Moonlight Alpha

Cobblestone streets, carts full of bountiful harvests, beautiful architecture, perfectly polished silver, gold weightier than a fully grown man and gems that sparkled brighter than the fullest moon. Laredo pack really had it all -- an outsider's view point.

With the magical barrier that kept werewolves of other packs out of the inner circles of the pack territory every Luna cycle, it was easy to play the part of a happy and prosperous pack. The man behind the cabbage cart to Peter's right had a bright smile plastered on his face as though he hadn't seen a major loss in crops due to substandard fertilizers. The woman at the seamstress store to Peter's left acted all chipper as though she didn't have to pay ridiculous prices for her materials and ludicrous taxes to secure her shop in the outer circle. The delicious meals in the food stalls could never tell the story of the hunger of the people. The ever flowing ale and laughter at the pubs could never reveal the shut down of most of the brewery factories. The brawls at the gambler's den would never give an inkling of the poverty that gripped the minority without a position or dirty deed to their name.

It was all just a simple puppet show written and directed by one puppet master, Lincoln Fierce, the great Alpha of Laredo pack.

"Peter!" He heard someone call out his name and turned to answer. It was Ian, a Delta of the Skywalker Pack where Peter grew up.

"Oh, Ian. I almost lost you in the crowd," he answered. That was a joke considering how trained his sense of smell was.

Ian, being a huge guy with a height that was an added advantage for his job as a Delta, laughed at Peter's commentary because he knew that he hadn't been looking for him at all. "Man! This place is huge." He exclaimed as he came up to him and Peter laughed. This was not the first, second or third time they had come to the Laredo Pack and yet, Ian always marveled at the sight.

Peter shrugged off the excitement he was feeling. Ian's cheerfulness was always contagious. Because of his build, one would mistake him for a mean guy who got angry at the slightest provocation but Ian wasn't like that. Currently, they were both excited and for different reasons.

While Ian dragged him to every food vendor lined up with free tasting samples, he couldn't deny that his interest lied somewhere else - the section of the market where new inventions by random wolves were displayed.

"Where are you going?" Ian asked. He looked ridiculous holding three skewers in his right hand while stuffing his face with the meat bun he held on his left.

Peter smiled as he dragged his best friend forward, his own half eaten skewer forgotten in his left hand. There was a new invention on display and a small crowd was gathered there.

"Another invention?" Ian whined as he put the last of his meat bun into his mouth. He gave a satisfactory moan as he chewed on it. Glancing back at the food stall he got it from, he wondered if they could double back and get more. But Peter was already at the front of the crowd staring with amazement at the weird contraption being displayed.

"Wow," Peter exclaimed as the man showed them how it worked. He had no idea what this one was but he liked it. "Ian, check out the next stall," he whispered to his side without looking. His eyes were at the next stall where a middle aged woman displayed strapped socks that could hide tiny weapons.

Peter found himself at that stall. He watched her take out each weapon hidden in between straps in her socks. A tiny knife, a dozen silver needles, something that looked like a clamp and two daggers. Soon everyone was clapping and he joined them. If he had come here to actually shop, he would purchase those socks right away. They would be really useful even though they looked like they belonged more with a female.

"Man, you walk fast when it comes to these invented things. How do people even come up with this stuff?" Ian complained. He held one last skewer and it looked like he wasn't going to eat it.

"I told you that we should check out the next stall," Peter retorted, noting a shop owner with a straw hat signalling him beside the woman's shop.

"Told me? I wasn't even standing near you. How'd you tell me?"

Peter sighed the moment he saw the giant's signature annoyed frown. Let the nagging begin.

"This is what you do every single time we visit the markets. You always disappear whenever you enter the streets of Laredo. One minute you're beside me, the next you're off to God knows where-"

Peter zoned off, focusing on the man in the next stall where paintings were displayed. As he nervously fiddled with a paper having a worthless drawing, it was obvious that this was this man's first time acting as a beacon for the rebels. The illustration on the paper was about a building in a circle and stick figures were bent over around it. The man glanced at the crowd with a smile as children gathered around to mock the drawing.

Peter got the message. The laughing man along with the children would throw any investigator off. The little troublemakers probably thought themselves more of an accomplished artist than the shop owner. The ugly drawing was depicting a temple and he knew that was exactly where he should go.

He glanced at an armory store a few paces behind them. "Is that a ginger bread store?"

"Where!" Ian gasped. The only thing that would buy his attention without fail was a good snack.

As soon as the giant turned around, Peter masked his scent and blended in with the crowd.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Ian groaned, eyes searching the sea of bodies around him as soon as he stopped catching a wiff of his best friend's scent. "That's it. I'm going home," he huffed, knowing better than to embark on the fruitless exercise of scouring the market for the pain in the ass he was charged to protect.