“I’m thinking pizza. If we’re about to get a massive pay rise…” Janey said, hanging out the back door with a winning smile. She didn’t get to finish her suggestion, as a long howl cut through the late afternoon air. She sighed. “Off to go and answer the call of the wild again? Tell me what you want on your half, and I’ll have it ordered before you get back.”
I sighed.
“Just get what you want,” I said, eyes scanning the treeline beyond the paddock. “I might have to go around to Aunty Beth’s tonight.”
“You could just call, y’know,” I said. Max had left off eating his food to follow me down to the stand of trees, no doubt to Buster’s delight. I’d have to measure out some more for him when we got back. My dog bristled when he saw the wolves come melting out between the blond trunks of the gum trees, their paws crushing the leaves, releasing an astringent perfume. But he settled, sitting back on his haunches as the pack shifted, the silvery grey canids becoming a group of six very tall, very naked men.
For a lot of people, the sight of a mob of fit young men appearing out of nowhere would be scary enough, and the fact that they’d just shifted to this form from their wolf one impossible to believe, but it was a common enough thing for me growing up. These men were part of the pack, wolf shifters that had been here for over two hundred years. Jai, the leader, nodded to me and then Max.
“Hello to you, little brother,” Jai said. “We called, just the old way, Shan.”
“What do the old men want now?” I asked, knowing the answer but not wanting to hear it. Pizza with Janey and then flumping in front of the TV sounded like a great way to end a draining day and prepare for another.
"There’s a big meeting tonight,” he replied, his men moving restlessly behind him. “Things are changing.” His eyes lifted to the ridgeline, where this new ‘institute’ had been built. “Affects you as well. You want to be there.”
“I’m supposed to be having pizza with Janey.”
“Pfft…no pizza can touch Aunty’s cooking.” Eddie shouldered forward with that big broad body that served him well on the rugby field as well as his job as a carpenter. His grin was bright against his bronzed skin, his eyes much more active in their inspection of me. “Must be something else keeping you away.”
I shook my head and looked away, down at the setting sun, bleeding red on the horizon. Anything but looking at them.
We’d gone to the same school and I’d had to go around to pack houses with Nan when I was a kid, so I’d known these guys since I was young. Part of me felt betrayed, that those gangly bodies of theirs had filled out and become those of warriors. Ten years ago, they’d have had those skinny little arms wrapped around my neck, ruffling my hair, pushing me around.
And now? They were men now, and when I glanced over to inspect those now muscular arms, Eddie flexed so his biceps popped. Because with their change came mine.
“Rob just wanted us to tell you to come home. Didn’t want you spooked,” Jai said. “See you around seven.”
“Right,” I replied, but by the time the words were out of my mouth, the lot of them had shifted back into ghost-like wolves, who trotted between the trunks until disappearing completely.
Chapter 6
“Hello, love, it’s been too long! And look at you! Grown up beautiful, hasn’t she, Rob?”
Beth McCreedy, matriarch of the pack and aunty to blood and beyond, enfolded me in a warm hug as soon as I came inside the door to her sprawling home. The scents of pretty flowers, good cooking, and fresh herbs rose from her in a cloud. She held me now at arm’s length, looking me up and down.
“Time to get you a husband!” she said with a wild chuckle.
I rolled my eyes, but I didn’t let her see it. Beth wanted everyone paired off, nice and neat, like her and Rob.
“She’s been a grown woman for some time now, Beth,” Rob said, standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. ‘Uncle Rob’ was Beth’s husband and mate. Most men of the pack could shift into wolf form, and your position in the community was determined by the strength of your animal. Rob was high up in the pack structure, ready to step in as an alpha when the time came. “How’s that roof of yours holding up?”
“It’s fine, thanks, Rob. I think that repair you did will hold this time, until we can afford to replace it.”
He nodded stiffly. “I’ll send one of the boys around, stock up that wood pile of yours. Get you set for winter.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. His statement was made, this was gonna be the way it was, and that was that.
“C’mon, girl. Get yourself a drink,” Beth said with a chuckle at her mate’s high-handed ways.
I knew my way around, having been here many a time with Nan, though a lot less after she’d passed. Beth and Rob’s place was a lot like mine—crammed to the gills with artwork and books, toys and pieces of history. But unlike mine, right now, it was also full of kids. Sprawled over the couch or running up the halls, watching TV or playing with dolls or LEGO in clusters, their sheer number alerted me to just how big tonight was gonna be.
I felt eyes on me as soon as we walked out to the back of the house, down the back steps to the big entertainment area where the adults hung out. Firepits made from ten-gallon drums were set up everywhere to keep the clusters of people warm, a roast lamb working on a spit by the smell of it.
And the pack. The old men, the alphas, sat at the centre on chairs, some holding canes, some wearing old cowboy hats pulled down low over their eyes, but all of them regarded the proceedings. They might not have been related by blood, but this was their family, their pack, and they kept the order.
Then there were the men like Rob. Still considered young, despite being in their thirties and fourties. These were men in their prime. Scarred hard bodies spoke to the fights they’d had to keep their position. And then there were the young fellas, Jai and his crew sitting on the ground, drinking beer, talking shit, but ready to move at a moment's notice if told to.
I glanced over and away again, catching flashes of that eerie eye shine they all had in the low light. You didn’t look the pack in the eye, not if you could help it. I had a certain degree of latitude, due to Nan’s connection with them, but I knew better than to push it.
“I should have brought…” I said lamely.
“No, you shouldn’t,” Beth said, linking her arm in mine and leading me to the biggest bonfire. “Fridge and the eskies are all full as is. Just more stuff cluttering up the place. You OK?”
“Why?” I asked, shooting her a sidelong look. You couldn’t lie to pack like you could humans. The women in the family didn’t shift, but they retained some of that wolfish sensitivity to sounds and smells.
“Can feel your heart running like a rabbit’s.”
“Yeah?”
“It’ll be all right, love.”
What will be all right? What do the old men want this time? I thought, but answers came at their pace, not mine.
“Hey, Shan! Where you been?”
My head jerked up to see my friends, Jasmine and Rita, had jumped up, arms spread. The wind was knocked out of me as their arms wrapped around me. Pack girls might not shift, but they were tough and strong. Had to be, growing up here. Beth just shook her head and left me to their tender mercies. I returned the girls’ hugs, holding them hard for just a minute before the need to breathe had me pulling away.