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One little cub—a boy named Tony—crawled up my legs and chest, wrapping himself around me. He knocked my glasses askew as he shrieked that he didn’t want to be eaten, save me, Robbie, save me!
I laughed as I spun him around, the other children surrounding me and demanding that they have a turn. I growled playfully at them, baring my teeth. They did the same.
“I don’t know if I can save you,” I told Tony. “You might need to save me.”
Tony gasped. “I can do it! I’ve been learning! Watch!” He squinted at me, clenching his jaw until his face started to turn an alarming shade of red. And then, brief though it was, his eyes flashed orange.
“Wow,” I said. “Look at you. You’re doing so good. You’re going to make an amazing wolf one day.”
He squealed in delight, wriggling in my arms so much that I almost dropped him. The other children wanted to show me their eyes too, and most of them were able to flash the bright orange. The ones who couldn’t looked disappointed, but I told them it would happen when they were ready, and they grinned.
The wolf who had been chasing them—their teacher—growled lowly, and I set Tony down. The children took off toward the school.
“Handful, huh?” I asked the wolf.
She snorted, pressing up against me, and the bonds between us lit up. It was like a tight string plucked in the dark, reverberating in my head. I closed my eyes at the weight of it, and I—
(i see you)
I took a step back at the strange voice in my head.
I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t recognize it. It hadn’t come from anyone I knew. No one in the compound, at least. It echoed in the dark, and then it was gone.
The wolf cocked her head at me, and I felt the question she was asking without speaking.
I forced a smile. “I’m fine. Didn’t sleep very well last night. Big day. You know how I get.”
The wolf chuffed, scratching at the ground. She pressed against me once more, and her scent on my skin was sweet and warm. She lifted her head and pushed my glasses back up my face with her nose. The lenses fogged briefly, and she chuffed again as I scowled.
“Yeah, yeah. You’ve got a class to teach, Sonari. Get a move on.”
That thread between us was plucked again, and she trotted off, following the children.
I stared after her. I felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. I rubbed at my neck, fighting the urge to shift and run into the trees. It was an itch I couldn’t scratch. At least not yet. I had a job to do.
People—wolves and witches alike—waved at me as I walked through the compound. I called out greetings in response but didn’t stop to talk. I had places to be, people to see. They didn’t like it when I was late.
A few wolves didn’t acknowledge me, but I was used to it. I was in a position they thought I hadn’t earned, given how short of a time I’d been here. I didn’t give two shits what they thought. I had the trust of the Alpha of all and her witch, and that was all that mattered.
But most were friendly. They said my name like they were happy to see me, like I mattered. I breathed in the air of the compound and the forest, listening to the wolves moving around me, the day just beginning. It was like it always was since I’d arrived in Caswell. It was busy, so many moving parts working together.
There was a house set away from all the others, back in the trees. The children didn’t go near it. Most of the adults didn’t either. It was a normal house with dark green shutters and white paint on the siding. But standing next to it felt like moving through water, and it made me sneeze.
A wolf stood in front of the house, arms crossed over his considerable chest as he leaned against the door. He nodded at me as I approached. “Robbie.”
“Hey, Santos. Guard duty again?”
He squinted at me. “Luck of the draw.”
“Seems like you’re always lucky, then.”
He shrugged. “Someone’s gotta do it.” He jerked his head toward the door behind him. “It’s not like it’s tough. Guy can barely move. Just as long as I don’t have to clean him after he shits himself, I’m fine with it. There are worse jobs.”
The wards around the house made my skin crawl and my nose itch. I didn’t know how Santos could stand being so close to the barrier magic. A code, like a metaphysical keypad that only certain people had the combination to, would part the wards. Most didn’t go in unless Ezra was with them, and even then, it was quick in and quick out. You didn’t dwell with the prisoner. Monsters needed to be locked away for the good of all of us. Even so, I was curious about him, about what he’d done. Only a few people knew. I wasn’t one of them. “He talk at all?”
Santos slowly shook his head. “You know he doesn’t. Completely blank. Doesn’t even know who he is, much less where he’s at.” He got a strange look on his face. It wasn’t mean, but it was unpleasant. “Why do you care?”
I frowned. “I… don’t know. I don’t.”
