Dirty Wolf

by Aidy Award

  "Your bartender, Harley." She pulled out her phone and flipped through her contacts.

  Max knew he was being a hypocrite for thinking ill of his pack mate. He'd told Gal his secret after only a few days. Harley did have a girlfriend he'd been with a while. They even lived together. "You know his girlfriend? Does she know about us?"

  "Don't get all growly with me. I don't know her at all." She put her hands on her hips Wonder Woman style. "Don't get mad. I don't want any of them to get in trouble, okay?"

  Seeing her get all riled up and protective of his pack had Max falling in love with her all over again. He had to put on a mad face just to keep from smiling at her like a fool. "I'm not making that promise."

  He'd promise her the moon or anything else she wanted.

  "Fine." She wagged her finger at him. "But they came to me because did what they thought they needed to for love. You remember that."

  Uh-oh. Why did he have a feeling love was going to come back to bite him on the ass?

  Gal

  Gal spotted the Grimm pack infiltrators at story time easily. The women and children they'd brought along had that look that only families living in a cycle of abuse showed. Outwardly, friendly and happy to be there. But to anyone who paid close attention, they were fearful of every little move and tried hard not to draw any attention to themselves.

  The two men who were supposed to be fathers couldn't care less about what their kids were learning. They needed some lessons in espionage if you asked her. If they didn't want her to know they were there, maybe they should do something other than stare at her like hungry wolves.

  Or maybe that was the point. They did want her intimidated.

  Lucky for her four of the other families here for the evening reading of Brown Bear, Brown Bear and the subsequent animal masks craft were Troikas. At first Gal objected to bringing the kids. She didn't want them to get hurt. But one of the enforcers insisted his wife was a much better hand to hand combat fighter than he was. They also explained the contingency escape plan and assured her they all knew what to do in case of emergency.

  Here she was coloring a wolf mask with a giggling five-year old who clearly had the kind of crush on her that little boys got for their teachers, librarians, and babysitters.

  "Wolfgang, let Ms. Shirvan help the other kids with their masks too," the little boys mother said and mouthed 'sorry' to her.

  Gal stifled a laugh. Wolfgang and his family weren't even pack. There was no way she was naming her own children anything corny that had anything to do with wolves. Her stomach did a flip-flop thinking of a little boy like Wolfie running around with Max's blue eyes. She was silly thinking about kids already, but in her heart, she could hardly wait.

  "Yes, Ms. Shirvan. Why don't you see how little Tammy is doing." One of the Grimm fakers motioned toward a little girl quietly coloring her own wolf mask in all black.

  "I'd be happy too." Gal wanted to stick her tongue out at the man. Instead she held her face to show him she wasn't afraid and sat on the floor next to the little girl. She picked up the brightest blue crayon she could. The eye holes were cut out of the mask of course so the kids could see out, but she outlined the almond shape in Max's blue. She spoke softly to the child hoping she would understand Gal was a safe person. "Hello. My name's Galyna."

  The girl scribbled hard across the face of the mask. "Tabby."

  Her voice was barely more than a disgruntled whisper. "Sorry, honey, what was that?"

  "My name is Tabby. Not Tammy. He always gets it wrong." She didn't look up, but stopped coloring for a moment.

  Not even her father. A disgusting bitter taste pinged at the back of Gal's throat and her heart was grilled like a kebab. "I see. Well, I promise to remember it's Tabby. I don't think I've seen you at the library before."

  The scribbling recommenced. "We don't get to do fun stuff since mama let him move into her room. I don't let him in mine though."

  Gal made herself a silent promise to do everything in her power to stop these one-blood assfaces from terrorizing any other little girls. Even if she had to rip out their throats herself.

  Geez. Where had that last bit come from? Some new blood-thirsty thoughts had been popping into her head since Max bit her. He did say he didn't know whether she was going to turn into a wolf or not. No one knew what happened when a wolf bit a human anymore. She and Key, the woman from the sheriff's department were the first in like a thousand years or something.

  Key had developed some kind of psychic powers and creepy glowing eyes. Max suspected the witchy women Aleksei had encountered were also bitten humans. Gal gave herself a mental check. She concentrated really hard on the little girl's forehead to see if she could see the child's future or read her thoughts or something.

  The girl looked up at her and wrinkled her nose. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

  Busted. "Sorry. I was just admiring your hair. I can't get mine to make pretty waves like yours does. It's just always plain and straight."

  The child examined her. "I'll trade you my curls if you let me have your pretty blue eyes."

  Strange. Gal's eyes were brown, as were everyone else's in her family. "I don't think it works that way."

  "Yeah. Mama says you can't fix pretty." The girl shrugged and went back to her dark coloring job.

  Gal's emotions bubbled over for this young girl and her life. She prayed she could help. "I think my mother would say a mouse should eat you up. Which is my family's way of saying you're a very cute and clever girl, Tabby. I hope you can come back to the library soon."

  The Grimm man squatted beside them and patted the girl on the head while staring at Galyna. "Oh, we'll be back. You can count on that."

  Gal stared right back. "Good. I'll be waiting."

  She hoped to diminish his enthusiasm for attacking her by convincing him he had very little to gain. Thanks to Sun Tzu she didn't give the guy a chance to react. She jumped up and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Time to clean up, kids. Crayons in the box, but feel free to take home extra masks to color if you want."

  As planned the Troika families dawdled and hung around to check out books. One of the mothers motioned her into the stacks under the guise of helping to find a book about dolphins. She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. "None of us recognized either of those other wolves. They'll know we could scent them. But either they're doing a damn good job of hiding their emotions and intentions, or they have something masking them. I can't smell a thing besides that they are wolves."

  Was that what she smelled tonight? That kind of warm summer night after the rain scent that reminded her of Max. "It seems kind of risky for them to be so blatantly out in the open like that knowing other wolves could identify them."

  "Agreed. My mate texted Max to let him know they are not hiding themselves. We all think they are trying to intimidate us. I have no doubt now that they'll show up tonight."

  "Then the plan is working. Let's keep it going." Gal grabbed a book and raised her voice. "Here. I think your daughter will love this one. Lots of picture of dolphins, orcas, and manatees."

  That was phase one of the plan complete. Now to step two. After she finished packing up the story time kit, Gal stopped by the front desk where Sean, the library's assistant manager was sorting through a stack of books to be weeded from the collection. "Thanks for covering for me tonight, Sean. I really appreciate it."

  "Not a problem. I'm happy to swap for next Saturday. Yummy rugby players are my jam."

  Galyna had used her long-standing skills of taarof and maybe bribed him with tickets to the local rugby team's next game. "Cool. So I am off to Sleepy Folk then to get a drink."

  That didn't sound weird or awkward. Nooooo.

  Sean stuck his finger in his ear. "Uh, you don't have to yell. I'm right here."

  Oops. Maybe she had said that a bit loud. "Sorry. Just excited for a Saturday night off, I guess. I'm just gonna go throw this on my desk. See you next week."

&nb
sp; She trucked out the back door and found Heli waiting for her, right on time. She had her hands in her pockets and her cheery disposition was buried under ten feet of red teary eyes. "You're totally buying me a drink for dragging me out tonight."

  "Oh no, what happened? No one hurt you, did they?" Gal's skin tingled and she felt like she was going to burst out of her skin. If anyone had touched Heli, she was going to eat their faces off.

  "I went to ask Kosta if he knew anything about Zara and he broke up with me. Well, I mean, we weren't official or anything in the first place, but he said he can't be seen me anymore. It was awful. He wouldn't say why or anything. The rat. Now I'm sure he knows something about what's happened to Zara." She sniffled and rubbed her nose on her sleeve.

  Well, crap. It had been hard enough to get Max to agree to let her bring Heli along tonight. Selena had been on her side, but wouldn't commit to saying that Heli and Kosta were true mates. But because she'd been there for the other attack and Zara was still MIA, he'd finally agreed that Heli needed to be under their protection.

  But she'd been counting on Kosta. She knew he was still cranky about her and Max, but she knew he had feeling for Heli. He was a rat. A super rat. Hmm. Gal was going to have to work on that. She had a feeling Selena would help.

  "I'll totally buy. I found out something about what's going on with the Troikas, and you're going to need a drink when you find out." She put her arm through Heli's and got them walking toward old town and Sleepy Folk.

  Heli yanked them to a stop. "What do you know? They are in the mafia aren't they? Do they know where Zara is?"

  "They aren't mafia." And what they were was going to blow her mind. "But it's big and I want to wait until we get to Sleepy Folk because Max is a big part of this and he's going to want to talk to you."

  "I don't like this. Just tell me."

  Behind Heli's back Gal saw one of the Grimms also walking toward town. A weird smell like smoke after a candle was blown out wafted toward her. It was definitely coming from him too. "Umm. I'm going to tell you, but there's some kind of sketchy looking guy coming toward us and he's freaking me out. Can we hurry to the bar?"

  Heli bunched her fists and narrowed her eyes. "Let's go before I do something stupid like go punch his lights out. I'm so fucking tired of men who think they can do shit to women."

  Whoa. Heli was on fire. She really did need a drink. They hurried the three more blocks and were completely out of breath by the time they got into the pie shop.

  "Who are those guys? When did Sleepy Folk get giant bouncers?"

  Two of the men that Gal recognized as ones from the crew who'd approached her about their human girlfriends were stationed at either side of the stairwell that went down to the speakeasy part of the bar. They were turning a couple away. "Sorry. New ordinance by the city. We're at capacity and can't let anyone else in until someone comes out. But here are some coupons for a a free slice of pie and a waved cover charge over at the Rogue Saloon and Emporium."

  "Ah, man. I really wanted to try that new s'more martini here everyone is talking about,"the girl whined.

  "Yeah, babe. But, free pie. Come on." The other young woman pulled her girlfriend toward the pie counter.

  Heli frowned and folded her arms. "Looks like we're not going to get in."

  Gal dragged her over anyway. The bouncers were for show so that only wolves and their families got in tonight. "I've got a connection."

  The guys waved them through right away and halfway down the stair, Gal stopped. "Heli. You're going to hear some weird stuff tonight. I want you to know before we go in there, that it's all totally legit. We're counting on you to not freak out, and to keep everything you see and hear a secret."

  "Oh-kay. You're scaring me a little bit. Does this have anything to do with Zara?" Panic was building behind Heli's eyes and tears were threatening to fall again.

  Gal grabbed Heli into a hug and held her tight. "I don't know for sure, but we think it does. So that means it's even more important that you get on board with everything as fast as you possibly can. It's going to be a lot to process, but I promise, everything is going to be okay."

  "You can't promise that." Heli sniffled and seemed so, so tired. "She could already be dead and I went back to the Sheriff's department today and they still won't do anything. There's something weird going on there too."

  Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Gal had to believe that they were doing the right thing by bringing Heli into the loop. It sure would help if Kosta wasn't being a rat at the moment. "You're right. I can't promise that Zara is going to be okay. But I can swear to you that Max and I are going to do everything we can to find her and bring her home safe."

  Heli pushed away and narrowed her eyes at Gal. "Why is everything all you and Max all of a sudden? You've been dating the guy for like a week."

  Harley came up the steps and motioned for them to come down. "Galyna? Can you follow me? We're getting ready to start."

  "Ready?" Gal asked. When Heli nodded, they went down into the bar and found Heli a seat at the counter.

  Gal didn't miss the looks they were both getting from everyone else gathered there. Only a few insiders already knew about Max becoming the alpha and claiming her. The rest either gave her wary looks or grumbled to their neighbors. "I'll be right back. I just need to find Max. Don't go anywhere."

  Heli nodded and said something to Harley as Gal walked away. The last thing he saw was the three shot glasses he set down in front of her.

  Gal paced back and forth in the little hallway between the bar and the storeroom at the back of Sleepy Folk. As far as she knew, she and Heli were the only humans here at the moment. But more were on the way. She was the welcoming committee for when they other men and women were snuck in the back way.

  Harley had nearly kissed her when she'd told him the plan. Having big, growly Max with his arm around her shoulder and his snarl on had put an end to that.

  Max was still wary about bringing other humans into the pack meeting. She'd gotten him to concede that their mating was going to seem a heck of a lot more legitimate if he wasn't the only one who was allowed to break the rules. All she could do now was pray that the other wolves who were involved with humans had chosen wisely.

  Selena reassured them both that there were a lot more fated mates out there than any of them suspected. She'd told them she couldn't imagine that a true mate would ever willingly betray their loved one. She still hadn't yet mentioned how she knew who anyone's true mates were, only that she did.

  The back door, which was an old school cellar, opened and a group of eight people made their way down. Gal recognized four of the six women, because they were all around her age. But there were older. One woman was maybe in her forties and the other at least fifties. She only knew one of the two men that joined them. She greeted each of them quietly with a wave until Harley had the door shut again.

  He gave one of the girls a peck on the cheek and then scurried back to the bar. The rest was up to Gal.

  "Hi. I'm Galyna. Max is my...wolf." It felt strange to say mate to a group of other humans. She indicated to each of the others to introduce themselves and who they were attached to. When everyone was finished the group looked around at each other, most visibly relieved. She supposed because they weren't alone in their secrets anymore.

  One of the girls Gal recognized from high school asked the question that was probably on most of their minds. "Are we sure this is the right thing to do. Bastion said we could be ostracized from the community, or even killed if anyone found out he'd revealed himself to me."

  The eldest of the group stepped forward. "Do you love him honey, with all your heart? Do you feel like he's the only one for you so deep down that even thinking about him being with someone else feels like your soul would be ripped out?"

  The young lady nodded.

  "Then this is the right thing. The truth is always the best choice. I've been keeping this secret for twenty-five years and I'm damn sure glad to know I'm n
ot the only one. I'll bet there are more of us and the pack are just afraid to let it be known."

  The other woman Gal didn't know spoke too. "I've been waiting since the first Troika boy was born to see if he could change the world. I never liked that we had to keep our love to ourselves. No wedding, no kids. I've been praying for this."

  Wow. Gal never would have suspected how hard being in love with a person and not being able to tell the whole world leave wishes on their hearts. It had been hard enough for her for one afternoon. Hearing these women's stories and seeing the look on the rest of the groups faces confirmed for her that they were making the right call.

  "Max has warned me this won't be a walk in the park. There will be wolves who don't like the idea of changing the status quo." In fact he'd warned her it could be even worse than that. He expected a fight and had assigned all the enforcers who had a human here tonight, plus a few extras to guard them all. "So be prepared for that. Also know that I have your back and so does Max. This won't be easy, change never is. But I believe in my heart it's going to make the pack stronger and all of your lives and the lives of your loved ones better to come out of the shadows."

  The taller of the two men smiled at her. "Jace said you were a good match for Max. Lead on miss librarian. This can't be any harder than coming out to my parents over the Christmas turkey. If I can do that I can tell a bunch of stuffy old fart wolves where to shove their one-blood ideologies."

  The hardest thing Gal had done before this was tell her parents she was moving and out and no, she didn't need any more pickles for her fridge at Heli and Zara's. She hoped she had half the strength of these incredible people standing in front of her now.

  Max stuck his head into the hallway. "Showtime, detka."

  Gal rubbed her arms, that same feeling she'd had at the library of coming out of her skin prickled all up and down her limbs. Her eyesight suddenly went sharper and she could smell a thousand distinct scents and hear every little movement of the bodies around her. Max rushed to her side and grabbed her face in his hands.