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Jude’s wolf form leered at Graham for a moment before his eyes adjusted and he saw his friend—his leader—clutching his shoulder. “Crap! I’m sorry,” Jude’s almost human form cried out. “Why’d you jump out at me like that?”
Graham sighed at his own stupidity. Sometimes he had a mischievous streak and liked to play pranks on his friends and colleagues, though never to their detriment.
But Jude had not always been part of the Grimmaw pack. Before Tive took over, Jude had been the Sable pack’s alpha. They had come here to escape.
It had happened in the night, as Jude described it. One evening, the Sable pack was asleep, in a rural area a couple of states out, when a rival pack, who had sought territorial expansion, attacked their camp. The pack was twice their size and a lot crueler.
Many of Jude’s family and friends were slaughtered that night while he hid. He barely managed to escape, and found very few of his remaining pack members, who had only managed to conceal themselves through similar cowardice.
It was a moment of great shame for Jude—one he never let himself forget—and it was why, when coming here, he ultimately stepped down as alpha. The remaining members of the Sable pack didn’t think less of him for it, but the images of that night, and the choices he made, were seared into his brain.
Even here, Jude was terrified of being attacked and having his pack dismantled. He wore his trauma on his shoulder.
Remembering all this, Graham was mortified. “I don’t know how to begin to apologize, man. I’m so sorry.”
Jude sat down on a nearby bench, the wind harshly blowing the pond behind him. “I guess it’s okay.” Jude sighed. “Why’d you wander off?”
Graham gingerly approached the bench and then found a seat beside Jude. They both looked out at the night sky, the moon mere inches from fading.
“I got a little lost in thought…” Graham trailed off. He watched the silhouettes of his friends rushing through the cultivated forests around him.
Neither said anything, just observing the passage of time.
“Delilah’s pretty incredible, isn’t she?” Graham finally spoke.
Jude looked him in the eye. “I would hope so, given that she’s been your obsession for the last week.”
“But it’s all for the good of the pack, and all that,” Graham waved his beta off. “We can’t have a rogue shifter…”
“Running through the streets of the city on a full moon,” Jude interjected. “I know. That’s been all you’ve been saying lately.”
Graham shifted his mouth, trying to scratch his nose without actually touching it. “So if it wasn’t a big deal to you too, why’d you go along with it?”
“Itwasa big deal. You were right,” Jude said. “We can’t have a shifter running alone through the streets. There are too many dangers.” A silence took hold of the scene for a moment. “I just don’t think you were honest with yourself aboutwhyyou wanted to find her.”
“Oh yeah?” Graham quirked a brow. “Why was I trying to find her?”
“You were smitten,” Jude grinned. “Everybody with eyes could see it. From the moment you ran into her, you were hooked.”
“And what do you think?” Graham spoke up again after another awkward silence.
“I agree.” Jude nodded. “She’s very interesting. And I’d like to get to know her better.”
“As friends?”
Jude nodded.
“As more than friends?” Graham pressed.
Jude looked to the distant horizon. “All I know is that she’s carrying some pretty deep trauma, maybe more than she can handle. And as somebody who’s been through that, I want to help her through it. When you look at her,” Jude continued, “I think you see some enchanting, perfect, mysterious figure, like a fairy or a spirit of the woods. That’s not what I see. I see somebody trying their best to keep going, taking life one day at a time.”
As they sat alone on the bench together, quietly observing the sunrise, they came to the conclusion they should pursue Delilah.
Together.
Chapter 13
Jude
