by Bru Baker
“Emma, you’re not actually in any trouble. There’s nothing he can do to us. Stop blubbering.”
Harris handed a box of tissues to the crying girl. “I would usually call your Alpha at this point,” he said, and that made Emma cry harder. The other two girls on the couch started sniffling too. “But since this is the first day and the incident happened before you got the camp’s ground rules at orientation, I’m not going to.”
They relaxed marginally, though Stephanie was still shooting him a murderous glare.
“One of the things the director is talking about right now is what H.O.W.L. stands for. Do any of you know?”
They all shook their heads.
“Honor. Obligation. Willpower. Loyalty. These are all principles that Were society relies on to keep everyone safe. We honor our Alphas, we obey our Pack rules and the overarching rules of the Tribunal because they are there to protect our secret. We have an obligation to help our Packmates, to look out for those who can’t look out for themselves. Willpower, because it takes a lot of strength, both mental and physical, to keep the secret. One casual slip could damn our entire race, so we have to constantly guard against exposure. And loyalty, which is deeper than the Pack obligation to honor your Alpha. You’ll make friends here this month you’ll keep for your entire life.
“You shouldn’t be tearing other people down to make yourselves feel better. It’s a cheap thrill that doesn’t last more than that moment for you, but your words can hurt someone for life. I don’t want to hear about any of you bullying someone again, even if they’re not there to hear what you’re saying. If I do, you’re out.”
They normally gave the wolflings a longer leash, but with Candice on campus, they couldn’t afford to give too many second chances. One good thing had come of this afternoon’s fiasco. They’d been torn about whether or not to confiscate phones, and Stephanie’s stunt proved they should.
He picked up his desk phone and called Scott, who was patrolling the grounds during orientation. The girls sat still, three panicked faces contrasted against Stephanie’s pout. At least his message was getting through to most of them.
“Anne Marie is pissed you’re not there,” Scott said as soon as he picked up. “But since we’re missing four wolflings, I figured shit had gone down or something. You do have them, right?”
“I do.” Harris swept a gaze over the wolflings. “They’re sitting tight in my office during orientation.”
He held the phone away from his ear. “I’m going to finish this call in the hallway, and you’re going to use the time to put together your most convincing argument about why the director shouldn’t put you all on kitchen duty.”
That was a bluff. Their chef would never allow wolflings in the kitchen. But they couldn’t read chemosignals yet, so they wouldn’t know that. He stepped out into the hall.
“Sorry, I wanted to put the fear of God in them before I left them. Tell Anne Marie we need to confiscate phones, tablets, and laptops. Cameras too if anyone brought one.”
“Shit,” Scott muttered. “Already?”
“They recognized her and had her Instagram pulled up and were making rude comments. If that’s the worst of it, we’re lucky. Let’s shut all those avenues down before word of her being here gets out, if it isn’t already.”
“We’ve got the jammer Jordan brought up and running already. There’s no cell service in the auditorium, and Anne Marie turned the Wi-Fi off as soon as Candice walked into the room. Your wolflings must have seen her on her way over. That was fast.”
“That was lucky. We could already have blown everything. We should have had her stay in her room until after orientation. Fuck.”
“It’ll work out,” Scott said, ever the peacemaker. “I’ll talk to Anne Marie now, and we’ll have staffers accompany the wolflings back to their bunks to collect all the devices. Did you have a plan for how to store them?”
There were seventeen wolflings this month, and at a luxury facility like Camp H.O.W.L. that meant upward of thirty devices. “There’s a closet in Anne Marie’s office that locks. I’ll see if the kitchen has any bags and have staff members write the wolfling’s record number on the bag with their stuff. We should write out receipts. No. Wait. Have them take a photo of the wolfling holding the devices. Between that and the number, we should be good.”
“Parents are going to be pissed if they can’t check in,” Scott said.
“They aren’t supposed to. We’ve been lax about that, but maybe it’s time we start enforcing it. They can call home from the office phone if they need to, and parents can reach their kids through Anne Marie if need be. I’ll talk to Anne Marie. Nick, Kenya, and I can call all the families tonight to let them know.”
“Got it. I’ll relay the message. You’re keeping the wolflings?”
Harris grinned as the perfect punishment dawned on him. “I’m going to make them help.”
THE mess was serving dinner by the time Harris and the wolflings had rounded up all the devices and stored them in Anne Marie’s closet, so he gave them a temporary reprieve to go eat, with strict instructions to report back to Anne Marie’s office afterward.
He’d woken Jackson from a nap when he called, which made sense considering he’d worked all night and then driven round-trip from Lexington to Camp H.O.W.L. His sleepy rasp had been painfully arousing, but Harris had a crisis to deal with, so it had been easier than usual to push that aside. Jackson hadn’t been that worried, which was a good sign. Especially since they’d immediately put the crisis plan into action and confiscated all devices.
There was only one wolfling he hadn’t stripped of electronics, and he knew she wasn’t eating in the mess right now. He headed over to Drew’s. They’d agreed Candice should lay low in social situations until she was comfortable merging with the other wolflings, and Drew and Nick offered to eat with her so she wasn’t alone.
Drew left a plate out for Harris, and his stomach gurgled in gratitude as he slipped into the chair.
“How did orientation go?” he asked Candice before digging in.
She blushed and looked at her plate, unable to hold eye contact with him when she spoke. He’d written it off as her being tired this morning in the car, but as the day progressed, Harris realized she was shy. It was amazing how different she was from her confident, outgoing stage persona. Kandie wasn’t fazed by anything, but Candice was a different story. She was quiet and curled in on herself like she was trying to take up as little space as possible. It was something he’d need to address in her therapy sessions, but tonight he just wanted to get to know her a bit.
“I feel really bad that everyone lost their phones because of me,” she said, her eyes fixed on her mostly full plate.
That wouldn’t do at all. She needed a lot of calories heading into the Turn tonight.
“First of all, you need to eat. Second of all, it’s not your fault. We’ve actually had a policy that bans the use of electronic devices here for a few years, but we’ve only loosely enforced it. That’s on us, not you. I imagine after your cohort moves on, we’ll roll the device confiscation into our regular orientations.”
“Maybe with something more organized than a pile of Ziploc bags,” Nick said with a snicker.
“Hey, don’t knock it. They are easy to label and can be sealed.” Harris turned to Candice. “Speaking of, you’re just another wolfling here. You’re rooming here at the infirmary for now, at least until we can tell how well you can integrate with the other wolflings. But you’re not exempted from the device ban.”
Candice’s jaw fell open, and she looked like every other wolfling he’d taken a phone from today. It was good to see her look like a normal teen. “I need it to talk to my agent and my publicist!”
Harris shook his head. “You’re off duty for the month, Candice. It’s very important you give both your body and your mind time to adjust. You can text Anne Marie’s number to anyone who might need to contact you in an emergency, but you’d better warn them it ha
s to be urgent.”
She pursed her lips but dug into her sweatshirt pocket and came out with a bejeweled iPhone. “I’ll tell them it has to be life or death,” she said as she texted. When she was done, she handed the phone over to Harris, who left it sitting facedown on the table. It started to vibrate almost immediately, and Nick reached out and turned it off.
Candice slumped, looking more relaxed than she had since he’d picked her up. Eliminating her contact with the outside world had probably taken a huge load of responsibility off her shoulders. Good.
He nodded toward her plate. “When I said you need to eat, I meant it. Your body will use an insane number of calories tonight, and you need to have fuel for it to draw from. Trust me, you don’t want to go into this dehydrated or malnourished. Let’s give your body the best chance to move through the Turn easily, okay?”
Candice picked up her fork and Drew heaped an extra helping of chicken on her plate. They always served a carb- and protein-heavy meal before the Turn. A lot of wolflings would try to avoid eating, either because of nerves or because they didn’t want to go into the most important night of their life with a full stomach. Staffers in the mess would be roaming around reminding kids to eat and passing out second and third helpings, like they were doing for Candice. Tonight’s meal was chicken parmigiana.
“This is like, so weird,” she said as she cut a small bite of chicken. “I haven’t had carbs since I was a kid.”
Harris shared a look with Nick and Drew over that.
“You’re still a kid, kid,” Nick said. He filled her water glass. “Hydration is just as important. I know we’re annoying you, but you’ll thank us tomorrow morning.”
“I’ve been acting since I was six,” she said matter-of-factly. “I had to start watching my weight when I was eight.”
“After the Turn your werewolf metabolism will kick in. You shouldn’t need to diet to stay in shape, and you’ll definitely have to eat more than those bird bites you’re taking. Even after the Turn, shifting takes a lot of energy. You’re going to be putting on some muscle too, and that takes more calories to maintain,” Drew said. “We’ll talk about all this when you’re in my werewolf health and biology classes, but I have a feeling it’s going to affect your day-to-day eating habits much more than it will the other wolflings. If you’ve been dieting that long, I mean.”
He furrowed his brow and pushed back from the table. “I’m actually going to go get some vitamins for you. If you’ve been malnourished for that long then you’re likely calcium deficient and lacking some other nutrients that might make your Turn more painful. I’ve seen something similar before. Are you okay with shots? If I can give your vitamin levels a boost before the Turn, it should help a lot.”
Candice looked horrified. “I’m not malnourished.”
She was tiny and too thin. Harris thought there was a lot to Drew’s theory.
“Look at it this way,” Harris said, trying to placate her. “If you don’t need the vitamins they won’t hurt you. Right, Drew?”
“Right. In a human, I’d worry about the potential for overdosing someone if we hadn’t checked their blood levels yet, but that’s not going to be an issue for you, Candice. If there’s an excess in your body, your werewolf metabolism will burn it off before it hurts you.”
“Can I say no?”
The tentative tone in her voice made Harris want to punch something. There was some sort of abuse going on in Candice’s background, whether overt or not. Someone had made her feel like she didn’t have control over her own body and her own choices, that much was clear. From her uneasiness around other people and her shyness, he wondered if that same person had also made her think her talent was the only thing that anyone cared about. He’d never treated a child actor before, but he bet when he pulled journal articles on it he’d find similar attitudes and mannerisms among other child stars. They were going to have a lot to work on in their therapy sessions, and he made a mental note to start her out on daily sessions for the time being instead of the default three times a week.
“You absolutely have a choice,” he said gently. “It’s your body, Candice. You get autonomy over it. Here and everywhere else. We’re here to help keep you safe and guide you through the Turn and the adjustment afterward, but no one will make you do anything you don’t want to do with your body. That said, it sounds like the vitamins might be a big help tonight, and you should consider anything that can ease the shock and pain of the Turn.”
“Healthy wolflings who have no vitamin deficiencies or other ailments go through the Turn faster than their peers who have health issues,” Drew confirmed. “It’s not going to be fun, but by making sure you’re healthy, we can at least make sure it doesn’t last too long.”
The wolflings would start the Turn as soon as the moon rose. They’d lose themselves to it this first time, which Harris had always thought was part of the body’s defense mechanism against pain. The Turn could be explained with the same clichés as childbirth—agonizing pain that’s worth it in the end as it fades into a shadow of itself in memories. The wolflings would remember pain and confusion and the terrible rush of new inputs as their Were senses came online, but they wouldn’t be able to give a play-by-play of the process a week later. It was a mercy, because the Turn was violent and painful. After that, shifting would be uncomfortable and take concentration, but they’d retain their full senses and selves while they were in wolf form.
“I guess we can do the shots,” she said, pasting a smile on her face.
She took a bigger forkful of pasta this time, and Harris had to stop himself from praising her like he would a small child. She was a lot more innocent and trusting than he’d expected. Candice was one of the fastest-rising stars in Hollywood and by all rights should have an attitude like Stephanie’s. Instead, she was much more like Emma. He’d have to introduce them. She and the rest of the girls—except Stephanie, who’d whined the whole time—had proven themselves to be hard workers and good kids. With someone like Candice rounding out their group instead of Stephanie, they could have an awesome camp experience.
“That was a mature choice,” he said. “Eat up. We’ve got to start getting everyone downstairs into the Turn rooms in about an hour.”
“I feel so weird,” she said. “Like I have all this energy and no energy all at the same time.”
“That’s normal. Your body knows what to do. The hardest part is giving over to those instincts and not fighting it,” Nick said. He offered her a reassuring smile. “We’ve all been there. And I promise it gets better. You’ll feel the pull of the moon, of course, but it’s nothing like the caged lightning of the Turn.”
Harris had never heard it described that way, but it was spot-on. “I’ve got to get over to Anne Marie’s office to deal with my troublemakers,” he said, taking one last bite and standing up to put his plate in the sink. The kitchen came equipped with a dishwasher, but Drew preferred to do them by hand, the weirdo. “Candice, we haven’t gotten a chance to talk about this, but are you okay Turning in a group like the rest of the wolflings? We can set you up in a private room if you prefer, but your wolf will be happier if other wolflings are there.”
She looked at him, wide-eyed and panicked. “Aren’t we like, naked?”
Nick chuckled. “You are, but trust me, none of you will be in any frame of mind to notice. By the time morning rolls around, we’ll have all of you covered with blankets, and when you shift back to human, there will be sweats for you to put on.”
Most of the wolflings wouldn’t have the control to shift back before moonset, so the staffers would be spending the night making sure the wolves didn’t fight or get too restless in the Turning rooms. That rarely happened. Most of the wolflings were so strung out from the stress and pain of the Turn they ended up napping all evening. Harris usually brought a tablet to entertain himself, but tonight all the staffers were observing the electronics ban. He’d have to grab a book from the library on his way back from Anne Marie�
��s office.
“I guess I can do it with the others,” she said, but she sounded far from sure. “I mean, I have to get used to it at some point, right? I’m going to be in classes with them.”
And in one of the cabins, if Harris had his way. He’d read her intake forms last night. She had no friends her own age and listed her agent and her publicist as her social circle. The kid needed a chance to be a kid, and this was the perfect place for it. He’d have to build up her confidence before throwing her to the wolves, literally and figuratively.
Chapter Six
JACKSON was nesting on the couch with his most comfortable blanket—not coincidentally the one Harris had used when he’d slept over—a bag of microwave popcorn, and Netflix when Jordan walked in and frowned at him.
“We’ve got to get you laid.”
Jackson ignored him and turned up the volume.
“I’m not kidding, man, you’re making everyone around you crazy. Ever since we got back from Camp H.O.W.L. you’ve been a moody little bitch.” Jordan grabbed the popcorn bag and Jackson let him have it. He pulled a bag of Skittles out from underneath the blanket and ate those instead.
“Do you know your partner called me yesterday to ask if you’d had a death in the family or something?”
It felt like it. Mating was a stupid concept. He could kind of understand it hundreds of years ago when Weres needed to keep the population going to survive, but that wasn’t a problem now. And even if it was, he was a dude who was into dudes. They weren’t going to be popping out babies.
All the biological mating urge was accomplishing here was making him want to curl into a ball and whimper for his mate.
Stupid.
Jordan ripped the blanket away, and Jackson flung his hand out to grab it back, sending Skittles flying across the room. “Fuck you, leave me alone.”