"Are we?" The question escapes before I can stop it. "Serious about this long-term?"
Elowen pulls back to look at me fully. "Calder. We're pack. That's not temporary. That's not until it gets difficult." Her voice is absolutely certain. "That's forever. Or as close to forever as we can manage."
Tyler nods. Julian makes a sound of agreement.
And just like that, the fear that's been coiled in my chest since my mother appeared on the quad begins to loosen.
They know. They understand. And they're staying anyway.
We sit under the oak tree as the afternoon light shifts toward evening. Right now, surrounded by my pack in a quiet corner of Elderwood Hollow, I let myself believe what Marcus said.
This is real. This is worth it. This is forever.
And I'm going to fight for it with everything I have.
“If we’re making this official,” Tyler says, “I want you to meet my family too. I promise it won’t be quite as…”
“Scary?” Elowen chuckles.
“I was going to say intimidating, but scary will do.”
“And my family,” Julian adds. “My mom anyway. And Pen. They’ll probably hug you to death and overfeed you.”
“What a way to go.” Tyler smiles. “Death by hugging.”
Lightness settles over us as light drizzle starts up, spraying our faces and saturating our clothes before we even realize we’re getting wet.
31
ELOWEN
Millbrook announcesitself with a hand-painted wooden sign and a main street that could fit inside Elderwood's quad. The bookshop, Vale & Son, Books New and Used, sits between a bakery and a hardware store, window display crammed with novels stacked in cheerful disorder.
It’s good to get away from campus, away from the constant watching, and listening, and trying to read between the lines of everything every professor says about untraditional pack formations.
Calder parks on a quiet residential street three blocks over. The houses here are modest but well-kept, gardens transitioning to winter rest, porch furniture covered against coming cold.
"That one," Tyler says, pointing to a pale blue house with white trim. "Home."
The front garden is practical rather than ornamental, herbs going to seed, a few late vegetables still clinging to their vines. Someone's been tending it with care despite the season.
The door opens before we reach the porch.
Tyler's mother is smaller than I expected, with dark hair threaded with silver and the same warm hazel eyes as her son. She's wearing jeans and a cardigan, flour dusting one sleeve.
"You must be Elowen." Her smile is immediate, genuine. "I'm Catherine. Come in, please. All of you."
She doesn't wait for formal introductions, just steps aside to let us enter. The house smells like cinnamon and fresh bread.
A girl peeks around the kitchen door, omega with Tyler's coloring but quieter presence.
"My sister, Maya," Tyler says. "Maya, this is Elowen. And you know Calder and Julian."
"Hi." Maya’s eyes linger on me, curiosity without judgment.
The interior is exactly what I expected, books everywhere, comfortable furniture worn smooth with use, family photos covering one wall in mismatched frames. A striped cat watches us from the back of the sofa.
"Thomas is at the shop," Catherine says, heading toward the kitchen. "He'll close up at noon and join us. I hope you're all hungry, I may have overdone it slightly."
