by TJ Klune
“YOU’LL BE RIGHT HERE?” Gavin asked me, looking weirdly nervous.
I nodded. “Yeah, man. Right here. I’ll meet with Will and some others to let them know what’s going on. Go. They’re waiting for you. I’ll come over when I finish up.”
We stood in front of the diner in town. Across the street, Rico, Chris, and Tanner were heading toward the garage. They wanted to bring Gavin in to help him learn about what he’d be doing while working at Gordo’s. They’d made him wear his work shirt, promising him that he was going to get dirty. The idea had apparently appealed to him, as he’d run up the stairs to go change after making sure I’d be going too.
“Don’t go anywhere else,” he told me. “I will find you if you do.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s fucking creepy.”
“Not creepy. Truth.”
“Yeah, yeah. Go. You don’t want to be late on your first day.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else but shook his head instead. “Okay. You go to diner with Will. I go to garage.” He nodded, more to himself than anything. “I can do this.”
“You can,” I told him. “I know it.”
He scowled at me. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Not dying.”
And then he did the damndest thing.
He kissed me on the cheek.
Like it was the easiest thing in the world.
He turned on his heels and stalked across the street, leaving me to stare after him.
AND SINCE HE’D DONE THAT in front of the diner, everyone inside had seen it.
The diner that was packed with people.
The only sound I heard when I walked in was the bell over the door and Dominique laughing behind the counter.
I glared at her before turning it toward everyone else. “Is there a problem?”
“Question.” A man. One of Will’s friends. “Is everyone in the pack gay?”
“So what if they are?” I snapped.
The man shrugged. “I don’t give two shits either way. I just didn’t know if that was, like, a prerequisite for being a shape-shifter or whatever.”
“You’re just jealous no one wants on your junk, Grant,” Dominique said.
Grant sighed. “Ain’t that the truth.” He grinned at me. “Looks like our mayor found himself some mystical moon magic.”
I hated Jessie with every fiber of my being. “New law,” I announced. “No one is allowed to say mystical moon magic ever again. If they do, they will be executed publicly.”
“That’s not how laws work,” Will said. “And I don’t think we’ve had a public execution in Green Creek since… oh. Well. I suppose since Elijah. But she killed herself, so I don’t think that counts. Her hunters died, though. All over the place.”
The people in the diner crowded around me as I walked toward the booth Will sat in. They were eager to hear what was going on. This town was nuts. I hoped it would stay that way.
“The Alphas?” Will asked as I sat across from him. People stood around the table or turned their chairs toward us. Most of them were carrying, and I smelled the sharp sting of silver. That would have alarmed me if I’d been anywhere else.
“Ox and Gordo are in Minnesota,” I said. “Joe, Robbie, and Kelly are in Maine.”
Will rubbed his jaw. “With the other wolves. In that compound.”
“Yeah.”
“Something happen?”
I started to shake my head but stopped. “I… don’t know. Last we heard from our contacts in Minnesota, Livingstone had gathered wolves to him.”
“How?” someone asked. “Ox said he was trapped. How did anyone get in?”
“A witch,” I said begrudgingly. “Someone who was supposed to be helping us.”
“That’s why you don’t trust anyone you don’t know well,” Will said. “Stab you in the back as much as look at you.” He was solemn when he said, “And if they can get in, it means they can probably get out.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But if that happens, there’s a chance they’ll come here.”
“Because of your boy.”
I glared at Will. “He’s not my—”
Will snorted. “Keep telling yourself that, Mayor Bennett. Everyone can see the stars in your eyes.”
And because my life was terrible, the people in the diner murmured their agreement.
“Leave it,” I growled at him. “It doesn’t matter right now. You need to be ready. If something happens, you’re all in danger. Pack your bags. Get out of town. Don’t come back until it’s safe.”
No one moved.
I raised my voice. “Did you hear what I just said? Get your asses in gear. Now.”
“Don’t know if we’re gonna do that,” Will said.
I was incredulous. “What? Why the hell not?”
“Thank you, darlin’,” he said as Dominique appeared at the table to pour coffee into his mug. “Your packmate here looks like he’s going to explode.”
“They do that,” she said. “Bennett thing.” She glanced at me. “Listen to them, Carter.” And then she melted back into the crowd.
Will leaned forward, wrapping his hands around his mug. “Way I see it, this town is ours just as much as it is yours.”
“I know that. I wasn’t saying it’s not. We’re not trying to take anything from—”
“Didn’t think you were,” Will said mildly. “But this is our home. And when a man’s home is threatened, he does everything he can to keep it safe.”
“Not just men,” a woman said. She tapped the obscenely large gun in the holster on her hip. “Better shot than you, Will.”
Will chuckled. “That you are. And you’re right. Not just men.” He looked back at me. “What was I saying?”
“Something stupid,” I snarled at him.
“That’s right. Never knew anywhere else, really. Born here. My daddy owned the motel before I did and handed it off to me when he retired. And this is where I’ll die. You think I’d just pack up and run?”
“If you were smart, yes. I do.”
He squinted at me. “What about you?”
I was exasperated. “What about me?” There was a strange pressure in my head. I pressed my fingers against the sides of my skull.
“You could leave.” He nodded toward the window. “Take your pack and run. Hide out. Let us deal with whatever comes.”
I dropped my hands. “Are you out of your goddamn mind? Why the hell would we do that?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Because you love this place just as much as we do. This is our home. This is where we belong. And you’re part of this town, which means you belong to us too. Do you really think we’d just pack up and leave you to fight on your own?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I think.” I looked around to the others, sure I’d find a friendly face, someone who agreed with me. I would latch on to them and get them to help me change some minds.
I was met with a wall of silence and blank stares.
“What is wrong with all of you?” I demanded. “You could die. You remember what it was like when the hunters came. We got lucky then. I can’t promise we’ll get lucky again. For fuck’s sake. Some of you have children. Why the hell would you take that chance?”
“Don’t you worry about the kiddies,” Will said, and I jerked my head back toward him. “We’ve got a plan in place. We knew this could happen. Your Alphas prepared us.”
“What?”
Will was smug when he said, “After what happened to your pack in Caswell, Ox and Joe wanted to make sure the children could never be harmed again, or worse, be used against your pack or us. We built a bunker on Bennett land. Concrete walls inlaid with silver and some magical hinky-dink that Gordo and that woman witch made up. Aileen, I think her name was. First sign of trouble, those with kids know to bring ’em to the bunker, as well as the elderly. Enough food and water in there for at least three months.” He chuckled. “Cost a pretty penny, but your ma assured
us there was no cost too high for the safety of the people who can’t fight for themselves. Made some other alterations to the town too.”
“A fallout shelter,” I said in wonder. “You built a fallout shelter.”
He sat back against the booth, looking proud of himself. Everyone else in the diner looked the same. “We sure did. Kept it off the books. The people we brought in to build it just thought we were small-town kooks planning for the end of the world.” His face hardened. “Might as well think that’s the case. We’re with you, Carter. We’ve got your back. And the sooner you realize that, the better off we’ll be. We’re in this together.”
“You’re all fucking crazy,” I said faintly.
He arched an eyebrow. “And you’re a shape-shifter. We all have something, I guess.”
I lowered my head to the table, pressing my forehead against the surface, struggling to breathe. I was overwhelmed by these ridiculous people who had so blindly put their faith in us. Normal people would have run screaming the moment they’d seen me shift in the Lighthouse when a massive timber wolf was chasing after my pack. And to be fair, some had left Green Creek behind. But most had stayed and kept our secret.
“Why?” I muttered into the table. “Why are you doing this?”
I felt Will’s hand on the back of my head. It was a gentle touch. He said, “I told you once I knew your daddy. Didn’t always understand him, but I knew a good man when I saw one. He was kind to me when no one else was. Never you mind about what, but I never forgot it. And once my eyes were opened to what was really going on, I knew then what a great man he was. He ain’t here no more. We are. And we’ll fight until our last breath. You’re not alone, Carter. You never have been.”
I blinked against the sting of tears. I shuddered when people murmured around us, reaching out to touch my shoulders, the back of my neck, my hair. Their voices sounded like the wind, and though they weren’t pack, it sounded like they were in my head. They said, “We’re here” and “We’ve got your back” and “No one messes with our wolves” and, randomly, “I’m gonna fuck some shit up, you better believe it, you just watch me, I swear to god.”
I laughed wetly. These ridiculous people. Humans all, but how they sounded like wolves.
Eventually they subsided and stepped back.
I lifted my head as I wiped my eyes.
Will had a soft look on his face, craggy and wonderful. He said, “You see? Now. Let me tell you what else we’ve done to this town while you were gone. Might have a trick or two up our sleeves yet. I asked Ox to let me be the one to tell you so I could see the look on your face. Don’t let me down.”
I listened.
And in the end, I didn’t let him down.
What the fuck.
I LEFT THE DINER BEHIND a half hour later, dazed. The bell rang overhead as I pushed through the door out into the shocking cold. I turned my face toward the sky, the blue-black that only seemed to exist in the dead of winter. I breathed in and out. That odd pressure in my head grew, and I didn’t know why.
I took a step, meaning to cross the street toward the garage.
The pressure increased sharply.
I stumbled.
I barely managed to stay upright.
I gripped the sides of my head. The blue-black sky was in my skull, and it burned, it burned, it hurt it hurt it hurt—
From across the street came the howl of a wolf.
I raised my head as I panted through the storm.
Gavin was running toward me, eyes violet and bright. His arms pumped as he ran, claws and fangs flashing in the winter sunlight. Chris and Tanner and Rico followed him, their eyes narrowed.
Gavin skidded to a stop in front of me. He gripped my shoulders, violet eyes searching mine. “What is it?” he growled. “I feel it. I feel it. I feel it.”
“Something’s wrong,” I whispered.
The guys reached us, looking around wildly as if they could find whatever the hell was wrong and destroy it.
Chris was spooked. I could hear it in his voice when he said, “Ox. Gordo and Ox. What happened? Carter, what happened?”
“We need to get home,” I said with a grimace as the pressure increased again. “Now.”
Gavin nodded and started pulling me toward the truck we’d taken into town. I looked over my shoulder at the diner. The people inside were looking out the window. Will came to the door, a frown on his face. “Carter?”
“Be ready,” I snapped at him. “Wait for my call. You wanted a fight? I think you’re gonna get one.”
“You got it. Keep me in the loop.” He grunted as Dominique shoved by him, eyes orange, fangs dropping. “The sirens?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. It might be nothing.”
I prayed I was right.
safe
Mom and Mark were standing on the porch by the time we pulled up, rocks and dirt kicking up around us as Rico screeched to a halt. I was out of the truck even before he stopped.
Mark was pale, and Mom had a determined look on her face. “You felt it.”
“Gordo,” Mark whispered, swallowing thickly. “He’s….”
“Alive,” I said. “We would know if he wasn’t. Did you get ahold of them?”
Mom shook her head. “We tried. Bambi’s calling again. Jessie’s on the phone with your brothers and Robbie.”
Dominique headed into the house. We followed her through the open door. I could hear Jessie talking quickly in the kitchen. She looked relieved when she saw us. “Hold on. The others are here.” She held out the phone to me.
I grabbed it and turned around, heading toward the office. “Joe? Kelly?”
“Yeah,” Joe said, the line crackling. He sounded angry. “We’re here. Robbie too. You’re on speakerphone. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I said, opening the door to the office. The others followed me inside. Dominique was holding Joshua as Bambi disconnected her phone call and tried again. I could hear it ringing and ringing before Gordo’s voicemail picked up, his voice gruff.
“It’s Ox,” Joe said roughly. “Something happened to them.”
“We don’t know that yet,” I told him, even though it felt like a lie. “We’re still trying to get them on the line. Caswell?”
“The same as it always is,” Robbie said bitterly. “You would think Michelle Hughes was still in charge for all the bullshit that goes on here.”
I blinked. “What the hell does that mean?”
Kelly said, “They’re scared. Someone’s been talking. They’ve convinced half the people here that Livingstone is on a warpath and on his way to Caswell. There’s panic.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. I pulled the phone away from my ear and set it on the desk, switching it to speakerphone. “Do you have it under control?”
“Mostly,” Joe said. “I think me just being here helped.”
“Who’s been spreading shit around?”
“I don’t know,” Joe said, sounding frustrated. “We’re trying to find out, but it’s chasing a rumor. Everyone is saying they heard it from someone else.” He sighed. “They… they think it has something to do with Gavin.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
Kelly was pissed. “They’re so full of shit. They know you found him, that we brought him back to Green Creek. They think it’s his fault somehow. A few of them told Joe that if he cared about Caswell at all, he’d hand over Gavin to Livingstone and end this. They remember, Carter. What Livingstone did to them and why. They blame him for Michelle’s death and everything that came before it.”
Gavin grunted as if punched. It pissed me off. I slammed my fist into the desk. The phone rattled on the surface. “Fuck them,” I growled. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“We know,” Joe said. “And I told them the same thing. Gavin’s one of us. I don’t give a shit what they say. He’s staying with us.”
“That’s good, Joe,” Mark said. “But you need to be careful. You can’t forget they look to you
. You’re their Alpha. Don’t burn bridges that you can’t rebuild.”
“I know,” Joe said. “But they’re not making it easy.”
Mom pushed by me as she rounded the desk. She jiggled the mouse next to the computer. The monitor lit up, bathing her face in blue. I hated how it looked. It felt too literal. Jessie was pacing back and forth in front of Bambi, who was shaking her head. Dominique too. Tanner, Chris, and Rico had surrounded Gavin, their arms crossed as if they were guarding him. I felt a savage pride at the sight of them, even as my heart twisted at the miserable look on Gavin’s face. Suddenly I wished I was in Caswell, daring anyone to say to my face what they’d said to my brother.
The TV on the wall lit up after Mom hit the keyboard a few times. Bambi shoved her phone back in her pocket as Ox’s name appeared on the screen. She connected a video call. A circle spun under Ox’s name as the monitor beeped over and over.
“Come on,” I muttered. “Come on. Pick up.”
The call disconnected with no answer.
“Do it again,” Mark said. “Try Gordo too.”
She did.
“Did Robbie find anything?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Robbie said. His voice was thin and wavery. “Maybe? It’s….”
“What did it say?” I asked, watching the circle spin on the screen again and again.
“A manifestation of rage. Fury so profound it causes a wolf to become something grotesque. It doesn’t say anything about a witch losing his magic and turning into a wolf or surviving a bite from an Alpha. But there’s something else.”
We all looked at the phone. “What?” Mark asked.
“Tell them,” Kelly said quietly.
“Elizabeth?” Robbie asked.
“I’m here.”
“Did… did Thomas ever come back to Caswell? After you left for Green Creek.”
She blinked. “Several times. He knew he needed to at least show his face so the wolves would know he hadn’t forgotten them. Anything big, decisions or punishments, he was there, working in tandem with Michelle. Why?”
“I…. In one of the books. It’s one of the oldest. There are dates listed going back to the 1600s. It describes a wolf, one who has lost everything. Tether, mate, pack. I thought at first it was describing an Omega. But there were annotations, notes written in the margins. Newer. Much newer.” He took a deep breath. “I found this book when I was in Caswell… before. I’d forgotten about it until Gordo said he hadn’t found anything when he’d come here. He wouldn’t have found it. It slipped behind the bookshelf, and I just… left it there because things were getting weird. I recognized the handwriting. It was the same in a letter you gave me once. And the journal I gave to you.”