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The men standing behind Oswaldo looked tense, about to shift. A fight was going to break out in no time now.
But when Esteban let Oswaldo go, he let out a loud and very amused laugh. He spit the blood that gathered in his mouth out onto the ground. He touched his now bruised cheek. “I, for one, am glad you didn’t change one bit, Esteban.” Oswaldo put a hand on the arm Esteban was still using to grip his shirt.
Was he not mad about what my mate had done to him?! I didn’t understand this Alpha one bit. He seemed amused by Esteban’s display of violence.
Esteban let go of the other Alpha’s shirt and took a step back. He had a calm expression on his face, seeming completely in control of the situation. He appeared to be sure that what he’d just done was the right thing.
Oswaldo turned to his men and waved at them. “Calm down, guys. I was just testing Esteban to see if he still values strength the way we do. It seems he does. Now we can talk. What do you want from the Bloody Claws?”
Gabriel opened his mouth, but Esteban put a hand on his arm and shook his head.
“I will talk,” Esteban said.
Gabriel nodded and took a step back to his place at my side. That movement appeared to be the right thing to do because Oswaldo hadn’t seemed to want to hear a word from Gabriel’s mouth earlier. He eyed Esteban with respect now, but none of that emotion was present in his gaze when Gabriel had addressed him earlier. While Gabriel was usually the one to do the talking, this conversation belonged to Esteban.
Oswaldo’s eyes wandered to me. He stared at me with open curiosity, but when Esteban stepped into his line of sight he just smiled to himself. I expected him to ask about me, but he kept quiet.
Esteban decided to speak again about the matter we had come here to discuss. “We want to bring Victor down. He has Gabriel’s sister and my cousin, Hanny.”
Oswaldo whistled. “So there’s another Torres alive?”
“Yes, we just learned of her capture ourselves two weeks ago. We want to get her out of Victor’s clutches. To succeed, we need to attack Fort Torres directly but Victor’s forces outnumber us two to one.”
“Let me guess; you want us to join you in your crusade against Victor.”
“Yes, to make the odds more even and Victor has been attacking our territory, so we also think it would be best to unite and bring him down together before he decides to kill us all clan by clan to gain complete hegemony over the island.”
Oswaldo’s expression turned thoughtful. He patted a finger against his chin.
“My men have been itching to go against Victor for months now. He has been attacking our borders too.”
Why hadn’t he said earlier that he had a grudge against Victor? Instead he had engaged in this strange ritual – for lack of a better word – with Esteban. Had Oswaldo really wanted to get punched so badly? What a strange man.
The Alpha continued. “I think it would be a good idea for us to join you. Uniting our forces would make for a glorious fight but we won’t do it for free.”
“Of course not. What do you wish for in exchange?”
“The day after tomorrow a large shipment of ammunition and guns will be coming to the docks. It was requested by Victor. If you can steal those supplies away from his people, we will consider you capable enough for us to stand with you against the asshole who thinks he can own all of us.” Oswaldo gave us a wide smile.
Esteban looked at Gabriel. They nodded at each other. This undertaking sounded dangerous, but it was the only way to prove that the people of Santuario were good fighters.
“I assume you want the contents of the shipment?” Esteban asked.
“Yes, we lack ammunition and guns to attack Victor anyway. Once you get that shipment, bring it to our sleuth,” Oswaldo nodded.
Esteban extended his hand to him. The other Alpha grinned, shaking it energetically.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Esteban said.
“That’s great to hear.”
Hopefully the quest Oswaldo had set us on wouldn’t prove to be too difficult. Stealing the shipment would surely end in a fight, so we would have to come well-prepared but at least the Bloody Claws were willing to consider battling by our side. It was a start.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Gabriel
On the day the shipment for Victor was scheduled to arrive, Esteban, Daphne and I took fifteen of our sleuth’s best men and went to the docks. We had our people spread out behind the abandoned buildings: the two warehouses and the magistrate building. We hid closest to the pier. Esteban had his rifle in hand, Daphne carried a gun, and I kept my daggers prepared in case anyone dared to come within melee range of us.
