Neither Gabriel or Tanya had noticed it was Maria who’d stared at them as they drove past Vista View. Gabriel walked up the stone steps of the place he'd loved almost as much as Declan. Through him being a total control freak, he'd lost that part of his life and had started to regret it deeply.

Gabriel paused by the large, glass, swing doors and rolled his neck. He thought back to all the fun times he'd had in the Towers. Being Declan’s beta had given him all the power he'd needed at the time. There had been many members of the pack, as well as human women, who were more than willing to share his bed. His mind took a little longer to run through the bad things that had happened. The fight with Declan in the basement and the shock of finding out he was human. His mind ran that one in slow motion.

Gabriel looked through the polished glass door, and in a second, he pushed his hand against it. That’s how long it took for his mind to replay the scene of him eating the meat. It played so slowly now, that it was as if a child had drawn the images on the corners of a notepad and flicked through the pages. Gabriel even remembered the bittersweet taste as he sunk his fangs into the juicy slabs of meat. Shit.

He stepped inside and walked with his eyes fixed on the marble of the floor. His eyes ran through the pattern carefully; and so he wouldn’t stand on any of the unlucky cracks between the design. He reached the reception desk and fingered the old, oak counter. He drummed his fingers on the surface as he waited for the girl to finish on the phone.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

Gabriel noticed she was a new girl. It was evident Declan had continued what he'd started. Anyone who found themselves as a wolf was more than welcome at Clifton Towers. She must have replaced one of the pack members who’d left with him on that night. The night he'd brawled with all his might and had still fallen short.

“I’m here to speak to Declan,” Gabriel replied.

“Who will I say is calling?” she asked as her hand clasped back around the phone. She lifted it and placed the old plastic receiver against her ear as her finger hovered over the first digit of Declan's room number.

“Gabriel, he’ll fill in the rest.”

The girl smiled and pushed the three buttons. Gabriel saw the lights as they flashed. The orange one at the top of the switchboard flashed once every second. Gabriel had seen this, maybe a hundred or more times, and so he knew the phone was definitely ringing. The girl turned her head toward Gabriel and smiled.

Declan’s hand grabbed at the door handle as he heard the phone ringing behind him. His head turned. Phone or door? He had hold of the door, so the phone would have to wait. He pulled it open until the security chain tightened. His eyes pushed against the gap in the door as Kelvin stood with his hands stuffed in his sweatshirt pockets.

“What is it?” Declan asked as he popped off the security chain.

Kelvin nodded in the direction of the lobby as he started to speak. “That dude from the forest is down at reception,” Kelvin said. “I can’t see the girl, so I think he is by himself.”

“What the fuck does he want?” Declan mumbled as he walked to the phone. “Hello?”

“There is a guy called Gabriel in the lobby, and he wants to speak to you,” the girl at reception said in a muffled tone.

She'd heard the name a couple of times, and she'd also heard he was a complete asshole. Not that she thought that as she looked at him, he seemed like a regular, polite guy, actually. A hot, muscular, regular, polite guy. Her knees buckled, and a warm feeling welled up below her waist.

She turned back to Gabriel after she'd placed the phone back into its cradle. “He will be down in a few minutes.”

Gabriel nodded and smiled at the girl. He sensed her knees had buckled a little, and the light rosy hue on her cheeks was a sign she had thoughts —other than passing on a message. Gabriel watched as she fidgeted with her hair. She brushed her long blonde strands over her shoulder and bared her neck. Gabriel noticed this, and he knew it was another sign of her wanting him. Gabriel's mind flashed away from any thought of Declan. He had a daydream of having the girl on the counter with his head placed firmly between the creamy white skin of her thighs. Her panties would be torn from her hips, and he’d relish the taste of her body.

“Well—well—well, look what the cat dragged in,” Declan said as he neared the point on the staircase that Gabriel had used as his speaking platform.

Declan looked down at Gabriel and squinted as he scanned him to see if he could tell what his intentions were. Declan had rarely held a grudge against anyone. Gabriel hadn’t just been anyone. It had been a little over ten years they’d known each other for. Ten years of friendship that had been wiped out in the space of twenty-four hours. Well, it had been a little longer than twenty-four hours, in truth. In fact, it had been six months, and three and a half weeks before the turn of events occurred in those last, crucial, twenty-four hours, to be exact. Declan knew it, and Gabriel knew it. Was it worth it, and was there any way that their friendship could ever be repaired?

“This is nothing personal. But can I speak to you in your office?” Gabriel asked.

Declan ran his fingers through his hair as he took that time to think. “Sure,” he said as he moved from the last step of the staircase. Declan signaled to the girl behind the counter. “Suzy, can you get us a couple of coffees?”

Suzy acknowledged Declan and vanished behind a partition that sat on the left side of the reception. Declan used the partition as a billboard for residents. Gabriel had scanned his eyes over it as he waited, yet it contained nothing of much interest to him.

Both men moved toward the office. There was a slight tenseness in the air. Declan pushed open the door and stepped inside. The metallic smell filled the office, and he looked around to see where it had come from as he walked to the other side of his desk. He sat in his chair. He leaned back a little and noticed it hadn’t squeaked. Declan looked down and saw a can of release spray placed under his desk. He rocked back and forth, and the chair moved in silence.

Declan sat calmly with his forearms resting on his desk. His mind raced, yet his pulse was gentle. He was calm, and he was also ready to spring into action if needed. Declan had beaten Gabriel before, and he could have done much worse than only denting his pride. He’d had a vision of ripping Gabriel's jaw apart, yet common sense had entered before that happened. Gabriel had skulked off with his tail between his legs on both the occasions it had occurred.

“What do you want?” Declan asked as the office door opened. His eyes flicked up for a second as Kelvin walked in with four mugs on the tray. Declan looked puzzled as did Gabriel, and he was handed a cup. Kelvin picked up the third as the door opened, and then, in walked Dustin, much to everyone’s surprise.

Gabriel pondered, and wondered if they’d jump him and kick the shit out of him. He felt in himself that he deserved it, and he felt bad. He'd been shown by Tanya that he'd been a jerk —of monolithic proportions. In truth, he didn’t deserve more anger from anyone, and really, he’d earned a pat on the back for swallowing his pride and setting foot back into the Towers.

“This is the kid from the forest,” Gabriel said. “How come Tanya never realized?”

“That’s my secret,” Kelvin replied. “What I do know is, she is more alpha than you are. You smelled like Declan did when I met him. You’re human, I can tell. Declan told me about that prick Edmund, and his ridiculous elixir. It’s the elixir I could (and can now) still smell.” With that Kelvin held his nose close to Gabriel and sniffed. “Still human!”

Declan swallowed the first mouthful of his hot, strong, and very sweet coffee. He placed his mug back on the stained heat ring that was ingrained into the varnished oak. “You still haven’t said what you want.”

“Not that you’ll be interested, but I've changed. I was an ass and a dick,” Gabriel explained.

Kelvin chuckled as the couch squeaked as he sat. “What do you mean was?” Declan glared at Kelvin's childish remark. “Sorry!”

“I have some information that might be useful…” he started to say as he raised his mug to his lips. “The hunters are becoming active.”

“I know,” Declan replied, straight to the point.

“How do you know?” Gabriel replied as his brow furrowed and the coffee cup made a clunk on the top of the desk.

“Noelle's parents are now back to normal. And, at a guess, I reckon the rest of her family are well on their way.”

Gabriel shook his head as if to say, No, that’s not what I mean.

“No, that’s not what I mean,” he said, placing his feelings aloud. “They sprang a surprise attack on the bikers from the club, just outside of town.”

“When?” Declan asked.

“Monday afternoon. The bikers usually venture up to Vista View and go on an afternoon hunt to miss the chance of hunters, but they were there.”

Declan tilted his head, so he could see past Gabriel. He looked into Dustin's eyes, and Dustin nodded. “This changes things,” Declan added. “This is in no way forgiveness, but I think we need you, and I think we need the help of those bikers.”

“That isn’t a problem. I had to operate on four of them. One guy frizzled on the table. He had a shoulder shot from silver. Oh, and the bar owner, she was fucking lucky, Dec. She got hit with a bullet that was a mix of sub-par silver and lead,” Gabriel explained. “So, what do you need?”

Declan leaned forward as Dustin and Kelvin approached the table. He outlined the plan to get the hunters into the woods. Gabriel had no idea where Declan's house was, so it was all new to him.

“Nah, Declan, it’s too close to get these bikers familiar with that area. I think it’s way better if we follow up behind,” he said. “The hunters don’t have much choice but to park at Vista View. We can go from the west side where I parked, earlier. We can rally round, and block them off at the rocks. Drake knows where it is.”

Kelvin lifted his head when he heard his alias mentioned. “My name’s Kelvin, not Drake. I had to be careful,” he said with a grin. Gabriel frowned at him, knowing he had been conned. “He’s right though. Those rocks are an ideal spot. You’ll have the higher ground running up to your house, and the bikers can secure the base of the rocks. The hunters won’t go up, and they can’t come down.”

“You sure?” Declan asked.

“Fuck yeah! It’s a god-damned kill zone!”

* * *

Garrett’s jet black Range Rover pulled into the parking lot of Smokey’s Bar & Grill as he turned off the engine and walked to the front door. The aroma of grilling burgers filled the air as he opened the glass door that had a pig swinging on a piece of string. The word OPEN was displayed on the pig's chest. Garrett wasn’t overly keen on pork; he was a beef man. Always had been and always would be. He had thousands of cattle to prove it, and if he'd been a pork guy, the fields would’ve been full of mud and full of pigs who were happy to play in it.

“Hey Pete, long time no see,” he said as he slapped his second in command on his shoulder.

“Well, look at you Garrett. I see you’ve piled on a few pounds while you’ve been out of action,” he replied, now patting Garrett on his larger-than-normal belly. “So, what happened to you?”

“Pete, I’m not so fucking sure. I think the whole family was poisoned. And from what I can tell, it was to make us forget about Noelle.”

“No shit! Who would do that, and why?”

“I know she is hooked up with that Declan guy, the alpha at Clifton Towers, but I don’t think it’s a wolf thing. I have a feeling that it was another guy who she hung around with for a while,” Garrett explained. “I know Noelle has a thing for this alpha, so maybe this Edmund got pissed and wanted to take it out on her by making us not know who she was.”

“Jesus Garrett, if I didn’t know werewolves existed, I’d say you just couldn’t even write this shit,” Pete replied. “So, forget all this, what are we gonna do?”

Garrett ordered a regular cheeseburger. He had piled on a few pounds, and he wanted to trim himself back a little. Maybe Smokey’s Bar & Grill hadn’t been the best place to meet. Their burgers, as with all their other grills, apart from pork that is; were to die for. Garrett knew it, Pete knew it, and everyone else in the region knew it. That was why the smoke billowed from the chimney for twelve to fourteen hours per day. The air was filled with the smell of hickory and charred beef, and pork —and with the odd chicken thrown in for good measure (and probably for those who were really, truly watching their calories).

Smokey, as she was known, had the place for a good fifteen years. No one knew what she did to her meat apart from the hickory that smoked and sparked under her grill. And Smokey had come up with something extraordinary. Garrett was reminded of that fact as he took his first bite into a Smokey’s Deluxe Burger, for the first time in almost a year.

With a mouthful of beef and cheese, Garrett looked at Pete and pointed to his burger. “This is heaven on a plate. I've missed this.” Pete waited a while longer until Garrett had gotten halfway through his burger.

“So, when do we go to war?” he asked.

Garrett wiped the juices from the burger that had run down his chin. His napkin no longer a pristine white. It was now tainted with burger juice and melted fat.

“Soon, very soon. We don’t want to hit them at Clifton Towers, though. Somehow, we need to hit them somewhere else.”

“Where are you thinking?” Pete asked.

“Pete, I have no idea. It’s like a damned Rubik’s cube.”

“We know they’ll go to the forest, we can stake out and lure them in,” Pete suggested.

“Yeah, I know that, but where? We need an area that is open, if they get in the undergrowth we won’t stand a chance,” Garrett said.

Pete watched Garrett finish his burger and then wash it down with his diet soda. Pete picked up his lite beer and grinned. “I have an idea! How about that outcrop of rocks? If we position ourselves on the top, we know we have our backs protected. The area is all open, and we can focus on what is coming toward us.”

“That could be a good idea. We’ll work on that,” Garrett answered. “Pass the word around that we are going to hold a meeting, so then we can finalize a plan and count the head numbers we have available.”

“Sure, not a problem. You mentioned ammo?” Pete asked.

“Yeah. I have nearly a hundred made up. It appears I'd been buying up all the silver in the area. Perhaps that’s why you can only get imported?” Garrett said. “I have half a sack full of it in the Range Rover. Take it and get the crew to make up some more rounds.”

They both stood up from the table, and Garrett left the money a plus tip for the waitress. They stepped to the rear of the Range Rover, and Garrett lifted the rear door. He dragged the half sack toward Pete.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Garret pulled out the long, pointed pole. Pete could see that half was silver colored. “This Pete, is a special sort of spear. You remember all those Roman movies where they stuck spikes into the ground?” he asked. “Well, this is similar. I thought, if we run out of ammo all we really have are our knives. With these, we can hold them away from us that little bit longer.”

Pete nodded as he took the spear in his hand and balanced it. “Have you tried to throw it, you know… like a javelin?”

“Shit Pete, I never thought of that. I’ll work on that concept. We could be on a winner with that design.”

“I better get going,” Pete said as he swung the bag of silver over his shoulder. “We have a lot to do.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve got a room full of dusty guns to clean!”

“No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place.”