Carly
Carly swallowed. "Ale-Alpha Alec, this is my brother, Matthew Jamison Waite. We call him Matt."
"Jamison. Figures." Alec walked around Matthew, looking him over. "They sure do make you Waites deceptively skinny."
"I'll be sure to take it up with God when I get there," Matthew said.
Alec smirked. "You do that. So, what should we do with you...?" His eyes flicked to the combine.
Carly followed his gaze and her eyes went wide. "Ale-Alpha Alec, no! Please just let him go."
"So he can go round up his other Hunter buddies?" Alec snorted. "Yeah, right."
"Do you really eat Doritos?" Matthew asked.
This startled Alec. "What?"
"Carly says werewolves eat Doritos. I figured if I'm going to die, I might as well get a real answer," Matthew said.
Alec stared at Matthew a moment. "Sure, Matt, I eat Doritos. I like to dip them in the fresh blood of newborn human babies."
"That's not a straight answer," Matthew objected.
"I didn't say I was going to kill you," Alec said. "Guess that makes us even."
"What are you going to do with him?" Carly asked.
Alec shrugged. "We had been planning to take your father alive and put him in the basement for the rest of his natural life. We were hoping he could lead us to other groups of Hunters. I don't see why Matt here can't take his place."
"The basement? For the rest of his life?" Carly felt panic building in her chest. "My baby brother?"
"You'd rather we kill him?" Alec replied.
"I'd rather you kill me," Matthew said.
Alec gestured to the combine. "You want to hop on in or do you want me to knock you out first?"
"Alec!!!" Carly protested.
"Your sister doesn't seem to like the idea," Alec said.
Matthew shrugged. He took off his leather jacket and handed it to Alec. "Shame for that to get eaten up in the combine. Maybe you can find a wolfy ten-year-old who can fit it."
"You two are unbelievable! This is a joke. Tell me this is a joke!" Carly looked from one to the other, horrified.
Then Alec cracked a smile. "I like you. Too bad I do have to keep you in our basement. Nice jacket, though."
"Would still rather die," Matthew said. He pulled a gun out of the holster at his side.
Alec pushed Carly behind him. "What do you think you're—"
Matthew put the gun to his temple.
"No!" Carly screamed.
* * *
Kiernan
Carly's scream got Kiernan on his feet as nothing else could. He took in the full situation, then gave Matthew a placating look. "Matt, just put the gun down. Alec didn't really mean he was going to put you in the basement."
"Yes he did." Matthew's finger curled around the trigger.
"He doesn't mean it anymore. I mean, don't you have women and children who need you to show up and tell them what happened?" Kiernan asked.
"I'm not telling you where the safe house is." Matthew looked over at Carly. "Close your eyes," he said kindly to his sister.
"No, Matt! No!" Carly cried. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
If there was anything in this world Kiernan hated more than anything, it was seeing his mate cry. "Matt. Put the gun down. Let's talk about this."
"Fine, talk. But I'm not putting the gun down," Matthew said.
"Okay. Okay, then you hold the gun, but take your finger off the trigger, okay? We don't want there to be any accidents." Kiernan held out his hands. "We're all friends here, right?"
Matthew took his finger off the trigger, but still gave a bitter laugh. "Friends? Are you shitting me? Didn't I shoot you once?"
"Friends forgive things like that," Kiernan said.
"Alright, friend. You planning on defying your Alpha and getting me out of here?" Matthew asked sarcastically.
"He better not be," Alec rumbled.
Kiernan decided playing referee between Matthew and Alec was just about the worst job he'd ever had. "I was thinking maybe we could all go our separate ways and call it a day."
"What?!" Alec said. "No. No way. Alpha Edward will never agree to that."
"He's my mate's brother. I already pled for his life. I figured letting him go free at the end was part of the deal," Kiernan argued.
Alec crossed his arms. "That was before Jamison Waite decided he was going to be more trouble than he was worth."
"As I recall, you're the one who killed him," Kiernan said.
"As I recall, he'd just about killed you, after surrendering. I wasn't about to let him get another shot." Alec was grumbling now.
A crowd of those who were still upright began gathering around them. There was growling and snarling from the ones who were still in wolf form, and shouting and jeers from those who were human.
Matthew's finger moved back to the trigger.
"Hey, let's have none of that now! We're not done talking," Kiernan said.
"Let him kill himself. Who cares? He's a Hunter," someone in the crowd yelled.
Another spat at the ground near Matthew. "Coward."
Kiernan turned to Alec. "Alec, please. Just let the kid go, before this gets any worse."
Alec was about to answer, then his eyes went unfocused. A slow grin spread across his face. It was not a nice grin. "We've found two safe houses."
Matthew and Carly both made a similar noise of distress.
"Where?" Carly asked.
"How?" Matthew whispered.
"You people reek of wolfsbane. You think it's that hard to find in a town as small as Vermillion?" Alec chuckled.
"I wasn't aware we were looking for the safe houses," Kiernan said.
Alec made a vague gesture. "Alpha Edward thought it would be best to be prepared. Isn't that what you've always said? Be prepared?"
"Be prepared to what, stoop to their level? Slaughter women and children?" Kiernan growled.
Alec blinked. "Shit, Kiernan, of course not! We were going to use them as leverage for a hostage trade if we needed to. Where's your mind at?"
Kiernan shook his head. "Sorry, sorry."
"You should be sorry." Alec looked at Matthew again and sighed. "I suppose if we have them, we don't really need him. Run along, Hunter."
Loud protests roared through the crowd, but Alec silenced them with a snarl. "I'm Alpha in command here, and I say he goes. Don't you dare touch him, either."
"If you keep me, will you let them go?" Matthew asked.
Alec stared at Matthew. "That's surprisingly chivalrous of you. No, there's no need to keep you. We've got four Hunter guards from the safe houses, that should be enough. Besides, I did sort of promise we'd leave you alone."
"Go find Mom and Dawn," Carly chimed in. "They need someone to look after them now."
Matthew looked at their father's body on the ground, then back up at Carly. "It's over. I'm calling it. It's done."
"Good," Carly said. "Now you can—"
Matthew shook his head. "We're done, too."