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WE STOOD in front of the house at the end of the lane.
The blue house across from us was dark.
Ox watched it without speaking.
I said the only thing I could think of. “She would be proud of you. Of who you’ve become.”
He turned his head slightly to look at me. He was still Ox, but there was something more about him now. Something bigger. I had known Alpha wolves my entire life. It’d never been like this. He radiated a power larger than any other wolf I’d known. He was containing it, somehow. All the Omegas. They would hear him. They would listen.
And yet he smiled quietly at me. “I wonder sometimes. If that’s true.”
“You don’t have to wonder. I know it, Ox. Maggie.” I swallowed, forcing the remaining words out. “Thomas. Both of them. They knew before everyone else, I think. Who you were. And who you would be.”
“I heard him. Your father.”
I looked away, eyes stinging.
He took my hand in his. “Maggie was my mom. Thomas was my dad. I am who I am because of them. Because of Joe. Because of this pack.” He squeezed my hand. “And because of you. You are more than you think, Gordo. And I have never been happier to say that your father is not proud of who you’ve become. That’s a good thing, in case you didn’t know.”
I laughed wetly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks, Ox.”
He looked back at the blue house. “Will this work?”
“It has to.”
He nodded. “What now?”
I glanced over my shoulder, hearing the rest of the pack exiting the house. Jessie and Rico came down the stairs first. Rico batted her hands away as she tried to help him. She rolled her eyes and muttered about not helping him if he fell down the stairs.
Robbie came next, holding Elizabeth’s hand. She was pale, but she carried herself regally. Her eyes were orange. She was ready to fight.
Joe came next, taking a moment to breathe in the cold air. The snow had finally stopped, and the clouds were beginning to clear. Above, the light in the sky was beginning to fade. Stars appeared like chips of ice. The porch steps creaked under him as he descended, coming to stand next to his mate. He kissed Ox’s shoulder but stayed silent.
Kelly and Carter followed, Kelly’s hand pressed against his brother’s back. Carter was skittish, eyes continually flashing violet. The timber wolf trailed behind them, crowding against Carter, trying to keep him away from the rest of us. Carter snapped at him, but the wolf remained by his side.
Mark was last. The muscles under his skin shifted with every step he took. His claws dug into the wood of the porch as he stood above us. His eyes never left me, always watching. Waiting. I wondered if I were to push the hair around his throat away if there would still be a raven there, hidden away. I wasn’t going to take the chance of trying to look, as he seemed confused as to whether he wanted to rub against me or kill me.
Two of
us were missing.
But we would get them back.
The hunters had made a mistake in coming here.
Michelle Hughes had made a mistake in sending them.
And my father had made the gravest mistake of all.
His time would come. One day.
“Gordo?” Ox asked. “What now?”
I looked at our pack before I turned back to him.
