by Mac Flynn
Gregory growled in frustration, and Chuck could see the wolf leader was too panicked to form a comprehensive battle strategy. All the other times they had faced off Gregory had the upper hand in one form or the other. Mostly it was because Stephanie was always Chuck's handicap, but now he didn't need to worry about her getting in the way. That is, until the terrible gash along his rib cage made Gregory desperate.
Chuck was surprised when Gregory shot off toward the front of the room, but not when he realized his opponent was making a beeline for Stephanie. He howled in rage and ran after his larger enemy. Miss Seville quickly realized the danger they were in, so she grabbed Stephanie by the shoulders and pushed her to one side while she dove to the other. Gregory barreled down on the spot where they'd both stood and then tried to take a quick right to get at Stephanie, but Chuck knocked right into him.
Gregory was slammed into the wall beside the chair, and Chuck jumped away from him. He was just in time to avoid a wide swipe from his opponent and then Gregory angrily stood to his feet. His eyes weer wild and furious, especially when he took a glance over the crowd. Everyone realized what he'd just tried to do, and their faces showed their disapproval. Miss Seville herself stood to her feet and scowled at him.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" she barked at him. She waved her hand toward Stephanie. "She is not the one who challenged you to a duel, and you know spectators are off-limits."
Gregory snarled at her to show how little he cared for her scolding. That elicited a number of boos from the crowd, and his eyes shot over to them. He let out a great roar which silenced some, but animated others.
Seeing how angry Gregory was, and feeling herself too close to him for comfort, Stephanie sought to move away from the larger wolf. He noticed her movements out of the corner of his eyes, and lunged for her. Chuck intercepted with another bullet attack, but Gregory proved to be prepared for this interruption. He twisted his body to one side and opened his arms around Chuck's body. When Chuck was inside his grasp Gregory grabbed him and completed the mid-air turn by dragging Chuck over his body and throwing him into the side wall. Plaster spilled out onto the floor from the impact, but Chuck wasn't quite rendered unconscious.
Stephanie turned at the sound and her eyes widened with fear. Chuck was on the ground struggling to get up even as Gregory was charging down upon him. Before she could think over her plan, Stephanie stooped down, picked up one of the larger pieces of fallen plaster and threw it with all her strength at Gregory's head. The hard rock material connected squarely with the side of his face and he was knocked off his target. Gregory stumbled to the side of Chuck, who used the spare time to jump away and move himself over to his partner.
Stephanie expected the crowd watching behind them to disapprove of her interference, but instead a great roar of approval rang up from the werewolves. Gregory had already broken the rules of engagement, so they saw the young woman's interference as she merely following the rules Gregory himself had adopted. She glanced at her partner beside her. Chuck gave her a big, toothy grin, and she smiled back.
Gregory, however, wasn't finished. The sound of the crowd agreeing with his enemies didn't help his explosive personality, and he looked to them all as one would traitors to a cause.he let out a great, echoing roar which caused some in the audience to step back in anger, but others stood firm and defiant. Chuck and Stephanie were at the forefront of the rebels, and Chuck stepped forward to the center of the room to continue the battle. Miss Seville moved to stand between the two opponents and she held up her hands.
"This place won't hold up much longer if this fight continues," she pointed out with a nod toward the battered wall. The building wasn't exactly young, and she worried that they would inadvertently destroy one of the load-bearing columns still in place. That would bring down the roof and cause the whole place to collapse. "Either we need a winner or a forfeit." She glanced over to Gregory when she mentioned the latter, but he only growled. He wasn't giving up the leadership. "Fine, one final rush. This decides the winner."
Seville moved out of the way as Gregory walked over to stand in the center of the room in front of the seat. Gregory kept his eyes always on Chuck, who did likewise. They were both waiting to see if the other would make the first move for the leadership-defining attack.
Then suddenly the game changed.
In the midst of them preparing for their final attack against one another a shot suddenly rang out through the room. Chuck was surprised when Gregory's eyes widened in shock, and then his opponent slowly slumped over. He fell face-first onto the floor, and almost immediately his body started to revert back to its human form.
Chuck's head shot up and he was surprised to see Ivanovich standing behind Gregory's corpse. There was a gun in his hand, and the barrel was pointed directly at Chuck.
WRAP UP (IN THE LOUP: BOOK #16)
The large room was eerily quiet. No one dared move with Ivanovich holding the gun in the direction of both Chuck and the crowd of werewolves. Everyone realized there was probably a full clip of silver bullets in that weapon, and they didn't want him firing at them. Chuck held still with his eyes glaring at the weapon.
Stephanie waited for the moment when she would need to run to her partner's rescue and maybe take a bullet for him. However, she couldn't understand what had just happened, or why. Ivanovich was a lackey for Gregory and yet he had just done away with his boss, his leader. Even Miss Seville, long an ally, didn't flinch, but her eyes were trapped by Gregory's naked body on lying on the floor. Her face held a mix of contempt and pity. He was not a good person, but to be shot in the back was a terrible, demeaning end to his life.
"I've seen you dodge bullets before, Charles, but I don't know if you could do it at this range," Ivanovich quipped with a smirk on his face. Chuck growled and pulled back to launch himself at his aggressor, but his partner interrupted his plan of attack.
"Is this what's supposed to happen? Is this fair?" Stephanie finally spoke up. She cautiously stepped forward toward the center of the room, being mindful to avoid the naked body. "Weren't these two supposed to fight it out and then anyone else can fight the winner?"
"It doesn't matter what's fair, it just matters who's alive," Ivanovich informed her. His eyes never left Chuck's wary form. The transformed werewolf didn't trust the man to turn the gun on him when he, too, wasn't looking. "Relax, I don't want to kill you. Here, I'll prove it." Ivanovich lowered the hand which held the gun and held up the other, empty hand. Still none of the others moved from where they stood. "What? Still not believing me?" Ivanovich asked them in a fake disappointed voice.
"What's the catch here?" Stephanie asked him.
"The catch is that I want you two to leave here and never come back," their new opponent informed her. "I may not be as strong as Gregory was, physically speaking, but I'm a hell of a lot smarter." His eyes glanced over to the crowd of werewolves. They weren't sure what to think of their self-appointed new leader. "Also, I wasn't stealing from the general fund to enrich myself. Not like Gregory and Seville over there." He nodded in her direction and she looked away, evidently ashamed of her actions. "Now what do you all say to that?"
"What the hell?"
"I want my money back!"
"When the fuck did he do that?!"
There were many more expletives and questions, but one stood out from the rest for its accusation.
"If you weren't doing it, how come you knew about it?" somebody shouted from deep inside the crowd. That got the crowd riled up against the informant and murderer of their leader.
"Yeah, how come you knew?"
"Where'd you help hide the dough?!"
Ivanovich, sensing the crowd growing hostile to himself for now two reasons, held up his hands for silence. The gun that was still in his grasp more than his gesture quieted them down.
"Because as treasurer he told me to do it or else," Ivanovich told the people.
Stephanie couldn't understand the severity of the situatio
n and she didn't care. All she wanted to do was creep a little closer to Chuck, and she used the financial discussion to creep up to him. The moment she reached his side he pushed her behind him. His hand kept a firm grasp around her arm just in case things got ugly. He understood the severity of the situation, and that was enough to worry both of them.
"I killed Gregory so that gives me the right over all his assets, but I won't use that blood money for myself," Ivanovich announced to his subjects. "I aim to get back that money you sweated blood for and put it back into the general fund where it belongs!" There was a great cheering. Even if he hadn't won them all over, Ivanovich was well on his way to a nomination slot.
"What's going on here?" Stephanie whispered to her partner, but he only shook his head. Apparently the explanation was too long or too complicated to deal with right now.
"Now instead of fighting amongst ourselves like we're some sort of animal, let's try and use our heads," Ivanovich suggested. To prove his point, he tossed the gun away from himself. Chuck glanced over to the weapon, and then Stephanie realized he was slowly reverting back to his human self. He would be in a better position to speak with her and argue with the new wolf leader.
"You spoke of us leaving, do you still intend to keep your word?" Chuck called out to Ivanovich after he was fully human. His shorts were still intact but his other clothes were mere shreds, both from the change and from the fight.
"Of course. I don't want troublemakers like you sticking around," Ivanovich replied with a grin. He looked out over the rest of the werewolf pack. "I may not have played fair against our despicable deceased leader, but I think this werewolf proved himself worthy enough to get a full pardon and never be bothered again."
Stephanie's face lit up at the promise and she excitedly looked to Chuck. He appeared more relieved than glad, but he smiled back at her. Then, as her eyes fell on the lone figure close to Gregory's body, Stephanie realized there was on last loose end to deal with.
"What about Seville? What are you going to do to her?" Stephanie asked them. She nodded toward the young woman and felt some pity for the frightened look in Seville's eyes. Stephanie appreciated the help Seville had given in interceding on their behalf during the fight.
Seville flinched and stepped back away from the angry pack. They connected her to Gregory, and he had fallen out of favor with the news of the embezzlement. She defensively held up her hands.
"I can lead you to where the money is. We never spent any of it, Gregory wanted it saved for if when the embezzlement was discovered, then we'd leave," she quickly explained to the other werewolves. "I can get all of it out and put it back in the treasury."
"So you admit you were in on it?" Ivanovich accused, but here she vehemently shook her head.
"I was as much a part of it as you. He had me deposit the money in the bank . If anyone noticed it was gone and he didn't have time to get away, I would be the fall guy."
"It's like some sort of mystery novel," Stephanie whispered to Chuck. He snorted and nodded his head. Then she noticed him shiver a little. It was dark outside and he was nearly stark-naked.
"Well, if we're done here then I think it's time for us to leave," Stephanie announced to everyone around them, and there was a friendly smile on her face. She took hold of Chuck's shoulders and turned him around toward the exit. "We'll just show ourselves out."
Stephanie expected some sort of refusal on the part of the crowd. Chuck had soundly beaten several of their best warriors and nearly killed their former leader. Then again, they weren't too keen on avenging Gregory's murder by the conniving Ivanovich, either. That helped explain why the pack separated and allowed them to pass.
"Remember what I said," Ivanovich called out to them. Stephanie and Chuck turned, and he gave them a sickeningly sweet smile. "Don't come back here again. I don't want any more competition than I already have."
Chuck was amused by the man's pronouncement and a smirk appeared on his face. He nodded to Ivanovich, and then the pair continued on their way. It was a much easier exit than the entrance had been, for they merely climbed down the stairs and walked out the front door. Stephanie was supremely grateful for the anti-climactic ending, and deeply she breathed the clean night air. That building had been too steeped in dust and deception to get a decenter bit of air.
"Close call, wasn't it?" her partner asked her. She couldn't help but laugh at his understatement.
"I really wasn't sure if you were going to win or lose," she admitted.
"To tell you the truth, neither was I," Chuck agreed. He suddenly winced and clutched at his chest. Stephanie caught his arm to keep him from collapsing to the ground.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she worriedly asked him. She couldn't see any dangerous wounds on the outside, though they'd all have to be tended with a great amount of peroxide
"Just that stuff they shot me full of. It seems to have some residual effects on my body," he explained to her.
"Then you're definitely not driving. I'm not going to go through all of that just to die in a car accident," Stephanie quipped. Chuck smiled and didn't argue.
Stephanie led him to the car and both were relieved to find the vehicle hadn't been tampered with by the local gangs. She got her partner into the passenger seat and took the wheel. In a few moments they were going down the road and leaving that horrible neighborhood far behind. Well, that's what would have happened if Stephanie wouldn't have continually gotten lost and ended up back around the same block.
"Take a right here or I'm taking the wheel," Chuck threatened her after the third time of getting lost.
"I was just showing you your old home one last time," she replied with a sheepish smile. "You know, Ivanovich told us never to come back."
"And for that I'm grateful. It means I don't have to see these run-down, ancient buildings ever again," he commented. He looked back through the side mirror and, he hoped, took his last glimpse of the large tenant house which stores the werewolf headquarters. All was still and quiet in there save for the occasional shadow in one of the windows.
"You think all those werewolves are going to want Ivanovich as their leader?" she asked her partner. "I mean, he killed Gregory in cold blood with a gun. Is that they way they usually get a new boss?"
"Sometimes, though the current leader always discourages anyone giving them such a kind sendoff," he explained to her. "Changing leaders, even with a chosen successor, can lead to a lot of bloodshed."
"And Seville telling Gregory off during the fight?" she added. Here Chuck frowned and leaned back in his seat.
"That was unexpected, even for her," he admitted. "Of course, she's loyal to the pack and not to any single leader, and knowing what he was doing to the fun probably ticked her off enough for her to stand up against him. At least, as long as we were standing there. Otherwise she probably would have kept quiet until somebody else stood up to Gregory." Stephanie wrinkled her nose.
"I give, have werewolf politics always been that complicated? You know, with that much intrigue and back-stabbing?" she asked him.
"Pretty much, but when I was there people were generally more open about it. It looks like Gregory brought it up to a whole new level where it was a little sneakier," her partner explained to her.
"And what was that they were talking about, that general fund or whatever?" Stephanie wondered, and Chuck scowled. He was most displeased to hear about that embezzling.
"Every werewolf had to take a part of every bit of money they earned, even anything outside of the pack, and put it into a general fund. It was like a retirement or disability fund for those too old or too sick to support themselves," he told her. A smile brightened her face.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" she complimented, but then she noticed his expression. He was frowning.
"It could be, but it took a lot of work to get out the kinks. At the start so many people abused the system with fake injuries and expenses that we started throwing people out of the pack when we caught them
taking out more than they deserved. With those leeches gone, the fund stabilized and even grew. It was pretty big when I left."
"That doesn't sound like such a wonderful idea..." Stephanie corrected herself. "So does that mean with Gregory actually embezzling from the fund, death would've been the punishment?"
"I'm not really sure, but it looked like the pack thought as much," Chuck replied as he recalled back to all those angry faces. There had not been a single face who felt pity for Gregory's death. He wondered if they'd dump the body in some garbage heap for the rats to get at.
"So back to Ivanovich, you think he's going to be able to hold onto that power? I wouldn't trust him not to do the same thing Gregory did," she pointed out. "You think everyone else is going to let him lead?"
"He's smart, they know that. The little weasel always knew how to handle the finances for the group, even if I didn't trust him not to steal some of it for himself," Chuck told her. "Maybe they'll keep him around until he slips up, but not any longer than that."
"I get the feeling you'd be one of the ones who wouldn't follow him," she teased.
"Yes, well, right now I'm not bound to trust any other werewolf for quite a few years." Stephanie shot him a look, and he quickly amended his statement. "You're the exception." A smile brightened her face until she saw him wince again.
"Did you need something for that pain? Tylenol or Advil or something?" she suggested. She hated to see him uneasily shift in his seat as though any sort of movement caused him pain.
"It's getting better, but my transformation was not easy to pull off," Chuck replied. He finally found a comfortable way of sitting and sighed. "If you hadn't been there I'm not sure if I could've done it."
"Glad to know I was some sort of help rather than just being used as a hostage by Gregory," Stephanie answered with a laugh. Then she frowned and thought back to the point where Chuck had been shot. "What was that dart they hit you with, anyway?" she asked her partner. "It knocked you out pretty well."