That caught me off guard. “Uh… yes? I mean, yes. Of course you can.”
He moved quicker than I expected. He wrapped his hands around my biceps, his cheek grazing mine. My eyes fluttered involuntarily at the touch of another wolf. It wasn’t sexual, it was instinctual. He was a stranger, but it felt warm. There was a scent to him, something I couldn’t quite catch. It was faded, like a dream. “Tonight,” he whispered fiercely. “After your witch sleeps. Meet me behind the house. Say nothing to anyone.”
And then I was alone in the kitchen.
“It isn’t much,” Shannon said as she opened the barn door, “but it’ll do for one night.”
“It’s not the worst place I’ve slept,” I told her, and she looked at me weird. I shrugged. “Swamp. Long story. Lots of bugs. I got a tick on my—you know what? Probably don’t need to tell you that. You don’t need to hear about bugs on my junk.”
“Right,” she said slowly. “John and Jimmy brought out blankets and pillows. They’ve made you a pallet. Everything is new, so the pack smell shouldn’t be too overwhelming.”
“You get a lot of guests?” I asked, looking up at the hayloft above us. Two bare bulbs hung from the ceiling, their light low. It smelled like pack, but there was something more to it. Something different. Like there’d been another wolf at some point.
“Better to be safe than sorry,” she said. Fucking Alphas. Always cryptic.
“It’ll do just fine,” Ezra said. “You’re very kind, Alpha Wells. I’m glad we made this trip. I believe Alpha Hughes will be pleased to hear of this place and all that you’ve made for yourself.”
“I suppose she will,” Shannon said. “We’d offer you breakfast, but the boys have school, and I have work. It’s a madhouse here in the mornings. No time for anything.”
“Not necessary,” Ezra said. “We’ll be on the road at first light. It’s a long trip back, and I know we’d like to be home as soon as we’re able.”
“I bet you would,” Shannon said coolly. “I’ll keep up my end of the bargain so long as you keep yours.” She glanced at me once more before she turned and left the barn, closing the door behind her.
We waited until her footsteps reached the house. I opened my mouth to speak, but Ezra shook his head. He slid the sleeve of his shirt up slightly, pressing his fingers against a faded tattoo. It flared weakly, and the sounds from outside the barn became muffled. His magic washed over me in a comforting wave.
He sighed. “There. They shouldn’t be able to hear us, but it’s not so intrusive that they’d notice unless they come back. I don’t want to make an Alpha angry.” He looked ragged.
I took him by the arm and led him toward the pile of blankets at the rear of the barn. “What happened with her?”
Ezra smiled tightly. “She’s young. Hardheaded. Not unlike a certain wolf I know.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
He laughed, though it sounded tired. “She has a chip on her shoulder, and I don’t know if I can fault her for that. The loss of her mother was painful. She didn’t have time to prepare.”
I helped him down onto the pallet, making sure he had the majority of the blankets. Now that it was dark, the air was cool, and I didn’t want him to get sick. I could deal with being a little cold. “It must have been a shock.”
“It was,” Ezra said. He patted the blanket next to him, and I collapsed at his side. I stretched, groaning as my back popped. “And that much power without warning would be a lot for anyone to handle. But couple that with the loss of her Alpha and her mother… well. She felt the need to close her ranks.”
I turned my head toward him, pressing my forehead against his hip. His hand went to my hair. “She told you all this?”
“She did indeed. I think she just needed someone to listen to her. Someone who could understand.”
This was uncharted territory. Ezra had known loss, just like the rest of us, but from what I could gather, his was catastrophic. His entire family had been brutally taken from him. From the bits and pieces I’d collected, rogue wolves were to blame. I didn’t understand how he could know forgiveness after that. I hated the hunters, and not just for what they represented. Everything had been taken from both of us. I could never forgive that. It didn’t matter who they were. I wanted to kill every single one. I would never forget.
“I’m glad she had you to talk to,” I said quietly.
He hummed under his breath as he scratched my scalp. I refused to make a sound of pleasure, though I was already practically showing him my belly. “And I’m glad I have you, dear. I don’t know what I’d do—what’s this?”
His hand left my hair and went to the corner of my lip. He pressed a finger against my skin before pulling it away.
On the tip of his finger was a rusty flake of blood I’d missed.
“Bit my lip,” I said quickly. “Accident.”
He brought his finger up to the front of his face, staring at the flake. “Is that all it was?”
Can I trust you?
“Yeah. That’s all it was. We need to get some sleep. We’ve got a long drive tomorrow. I’ll even let you play your shitty music.”
He chuckled as he lay back against the pillow. “How kind of you. You know, if you actually had some culture, perhaps you could—”
“That’s never going to happen.”
I grinned as he swatted me upside the head.
A moment later, the magic around us dissipated and the crickets began to sing.
violet
I dreamed of the forest.
Of bright sunlight and the songs of wolves.
In the trees, great black birds croaked.
The white Alpha wolf prowled in front of me.
He said, little wolf little wolf.
I whispered, “Can’t you see?”
The black birds said, you are the master of the forest.
I whispered, “The guardians of the trees.”
The trees began to move.
The earth shifted and broke apart underneath them, their roots roiling like so many snakes. They left divots in the ground as they pulled back, forming a giant circle around us.
We stood in a clearing.
“What is this?” I asked.
But the white Alpha wolf was gone.
In his place stood a black wolf.
I fell to my knees in front of him.
He leaned forward, breathing hotly against my face through his nose.
He pressed his snout against my forehead, and I said, “Oh.”
(robbie)
A rush of images. A cacophony of sound.
(robbie)
“What is this?” I asked the black wolf, my voice breaking into pieces.
(ROBBIE)
I turned my head and—
Ezra was snoring beside me.
The trees were gone.
I was in the barn, skin slick with sweat.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“Robbie.”
I jerked upright. That voice was real.
“Come outside,” it whispered.
It took me a moment to recognize it.
Malik.
I glanced down at Ezra. His face was slack as he snored loudly, lips flapping slightly with each exhalation. I moved carefully to avoid waking him. I stepped over him before bending over to lace up my boots. I glanced back at him once more before heading toward the door.