Shaggy rolled down his window and waved some of the smoke out of it. He didn’t know if he was just imagining it. But he was sure his skin was still burning from his quick jaunt with the power generator. Levy had been adamant that the compact unit was powerful enough to fry the nanites in his system. He still turned in his seat to address his still grinning wife, but she held up a hand.

“Yes. For the fifth time, it worked. I scanned you myself and found nothing.”

“Boss, we’ve been on the road for, like, twenty minutes now. But we’ve seen no drones or police. I think you’re in the clear.” Rita said from the driver’s seat.

Shaggy sat up straighter and nodded. “I know. I just want to be sure. The last thing we need is a bunch of blonde-haired chickens bombarding us from the sky.”

“It would make this trip more interesting.” Tom grumbled from the back of the van.

“Says the guy who cheated in rock, paper, scissors for a spot on the ranch team.” Ephemara hissed.

“I didn’t cheat!”

“Sure, sure.”

“Kid, you saw it. Do you think I cheated?”

“Kev says you activated your ability at the last second to make us ignore your fist. Then you picked the right answer.”

Tom growled in annoyance as the van full of werewolves chuckled. Levy even tittered herself, but she brought the conversation back around to Shaggy afterwards.

“So you think the Angels would come for us themselves?”

Shaggy shrugged as he looked over his shoulder. “Maybe. I didn’t get the sense that they were real ingratiated with the local government. They are a force the city can call on, though. At least they are more forthright than the HLO, though.”

“Yeah, boss,” Ephemara said from next to Levy. “How are we going to handle these HLO assholes? They’ve got the neighborhood in a stranglehold and we can barely flail against them. I mean, their patrols aren’t too bad, but they got us bogged down in paperwork.”

“That’s where Ruby comes in. She’ll dig up something for us and if she doesn’t, then we’ll have to launch our own grassroots campaign with the neighborhood.”

“Think that’ll work.”

“I do not know. But the HLO can’t move in unless we sell our store. So everything will be in a stalemate for a while. In the meantime, we can do other things to help the businesses. Speaking of, how’s yours going, love?”

Levy sighed. “It’s mostly in the building out stage. But with us trying to do things above board, I’ve had to wait for various permits and licenses to come through. Buying the land is taking way too long. I’ve already got Frank working, though.”

“Will the city say anything?”

Levy smiled and threw up her hands. “Who knows? It’s clear that the HLO is blocking permits for the neighborhood. But unless someone raises a stink, no one notices.”

“So why didn’t you raise a stink, Mistress?” Ephemara asked, grinning at Levy.

“Because I don’t think we want to be more of a target than we are. Especially with my lovely husband getting arrested recently.”

“What about Derek?” Stanley asked. “That guy from the supermarket?”

Shaggy slapped his forehead. “I almost forgot about him.”

“Lucky for you, we didn’t. Stan’s been to talk with the ‘Junior Detective’ twice now. He and his clandestine cadre of citizens are doing everything they can to stop the HLO.”

“Yeah, but all of their paperwork is being held up as well. Derek was going to go down to the courthouse in person and raise a stink. But I warned him not to go alone.”

Shaggy nodded. “Maybe we should operate separate from Derek’s people. At least until we know the flying chickens aren’t coming for me.”

“Man, them angels really did a number on you, huh?”

“I just have a heavy respect for a group of people that can come and go like the wind, shoot blasts of holy energy, and see lies. It makes me wonder why they aren’t the ones in charge, really.”

“Because angels or demons being on this plane can upset the balance of power immensely. They are allowed to step through in small numbers. But if they ever inhabited this plane in greater numbers, we’d all be screwed.” Levy explained.

“If they are so powerful, who ALLOWS them to do anything?”

“There is always a bigger fish, dear. Those fish have a vested interest in keeping the status quo.”

Shaggy thought about it for a few minutes and nodded his head in agreement. Outside his window, the large homes and warehouses were getting further and further apart. The city of Austin wasn’t that far behind them, but the landscape was changing drastically. Sparse buildings were giving way to large patches of grass.

“Did we ever look up what a Drunelofu was? What the hell kind of meat are we buying, anyway?”

“It sounds alien.” Tom said unhelpfully.

Levy nodded. “It probably is. There are strict restrictions on magical meat.”

“Chance for an illegal market?” Shaggy asked.

“I’ve got my pixie looking into it. But I think so.”

“Is that safe?” Ephemara asked, sounding legitimately worried. “I mean, she is a magical creature, right?”

“Good luck getting a cut of steak out of her.” Shaggy chuckled

He received a small ball of purple magic to his shoulder in response. Turning in his seat, he saw two sets of angry eyes glaring at him. Deciding on discretion, Shaggy turned back around in his seat and went back to staring out the window. Rita sent him waves of mirth over the pack link, but Shaggy ignored her.

After another twenty minutes of driving, the large green fields became heavily sectioned. Enormous swathes of land were fenced off and various animals roamed. But nothing Shaggy hadn’t seen before. Cows, horses, and sheep wandered around large fenced-in areas next to barns and houses. Shaggy blinked at how picturesque everything seemed to be.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled the restaurant owner’s directions and started reading them off to Rita. Their stolen van was one of the few cars on the road, so their slow pace didn’t impede anyone else. Save for the odd speedster making deliveries. As they crested a hill, another farm came into view in the distance and Shaggy gaped. Behind him, he heard Levy whistle and Ephemara swore. He was even getting a feeling of surprise from Rita.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I think I know what a Drunelofu is, boss.” Rita quipped.

Shaggy merely nodded as he took in the enormous creatures. They were the size of elephants, except they had long necks and were pink. Their trunk-like nose hung down to the half-way point of their long necks and swung freely as the creatures roamed across the land. Shaggy couldn’t see any fences that kept the creatures pinned in. But the ranch was clearly visible as they approached.

Levy tapped his shoulder. “What’s the name of that dinosaur?”

Shaggy blinked in confusion until it came to him. “You’re right! They look like tiny pink Brachiosaurus!”

As Rita turned their car into the long driveway of the ranch, the entire van leaned toward the windows to get a better view. The creatures seemed to know where they could and couldn’t go. That didn’t stop them from curiously following the group’s van as it slowly pulled up the driveway. The drunelofu’s short squat heads followed them as they stuck their heads out over the driveway. Rita had to swerve a bit not to hit the creature’s trunk-like noses.

The sudden movement snapped most of them from their awe as a cascade of pink roadblocks got in their way. Soon enough, Rita had to stop the van entirely. They were only a short distance from the log ranch house and barn. So Shaggy had everyone get out. That’s when they all heard the cocking of a gun.

“I don’t know what y’all are doing round here. But you can take your fancy Drow witch and git on out of here!”

Shaggy peered around the sea of pink noses and tried to find the voice. His pack pulled in close around Levy. Except Tom, who was, once again, gone. Shaggy grinned as he felt his pack moving. But it seemed to alarm their would-be attacker.

“Unless you're getting back in your van, I don’t want to see y’all moving again!”

“Sir, you seemed to have misunderstood. We are here to do business.” Shaggy said.

“I ain’t wanting any business with you magical folk. Now go on and git!”

Levy snorted. “That’s against the law! You can’t discriminate against people based on their magical inclination!”

“Is that true?” Shaggy whispered to his wife.

Levy grinned and shrugged her shoulders as the rancher’s voice snorted.

“Pfft! I can do whatever I want on MY land, you damn Drow bitch! So I say-”

The voice was cut off as sounds of a struggle started. Shaggy moved toward the noise. Ready and willing to stomp on the damn rancher’s neck. Meat be damned. He was shoving the long noses of the Drunelofu out of the way when the sound of an energy weapon going off filled the air.

“YOW!” Tom’s voice screamed.

Shaggy’s entire pack converged at once. Leaving the field of pink noses and finding the skinny Tom on his feet, his shirt burnt off. A large red burn mark was on the pale man’s chest as he glared down at the rancher. A pale blue alien in a straw hat was hurriedly trying to reload his weapon. His fingers moved with supernatural speed and Shaggy jumped to get in the way of another blast. But a wave of purple magic pulled the gun from the Rancher’s hands.

Levy twirled her fingers through the air as she pulled the gun over to Ephemara. Shaggy noticed it was a sleek gray laser shotgun. It was a break-action, so the thing was hinged open as Ephemara grabbed it from the air and slammed it back together. The farmer glared at them all, but Shaggy ignored him as he moved to Tom.

“That shit stung like hell, boss.” Tom hissed as his skin slowly returned to its natural pale white.

“You're healing.” Rita said dismissively.

“Still though…” Tom whined.

Shaggy nodded after a quick check of his pack mate. Assuring himself that Tom was fine. That out of the way, he spun back to the rancher and kneeled down. Behind him, his pack and his wife pushed in menacingly. The blue alien glared at them all, his black teeth set in a snarl. But he was only looking at Levy. Shaggy wanted to slap the look off the alien’s face. But instead, he went with a threat.

Growing his claws out, he got the rancher’s attention by tapping a large claw against the man’s leg.

“So, like I said, we are here to do business. Can we get started or do you want to insult my wife again?”

The rancher’s harsh eyes turned to Shaggy. But the alien seemed to shrink inwards as he saw Shaggy’s eyes. Shaggy smiled wider, revealing his sharp teeth. He didn’t know how much Drunelofu meat went for, but Shaggy was certain he was about to get a great deal.

The farmer hissed angrily again and tried to stand up. But Shaggy’s pack pushed inward again, crowding the man. The alien glared at them all and stayed seated in the dirt. The sound of a door opening broke everyone’s glares as a voice asked.

“Cletus? Ya alright!?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Go back inside, Margret!” The alien screamed angrily.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Cletus! Is this an invasion!?”

Shaggy and his pack turned to see a larger blue alien in a sundress. She was standing on the ranch house’s front porch and wielded an identical shotgun to the one Cletus had. Shaggy rubbed his eyes as Rita and Ephemara closed around Shaggy.

“You know my healing is better than yours, right?”

Rita snorted. “You know ours won’t get any better if we don’t use it, right?”

Shaggy gave her an understanding nod as Levy put up her slim hands and spoke.

“Ma’am, we came out here to buy some meat. Mr. Cletus here then threatened us and told us to get off his property.”

Margret nodded slowly as she held her shotgun loose in her arms. “Oh he did, did he?”

Levy nodded and Shaggy stood. He didn’t like the way tension was filling the air and his pack responded to his feelings. Tom stayed on Cletus, and Ephe stayed on Levy. But the rest of his pack spread out a little. Margret noticed the move and sighed loudly.

“BOYS!” she screamed, and an army of blue aliens poured from the house like a clown car.

Shaggy hissed and held his claws, ready for a fight. But Margret’s next words made him freeze.

“Go on a git your idiot father out of there. I’ve got business to attend to.”

“Wait a minute, Margret!” Cletus screamed.

“Shut yer damn trap, ya idjit! If these people are here to spend credits, then I’m going to take their credits.”

“But they got a Witch!”

“I don’t care if they got a damn kaiju! Do they have money?!”

“Ma’am, I can assure you we have money.” Shaggy said.

But Margret glared at him. “You shut up too! Attacking innocent ranchers just trying to protect their land. Who comes to buy meat from a ranch with a bunch of hooligans?”

“Hooligans?” Shaggy asked, looking at his pack.

Levy smiled, though, and nodded at Margret. “You’ll have to forgive my husband. He sometimes forgets how his pack looks to other people.”

The female rancher nodded as her boys brought their dad back toward the house. Cletus shot them all a glare as he was dragged to the porch. His wife gave him a once over and then smacked him in the head. With that done, she turned back to Levy.

“Pack, huh? He a Therianthrope?”

“Yes, Ma’am. With a pack full of mouths to feed.”

Margret smiled as she finally shouldered her shotgun. “Well, little lady, I think we can help you.”

Levy and Margret smiled at each other across the open dirt yard. Shaggy scratched the back of his head and looked at Stanley.

“Do we look like a pack of hooligans?”

The teenage werewolf simply shrugged back at him.