The Taste of Home

Chapter 43

The effect on the customers was immediate.

Some sprang over the fence that bordered the patio, sprinting off into the night. Others dove under their tables, huddling together as they watched the confrontation unfold. All of those that remained stared at Saguaro Pack with wide eyes.

Luis puffed out his chest, putting on a brave façade as his spines quivered. "Unless you intend to eat here, take your pack and leave."

"We are not leaving until we teach the packless filth who chose humans over his own kind a lesson," Martha said with a hiss. Her venom dripped onto the pavement in a sizzling drizzle.

Miguel trotted to Luis's side with Alejandro right behind him. "I'll handle this."

"This your old pack?" Luis snorted and curled his lip over his fangs. "Feisty bunch, aren't they?"

Martha drew herself to her full height as she leered down at Miguel, spines bristling. "You have caused us more harm than you could possibly imagine. If it weren't for you and your partner, we would still have a territory."

Miguel's eyes widened as he took in the many chupacabras crowded behind Martha. These were not just her mate and hunters. No, she'd brought elders whose scales had dulled with age. Parents carrying their clutches in clumsily woven baskets, their eggs peeking between gaps in the mesh. Hatchlings so small they still had their egg teeth.

The entire pack had come.

"Saguaro Pack has lived on that farm for generations," Miguel said. "What could make Mr. Miller cast you out now?"

"He found these in the barn." Martha threw a fistful of collars at Miguel's feet. The familiar scent of dogs brought a wave of memories back to Miguel. He'd known the pack had been forced to hunt strays to survive, but had they really become desperate enough to hunt pets as well?

No. His scent was muted by the blood covering the collars, but there was no mistaking his odor tinged with the sour stench of alcohol.

David had set them up.

"David didn't take too kindly to you getting between him and that one." Martha flicked her head toward Isabella with a snarl. Isabella bared her teeth at her but stayed put, claws twitching as she prepared to protect the Morales family.

"David has always hated chupacabras no matter what any of us have done," Miguel said firmly. "I don't know where you can claim a new territory, but you are welcome to eat here as long as you do so peacefully."

But Martha wasn't listening. Whatever sense of reason she'd once had was long gone, replaced by a hunger as sharp and desperate as the bones jutting out beneath her scales.

"I know full well where we can find prey. Can't you smell it?" Martha sniffed the air as her eyes roamed the tables. The human customers shied away from her gaze, but half-starved chupacabras moved to block their escape routes. "I hereby claim this territory for Saguaro Pack."

"It's already been claimed." Miguel's spines bristled as he moved to block Alejandro from view. If Martha truly intended to hunt humans, she'd have to get through him first.

"Then let your pack's leader come forward so that I may challenge her." Martha bared her fangs. "It will be a pleasure to beat her again."

This was not how Miguel had imagined asking the other pack leaders for their acknowledgement, but he had no choice.