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“Of course not,” he repeated, and there was a nasty curl to his lips. Santos didn’t like me. “Don’t you have someplace to be? Ezra went by a while ago, which means you’re already late.”
I cursed. “I don’t know why he didn’t wait for me.”
“He knows how you get in the morning.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep it up, Santos. See how far it gets you.”
He laughed, mocking. “Sure, Robbie.”
I waved and left him to it. I glanced back over my shoulder at the house once more. I thought
I saw movement in one of the windows, but I told myself it was just a trick of light and shadow.
The biggest house in the compound was a two-story cabin with a large covered porch that looked out onto the lake. The windows were open, letting in the cool air. I climbed the porch stairs, the wood creaking underneath my boots. I hesitated for a moment before opening the door.
The interior of the cabin was spacious. A fire roared in the fireplace, and wolves were hurrying around the ground floor. A few spared me a glance, but most of them ignored me. They were busy, and the Alpha of all liked to keep it that way.
I climbed the stairs to the second floor, stepping close to the banister as a woman I vaguely knew flew down the stairs. She grinned at me as she passed, but otherwise didn’t stop. The house was loud and always moving, people coming and going.
I reached the top of the stairs. To my left, five doors led to bedrooms and bathrooms. To my right were a closet and a pair of doors that led to the office. I felt something strong pulse within me. It tugged me toward the double doors.
She knew I was here, even though the room was soundproof.
It was part of being the Alpha of all. I belonged to her, and she could find me always.
I knocked before opening the door.
Ezra sat in a chair in front of a heavy desk. There was an empty chair next to him. He didn’t turn to look at me, but I felt his magic curl over me. I relished the feel of it more than I ever did with her. I thought she knew that, but we never spoke of it.
And there, sitting behind the desk, was the Alpha of all.
Michelle Hughes folded her hands in front of her and said, “You’re late, Robbie.”
outright defiance/little wolf
When we’d been on the run, hunters chasing after us with a frightening persistence, my mother did everything she could to keep things normal for me.
Sometimes we could afford a cheap motel. They were always dingy and smelled awful, but she said we needed to be thankful for the little things.
Some nights she stayed with me, curled around me, whispering quietly in my ear.
She would tell me about a place where we could be free. Where we could shift and feel the earth beneath our feet without worrying someone would hurt us. She told me there was a rumor of a place, far, far to the west, where wolves and humans lived together in harmony. They loved each other, she whispered, because that’s what pack was supposed to do.
And she told me other stories, little things that made me ache.
About how her grandfather had been sweet and loving. He would always give her fruit candies when no one was watching.
About the first time she shifted and saw the world in shades of wolf.
About how she had made mistakes, but she couldn’t be too angry because those mistakes had brought me to her.
She said that in a perfect world, my father would love us. He wouldn’t care what we were. That he wouldn’t have used her. That when I was born, things would have changed for him.
“No one can know the minds of men,” she said, her voice so bitter that I could taste it. “They tell you things, and you believe them because you don’t know any better.”
I would reach up and tell her not to cry.
Sometimes she even listened to me.
