The tribe would be okay.
Rhona had this in the bag.
“Andie?”
I jolted at the soft voice.
“Sorry,” a petite Luther said. “I’m interrupting your thoughts.”
I faintly recognised her. It was the pup’s mother. “Not at all.”
I’d just finished speaking with Margaret Frey. She was too old to battle in the grid, and since my Luther secret came to light, I’d wanted to fill in the Frey’s on Murphy’s real fate. The only part I amended was Pascal’s involvement in his death. She was blackmailed into silence, and it wasn’t fair to lay blame at her door for Herc’s actions.
“How’s Axel?” I asked the woman.
Three times a day, a frantic search started for the pup. He was mischief.
As if hearing his name, Axel bounded from the grass and leaped onto the bench next to me.
“Hello, healthy boy,” I cooed. “Aren’t you big now?”
He jumped to lick my face.
“Axel,” his mother scolded.
I scooped him up. He’d really grown. Pretty soon, he’d be too big to hold like this.
His mother smiled apologetically. “I’m Jemma. Mum of Axel. Mate of Credence.”
Credence. Didn’t ring a bell. “Nice to meet you. I’m Andie.”
The woman grinned. “So I’ve heard. I won’t trouble you long. While you and Leroy were gone, your friend dropped this off.”
Peeking over the bench, I stared at the saxophone case in her hand.
For fuck’s sake.
She blanched. “It’s yours, isn’t it? He said you forgot it.”
I released Axel and took the saxophone. “It’s mine.”
Her nostrils flared. “I can put it somewhere else if you like?”
“It’s fine. I’ve just gone off music. Thanks for bringing it.”
Axel placed a paw on the case and whined.
“There’s an instrument inside, little pup,” I said.
He growled.
My brows shot up. “I mean big pup.”
That earned me a tail wag.
Paw on the case, he whined again.
Jemma patted his ear. “If you want to open the case, Axel, you know what to do. You’ll need human hands.”
Axel ran off without another word.
Jemma gazed after him.
“He doesn’t like two-legged form?” I asked.
She sat. “It’s not unusual for babies to shift and remain as wolves for a time. It’s an instinctual survival thing. Usually, they shift back and remain in two-legged form until the start of puberty when they go through their first official shift. Axel has been a wolf for nearly two years.”
“Is that dangerous for him?”
“There’s a lure to the power of wolf form that must be balanced by our human mind. Sometimes, Luthers fall prey to their wolves and turn feral. They remain in their four-legged form forever.”
Axel was the only pup in the pack. There must be huge pressure on her and him. “Then we can only continue to give him prompts and wait for him to do the rest.”
She released a breath. “I hope it’s enough.”
What a massive burden to carry. Smelling that she was near tears, I changed the subject. “Mothers don’t fight in the grid, I gather?”
“Mums with dependent pups stay back, and some of the older, unmated wolves too. Just over fifty remain behind right now.”
This place was so quiet when most of the pack was gone. I liked the noise. It reminded me of the manor’s bustle.
A male wolf’s howl shattered the calm—Greyson. Even in this form, I almost partially shifted to answer him.
What does that howl mean? I asked Booker.
Victory, she answered.
Jemma glanced my way. “We won.”
My heart sank. How the hell did that happen?
She hesitated. “It must be hard to stay here when everyone you care about is on the other side.”
Not everyone I cared about, but most of them. “It is.”
I caught sight of Axel watching us from the grass. Setting the saxophone case on the ground, I flicked the catches back and opened the lid.
My mouth dried.
I hadn’t looked inside this case since Herc died. I’d last played when we scattered Ragna’s ashes at the red oak in her meadow.
How did the instrument look the same? Gleaming brass and the same shape. I bet it even felt the same.
How, when I’d changed so much?
Aware of Jemma’s attention, I focused on the pounding approach of the seven hundred grid Luthers, my eyes on Axel’s wiggling approach.
He wormed closer on his belly while we pretended not to notice.
Bounding up at last, he peered into the case, cocking an ear.
“This makes music,” I told him. “Do you know what music is?”
“Like The Wiggles,” Jemma said.
Werewolf pups watched The Wiggles. Okay.
The pup stared at the saxophone and rested a paw on top of the bell.
I scratched his back. “You need fingers like mine to play it.”
He pushed the case toward me with his nose.
My chest tightened. “Oh. Not right now. I—”
“Andie is tired, Axel. Maybe you can ask her to play another time.”
She heaved him up. “Goodnight, Andie. Sleep well.”
Wolves raced from the forest, sprinting between the bungalows. They poured onto pack lands, yipping and snapping at each other’s feet in play.
The tribe lost Sandstone. Unless the fisherwolf played me, I couldn’t see how they fucked it up. The counter-strategy wasn’t complicated.
I texted Wade.
What happened?
A huge brown wolf padded to my side.
I regarded Greyson. “Congratulations. That’s three grids.”
Not only that, Sandstone was one of the harder grids for the pack to win. This wasn’t good for the tribe. It wasn’t good for Rhona either. I understood more than anyone the amount of pressure on her as the new head steward.
Greyson sat and rested his chin on my head.
Did he know I’d passed on pack strategy? His scent was pure happiness and pride. Sascha either didn’t care because they’d still won or Rhona disregarded my tip entirely.
“You’re dribbling in my hair.” I shoved him away, keeping my tone light-hearteded. “Go celebrate with your pack.”
After licking my cheek, he trotted away.
I consulted my buzzing phone.
Your sister is an idiot.
That told me everything I needed to know.
He messaged again.
I thought she had a secret counter operation.
Nope.
Total landslide.
I’m telling everyone she knew about their plan and did nothing.
I snapped upright, typing back.
Please don’t!
You’re angry at her. I am too.
The tribe doesn’t need more turmoil.
Rhona’s pride got in the way of accepting my help. Though if she’d decided my transformation to a Luther was akin to me dying, then no wonder. It was foolish to tell her so directly.
I’d need to be smarter in the future.
Much smarter.