“A re we lost?” Brick asked, as they circled the same block once more.

“Nah,” Duke replied. “Just looking around. Rex said this place was sketchy, so why not check it out before we go in? I’ve got all the entrances and exits locked in my head.”

“Yeah, me, too,” he groaned. “We’ve been in this damn car for hours. How bad can it be? Probably filled with a bunch of new age hippies selling crystals and hipsters hawking beard wax. Let’s just park and go inside.”

“You’re the boss.”

Duke steered the Hummer towards a multi-story parking garage that lay ahead. After punching the button and grabbing the ticket to make the gate lift, he navigated up the circular drive until it opened to the first floor.

“Let me know if you see an open spot.”

“Must be a happening area. This level is full.”

“Up we go. Shit, this one is packed, too.”

“Wait! There’s one!” Brick pointed. “It’s small, but we can squeeze in.”

The beta eyed the compact space.

“How the hell are you gonna get out?”

“Stop the car.”

Duke pressed the brake, and the vehicle came to a standstill.

“Bask in the wisdom of your alpha.”

Brick snorted, opened his door, and stepped out.

Duke held the lever to lower the passenger window and leaned over the console.

“You’re not gonna let me live that one down, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Asshole.”

Brick gestured towards the spot, laughed, and then rubbed his hands together.

Duke parked, and after he jogged over to join Brick, they ambled towards the elevator. They heard a ding when it arrived at their level, and the metal doors slid open. Brick entered first, followed by Duke. After punching the button for the ground floor, they began to descend, and that was when a strong scent began to seep in.

“What the hell?” Brick waved his hands in front of his face, as he sniffed. “It isn’t smoke. It’s fucking incense.”

“Oh, God! Ah… ah….”

Duke’s sneeze rattled the compartment, which clanged when his hands hit the sides. One after the other, they came in quick succession, as Duke fell into nonstop nasal seizures.

“What’s with you?”

“Pa… pa… tchouli!”

“Huh?”

“Patchouli. It’ll pass.” He wiped his nose with his shirt, struggling to speak. “Give me a minute, before we go out there. That scent gives my wolf some kind of allergic reaction, or something. For sure, he doesn’t like it.”

“Do you need to shift to get rid of it?”

“I would, but I can’t go out there naked after all my clothes rip.”

Brick held out his hand and said, “I’ll hold them for you. Go ahead.”

There in the elevator, sneezing, Duke stripped, passing each garment he removed to his alpha.

“I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life.”

Duke tossed his boxers, as he tried to stifle yet another sneeze and failed.

“I’m not gonna tell anybody.”

“You’d better not.”

“Get on with it,” Brick said, rolling his wrist.

Within seconds, the wolf replaced the man, and the enclosure shuddered at the additional weight.

“I hope this doesn’t take too long.” Brick craned his neck, looking up with his head cocked to the side. “Sounds like the cables might break.”

Duke began a hacking cough, and Brick stepped as far away from him as possible in the tightly cramped compartment.

“Turn around and do that in the corner!”

But it was too late. A wad of mucus landed with a splash onto Brick’s boots.

“Oh, come on!”

Duke’s fur rippled, as tanned skin replaced it, and then he was human once more.

“I’ll clean them later,” he said, reaching for his clothes. “Sorry about that. But, God, do I feel better!”

Brick slapped him on the back.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had allergies? You knew we were coming to a place where you could be affected. We could’ve gotten you some meds on the road.”

“Never came up. I’m fine now. Don’t worry. It won’t happen again. Once I cough it up, it’s over.”

The buzzer sounded at the Closed button being held for so long, and as Duke’s t-shirt went over his head, Brick let it go.

“Wait.” Brick placed his hand on Duke’s forearm, as the doors opened. “Were you trying to hide a weakness from me? Is that why you didn’t tell me?”

“Well… you need a strong, able-bodied second.”

“Huh? You’re my beta, no matter what. We’ve been best friends since we were kids. Hell, we share almost everything.”

“That, we do,” Duke said with a chuckle, wiggling his eyebrows.

“So, no more keeping stuff from me. I may be alpha, but I can’t read your mind.”

Duke nodded, as an awkward silence fell between them.

After a few beats, he shifted on his feet and said, “We aren’t gonna hug, are we?”

“Fuck, no. Let’s go.”

They exited the elevator, heading towards the sounds of the market. As they walked, wisps of incense enveloped them.

“This shit is going to hamper my beast’s senses.”

“Mine’s cleaned out and working fine, boss.”

“Then, thank the moon for your ailment.”

The two men made their way into Artist’s Alleyway, scanning the tables and vendors, and they were given the same scrutiny as they passed.

An elderly woman had stacks of handmade quilts, and she beckoned to them, lifting the top one up by the corner.

“Keep you warm on the cold nights!”

“That’s what women are for,” Brick replied.

He tossed her a few bills, which she snatched up, stuffing them into her worn pockets. They continued up the aisle, as wary eyes watched the two large men. Ahead, Brick spied a stand with furs draped across it and hanging on the wall behind it.

“Do you see that?” Brick said to Duke through the link, not voicing his words aloud.

“The dead man walking selling black market shifter pelts?”

“Yep. Fucking Braxton and his concoction!”

“Good thing it’s illegal now.”

“But apparently, still available.”

“Sketchy stuff, Brick.”

“If anybody in this place has the book, it’ll be him.”

“He’s gonna know we’re shifters when he sees us.”

“Good.”

“What if he tries to run?”

“You’ll be picking your teeth again.”

“Perfect.”

As they approached, the guy was busy with a customer at his stall.

“Come on, Silas. Eight hundred. Cash.”

“No way! Each one of these is worth $3,500 at the very least. I can’t sell them any cheaper than that. The tanning and processing is more than what you’re offering.”

“Goddamn motherfuckers! Those are our people! Not floor rugs!”

“I’m thinking about making one out of him.”

“Fucking great plan, Alpha.”

Rage filled Brick and Duke, as they drew closer, hearing the murdered members of their species discussed the same as a common deer.

“But it isn’t the adult one I want. I already have one of those. It’s the little size. For my daughter’s room. Come on. Work with me.”

“The smaller they are, the more expensive, my friend.” He smiled, baring his blackened and broken teeth. “They’re rarer.”

“How much?” Brick asked, as they arrived at the table.

Reaching out, he ran his hand over the furs reverently.

The man who had been there bargaining for the skins tried to leave, but Brick yanked him back with a quick tug, and then grasping his head, he twisted it until his neck broke. He dropped the guy to the ground and kicked his body down the walkway.

“I don’t want any trouble! I’m just trying to make a living for my family!”

“And there are many members of ours laid out here,” Brick said. Duke lifted a tiny white-mixed-with-grey one into his hands. “And you people call us animals. Where’s the book, Silas?” He looked left and right for help from the others around him, but some were packing up their stuff in a hurry, while others had simply fled. As the alley emptied, with Brick’s wolf’s growl lacing his words, he thundered, “Answer me!”

Hearing his alpha’s commanding tone, Duke fought against the shift, the desire surging through his body, urging him to unleash the beast. His limbs trembled until he was able to fully suppress the instinct to turn, while Silas paled and backed away.

In the distance, a door slammed, and then they were alone.

“Somebody called the cops! I know they did! They’ll be here soon! Y’all better run!”

Brick shook his head and said, “Doubtful. Even if they did, what they would find is an illegal operation.” His eyes fell to the tracks lining Silas’ arms. “Got any drugs, Silas? Crack? Heroine? Do you just use, or do you sell, too?”

“Take them!” he screamed, shoving the furs off the table.

They fell at the men’s feet, as Brick grasped him about the neck and yanked him up into the air.

“I want the book! Where is it?”

“I don’t know! I don’t have it! I thought it was a myth!”

Duke’s eyes were fixed on the fur at his feet, and then he lifted his head. His eyes had turned yellow.

“We should interrogate him, like they do our kind,” Duke growled.

“No! Please!”

With a sneer, Brick lifted him across the table by his neck, as Duke removed a serrated knife from his boot.

“I’ll spread him out on the remains of our people. His screams and blood will honor our dead.”

Silas admitted to many of his hateful actions against the shifter species that night, before he shrieked his last plea for his life. But none of his confessions resulted in the location of Beau Braxton’s cursed book.

Upon their return, the horrified vendors found a different kind of skin had been left in place of the fur. It was stretched out and pinned to the wall the way some of the pelts had been displayed.

Silas’ blackened heart burned in a fire smoldering in the corner.