Pack Mentality
The wolves are closer now.
Dog-friendly bodyguards are saying that I’m on the list and that I can go right in. Bessie Harmful greets me in Portuguese as I cross the threshold. I walk past her without a glance. It’s a very rude thing to do but I’m too angry to care.
I have what privacy they let me have. I’m looking to cut my leash off. This bar’s thick air is clogged with wet signatures. I can taste the emotions and the desperation. I’m in a mood to burn something down. Everyone looks like a rabbit to me right now. I have no sense of danger. I walk up to the manager’s door.
Tenny Tenkills and Larry Fingers are guarding the door. They look down at me with the emotionless glare of predators wondering idly if they’re going to have to kill me. No eagerness or fear, just idle curiosity. They wait for me to say something.
“GET OUT HERE!” I yell at the door. I can smell the pheromones behind that locked door snap to attention and become acrid and alarmed. Tenny and Fingers each reach for my throat. There’s a second when they look at each other with a small question in their faces. They’re not sure who gets to kill me. Not too bright. It saves my life. I’m waiting for them to attempt rock, paper, scissors when the door opens.
There he is. Magnus Hide. A giant of a man. Silverback and cunning. His lips are peeled far back, exposing long teeth that have seen the innards of many foes. The waft of sheer experience in matters of killing washes over me and I almost lose my nerve. I have disturbed his peace. Every waft on this doorstep is screaming ‘this better be good’.
Tenny and Fingers snap to attention. It’s my show. The likelihood of me being dead within two minutes is very high.
The bar is starting to notice a transgression taking place. The musicians quiet down. Heads are sniffing the air and focusing on us. The bar slows down to a whisper.
“Hey, Tuffy. You smell like you’re about to piss yourself. Please don’t. I just had this rug cleaned. I was just on the phone with Tina from Pack Six. She said that you’d be by. She hung up when I asked her why. You have my attention.” says Magnus.
His claws start to slide out slowly. I could hear them rasp against his flesh. I didn’t have long. I felt the sexual threat of battle shiver through me.
“I’m leaving, Magnus. With your daughter. We’re in love. Tina is letting us go.” I say to Magnus. “She’s in hiding. If you kill me, you’ll never find out where she is. She’s pregnant with a litter.”
Magnus looks at me from beneath a deep brow. His eyes glitter. He is sniffing the air for any sense that this is sarcasm or a suicidal joke. All he smells is truth.
I hold my breath and wait for his reaction.
tags
Dog-friendly bodyguards are saying that I’m on the list and that I can go right in. Bessie Harmful greets me in Portuguese as I cross the threshold. I walk past her without a glance. It’s a very rude thing to do but I’m too angry to care.
I have what privacy they let me have. I’m looking to cut my leash off. This bar’s thick air is clogged with wet signatures. I can taste the emotions and the desperation. I’m in a mood to burn something down. Everyone looks like a rabbit to me right now. I have no sense of danger. I walk up to the manager’s door.
Tenny Tenkills and Larry Fingers are guarding the door. They look down at me with the emotionless glare of predators wondering idly if they’re going to have to kill me. No eagerness or fear, just idle curiosity. They wait for me to say something.
“GET OUT HERE!” I yell at the door. I can smell the pheromones behind that locked door snap to attention and become acrid and alarmed. Tenny and Fingers each reach for my throat. There’s a second when they look at each other with a small question in their faces. They’re not sure who gets to kill me. Not too bright. It saves my life. I’m waiting for them to attempt rock, paper, scissors when the door opens.
There he is. Magnus Hide. A giant of a man. Silverback and cunning. His lips are peeled far back, exposing long teeth that have seen the innards of many foes. The waft of sheer experience in matters of killing washes over me and I almost lose my nerve. I have disturbed his peace. Every waft on this doorstep is screaming ‘this better be good’.
Tenny and Fingers snap to attention. It’s my show. The likelihood of me being dead within two minutes is very high.
The bar is starting to notice a transgression taking place. The musicians quiet down. Heads are sniffing the air and focusing on us. The bar slows down to a whisper.
“Hey, Tuffy. You smell like you’re about to piss yourself. Please don’t. I just had this rug cleaned. I was just on the phone with Tina from Pack Six. She said that you’d be by. She hung up when I asked her why. You have my attention.” says Magnus.
His claws start to slide out slowly. I could hear them rasp against his flesh. I didn’t have long. I felt the sexual threat of battle shiver through me.
“I’m leaving, Magnus. With your daughter. We’re in love. Tina is letting us go.” I say to Magnus. “She’s in hiding. If you kill me, you’ll never find out where she is. She’s pregnant with a litter.”
Magnus looks at me from beneath a deep brow. His eyes glitter. He is sniffing the air for any sense that this is sarcasm or a suicidal joke. All he smells is truth.
I hold my breath and wait for his reaction.
tags