was too young and inexperienced to know he was being used. And Price was fucking sneaky. I think a couple wolves knew what he was up to, but they were old buddies of Price from his alpha days. The wolves who were friends with me had no idea, or they would have tipped me off.
One night when we were all gathered to talk about what to do about fucking Protection, Inc, Manuel stood up. Out of the blue, he said, “Nick Mackenzie, I challenge you.”
I couldn’t believe it. That pup wouldn’t last five seconds against me. Then I caught sight of Price. He wiped that fucking smirk off his face as quick as he could. But once I’d seen it, I knew what must have happened.
I said, “Manuel, Price is using you. He thinks I won’t want to fight you —”
“Because you know you’ll lose,” Manuel said.
I lost my temper and snarled, “No, you fucking idiot! Because I know I’ll win, and you’re just a dumb fucking kid. He’s hoping I’ll step down so I don’t have to kill you. But if I do, he’ll challenge you. He’s not strong enough to beat me, but he’s plenty strong enough to beat you. So either you’ll step down or he’ll kill you. Either way, he gets to be alpha again.”
Manuel had a temper too. Like I said, he was a lot like me at that age: more balls than brains. He said, “You’re lying! Price is like a father to me. And I can beat you!”
Before I could get anything else out, he yelled, “Nick Mackenzie, I challenge you! Do you accept, or do you step down?”
Pack laws say once a challenge has been issued twice, that’s the end of trying to talk them out of it. You have to act on it, one way or another.
I thought fast. I really didn’t want to kill that fucking kid. But if I stepped down, Manuel would become alpha... for about thirty seconds before Price challenged him. And if Manuel felt so betrayed and angry that he took Price’s challenge, which he probably would because I sure would if I was him, then Price would kill him. It looked like that dumb-ass teenager was going to be dead in the next ten minutes no matter what I did.
Manuel shouted, “Accept, or step down?”
Then I realized that there was a loophole. If an alpha steps down from a challenge but stays in the pack, the challenger becomes alpha. But if an alpha leaves the pack entirely, it throws the position open. Any wolf who likes can take a shot at it. And if more than two wolves want it, then it goes to a melee— a huge brawl, basically. It’s not to the death, just to the last wolf standing.
Like I said, that gang had fucking macho laws, but whoever set them up wasn’t an idiot. One wolf killed in a challenge, the pack survives. Five wolves killed, and you’ve just seriously weakened the pack. So there was a provision to make sure that wouldn’t happen. I think it was meant to cover an alpha retiring without any challenger stepping up. But technically speaking, I hadn’t answered Manuel’s challenge yet. If I left right then, I’d be leaving as an alpha.
There were enough wolves who’d jump at the chance to take my place if it didn’t mean dueling me that it would have to be decided by melee. I’d probably be handing the pack to Price, who was a fucking mean fighter when he wasn’t worried that he might get killed. But he’d backed me into a corner where I either had to do that or kill a seventeen-year-old who didn’t stand a chance against me.
I asked myself, Am I willing to risk my life and throw away everything I’ve fought for just so one angry boy doesn’t die today?
My wolf growled, Yes.
I said, “I’m leaving the pack. Line up for the gauntlet.”
Everyone stared at me. Nobody had expected that. They were all so surprised, none of them moved.
“This is my last order as alpha of this pack,” I said. “LINE THE FUCK UP!”
They all scrambled to obey. Next thing I knew, I was facing two lines of wolves.
You remember the rules. I stay human. They all bite me. If I make it to the end of the line, I get to leave. If I collapse and can’t get up, they kill me.