At the end, it was Tanner who’d spoken.
He said, “Your mom was very brave.”
And then he hugged me.
I held on for dear life.
Eventually, Rico and Chris came over too and I was surrounded.
THE TEXT came from Gordo.
Joe’s fine. Ran into some trouble. He’s sleeping it off. He didn’t want you to worry.
I didn’t sleep much that night.
THEY STARTED coming to the house, Rico and Tanner and Chris. At first it was just every few days. And only for a little bit at a time. They were slightly wary at first, jumping at every little thing. Laughing too loudly. They would talk to Mark. They would watch Elizabeth. They would ask questions, always asking questions.
Soon, though, they came almost every day. We ate dinner together. The second full moon after the others left, Rico, Tanner, and Chris were there. They were nervous. I told them not to be. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I was starting to see them differently. Mark just smiled his secret smile when I asked, though it was a shade less bright than it used to be. Elizabeth was always a wolf, so I could never ask her, though I talked to her like I normally would. For some reason, she seemed to like the sound of my voice. I didn’t know if she could understand me, especially since she’d been a wolf for so long. Mark said it was harder to come back the longer she stayed, but that she’d do it when she was ready. He trusted her and said I should too.
Mark and Elizabeth ran through the trees under the light of the moon. They didn’t sing, though. None of us did. We couldn’t seem to find the songs within us to show how we felt.
HOW ARE they? he asked.
okay, I wrote back. your mom hasn’t shifted yet. I didn’t tell him about my friends knowing about them now, because I didn’t want it to get back to Gordo. Not yet, at least.
I waited for him to write back.
It was days before he responded again.
MARK PUT an obituary in the newspaper announcing Thomas’s death, revealing no details. He asked for privacy. Condolences were sent. And flowers. So many flowers. They were red and orange. Violet and blue. There was so much green.
Elizabeth touched each one of them with her nose, inhaling deeply.
Sometimes, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“WE’LL HAVE burners,” Joe had whispered to me as we lay side by side. “Cell phones that can’t be traced. We’ll trade them out every now and then. But I promise you I’ll keep in touch.”
“I don’t understand,” I’d admitted.
“I know,” he’d said, tracing his fingers over my cheek. “I know.”
“ARE YOU ever going to change back?” I asked Elizabeth.
She licked my hand before she turned and walked into the forest.
I waited for a long time until she came back.
NO WORDS from him, this time.
Just a picture. The full moon.
I stared at it, running my thumb over it, like I could tell where he was just by looking at it.
I couldn’t, though.
FIVE WEEKS after they left, and two days after the full moon, there was a knock at the door.
I had just gotten home from work (and home being the Bennett house because I could still see the stain on the floor at the old house). I sat at the kitchen table, back sore and fingers stained black. Elizabeth came in and lay at my feet, her snout resting on my boot, eyes closed and breathing deeply. Mark moved in the kitchen, watching over a pot on the stove. Whatever he was making smelled spicy and my stomach rumbled at the thought. I was hungry.
The moment before the knock came, both Elizabeth and Mark stiffened.
Then, three taps on the front door.
It wasn’t Rico or Chris or Tanner. I’d just left them at the shop not an hour ago. And they didn’t knock anymore. They just came in, bringing in dust and laughter and grease. They weren’t like the others had been. And I thought maybe that was a good thing.
So I knew it wasn’t them. And while Gordo had said that no one could approach the Bennett house who harbored ill will, given his wards, we still snapped to attention.
Elizabeth was up and moving toward the door even before the knocks died out.
Mark half shifted and went to the window, scanning the backyard to make sure we weren’t being surrounded.
I grabbed my crowbar.
The threads between us burst brightly.
And there were other threads.
Newer threads.
They were weak. Faint.
But they were there. I didn’t see where they led, but they pulsed gently.
The knock came again.
I approached the door.
Elizabeth growled quietly, coiled and ready to attack.
Mark moved off to my side, out of sight of anyone on the other side of the door.
I put my hand on the doorknob.
Took a breath.
And opened.
We were not attacked.
A man that I’d never seen before stood there.
He wasn’t much older than I was. He was shorter, too, and leaner. His dark eyes crinkled as he squinted up at me, framed by chunky black glasses. His skin was pale and his hair was black, cut almost militarily short. He wore jeans and dusty boots, like he’d been on the road for a while. He was a Beta, and an attractive one at that, but I could tell he knew that.
He arched an eyebrow at me as Elizabeth growled louder.
“Wolf,” I said.
“Ox,” he replied. He grinned and white teeth flashed. “I come in peace and bring tidings of great joy. My name is Robbie Fontaine. You may have known my predecessor, Osmond.”
Elizabeth snarled at him. I heard Mark growling somewhere off to my right.
Robbie winced. “Yeah, probably not the best idea to mention that name. That’s my bad. Won’t happen again. Well, I can’t actually promise that. I’ll probably say some shit I don’t mean. For that, I’m sorry. I’m still sort of new at this.”
“At what?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Being in the position that I’m in.”
“And what position is that?”
He cocked his head at me, assessing. “Why,” he said, “I’m here to protect you.”
I snorted. “Protect.”
That smile came back. “Indeed. I need to see your Alpha.”
ROBBIE FONTAINE came from the east.
There was a new Alpha in place. For now. Her name was Michelle Hughes. She’d risen to Thomas’s old position, governing over all packs in the United States.
Including mine.
“She’s a good woman,” Mark said. “Good head on her shoulders. She’ll do the right thing. We’re okay there. She’ll be good, for the next few years.”
Until Joe was left unsaid.
We sat in the living room, Robbie across from us on the sofa, while we were on the couch, Mark pressed against one side of me and Elizabeth against the other. I thought maybe this would be enough for her to shift back, but she didn’t.
“She sends her condolences,” Robbie said. “She would have come herself, but there are… pressing matters, as I’m sure you understand.”