Shay nodded. “Jody enjoys teaching fang and claw.”
“Then let’s make it so,” Tynan said. It would be good for both females to have the skills and confidence that the ability to fight would give them.
Smiling, he brushed his chin over the top of Meggie’s head. She’d learn that this pack would support her, help her grow stronger.
As would he.
The moon was high in the night sky. It must be around midnight, and the wolf pack was still in the meadow. Margery realized she wasn’t the only shifter shaken by Chad’s expulsion.
Rather than continuing the run, Shay had told everyone to shift to skin for a while. The clever alpha was letting them all vent.
Margery had heard tales about the previous alpha and how his insane beta hurt females. Discovering Klaus had assaulted Bree at a Gathering, the Cosantir delivered the God’s judgment. Margery shivered. Everyone said Calum had merely touched him, and the beta dropped dead.
Unfortunately for the pack, Klaus’s influence still lingered with the younger males. Bullying of cubs and females still occurred. Chad had been the worst offender.
After roaming the meadow for a while, she joined the group that held Bonnie, Bree, and Angie.
“I agree with driving Chad out,” Bonnie said. “But my heart hurts at the loss of what he could have been. He was a good pup at one time.”
“I’ve seen that happen before with young males,” Margery murmured.
“What do you mean?” Bree asked.
Now the center of attention, Margery tensed. In Ailill Ridge, attracting attention never ended well for her.
But this was a different pack—and she wasn’t going to flee from the past.
Bree gave her an encouraging smile.
All right then. “In the Scythe compound, the older guards caned us for the slightest mistake. Although the newer guards hated the brutality, they didn’t protest.” Her hands fisted. Would the bitter lessons give her more compassion, more strength going forward? Surely something good should come of such pain. “Maybe if the decent guards had spoken out in the beginning, cruelty wouldn’t have become a habit for them all.”
“By the Hunter’s horns, that’s exactly what happened here,” Albert Baty said. “We didn’t speak up, so our younglings absorbed Klaus’s beliefs. We bear much of the responsibility for what Chad has become.”
“Aye, we neglected our responsibility to pack and clan.” Angie crossed her arms over her chest. “Shay shouldn’t have to do everything. Pack pressure is a force to be reckoned with. We mustn’t be silent in the face of cruelty or bullying or lack of respect.”
The group around them had grown, and growls showed Angie’s words had hit home.
Even as people started to move away, they nodded at Margery, patted her shoulder in gratitude. Their approval warmed her more than if she’d stood in a pool of sunlight.
She’d helped.
This pack was so different than the one in Rainier where she’d decided that her dreams of belonging were only that—dreams. Here, she was accepted and welcomed. Needed, even.
She drew the feelings of belonging around her, as close as her own fur. Deep inside, the pack bonds were forming, tying her to them all.
A yip drew her attention.
On the other side of the meadow, Shay trawsfurred to wolf, and the moonlight gleamed on his fluffy silver-gray fur. With a sharp bark, he ordered his pack to shift.
Responding with yips and barks, his wolves complied.
Surrounded by the others, Margery trawsfurred, soaking in the wave of the Mother’s love even as fur enfolded her. Tail waving slightly, she gave a little shake to settle her fur. Her nose sharpened, bringing her the scents of the other wolves, the fragrance of a stream.
Would she ever get past the wonder of becoming a wolf?
A heavy-boned wolf with a coat the color of mountain granite stalked over to her. Tynan.
Her paws danced in happiness when he joined her.
He rubbed his side against her in a possessive blending of their scents. Tail waving, she licked his muzzle and got a teasing nip on her nape in return.
Wolf-flirting was…fun.
Margery took a slow breath. Overhead, the round moon hung so low it seemed a leap would lift her to its heart.
Facing the pack, Shay lifted his muzzle and howled—a song of love to the Goddess. Bree joined him a second later.
Zeb joined the alpha pair’s song with his lower rougher howl.
When Tynan came in, his smooth, deep tone sank deep into Margery’s soul.
For a long lovely minute, the four leaders’ voices twined together, and then the rest of the wolves joined in.
Her own howl lifted high, and deep inside her, she felt the pack bonds strengthening.
As the moon filled the dark sky with her glow, their compelling paean of joy swept past mountains and forests and rose to the Mother of All.
“That was a wonderful run,” Margery said as Tynan pulled into the driveway between their two houses. Then she remembered what else had happened. Chad.
She shook her head and sighed.
Tynan unbuckled his seatbelt and studied her for a moment. “You’re thinking of Chad?”
“He’s all alone now. Probably not sure what to do or where to go.”
Tynan ran his hand over her hair. “It’s a hard lesson. I was like him once, you know, only maybe worse, since it was banished, I was.”
Oh, dear Goddess. “Banished?”
“Aye, after a young male attacked me during a full moon, and I hit him. He fell wrong, broke his neck, and I was cast out.”
Margery stared at him, hearing, almost feeling the sadness pouring off of him. “But if he simply fell wrong, your punishment was awfully brutal.”
“I’m not sure if the God agreed with the Cosantir, but I did. I felt so fucking guilty then—and later, as well. I asked the God what I could do to restore the balance.” He was looking through the window at the moonlight on the lawn.
Asked the God? She blinked, realizing he’d undertaken the arduous ritual to speak to the Gods. What had Herne told him to do? Oh, no, she knew already… “The God sent you to Seattle.”
“He did. That’s why I was there.”
Sympathy—and admiration—filled her. Had she ever met anyone so honorable? He’d made a mistake and tried to make things right. Really, that he’d tell her about the death and his banishment—what he saw as a black mark on his past—was amazing.
His gaze was on her, patient. Waiting for her to condemn him or question him.
She wouldn’t, didn’t need to. Instead, she took his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. “Do you think Chad will learn from this?”
Relief at her acceptance softened his expression. Then Tynan caressed her cheek. “Chad might change. It must have shocked him that his behavior wasn’t condoned by the pack like he thought. Young males can misjudge and think others admire their actions. More often, the others are wary—and don’t like them at all. Tonight, Chad learned the truth.”
Perhaps the truth would give him a chance to turn his behavior around. Margery leaned her head into Tynan’s touch. The cop was more than a shield between the good and bad. He understood people. “I hope so.”
“It’s a good pack.” He dropped a kiss on her head and got out.