A wolf for a wolf

September 3, 2005.

“Do not move.”

I had lost my sense of anticipation. That's what happens when you become a lone wolf.

"Do exactly what I say or you die."

I could feel my heart racing despite my best attempt to compose myself. The accent was masculine and Italian.

There was no quake or tremor in the man's voice. His tone sounded calm and detailed. This was no hoax, if I went out of line, I would die.

I tried to rack my brain to figure out how I had gotten into this position but at the moment, my head was synonymous with a blank sheet of paper.

There was no mistaking the fact that he was a wolf as I was. I could smell his scent, the musky smell, kind of like a wet dog or a bear and the unmistakable feeling that he was a wild creature and a top predator. I had to thread carefully.

“What do you want?"

I asked fearfully as the cold steel of his gun pressed into the small of my back. I could smell the power radiating off him, he was a high-ranked wolf, not an Alpha like I was but he commanded respect and he knew he had all the chips and he intended to use them judiciously.

I needed a distraction and I needed it fast before he got trigger happy and my insides were sprayed out on the white tiles of the bathroom floor.

My first instinct was to lean into the barrel and spin sharply to his right, turning the barrel away from my body. The man was probably left-handed, he would need a second or two to adjust his aim and that was enough time. He would be exposed on his right-hand side and I could land on a blow through that exposed gap giving me enough leverage to break his arm and bury a bullet into his forehead. I also had the option of breaking my long-standing rule and shifting into a wolf and tearing him to pieces, there were very few wolves that could take me down in single combat and despite his obvious strength, I knew I would take him down eventually.

Old memories. But the guy who could do those things wasn't around anymore. He was consigned to the grave along with my past which I happily buried and moved on.

"I know what you're thinking, Logan. No need for that."

He knew my name.

Something wasn’t right. I didn’t go by that name anymore, he was a man from my ugly past and I couldn’t fathom what he wanted from me. I had made sure to cover my tracks and remain under the radar for quite a long time.

Everyone from my past was either dead due to circumstances or by my own doing. I had a knack for remembering scents or voices but I couldn’t quite place this man’s, I was at a disadvantage this time around.

Slowly, I lifted my head and looked into the mirror in front of me. His face was unfamiliar, I had never seen him before.

He was a gigantic man, with tattoos stretching over his shaved head, running down to his neck, and disappearing underneath his big black coat. His face was partially charred making him look even more lethal, maybe that was why he was unrecognizable.

I wondered how he had gotten past the security at the front door. Sam's kitchen was one of the best food restaurants in New York City and it was exclusively for the rich and successful. A meal here costs more than what many people earned in a month and I had dinner here anytime I needed to put in a night shift at the office or any time I was running late. From my observation over the past few years, men like him weren't welcomed here, it was bad for the brand and business as well.

Sam loved nothing more than making sure his businesses had no issue, everyone knew what a perfectionist he was, and knowing how strict the employees were, there was no way the big man would have gotten past the security guards.

Except, if he had gotten in through the back door. It was either someone had tipped him off about where I would be or I was being watched and that meant my family could be in grave danger as well.

There was no need to check if the CCTV cameras conspicuously hidden in the bathroom were working, they wouldn't be. You wouldn't risk coming into one of the safest restaurants in New York without taking care of every little detail that mattered, especially one as important as this.

"Who are you?" I asked again. More composed this time.

“You don't remember me, do you?" His tone was more chilling than the cold during the winter months in Russia. A slight shake of my head gave him the answer he needed and he chuckled.

“You messed with the wrong people in your past. It's time for you to answer to the murders you committed."

He snarled at me, I could feel the anger radiating off him in waves. I gripped the faucet, my fingers wrapped around its porcelain composition as I stared hard at his reflection in the mirror directly above the faucet.

His eyes were beginning to glow, he was slowly losing control and I needed to continue to push him over the edge to take control of the situation before it escalated.

"I don't know what you're talking about, you've got the wrong person."

The man said nothing at first, it was eerily quiet. He narrowed his already glowing eyes, deep in thought. He just glared at me quizzically. There was no sound, other than my heart jackknifing in my ribcage. I recognized the accent but I couldn’t make any trace to any Italian pack I might have crossed in the past but I couldn’t come up with any asides from one I watched burn to the ground decades ago.

"We have your wife and son, Logan."

My stomach clenched. My mouth hung in awe as salvia trickled from it. I covered my mouth and coughed hard. I fought to regain control over myself as waves of fear coursed through me repeatedly. I wasn’t expecting the news, it was the last thing I thought would happen. The man and his cohorts had been planning this for months, there was no other explanation.

My family had one of the best-trained security guards in the state, all belonging to a highly respected wolf gang. How they had managed to get past them within the three hours since I last spoke to my wife, Amy, was beyond me.

All traces of my composure vanished. Time, motion, breathing - everything stopped. I was finding it hard to concentrate on trying to escape now I heard the news of my family being held captive. I tried to remember where I had gone wrong since I finished university but I could think of none. I had managed to build a reputation for myself as a thriving young businessman here in the city of New York without having any skeletons in my closet. I knew I had enemies and I knew every single one of them, it was part of the job.

People would hate you for being more successful than they were especially if you were a lone wolf like I was, lone wolves weren’t associated with success, I had changed the whole narrative by putting in blood, sweat, and tears, but never in my wildest dreams did I think someone would physically threaten me and my family.

"If you so much as hurt a strand of their hair-"

The words died in my throat as he brought out a cellphone from his coat and showed me a video on the screen.

My wife and son were snuggled tight in a dimly lit room shivering due to fright. The sight before my eyes broke my heart, everything I worked so hard for was on the verge of crumbling before my eyes and I was helpless to do anything about it.

"You have 72 hours to do what we want or you lose your family. So I advise you to take a trip down memory lane and remember the very day you destroyed my family because the lives of your wife and son depend on it."

His voice was surprisingly calm despite it being filled with anger as he spoke. His movements were so sudden, I didn't expect them. I felt his large hands as they gripped me and pulled me towards his large body and before I could brace myself for what was coming, he slammed my head into the mirror as I sunk into oblivion.

***

Lying down on the raw concrete, I could feel the walls closing in around me. I felt the vicious pounding of my heart banging repeatedly against my ribcage. I shut my eyes tightly. I could still hear myself yelling my wife and son’s names over the cacophony of a billion shards of glass as my head slammed into the mirror. My wolf was fighting to let loose but I had to maintain maximum control. I didn’t know where I was or how strong I would be to take on several wolves all at once, judging from the scent emanating from the half-burnt man, he was a powerful wolf and a high-ranking one at that, I didn’t know how many of his type were in on this, so I had to act smart in order keep my family alive. I couldn't bring myself to bask in the pain I felt.

I had less than 72 hours to do what these men wanted or my family would be dead. As a lone wolf, I was sort of a pariah in the wolf quarter. Given the fact that I abandoned the pack of my own volition, I had nobody who I could fully trust with my life or that of my family. Instinctively, I touched where a shard of glass had cut me. The wound had already healed. I had to give it to them, they had thought everything through before they made their first attack.

I was like a recruit thrust into the heat of a raging war, I needed to find a safe place before I was blown to bits out here in the open.

I groaned as I struggled to sit up, I had no idea how I got here but I didn't care about that right now. I had more important things to worry about, I needed to be up on my feet, thinking. I needed my brain working overtime, everything I held dear depended on it.

My fear had toned down a little; slipping away from me like a nightmare slips away from a haunted man, who wakes eyes-wide, gulping with goosebumps covering every inch of his cold skin, who takes deep breaths trying to recollect the terrors, making sure it was all a dream and slowly, he begins to forget it ever happened.

Half of it is gone as soon as his wobbly feet hit the cold tiles in his bedroom, a quarter of it by the time he emerges from the shower; and all of it by the time his weary head hits his plush pillow.

I rubbed my eyes fervently and my whole body was on high alert as the door was thrown open and a man walked into the room, holding a new suit. I immediately recognized the scent. It was the same man that ambushed me at the restroom in Sam's kitchen.

The clock on the wall chimed and I glanced up, it read quarter past nine. I did a mental calculation in my head, I had been out cold for nearly twelve hours. My head felt like it would explode any minute, I needed something for the throbbing dull ache.

"You need to change your clothes, Logan. You can't go out there looking like shit, cleanliness is a watchword around here." He said.

There was something personal about his voice, I could have sworn that I'd heard it somewhere but the details were a little bit vague in my head. I needed to bring myself to remember if I planned on getting myself out of this mess before things escalated into bigger proportions.

"I'm fine with what I have on. All I want is to see my family and confirm their safety before I do anything else." I rasped.

"You will see them. But, you need to see my boss first. He'll give you instructions to carry out. I need you to understand something before we proceed with anything else, despite your status as the legitimate Alpha of the Zorander pack, you will be regarded and treated with disdain as the pariah which you now are. Is this clear?” He snarled, flexing his muscles. I looked at him unfazed at his show of braggadocio, I’ve dealt with men more vicious than he was and here I was.

His attempt to instill fear in me was never going to work. I might be a lone wolf but my roots were firmly rooted in one of the most powerful wolf houses in the country.

“If you fail, your family will suffer. If you don't cooperate, your beautiful wife will serve our men, you know what I mean right...?" He trailed off deliberately, taunting me with his words.

I let out a low growl and stretched out my left hand as my fist connected with his jaw sending him tumbling backward, I drew back my fist and landed another blow into his solar plexus making him double over in pain.

I lunged for him and at the same time he held up his hands to shield himself from more blows. My right hand slipped into the man's jacket, lifting his wallet. It was clean and fast, the man was oblivious to what had just happened. I hadn't lost much speed after all. I was still as good as I had been two decades ago. The man didn't notice anything, he was busy trying to fend off my attacks.

"Wait wait. Take a look before you do anything stupid, Logan." He mustered with great difficulty.

I stopped, relaxing my stance and loosening my grip around his neck. The man held a small device in his hand. I knew a detonator when I saw one and that could only mean one thing.

"You wouldn't be so stupid as to plant a bomb here." I taunted him, trying to call his bluff. The man wiped his bloodied nose on his sleeve as his laughter resounded around the room.

"Don't be silly, Logan. The bomb isn't here." "Then where is it?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Your wife and son are both wearing an explosive device.” He paused and took a deep breath, letting his words sink before he continued.

“One little push on this red button would bring severe consequences, so think about your next line of action very carefully or I would be forced to hurt you."