Malik’s grin accompanied the amused shake of his head. “If there’s one thing I’ll give the Jacks credit for,” he began, cocking his gun, “it’s that their little crystals don’t draw as much attention as our power does.”
I swung open the door, allowing Malik to dart in first.
The two gray werewolves stood waiting for us in the middle of the store. Little sunlight slipped past the planks of wood covering the windows, giving the monsters within their path an ethereal glow. The repugnant stench of dirty, wet fur made my mouth water.
“Where’s the girl?” I demanded, suppressing a retch. “We just want any humans you’re holding captive. Then we’ll go.”
The monsters exchanged confused glances.
I cocked my head and frowned.
“What’s wrong, wolf whisperer?” Malik asked from beside me.
My eyes bounced from the empty display cases blanketed with dust to the metal racks in their haphazard rows, like a tornado had blown through the store but given up halfway. “They don’t look like they know what I’m talking about.”
“Bullshit.” He aimed his gun from one werewolf to the next. “Give us the girl, and we’ll kill you quickly—”
Malik and I ducked as the werewolf to the left chucked a short rack at us, bags of presumedly expired chips falling at our feet.
Malik stood up and holstered his gun with a smirk. “Not as quickly, then.” He pulled his silver knuckles from his jacket pocket and ran straight for the wolf. The first punch was powerful enough to rock the monster on its feet. The other wolf swiped at Malik, but I jumped in, landing a punch of my own.
My wolf didn’t stumble the way Malik’s had; my hit had been more of an attention-grabber.
And I got what I wanted.
The werewolf attempted to grapple me, but I side-stepped and punched it in its side. It recovered with a growl, lunging for my head.
I ducked and landed an uppercut to its jaw, its snout in the air as I kicked it in the stomach.
It crashed against a wooden shelf, making bottles filled with dark liquid shatter on the floor. It scurried to its feet, but I grabbed the neck of a broken bottle by my foot and shoved the sharp glass into the monster’s carotid artery.
The werewolf tried to stand, fruitlessly grasping at the glass jutting from its neck. Its paws eventually slowed to a stop, and it collapsed into a swiftly growing pool of blood.
Malik came up behind me, patting my shoulder, his hand stained a deep crimson. “Nice job,” he commended, wiping blood from his face with his shirt. “I won though, Gimli.”
I glanced over at his wolf, where it lay lifeless on the ground with its face caved in.
My ear twitched, and our heads whipped around just as a table hurtled toward us. Malik drew his gun, but as he pushed me out of the way, it clattered to the floor. The two of us landed hard on the tile.
Malik gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the floor. He jumped to his feet, staring the third werewolf dead in its eyes. “Where the hell did you come from?”
The skittish creature growled. Its aura was so faint, it could’ve been a man in a costume.
“Omega, huh?” Malik was never prejudiced with his insults. “You must be the weakest fucking—”
The werewolf took off running for the door.
Malik threw his hands up in the air. “Tobias will never let this go,” he grumbled, running after it.
I rose unhurriedly to my feet, swiping Malik’s gun off the ground when something fell behind a counter.
After my initial flinch, I sighed in relief. “It’s alright,” I called out. “You’re safe.”
The human girl peeked over the counter before ducking back down. “Are… are they dead?”
I began to inch forward. “They are. What’s your name?” I shoved the gun into my waistband and put my hands in the air in a placating manner.
“Are you… a cop?” she whispered.
