McKenna POV.
I paused the song on my laptop and cocked my head. I know that I’d heard Syn’s voice downstairs. And my name. I narrowed my eyes and strained to hear, what I thought was Matt’s voice. I could only catch a couple of words; alpha and right to know. I pushed myself off my bed and quietly made my way downstairs. Somehow, I was involved in this conversation and I was determined to find out how. All five of the boys were gathered in the kitchen holding a whispered conversation that stopped as soon as I walked in. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and turned to look at them, my arms crossed.
“So what are we whispering about?” Subtlety: one of my many redeeming qualities. Not. Syn wasn’t looking at me. His whole body was tense. Man he was pissed about something. The others just seemed uncomfortable. When no-one replied, I narrowed my eyes at them. “Well let’s put it this way, if you tell me, I won’t throw a bitch fit.” Matt looked at Syn, who was slowly getting more and more pissed.
“Syn, she has a right to know.” No reply.
“A right to know what?” I was growing more and more suspicious.
“If you don’t tell her, I will.” Threatened Matt. Syn glared at him but said nothing.
“Tell me what?” I growled, fixing my full bitch look on Syn. He sighed and crossed his arms.
“Our Alpha has given us an enforcing job to do.”
“What has that got to do with me?”
“The guys think that you should come along.” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“And you don’t?” I could feel myself getting slightly pissed now.
“You don’t need to see me beat the shit out of someone Mac!” I glowered at him.
“I’ll get my shoes.” I snapped, turning and stalking out the room.

~*~

The tension in the van was almost unbearable. Syn was pissed with everyone. I was pissed with him. The guys were stuck in the middle of it all. I leaned forwards to talk to Matt, who was in the passenger seat next to Jimmy.
What’s the job?” He turned slightly so that he could face me.
“A member of one of the neighbouring packs keeps crossing pack boundaries without notice. He’s been warned several times to notify us, but he just keeps on coming. The Alpha believes that he’s part of one of the small-time wolf gangs that has been causing trouble for us recently. He’s sent us to grab him and have a word.” He explained. I nodded. I’d done some enforcing work for my old pack, this seemed fairly routine. “He was last seen on the other side of town, so that’s where we’re headed now to try and locate him.”
“Cool.” I leaned back. Behind me, I could feel Syn’s glare focused on the back of my head. I sighed and undid my seatbelt, making my way down to the back of the van where he was sat sulking. I sat in the seat next to him. “Syn, look, I don’t want this kind of tension between us. Can we talk this out like sensible people?” He nodded tensely. “Why are you so against me being here?”
“I don’t want to you see this side of us Mac. You don’t need to.”
“When you’re in town, how often does the Alpha give you this kind of job?” I asked.
“Quite often.”
“Then it’s a part of you. We’re meant to be getting to know each other. How am I meant to do that if you don’t want me to see this side to you? It’s a part of you Syn, a part that you can’t hide.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. I forced myself not to smile. He looked so damn sexy when he did that.
“I know, but it’s too soon. You’re still adapting to life here Mac. You don’t need this thrown at you too.” I smiled at him.
“Trust me when I say that, this I can deal with.” The van stopped.
“We’re here!” Called Jimmy, a tad unnecessarily. “The guy we’re after is in that alleyway.” He pointed to an alley to the left of the van.
“Should be easy enough to grab him.” Matt was obviously in charge. “We’ll go for it here, it’s quiet enough and he’s pretty much trapped in that alley. It’ll be the best chance we get. Mac, you stay out of the way unless we need you, ok?” I nodded and got out of the van with everyone else. Syn pulled me to one side.
“Be careful Mac.” I smiled at him again.
“I can look after myself you know.”
“I know, but still, I don’t trust this guy. I want you to take this.” He handed me a silenced hand pistol. I raised my eyebrows at him. “Please. I won’t worry as much if you have a gun.” I shook my head and took it from him, checking that the safety was on before tucking it into the back of my shorts.
“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.” I warned, following the others into the alleyway. The guy was leaning against a wall about halfway down, smoking a fag. A fag that he almost choked on when he saw the five muscled guys heading down the alley towards him. I bit back a laugh. Now was really not the time. Matt and Syn took off after him as he ran down the alley and tried to jump a wall. Matt grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him down. Syn hit his stomach to keep him on the floor. He groaned loudly and Zacky kicked him in the back to shut him up. It was then that things started to go wrong. They began to argue about what to do with him. Zacky and Johnny wanted to try and get him to talk now, but the other three thought that here was too open and that we should take him somewhere else. Their attention lapsed and they ignored the guy on the floor behind them, who was slowly getting to his feet. Things got worse when he pulled a gun from his belt and started to aim at Johnny.
“JOHNNY LOOK OUT!” I screamed, grabbing the gun that Syn had given me. While the others seemed confused, Johnny had noticed the gun and dived to the floor. I flicked the safety off my gun and aimed it at the guy’s hand. He pulled the trigger barely a half a second before me. My heartbeat thumped in my ears as I changed my aim and shot again. Johnny hit the floor, holding his arm. The guy hit the floor a couple of seconds later. I lowered the gun slightly, he wasn’t going anywhere soon, but I still didn’t trust him. The guys turned and stared at me, shocked, as I held the smoking gun with both hands. A grim smile played across my lips. I hadn’t lost my touch.