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“I wasn’t going to forget.” Graham smiled. “This is Sarah. She’s a big part of why any of this even worked.”
Delilah interjected. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve known Sarah for a very long time,” Graham said.
“Too long,” Dakota said, slightly uncomfortably.
“Back in the day, she helped us get Fang Tech off the ground,” Graham ignored the shifter’s interruption. “She knows a lot about a lot of things and helped us form our teams. She acts as head of marketing, head of sales, and a head of communication for just about every shop in Fang District and every sector of Fang Tech.”
“That’s pretty impressive!” Delilah grinned.
Dakota wandered away, seeming to be in a mood.
“Don’t mind him,” Sarah said as she waved toward Dakota. “He tends to act up around the time of the full moon.”
Sarah pursued him and Samson followed, just tagging along with the pair.
“Dakota gets a bit jealous of Graham’s relationship with her,” Jude said. “Sometimes, I think he wishes he was as close as those two used to be.”
Delilah had never seen Graham without much to say, but he tucked his hands into his pockets and nodded.
A dirt path ran through nearly the entire stretch of the park. On the way, statues commemorated historical figures, and Jude noted that many had secretly been old shifters. She also noticed a stream running through the park, several ponds, bird feeders, and abstract art pieces. The path was lit on all sides by street lamps, and as they approached, Delilah saw many birds playing near park benches before flying away at the sight of them.
Eventually, they came to a clearing filled with men and women. A few stood beside the reflective water surface of the pond, casting their lures. They stopped in front of a tall, lanky brown-haired man, who Delilah immediately recognized as a shifter, and a man whose black beard was quite pronounced, but who lacked any hair atop his head.
“Any bites?” Graham asked the lanky gentleman.
“Not today,” the tall man said. “Caught a couple small ones but not much.”
“This is Tive Daly,” Graham introduced the man. “And this is Delilah, our guest for the evening.”
Tive made a gesture like he wanted to reach out and shake her hand, were it not for the fishing pole he was currently using.
“Nice to meetcha,” Tive said. “This is Lunar Matthis, my beta.”
Delilah glanced at the balding, burly bearded man in the outdoor chair with confusion as he took a swig of beer. “These are the alpha and beta of the Sable pack,” Graham clarified. “Back in the day, they sought protection in the Fang District, and they’re partly responsible for bringing so many together here.”
“And that beer is strictly nonalcoholic. Right?” Graham asked Lunar, who shrugged. “Because you know the danger of drinking before a full moon.”
“Relax.” Lunar chuckled. “I know my liquor. I’d never get intoxicated before a run.”
Tive gazed at Graham apologetically, and Graham sighed and walked away. “He knows that if anything happens, they might be expelled from the district,” Graham said.
“He’s a free spirit,” Jude added.
“A reallystupidfree spirit,” Graham said.
Stars had become visible in the darkening evening sky, which impressed Delilah. She didn’t think you could see stars in the inner city. The moon had not yet risen.
Delilah was also taken aback by how well Graham and Jude seemed to interact with the other pack members and even the lone wolves. Back at the Deacon Claw pack, there was a clear pecking order. The alpha had no equal and treated anybody else as lesser.
They all approached a park shelter, where they undressed in preparation for the full moon. While the women all undressed in front of each other, Delilah was offered a stall to undress privately if she so chose. Having reluctantly come here, she agreed.
The changing room had a window, high on the wall opposite the door, which nobody could see through, and it allowed the faintest bit of evening light into the room.
At first, Delilah worried that this stall could even contain her wolf form. But as she hunched down, and instinctively, her body transformed, she realized it offered just enough clearance. One by one, in quite a civilized manner, the wolves exited the shelter and darted off into the night.
Delilah found Miranda’s wolf, her fur covered in braid-like structures with pink and green eyes, running alongside Graham and Jude. She could tell it was them by their scents.
