Chapter Thirty
Glenn
Glenn's inner wolf still raged a few hours later. He'd wanted to annihilate that wolf shifter for disrespecting and scaring his mate and then had wanted to beat in the faces of anyone who didn't automatically agree with him. This reunion had not gone as he had planned, though something like the pack party was a wrench he hadn't thought of. With each day, he missed the clinic, missed the quiet Riverside mornings. He even missed the quiet, odd looks the other inhabitants gave the three of them whenever they went out into town together. At least they just stared. Here, in his own pack home, Glenn had almost gotten into at least two fights.
"Come over here," Brady said, beckoning to him with his hand out. He and Parker were on his couch, marveling at his big, flat screen television. Glenn looked at the screen and snorted.
"Why are you guys watching the nature channel? Don't we kind of live the nature channel?"
"I like the nature channel," Brady said.
"I don't know how to change channels," Parker admitted.
Glenn sunk down onto his couch beside Brady, pulling Brady's feet up into his lap as Brady's head went to rest on Parker's thighs. Glenn grabbed the remote and after showing Parker how to use it, sat back, idly massaging Brady's feet as Parker switched channels quickly.
"You are learning, young grasshopper. The art of changing channels rapidly and without reason. It took me many moons," Glenn said. Brady and Parker stared at him, unblinking. Glenn smiled. "I know what we can watch." He got up and went to his shelf of DVD's, grabbing a couple, he put the best of the bunch in the player tray and sat back. "Prepare to be educated, on the art of The Three Stooges," Glenn said dramatically. He sat back, pulling Brady's feet back up into his lap as the music started and the credits rolled. Moments in to the first movie, there was a gag where Larry accidentally stepped on a rake, slamming it into Curly's face. Glenn burst out laughing and Parker snorted.
The three of them stayed that way for the rest of the day, breaking only to grab popcorn and sodas. That night, they made love and fell asleep, but Glenn did not sleep for long. Sometime in the very early morning, he woke up, noticing Parker was missing, he jumped from bed, all kinds of things running through his head. He had his shoes on and was reaching for the doorknob when it opened. Parker walked through, jumping when he saw Glenn standing so close.
"Jeez you scared the shit out of me," he whispered, grabbing his chest.
"Sorry," Glenn replied, setting his coat down. "I woke up and you weren't around. I was worried."
"I didn't think anyone would wake up. I just needed a little walk, so much to think about, you know?" Parker replied apologetically.
"Yeah," Glenn responded. He slipped his shoes off, tired again, now that his mates were confirmed safe. "Let's go back to bed, Brady will get cold."
Parker slipped in between the sheets and Glenn slid in behind him. He pulled him close, smelling the back of his head out of habit. There was an odd scent that he couldn't place, but that could have clung onto him from anywhere.
***
Glenn startled awake to a pounding at his door. "Pack meeting!" a voice called through the wood, pounding again before stomping along the hallway. Glenn sat up. What had happened that required a pack meeting? The first thought was that somehow Darius had been hurt worse than what they had assumed. Glenn's blood went cold. If Darius had somehow died, the could demand retribution, and what would Conner or Felix do to protect a coyote, one that they clearly hadn't even fully accepted judging from how they acted the day before?
"Get dressed," Glenn said kindly but with urgency. "I want you guys packed and ready to leave in a hurry if we have to."
"What's going on?" Brady asked. "Are pack meetings bad?"
"With a pack as big as ours, they aren't called for no reason."
Glenn led his mates down the stairs, outside, and across the parking lot to The Den. They stood in the back as the pack all entered, taking seats at the tables. No one spoke and everyone looked worried with wide open eyes. It quickly became apparent to Glenn why the meeting had been called. Though the rest of the restaurant looked untouched, the right side where the bar and the door to the kitchens were, was completely trashed. Broken bottles of booze sparkled from the shelf and floor. The smell of alcohol was nearly overwhelming. Pippen came in out of the kitchens with a dark, lethal look. For the brief moment that Glenn could see into the kitchen before the door settled closed, he saw the mess continued in there.
"Who could have done this?" one of the female shifters a table over asked.
"Who could have trashed our sole source of income and stolen crates of liquor?" another shifter asked, purposefully staring in Glenn's direction. "I have no idea, really," he said sarcastically.
Glenn grabbed Parker's hand and pulled him back to the door. "They are going to blame you," he whispered.
"Looks that way," Parker said sadly.
"They're trying to escape!" someone shouted. Madness followed as shifters struggled to get to Glenn, Parker and Brady.
A sharp whistle froze everyone as Pippen stood on the bar, a knife in hand. "Sit down," he ordered quietly.
Staring at the shining blade balanced in his palm, the pack sat.
"We'll be asking everyone where they were last night at around two in the morning when we closed up the bar. The break in happened between then and opening."
Glenn's heart sunk. He didn't know where Parker had been. In fact, all he did know was that Parker wasn't in the apartment with him and Brady. He gritted his teeth, preparing to lie if that is what it took. Parker slipped his hand out of Glenn's and stepped away from him quickly. Too quickly for Glenn to lunge forward and bring him back to safety.
"I'll save everyone the trouble and time," Parker announced. "I didn't do this, but I wasn't with Glenn at the time Pippen just stated. I was walking around the park behind the apartment buildings."
A chorus of scoffs and other noises of disbelief followed his confession. Glenn tried walking through the crowd, calmly so as not to turn it into a mob, but with urgency because he needed to be by his side.
"I don't expect any of you to believe me. But that is the truth. Do what you want with that information."
Glenn watched in horror as the shifters around Parker began moving, like a developing shark frenzy, moments before the true violence begins, they bumped into him and each other. He reached Parker's side just as the first shifter knocked into Parker hard enough to make him stumble. Glenn didn't think. He shifted and snapped at the hand that had harmed his mate, biting down and hearing a satisfying scream of pain.
The bodies around them struggled to move back, forming a circle around Glenn, Parker and Brady who had pushed his way in behind Glenn. Glenn snarled and snapped at anyone who tried to break the circle or who looked like they were going to try to come at his mates. Pippen stepped through the circle easily, but did not move any further. Glenn wasn't excited about the prospect of squaring off against the lithe knife thrower, but if it meant protecting his mates, he would.
"Are you saying you cannot provide a provable alibi in regards to where you were between the hours of two and eight in the morning?"
"I think I came back from the walk at around four in the morning," Parker replied. "Then I went to bed with Glenn and Brady."
"His mate would lie for him!" a shifter shouted. "He can't be trusted!" another voice joined the first.
"Conner is with the human police, making a report. I'd like to ask you to all walk yourselves to the storage cage."
"Are you detaining us?" Brady asked quietly.
Pippen looked over his head to the entrance. "No, I'm separating you. For as much your safety as theirs."