“You hear that, fuckers?” Slade yelled.
A couple of Jack’s people kicked the males writhing on the floor to make sure they were paying attention.
“You will leave this town. You will tell Falwell that it’s not worth it, because we will be here every fucking time his people show up. Not this town, not ever. It’s Jared’s, and his friends and I will protect it like he’s still alive because he still should be. Get the fuck up, get the fuck out, because whoever is still lying here in five minutes has chosen to die rather than leave this town,” Jack announced.
Niko walked over to where the door used to be and whistled again. “Hey, let ‘em leave! Jack’s sending a message!” he yelled at Rance and those still outside with him.
“Come on! We can just send one back!” Rance yelled back.
“This makes no sense,” Jack said.
“What do you mean?” Zev asked.
“Look around this place. We should have been seriously injured, as much as they were; they’re shifters, too, for God’s sake. But they didn’t go full force.”
“Some of them did,” Niko said.
“Yeah, because you provoked them. But most of them just wanted to get away. We didn’t even get the full force of everybody getting out through the windows and doors. They ran, avoiding us, leaving their vehicles rather than go through us to get back to them.”
“We could have chased them down,” Rance said, as he stomped through the front door with some of Jack’s other males beside him.
“I don’t want to annihilate his Pride. That’s not the end game here,” Jack said.
“I think you’re right,” Slade said. “Something’s not right. Since the first few nights we were here, they’re not even fighting back. They just entice us enough to keep us focused on them, then they slink away.”
“Agreed,” Jack said. “We fight two or three groups of males a night, if we can hunt them down without them fleeing. They’re shifters, they should be able to hold their own.”
“They’re not Laighin Pride,” Niko said confidently.
“They’re still shifters. Why aren’t they fighting to the death? Why are they not fighting for the territory they’ve acquired?” Jack said.
“Makes you think something else is going on,” Rance admitted, finally seeing what Jack and Zev were talking about.
“You ever fought another Pride that will engage, but then slinks away before inflicting any real damage?” Jack asked.
Rance looked around them, less than a dozen or so lying dead, the rest having left already, even the unconscious, as their friends grabbed them up as they made their getaway. “It’s too fucking easy. What’s the point?”
“Distract us?” Niko asked, shrugging as he wiped a bit of blood off his cheek.
“From what?” Slade asked.
Jack took out his phone and fired off a quick text to all the members of the Laighin Pride.
“Be on high alert. Something isn’t right here, fight is too easy and never followed through.
Possibly a distraction tactic. We’ll be finished up here in a day or two, then heading home.
Be suspicious of everything, and overreact to anything that is not usual.”
Almost immediately he started receiving confirmation of receipt from their Pride as members received and read Jack’s message. Then he received a message from Vance.
“Understood. Everything here is fine. We are on constant perimeter checks, I will increase guards
at all checkpoints, and have more free roaming in their animal forms. We’ve got things covered
here, just be careful there.”
“They’re aware now. Everything at home is secure, but we need to wrap this up and get back there. We’re just spinning our fucking wheels here. They’re not defending a damn thing, they’re just keeping us busy,” Jack said.
