Chapter 5 – Old Friends and Enemies

After Joss drove off for her appointment with Sheriff Berke, John decided to go visit his old friend Margaret "Mags" Griffin. She had been part of the group of friends he had hung out with in high school along with Everett and Lisa, and one of the few members of the pack who had not given into the mob mentality that night so long ago.

When John walked into The Den Grill and Bar, the middle-aged woman behind the bar looked up and her mouth fell open and her eyes grew wide. "John?" she gasped out. "I heard you were back, but I didn't believe it! I thought you were dead!"

John grinned at her, "Hello to you too, Mags."

Mags Griffin walked around the bar and gave John a big hug. "I'm sorry, I'm just so surprised to see you, but I'm very pleased!"

She turned and yelped at a young man in his early twenties who resembled her, obviously her son, "Sonny, I need to sit with an old friend, take over for me will ya?"

"Sure thing Ma," the young man cheerfully replied with a wave of his hand. John was struck by how much Sonny's smile looked like his mother's back when he and Mags had been that age.

"You have a son," John said a bit wistfully while Mags pulled him to a back booth.

She grinned at him, "Three actually. Sonny, his real is name is Todd, is the oldest. He's twenty-one. I also have Chadd who's eighteen and Steve who's sixteen."

"Sounds like you have a full house. How's Les?" John couldn't help but grin at his friend.

"He's doing good. He's a supervisor now for the utility. He's out of town overseeing the installation of a new line. He'll be home Saturday if you are staying that long."

John's grin vanished. "I'm not sure he would be as happy to see me as you are," he said quietly.

"He came around after you left John. He thinks you were innocent. He would like to see you, I'm sure."

The conversation paused while Sonny dropped off a couple of cups of coffee. Mags looked over at John, "It's not a coincidence that you showed up here right after we had another Alpha pair die in a gas explosion, is it?"

John nodded, "No, it's not. I heard about the Hunters and I decided it was time to come back."

Mags sipped her coffee, "Can't say I'm surprised. Do you want to take over the pack?"

John shook his head, "No, I have a pack in New York. I just want to make sure the person who killed my parents and the Hunters doesn't get the chance to hurt anyone else."

Mags sighed regretfully, "You're a true Alpha, John. I'm so sorry we ran you off, we could have used you around here."

"How so?"

"Two words, Matt Ellison," Mags spat the name out with undisguised contempt.

John set his coffee cup down and focused his full attention on Mags. "I've been hearing that name a lot. What can you tell me?"

"Matt Ellison wanted to be Alpha after you left, but no one likes Matt, so we brought in Trisha Hunter's parents instead. They were good Alphas and kept Matt in check. After they died and Trisha and Dave took over the pack, he took advantage of their inexperience and he was starting to get out of control again. Mark and Marie turned out to be just like their dad, bullies both of them. Everett is the only decent one of that family, thank God he turned like his mom and not his dad."

"But everyone is afraid of Matt and the twins," John prodded.

"Yep, and will be until we get a new Alpha in here. Trisha and Dave didn't have any cubs yet, and even if they had they would be too young to be Alphas, so we will have to vote on new Alphas. Everett is putting his name in as a candidate, and lot of people like the idea of having the sheriff for an Alpha, but a lot of people also don't like having anyone connected to Matt as the Alpha. Everett always had problems standing up to his old man and we need someone who will keep Matt on the straight and narrow."

John nodded, "I remember."

Mags shrugged, "We will probably have to bring in someone from outside like we did with Trisha's parents after you left. If you know of any born Alphas looking for a pack, send 'em our way."

Later, John left the bar after giving Mags a hug and promised to stay in touch. "I'm not good at keeping in touch", he protested, but Mags would not take that for answer. "You better get good then, John Davis. Or I will fly to New York and kick your Alpha ass."

John decided to walk around the center of town for bit. By now he was sure the entire pack knew he was back; he thought it might be interesting to see who would come looking for him. He wanted to be easy to find.

He didn't have long to wait.

He stopped in the local coffee shop for a cup of coffee. He also purchased a local paper and settled at a corner table to sip his coffee and get caught up on the local news.

"Hello, John," came a less than friendly female voice.

John looked up see to a tall, blonde woman, his age, with a hard expression on her face. John leaned back in his chair with his trademark smirk, "Hello, Lisa. It's been a long time."

"Not long enough," Lisa snapped. "What are you doing here? Is it true you brought your mate?"

"I missed you, too," John replied, completely unruffled by the hostile reception from the woman he had once been expected to mate with. He took a second to take her in. The years had been kind to her, Lisa was everything a she Wolf should be; tall, lean, graceful and powerful in her movements. They had been a gorgeous couple in high school, the pride of the pack. Too bad it was only skin deep.

Lisa sat down across from him, her hard expression did not change. "What are you doing here?" she demanded again.

"I heard about the Hunters and the similarities with my parents were quite striking. I decided it was time to return."

Lisa lifted her lip showing her fangs. "Oh, so you decide to blow into town and start investigating? What about Everett?"

"What about him? I do this for a living, Lisa. My mate," Lisa flinched visibility at the mention of a mate, "Is a New York City homicide detective and one of the best investigators around."

John deliberately shifted in his chair, causing his collar to fall open enough so that Lisa could see Joss's mating bite from their lovemaking the night before. Lisa's eyes narrowed and her upper lip curled up in a snarl again. John's smirk only grew wider and his eyes danced with amusement.

"You have some nerve bringing her here," Lisa snapped.

"Why? She is my mate regardless of how some might feel about it," John replied smoothly, but his eyes were suddenly glacial. "She wanted to come with me."

That jab hit home, and Lisa was unable to meet his eyes. "You left, you have no right to come back and act superior to those of us who stayed."

John smirked again. "There is nothing wrong with staying, if you stay for the right reasons and not out of fear of the unknown."

Lisa glared back for a few seconds. "This is my home; I saw no reason to leave," she said sullenly, breaking eye contact and looking down at the table.

"My pack thought I was a murderer who was capable of killing my own parents, so I saw no reason to stay." John decided not to mention that he actually did become a murderer after that. That would just be too complicated and was more information than he was willing to share.

"You left before your parents were killed, when you went into the military!" Lisa hissed.

So that's what this was really about, John thought. Lisa was still nurturing the hurt from John leaving town all those years ago. It seemed she was still the same small, self-centered person she was in high school.

John kept his voice even, "I had every intention of returning, I just wanted to be part of something important, bigger than just me. You never understood that."

Lisa folded her arms across her chest and glared at him, "You never would have come back."

John got up from the table and then bent down to whisper in Lisa's ear. "We'll never know, will we?" John smiled sweetly and walked out without another word, leaving Lisa fuming.

John walked down the street sipping his coffee, feeling quite good about the way things were going so far. It seemed his visit was already shaking things up. He wondered how Joss was doing. He made a mental note to take her to visit Mags later.

As John was about to step off the curb to cross the street, a large late-model pickup truck shot by him only a few inches away, forcing him to leap back. He saw Matt Ellison at the wheel, giving him what could only be described as the stink eye. John watched the truck drive down the street and turn the corner.

John frowned; that was one large, expensive truck and he remembered the Ellisons as constantly struggling financially. Matt owned an auto mechanic shop, but despite his talent for fixing cars, many people in town didn't like to go there because Matt was foul-tempered and unpredictable. So, how could Matt afford such an expensive truck?

John walked to the end of the street and turned the same corner he had just seen Matt turn; he could see Ellison's garage and it wasn't exactly bustling with activity. It looked just as he remembered it - small and empty.

John watched as Ellison got out of his truck and went inside carrying a package. John rapidly walked to the repair shop and walked in.

"Hello, Matt," he greeted Ellison with the expression that Joss liked to call his "professional smirk" firmly planted on his face.

Ellison turned from opening the package and saw Reese standing there. Ellison laughed in the most condescending manner possible, "Well, well, it's the Davis pup. I thought you were dead. So you came back."

Reese didn't change his expression, "Yes, I did. I missed the town, missed the pack, missed all my good friends."

Ellison fully turned to face John, and despite the fact that he was trying to pretend he was in charge, he licked his lips, betraying his nervousness. "Does Everett know you're back?"

John nodded cheerfully, "Saw him last night; we had a nice chat."

John's cheerfulness was taking a toll on Ellison's nerves. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

John sensed he was winning the conversation. "I told you I missed everyone."

Matt showed Reese his fangs. "Well, no one missed you."

"Now my feelings are hurt," John said jovially, clearly unimpressed with Ellison.

"Get out," Ellison hissed.

John wiped the smirk off his face, his face now assuming the cold mask of the CIA assassin, his eyes boring into Matt Ellison like lasers. Reese's voice took on a tone of pure menace, "I'll leave your shop, for now, Matt. But I'm in town to find out who murdered my parents and who murdered the Hunters. And I'm not leaving town until I know the truth."

Ellison's eyes opened wide; he certainly had never dealt with anything like John Reese before. Last time he had seen John he was John Davis, grieving son. Ellison had not been expecting John Reese, CIA Operative and all around badass.

John turned and left the building. "Now let's see what shakes out," he thought. From the look on Matt's face, he'd rattled him. Hopefully Matt had been rattled enough to do something stupid.