Emilio snorted, startled from his sleep. He scowled, seeing the rays of the afternoon sun peek through the curtains of his living room. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, blinking at the flickering TV in front of him. He picked up an open beer can and shook it, frowning when it was empty. He sighed, bracing on the armrest of his lounger and got up. His muscles ached from the previous night and absentmindedly, scratched at his stubble. He stretched his arms above his head as he padded through his dingy little apartment and took a beer can from his fridge. He took two large gulps and burped before pulling out the case and bringing it into the living room. He set it on the ground beside his seat. A knock erupted from the front door. With a grunt, he moved toward the door and swung it open.
Finding a woman in the hallway who smelled like a werewolf, "Can I help you, did Jake send you?" he asked.
She was small in stature, slim. She smiled and shoved the door open, rushing inside. Emilio stumbled back, started by her use strength. She clamped a hand around his neck and pinned him against the wall.
"Who are you?" he ground out as well as he could.
She kicked the door closed with the back of her heel. He watched her eyes flicker orange and she grinned, exposing a set of canines. Emilio coughed.
"The boss sent me to tie up some loose sends," she said.
"W-Wait!" Emilio gasped.
"Shots!" Sam yelled, tossing the glasses along the table.
Santana sighed and wrapped an arm around Quinn's waist. She handed the first tiny cup to Quinn.
"What is it with him and shots?" she asked.
"One track mind," Jake said.
He gave Marley a cup and draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her in against his chest. Sam scoffed and placed a plastic bag on the table. He took a fist full of the powdered herb and added a bit to everyones' shot but Quinn's. He picked up his cup. Quinn chuckled. He brought it into the center of the table and grinned as everyone followed.
"To some awesome ass kicking last night!" he declared.
The glasses were clinked together and knocked back. Sam sighed and slammed his glass onto the table. Santana cringed, gulping down the grittiness of the herb. The chalky texture was something had she never enjoyed, but wolfsbane was the only thing strong enough to get a wolf drunk. Their healing abilities and fast metabolisms making it nearly impossible to consume enough alcohol to even get a buzz.
"Careful," Santana teased, "we all know you can't hold your liquor, Trouty. We don't want you sleeping in the supply closet with a bucket over your head again."
"Hey, it was one time!" Sam cried. "Besides, we there were six of them and we kicked their asses!"
A light gasp was heard from Quinn before she turned and smacked Santana in the arm. "Six of them? Why didn't you call me to help?" she cried.
Santana leveled a glare at Sam, growling out, "Thanks a lot Trouty-mouth," turning to Quinn with a whine, "Baby, it was nothing, we won! And, it was down in the gross, disgusting, stinky sewers! The seeewers, babe, an enclosed space! You know your powers aren't the best in enclosed spaces."
Laughter erupted from the group as Santana pouted. Jake collected the cups.
"I'm just going to clean these up," he said, heading to the back bar and away from their bickering. He gave Marley a quick peck before leaving the table.
"So, I found your book while I was out shopping Quinn," Marley said, interrupting and attempting to distract Quinn. "Are you working on another?"
Jake joined them with another round of shots and beers. Sam jumped on the shots and finished his and cranked off the top of a beer. Santana opened two bottles and gave one to Quinn.
"Yeah, I just had a signing," she said.
"Well, I bought it. It was the second one though, do I need to read the first one to get the secon-,"
Marley was cut off by Santana, "Noooo. Don't read it! Where is it? Give it to me."
Quinn laughed at her fiance's antics.
"She's very sweet in it," she answered smirking as she replied to Marley's unasked question as to why Santana was so opposed to her reading the book.
"Well, now I have to read it," Marley said as she joined in on Quinn's laughter while Santana started to try to guess where she could find it.
Sam perked up and pointed toward the door of the bar. Jake turned around to see a man stumble through the bar and scan the room. His eyes were wide and filled with fear. He staggered over to Jake, out of breath and covered in sweat. His hands were shaking and his face pallid.
"J-Jake?" he gasped. "You helped my Alpha, Emilio?"
"Yeah, we helped him out yesterday, what's wrong?" Jake asked.
"It's my Alpha!" he cried. "I hadn't heard from him all day. I knew you were going to take care of the mutt problem our pack was having, so, I went over to his place and...he's dead. Someone killed him. I didn't know what else to do, can you help us, please?"
Everyone looked between each other shocked. Jake stood and pulled his phone from his pocket.
"Of course, I'll see if I can get another pack to take you guys in, hopefully all together," he said, opening his phone, "how many of you are there?"
"Nine of us now," his voice barely audible.
"Killed?" Sam whispered.
Santana glanced at Jake as he mumbled over the phone then back at the distraught werewolf who stood in front of him. He nodded a few times and hung up. He walked back to the table.
"I have a place for Emilio's members," Jake said. "It's possible who ever killed him might try to get the rest his pack as well. Sam, Marley, I need you both to go to his apartment."
They stood and rushed out the door. Quinn rubbed a hand down Santana's back.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Santana frowned and gulped.
"I should help," Santana said, her hands clenched into a fists.
She turned to Quinn, her sight blurred as her eyes flooded with tears. Quinn pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. Santana stared stunned at the table.
"It's fine," Jake said, "I can round them up, he should have contacts for them," he nodded his head toward the panicked werewolf a little ways off. "You two should head home, try to get some rest, we'll need Quinn's help later. I promise to call you if anything important comes up."
Quinn took Santana by the wrist and pulled her up to her feet and dragging her out the door.
"I can't believe it," Sam said, standing in front of Emilio's apartment. "Who would do this to an Alpha?"
Marley shook her head, clear lines of sadness over her face. Sam let out a huff, the disbelief still unable to settle on such a situation. There were rules and ways of claim another's pack or challenge an Alpha, but to kill an Alpha while he was off his guard and without a proper declaration to the Alpha and his pack... Everything about this was suspicious.
"Those mutts had to be more than an unusually organized group," Marley said. "We better head inside before anyone sees us."
They entered the complex and read over the numbers on the doors as they wandered down the hall. They paused, at the end of the hall on the left one of the doors was slightly ajar. Marley glanced at Sam who gulped and she gripped the knob before quietly pushing the door back. She stepped over the threshold and found a pool of blood in the doorway to the kitchen. She walked over and cringed. Emilio laid face up on the floor, claw marks slashed his shirt, tearing it and staining it with blood. Marley came closer and frowned, seeing a gaping hole in his neck where his blood had all seeped out.
"Whoa," Sam gasped.
"Sam, look around to see if anything was left behind," Marley said. "I'll call Jake."
He nodded and headed into the living room. Marley sniffed around the kitchen, it was a mess, covered with all of Emilio's pots and broken plates and glasses. The only thing she could see clearly were the footprints left in the flour from the torn bag at Emilio's feet. She inhaled deeply again a moment, then pulled out her cell.
"Hey, it checks out," Marley said. "Emilio is dead. It's definitely a wolf attack."
"You're sure?" Jake said.
"His throat was ripped out. It doesn't smell like anyone the mutts recently came into contact with. The scent is different this time. A female," Marley said.
"Anything else?" Jake asked.
Marley reached down and lifted Emilio's hand by his wrist. A set of black claws stuck out from his finger tips. She put his hand down and Sam returned, standing in the doorway. He shook his head.
"He didn't go down without a fight," Marley said, "other than that it's clean."
"Okay, I'll speak to one of my guys to forge a death certificate and make a few calls to his job so there won't be any questions," Jake said. "I'll have Santana and Quinn look over the place first thing in the morning." With a heavy sigh Jake said, "Bring him back with you, we can't leave him there."
They hung up and Marley sighed.
"Jake wants us back at the bar," she said. "The least we can do is take in any of Emilio's pack members once they hear the news."
Sam gave the apartment one last glance and left.
