“Then, after the tower is up, we can see about getting around to building recreation areas and recruitment. Our people need some time off from fighting. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to make them grateful.”

  “Growl!”

  “Yes, that means you’ll get to run another arcade. The one in Under-Town is doing swimmingly. So why the hell not? Shooters!”

  Levy waved her staff from atop Shaggy’s werewolf form and sent missiles of purple magic into the air. The spears of mana hit the chests of several gangsters with deadly accuracy. But Shaggy missed the result as a giant troll-like alien punched him in the head. He heard the guy’s knuckles crack, and the alien recoiled in pain. Shaggy used the moment to take a bite of the thug’s leg and yank him further off balance.

  The giant fell with a mighty thud and Shaggy leapt atop the body, ripping and biting. Levy’s legs clenched against his side to hold on as she continued to fire magic at their attackers. Elsewhere in the streets, his pack was fighting alongside them. Some were in their two-legged form. Like Cekrass and Stanley, punching their way across the street like a pair of wrecking balls. Vick was leaping across rooftops, returning fire against the invading gang. While Rita and Tom had transformed into wolves and were tearing into people.

  Levy was right. The number and general skill level of the invading gangsters were higher at night. His newly minted Captains had to push themselves somewhat to compete against the deluge of enhanced fighters. But they were doing okay. Meanwhile Shaggy’s Regen had been putting in the work. He was continually bombarded with laser fire, bullets, and super-strong punches. A few broke the skin, but his healing quickly closed things up. Levy’s shield had also sputtered out a few times. But, given that she was sitting astride Shaggy’s back, she wasn’t that easy of a target.

  Shaggy swiped a paw across the row of brave idiots in front of him and sent them tumbling. His claws cut the first one in half, sending his bits into the next idiot. The invading parties during the day were limited to groups of three to seven. But at night they came into the neighborhood in droves. Large war parties containing upwards of thirty thugs were wandering the streets. Shaggy and his pack had already taken out two large groups before coming across this one. After the first, Shaggy sent Ephemara, Sybil and the Bug Brothers off to patrol elsewhere and he was beginning to worry.

  “Awww, I knew you cared.” Ephemara’s voice echoed in his head.

  “Which means you’re well enough to quip.”

  “Yeah, nothing special around here. Sybil and I just mostly back up Rin and Vud. They are a terror when they combine.”

  “Good. Just let me know if you need…”

  “If we need help. Yeah, yeah. I hear ya mom. Relax.”

  Shaggy rolled his large eyes as he bit into another alien and shook his head. He’d do his best to keep track of the other team. But he didn’t expect them to have much trouble. The guy in his jaws went limp and Shaggy spat him out as Levy started talking again.

  “I think the tricky part will be recruitment. I mean, the neighborhood has been welcoming, but I don’t think they are just going to flock to join a criminal organization.”

  “Woof!” Shaggy barked indignantly as he stepped on a thug trying to conjure a fireball.

  He scraped the wannabe Mage against the ground as Levy snorted.

  “Yes! We ARE a criminal organization and everyone here knows it. Despite your best attempts to keep it hidden. But that’s not the issue. The point I am trying to make is we need to bring some of these gangs into our organization.”

  Shaggy shook his enormous head and chuffed in doubt. Inviting other gangsters into the Legion wasn’t going to be easy with them under constant attack. They’d need to send out recruiters to other neighborhoods. Which meant that they’d probably lose a couple to overzealous jackasses.

  The fight in the street was winding down as Vick sent a couple of laser blasts at the back of the retreating gang. Cekrass and Stanley were looting and stomping on the ones that got left behind. Shaggy’s zero-tolerance policy on gangs that pushed into their turf was also going to hurt any recruitment efforts. Levy scratched him behind the ears as she offered an idea.

  “What about the new Captain’s Menu? Are there any recruiting missions in there?”

  Shaggy gave a whine of confusion as he opened up the new window and shared it with his wife. Since his pack had undergone the upgrade, the large table was expanding fast. All of them were still grayed out, as most of his pack didn’t have a team yet. He was carefully reading through the entries when Levy whooped.

  “Ha! There it is! Vick and Cekrass have a few, so do Ephemara and Tom. Sybil has one, but it’s about hiring workers for her shop.”

  “Hruh?” Shaggy made an inquisitive noise, wondering how his wife had sped through all the missions.

  “There’s a filter, love. Just search for recruit/hiring missions.”

  Shaggy gave his wife a grunt of thanks and added the filter to his menu. As he went down the lists of mission, he continued walking down the road. They were about to reach the northern border of their turf and turn eastward. Ephe and the others were doing the same along the southern edge. A couple of henchmen and Lackeys were handling the center of the neighborhood. Dealing with the dregs that got past Shaggy and his Pack. It was a good plan and one that seemed to work so far. They managed to catch the big war parties as they marched through the streets and any group small enough to avoid them would get ganged up on by the rest of the Legion.

  Shaggy was ear-marking missions for when his Captains had filled out their teams when he caught an odd scent on the wind. His entire pack went still and Shaggy raised his head to get the scent better.

  “Ohhhh! More friends wanting to play?” Levy giggled from his back.

  But Shaggy shook his massive head. Stanley walked closer to translate Shaggy thoughts as Levy hadn’t used her telepathy spell. She had gotten pretty good at deciphering his growls and barks. But the scent was a little too complex to explain that way.

  “There’s… another pack out there,” Stanley said, his head twisting to catch the scent.

  Shaggy felt Levy tense in excitement. “Oh! Are they wolves?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Shaggy marked the scent trail in his vision and took another big whiff. Whoever it was, they weren’t being shy about spreading their stink. But it felt like they were waiting for Shaggy and his pack. It was like a challenge on the wind. As that thought crashed into his mind, Shaggy’s inner wolf went nuts. He was filled with a deep desire to hunt and beat whoever dared to mark his territory. He felt the rest of his pack echo his feelings, so Shaggy took off toward the stench.

  Vick, Cekrass, and Stanley transformed into their wolves and hurried after. Ephemara pinged him that they were coming too after letting the other night teams know they had to pick up the slack. Shaggy kept trying to decipher the scent as he ran. It was like his wolf, but it didn’t seem like a predator. In fact, the scent was telling him it was prey. Aggressive prey. The confusion made his wolf even more angry. It was like a squirrel had wandered into his neck of the woods and thrown down the gauntlet.

  “That’s not a thing, right? Were-Squirrels?” Shaggy asked his pack over their link.

  He got combined feelings of confusion from everyone until Rita gave him a mental shrug. “Who the fuck knows? Between magic, science, alien’s anything’s possible.”

  “We literally have a Space-Vampire-Werewolf on the team. Not to mention two bipedal ants.” Sybil added.

  Shaggy felt a finger touch his neck as he thought. “I swear to Christ if it’s a space-squirrel-wolf, I’m going to rip it to pieces.”

  “Whoa! What did I miss?” Levy’s voice sounded through the Link.

  “Hi Levy!”

  “Hi!”

  “Levy!”

  “Mistress!”

  Levy’s mental connection was greeted warmly by the others and Rita and Ephemara set about filling his wife in. Shaggy kept on the smell as it lead him all the way across their northern border. As they moved, Ephe informed him that the rest of the night-time patrols were out and a call had been made for reinforcements. It was unlikely that they would need any personally, but backup for the patrols was a good thing.

  “As I understand it, any creature can be a Therianthrope. So we could be running toward anything.”

  “It’s prey.” Shaggy said with finality. “Which makes whoever it is stupid or extremely cocky.”

  “Just don’t let the beast rule you, love. You’re smarter than that.”

  Shaggy nodded his head as his inner wolf made a noise of indignation. Apparently, his little werewolf didn’t enjoy holding back against prey. Shaggy assured it they wouldn’t be holding back that much. Some measly little Were was stinking up their turf, he was going to wreck their leader at the very least.

  The scent ended at the corner of their eastern and northern border. Shaggy bucked his shoulders as an early warning to Levy and started transforming back into his human form. As he did, the rest of his pack did the same. Ephemara and her team came up from the side street just as Shaggy spotted the building the scent was coming from. Eight people were standing on the stoop of the building, lit by the front door’s lights.

  “Ten, boss. I’ve clocked two on the roof.” Vick warned.

  Shaggy glanced up and spotted two thin men crouched at the edge of the roof like vultures. All ten of the newcomers were watching them as they approached. Shaggy took another long whiff of the air and followed the scent trail to a pudgy-looking man sitting at the center of the eight people on the stoop. He was using the second step as a backrest and grinning at Shaggy like a kid with a new toy.

  Shaggy still couldn’t identify any of the smells he was getting from the group. They smelled like a mix of things. But his wolf just cataloged them all as one thing. Prey.

  “Cut the sniffling wolfy. You’ll get a nosebleed.” cackled a tall woman with frizzy hair.

  Shaggy’s eyes snapped up to her, and he glared. She meet his stare for a full second before she grunted and looked away. The two sides glared at each other for a while until the pudgy man started to pull himself up from his seat. Pulling himself to his full height, Shaggy was surprised to find that the man was shorter than him. The short round man was maybe four and a half feet tall. That, combined with his weight, reminded Shaggy of a bowling ball.

  The short man pulled himself to his feet and groaned. “Argh! It took you long enough. I thought I’d have to mark up half your damn turf to get you to come down, wolfy.”

  “You got five seconds to explain what the fuck you're doing here before I carve your people up,” Shaggy growled as he shifted one of his hands into its clawed form.

  The pudgy man chuckled as he put up both his hands. “Whoa! Big scary wolf. Not too bright though, huh? I take it this is the first Territory Challenge you’ve had?”

  “One.”

  “Ahh. Well, you see, the normally disputes over territory would go through arbitration. However, there is also another way to gain turf and settle disputes for us therianthropes.”

  Shaggy got the picture already, but he had given the little man a time limit. “Three.”

  “Mr. Krumb, the Werebear who owned the turf next to yours, also had a short temper. But he accepted the Alpha Challenge at least,” said the short man, unconcerned.

  Shaggy growled as his wolf reminded him they had gotten to the number five. But his inner curiosity won the day. “Alpha Challenge?”

  “Ah, back to the realm of the intelligent, are we? Very good. An Alpha Challenge is just what it sounds like. Two packs meet and their leaders fight. Usually to the death. The loser’s pack disbands while the winner’s pack gets the loser's territory.”

  “I take it that’s what happened to Mr. Krumb?”

  “Indeed.”

  “You took on a Werebear?”

  The short, pudgy little shifter grinned up at Shaggy. “People underestimate me at their peril.”

  “Funny, that’s usually what I say.” Shaggy growled. “When and where, asshat?”

  “Right here and right now. Just make sure your Pack knows the rules.”

  Shaggy snorted. “No need.”

  As he finished speaking, his pack fell back into the street. Ephemara dragging Levy along. They formed a half circle in the road as Shaggy and the little man walked into the center. They maintained eye contact as the man’s pack completed the circle. Cekrass and Sybil growled at the opposing shifters next to them, but didn’t attack.

  Shaggy rolled his shoulders as his opponent cracked the knuckles on his pudgy hands. “You got a name you want on your tombstone?”

  “Mr. Erethiz. Johnathon Erethiz.”

  “Well, John-boy, we hardly knew ya.”

  Shaggy growled as he shifted into the hybrid form. His wolf delighted at the look of shock on John’s face. He scented fear coming from the short man’s pack and Shaggy was sure he had this one dusted.

  “Chief! He can maintain the hybrid form! Bow out!”

  “No, Chloe! We’ve worked too hard for this!” John shouted down his pack mate as he waved a hand at Shaggy to bring it on.

  Shaggy pounced. Taking no chances, he used all of his strength to swing his arm wide and bring his clawed hand against John’s face. As he flew through the air, he saw John shift. His skin went brown and his hair grew into points. Shaggy barely had time to register what he was seeing when his enlarged hand screamed in pain. Reflexively, he pulled his claw attack back a bit, enough for John to roll away from it. Shaggy’s hand quickly held, but the sting stayed behind as he watched John finish his shift and stand in the street on all four paws. A large nest of quills on his back.

  “He’s a fucking porcupine!” Levy laughed as Shaggy stared down at the giant round were-porcupine.