Love Is Always Write Volume 4

carried on their daily lives pushing little hairless cubs in those rolling carriages. Dogs caught scent of Rod but those in the park at this time of day were the small breeds. Some barked but it was more of a warning to stay away than a challenge. The larger dogs were unpredictable and if they banded together in their fear they might cause some trouble, but as Rod carried on through the park there was only one and it was too busy playing with its human.
    The scent of the wolf lead him to the cache that had been left behind a bush, a backpack containing the last of the worldly goods of Thomas. Runners, jeans, a t-shirt, packs of teriyaki flavored jerky and a wallet. Deep at the bottom of the bag was a scrap of a leather collar. Youth was wasted on the stupid.
    Hoisting the bag over his shoulder Rod did one last sweep for possible evidence then left to finish up with Mannix. The city was familiar to him but it would never be home. It was a place he could live until he got strong enough to move on. Just like how it was before when his mother was killed. He had forgotten that but the werecougars had reminded me that he was a foreigner in this land - a jaguar as black as night in the mountains of North America.
    It'd been three years now since that fight. Rod caught himself reaching up to touch the parallel scar that raked his side from under his arm to his hip. The wound wasn't that deep but it had been bloody, and the cuts were clean, but these silvery marks were just a reminder of the betrayal that still festered. Three orphaned cubs rescued by a grizzled old grizzly bear and raised like brothers and sister. Rod's mother had been killed by poachers. Silias Suncatcher, a werebear, had found the small dehydrated cub five days later. The giant bear was a steward of the land and finding those lost or injured weres was something he did out of the goodness of his heart. Most weres only stayed with Silas on the preserve until they were healed enough to go back on their own but Travis, Lisa Marie and Rod stayed; a Grizzly, two mountain cougars and a jaguar. It had been an idyllic time and they were too young to realize that it wouldn't last. Rod shook off that soft feeling of nostalgia. He always got drunk on the anniversary of Silas' death. A little hair o' thee bear as it were.
    Mannix was the Alpha of the city. There were always an abundance of wolves around here. There were foxes, dogs, big cats, a condor or two and there was even an alligator but wolves always seemed to run in multiples. It doesn't matter how organized we are, the law of anonymity was still king.
    However Mannix had a firm belief that weres didn't have to live like animals; we weren't animal yet we weren't human, so Mannix wanted us to grab the best of both worlds. "Build on your strength." If a were passed for human they could live as one as long as they protected the organization's secret. Those that preferred to stay natural were still welcome in Mannix's territory as long as they behaved themselves by staying under human radar; if they didn't, well that is what the Corps was for - high level predators with a developed and controlled natural sense that patrolled and protected those weres in the organization but were also the enforcers of the law. If the humans hadn't killed Thomas one of the Corps would have.
    The Den was the headquarters as well as a damned fine diner that catered to the unique diet that carnivorous weres craved and some human palates found delish. As soon a Rod walked in, Mannix got up from his table and moved to his private office.
    By the time Rod followed him in, the graying werewolf was standing with his back to him, staring out the window. "Is it done?"
    "Yah."
    "The young takes simple misunderstandings so seriously. They are going to die if they don't get their way. They can only see extremes. It's their way or the highway."
    "Everything is in the bag, including his collar and tags."
    Mannix wiped his face. "He was my son's youngest pup. My grandson. I used to think he was a chip off the old block…"
    "I'm going."
    "A father shouldn't outlive their children." Mannix turned around rummaging through the backpack and pulled the collar out. "I have the duty to inform his mother."
    "Thomas didn't want to listen to anyone's experience or advice."
    "He was just a headstrong pup…just a little stupid pup who had potential…" The tags jingled as Mannix ran his thumb along the leather. "Normally I try to keep out of family squabbles,