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“It’s different in wolf form than human form,” I said. “In wolf form, there’s more instinctive behavior, which you might think would mean that you’d be more likely to just do it like bunnies.”

“Like wolves?”

“But there’s a lot of sensitivity to the hierarchy of the pack in wolf form,” I said. “You don’t do things that would harm the rest of the group. If a wolf scented me in heat running under the moon, they also knew they were scenting the cyning’s mate-to-be.”

“Cyning is, like, the chief?”

“Yes. They knew that if they messed around with me, there would be retribution. They left me alone.”

“But for him, there was no retribution, because he was the cyning.”

“Not yet,” I said. “At that point, Opal’s father was the cyning.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense to me,” she said. “It’s not passed down through bloodlines?”

“There are markings in the wolf pelts of men in the pack,” I said. “The markings are a sign from the ancestors, and there’s a shaman who reads—”

“Okay, okay, I forgot how boring that is. Do not explain it to me again,” she said, laughing. “But there was no retribution for whatever he did, was there?”

I mean, there wasn’t. “He and Opal weren’t in wolf form. They were just thinking like humans, and humans are more… sex is different in human form. In wolf form, it’s not as much about pleasure, it’s about—”

“So, you’ve had wolf sex?”

“Well, no,” I said. “I’ve heard about it, though. It’s more about just a duty, I guess. You do it because you’re supposed to, not because it’s, like, a choice. If Damian had been in wolf form, he would have known it wasn’t right, that she wasn’t his mate, and he would have been better able to resist. Humans have more, uh, free will than wolves.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing,” said Casey.

I laughed softly. “Maybe sometimes, it is. Maybe we don’t always make stunningly great choices, humans.”

Casey thought about it. Then, she pushed aside her nearly empty bowl of salad and slid her tablet in front of her. Using a stylus, she clicked on the screen. “You go to this Opal person’s funeral, and it’s just for a few days, right? You’re not going to let that jackass from your past who’s your fated perfect love or whatever bite you? You’re not going to end up mated and pregnant and barefoot on the river? Because, um, I need you here.”

Casey was also my boss. She was an event planner, and I was her personal assistant. She was loosely affiliated with a group of other event planners who all shared a website and a cluster of offices here in this building, but she was essentially independent, and I was her right hand woman. Leaving her alone, it was unthinkable. I never did things like this.

“I haven’t spoken to him in a long time,” I said. “So, I doubt there’s any chance of rekindling things.”

“Yeah, but it’s like nature magic or something, right? You guys are just at one with the trees and the river and sky and the full moon, and you’ll be drawn to each other as if in a trance and then you’ll be calling me, saying that you’re never coming back.”

“No,” I said.

She tapped the tablet with her stylus. “I’m going to block you out for a week.”

“I won’t be gone for an entire—”

“Yeah, don’t take the whole week,” she said. “I need you here. But a few days? I can field my own calls and fetch my own lunch and coffee. Don’t worry about me, okay?”

“Thanks, Casey,” I said. “I appreciate it.”

I was not even sure why I was going to the funeral. I had not exactly been invited. Well, okay, there are not invitations for funerals, just announcements, so I guess anyone can technically go to one, but I would not have known about this funeral if it had not been for the fact that, out of the blue, I got a notification that Damian’s older brother, Vincent, had messaged me on social media.

But then I clicked on it, and he had unsent it.

I sent a question mark.

Hit the wrong contact, sorry, Leo, he sent back with a winking emoji. Hope you’re doing well.

Then Vincent and I had a very short text conversation about how I was still in the city, and yes, I was happy there, and he said he was still doing accounting work in Northbrook, which was a neighboring suburb of the city where I lived.

I’m in Riverside for a week or two right now, he typed. You’re lucky to be out of this shithole. Never come back here, Leona. Promise?