He grinned. “Thanks, Dad.”
I took a breath to stop from punching his face. He would have healed from it while I walked away with a broken hand anyway. “Okay. I’m not very good at talking. Or advice. Or much else.” Because if he needed it, if they needed me, then I’d do what I could.
“You do okay.”
I smiled at him. “Yeah?”
“Except for the part where you made out with Carter before Joe has ever gotten to tap that.”
Wolves snarled somewhere in the forest. I said, “That’s just swell.”
“JOE’S TAKING me out on a date,” I told Mom because I told her everything now. It seemed easier that way.
She said, “Oh? Where?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He might kill me a bear.”
She nodded. “Sounds about right. Well… have fun with that. I have to get to the diner. Don’t sleep with him yet.”
I almost fell over. “Uh. Okay?”
She sighed. “You want to, though.”
“Jesus Christ, Mom—”
“Do you need me to pick you up some condoms? I think I have a coupon.”
I banged my head on the kitchen table. “Please leave. Please.”
So she kissed me on the forehead and went to work.
WE WENT on a date.
It was awkward.
Not because of us.
Well. Not just because of us.
He knocked on the door.
I opened it even before he finished.
He said, “These are for you.” He handed me more mini muffins. And then he grumbled, “I couldn’t find any bears.”
I said, “That’s okay.” Because I didn’t honestly know what I would have done with a bear carcass.
He rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry.”
“So, mini muffins?”
He grinned brilliantly. “Mini muffins.”
“I am okay with that.”
“You look hot,” he blurted out. Then he frowned. “I mean, you look very nice. I am going to keep this classy. Mom told me to keep it classy.”
I glanced down. I was wearing jeans and a red button-up shirt. “Thanks?” I asked him. But I meant to tell him that, so I said, “Thanks.” And then, “You look very nice too.” Though my traitorous mouth almost said fuckable instead of nice. “I like your… pants.”
“My pants,” he said.
Gray slacks. Wool, maybe?
I stared at them.
And he said, “Really? Just what do you like about them? Maybe how they’d look on your floor?” His eyes widened. “Whoa. That sounded classier in my head.”
How had he moved that much closer without me noticing?
I could feel his breath on my cheek.
“We,” I said. “Uh. We should. Go?”
He said, “We could stay,” and his lips scraped against my cheek.
So I said, “Thanks for the muffins,” and stepped away.
He glared at me. “I can smell it, you know.”
And I said, “That’s not normal.”
He rolled his eyes and dragged me to Elizabeth’s car.
It was expensive. With so many buttons. I pressed one and my seat vibrated and I said, “Ooooh.”
We also went to the only fancy place in Green Creek. And by “fancy” I mean it was the only place that had tablecloths and folded napkins.
So of course Frankie was the waiter.
He said, “Hi, Joe!” with a big smile. He glanced at me. And grimaced. “And Ox.” It came out more stilted.
“I didn’t know,” Joe told me, eyes wide.
I said, “That’s okay.” Because it was. I didn’t care. Just because Frankie had gotten there first didn’t meant anything to me. “Hi, Frankie. It’s nice to see you again.”
Frankie ignored me and said, “So, how have you been? Haven’t seen you this summer. Excited about senior year?”
Joe said, “Things are good. I’ve been—”
And so I said, “I’d like a lemonade, and what are the specials?”
Frankie glared at me, and I thought Joe was about to laugh his stupid head off.
Frankie told us the specials. Sarcastically. And then turned back to Joe and said, “Sorry about that. You were saying?”
And Joe said, “Maybe give us some time to decide?”
Frankie said, “Are you sure?”
I said, “Yes.”
And so Frankie left.
Joe said, “That was awesome.”
I scowled at the menu. I didn’t know what half the things on it were. I just wanted a hamburger.
“You were jealous,” Joe crowed.
“No, I wasn’t.”
He kicked me under the table.
I ignored it because I’d just found hamburgers on the menu.
Joe said, “Ox.”
I stared at the menu.
“Ox. Ox. Ox.”
I said, “What!”
“So jealous,” he whispered.
Frankie brought back the lemonade. It spilled on the table when he set it down. He said, “Oops,” and set Joe’s water down carefully. And then he just stood there.
I said, “More time.”
Frankie looked at Joe.
Joe said, “Ox,” and he was amused.
And a woman behind me said, “Ox?”
Joe growled low in his chest. Frankie arched an eyebrow at him.
I turned. Jessie was being seated at a table behind us with a woman I didn’t recognize. I said, “Hi, Jessie.”
Frankie said, “So, Joe. I was thinking.”
Joe said, “Well, hey, Jessie.”
She looked over my shoulder. “Hey, Joe. It’s nice to see you.” There was a small smile on her face like she knew something I didn’t. She said, “Out on the town?” and I knew.
I said, “Yeah,” but kept my face and tone blank.
Frankie said, “Joe, I was thinking. There’s this—”
Joe said, “So, Jessie. I think I might have your class next semester.”
I said, “Oh no.”
Jessie said, “Is that right?”
Frankie said, “Yeah, me too,” and everyone but me ignored him. I tried to make him leave by willpower alone. It didn’t work.
“Should be exciting,” she said. “We’ll be reading some great books. Some cool projects going on. You can’t call me Jessie in class, though. You’ll need to call me—”
Joe said, “Is that right? I can hardly wait.” He didn’t sound like he meant that at all.
I said to Frankie, “We aren’t ready to order yet,” because he wasn’t getting the message.
The woman Jessie was with said, “Ox? Oh, isn’t that your…?” She trailed off, having the decency to blush.
“Yes,” Jessie said. “That’s Ox.”
“He’s so… big,” the woman said as if I wasn’t sitting right there. “Look at his hands.”
Everyone looked at my hands. I hid them in my lap.
Jessie grinned and said, “You know what they say about a man with big hands—”
“We’re on a date,” Joe said quite loudly.
Frankie said, “You’re what? But he’s so old.”
Jessie said, “You’re what? But he’s so young.”
Joe and I said, “Hey,” at the same time, sounding equally offended.
“He’s only twenty-three,” Joe said.
I said, “He’s almost eighteen.” And god, that argument sounded awful.
Frankie said, “I knew it. The whole time.” He looked pissed.
Jessie said, “I totally called this.” She looked amused and hurt. It was a weird combination.
I said, “You what?”
Joe said, “No. Frankie. It’s not like that. Okay, it was, but that’s not it.”
Frankie said, “Oh, please. You only talked about Ox every second of every day.”
Jessie said, “It was always Joe, Joe, Joe.”
“Don’t you have other tables to wait on?” I asked Frankie.
/>
“We are best friends,” Joe said to Jessie.
“No,” Frankie said. “Slow night.”
“Oh, I was always aware of that,” Jessie said. “Even when we were dating—”
Joe pressed his foot against mine as he growled. I pressed back. I saw a flicker of orange in his eyes.
I said, “Joe.”
He looked at me.
I said, “Stay with me.”
He said, “It’s too loud.”
I took his hand. It curled into mine. I felt the pinpricks of claws.
I said, “Joe.”
He said, “I need.”
I said, “Okay.”
Frankie said, “Joe, I—”
“Walk away,” I said. “Now.”
Jessie said, “Is he okay?”
I said, “He will be. Please, just go back to your dinner.”
Frankie walked away.
Jessie turned around.
I only had eyes for Joe. Always Joe.
His nostrils flared. He said, “You’re bleeding.”
I said, “It doesn’t hurt. You would never hurt me.”
Joe said, “Ox,” and I said, “Let’s go.”
So we left.
WE WALKED through the woods.
He took my hand in his and held it up to his face.
The skin was slightly swollen. A little red. Little flakes of dried blood littered my palm.
I stopped and waited for him to finish whatever he was doing.
He said, “I told you.”
“What?”
“Remember?”
“Yes, but what?”
“That I wanted to see your blood. That I wanted to taste it.”
I said, “Yes, but you’d never hurt me to do so.”
“How do you know?” And there was the flash of those Halloween eyes.
“Because I know you.”
And he stepped closer.
“I can hurt you,” he said.
“I know.”
“I have claws. And teeth.” His chest bumped mine.
“I know. You won’t scare me away, Joe.”
His gaze faltered. “I’m not—”
“Either that or you’re testing me.”
“Ox.”
I said, “No. You wanted this. You gave me your wolf. You came after me.”
“It’s not—”
“It’s not going to work.”
And there was fear there. Real fear. “What won’t?” he croaked.
“Scaring me away. I know what I’m in for. I would have run a long time ago if I couldn’t handle it. My daddy told me I was gonna get shit all my life. And fuck if I didn’t believe him. I don’t. Not anymore. So don’t give me your shit. I won’t take it. I won’t ever take it.”
His breath on my face.
This was Joe. And I was Ox.
His nose touched mine.
My hands found his waist. He shuddered under the touch.
He rumbled deep in his chest.
He said, “Mine.”
My cheek scraped against his.
The wolf growled, “Mine.” It was a great and terrible thing.
So I said, “Yeah. Joe. Yeah. Yes.”
And turned to kiss him.
But before our lips could brush together, a howl rose up, echoing through the trees. Birds took flight. The forest shook with it.
It was Thomas. Of that I had no doubt. Because I knew my Alpha.
But it was a song filled with such rage and despair that I staggered back, the pack bond bursting in my head and heart with red and blue.
And violet. So much violet that I was all but buried in it.
Joe’s eyes flared to life, and he sang out his response. I could hear the fear in it. Pure, cold fear. The song itself was Alpha red and Beta orange. And blue. So blue.
It died in the trees around us.
Everything was quiet as I struggled to breathe.
He said, “We have to hurry,” and his eyes blazed.
So we did.
And everything changed yet again.
word of warning/it’s a right
THERE WERE men at the Bennett house.
Men I’d never seen before.
They stood in front of the house next to black SUVs.
They heard us coming, and for a moment, their eyes glowed orange in the dark, and I wondered if Joe and I could take them. We were outnumbered but we weren’t weak. Thomas had seen to that.
It wasn’t necessary. Thomas came out onto the porch and growled lowly. The men stood down.
Another man came out from behind him.
Osmond. The man who’d come in the winter.
He said, “Be still. All of you.”
The men next to the SUVs turned away from Joe and me, eyes scanning the forest behind us.
Osmond said, “Where is your witch?”
Thomas said, “He’ll be here,” and I wondered what Gordo would have thought about that. Being called Thomas’s witch.
“What happened?” Joe demanded.
“Go inside,” Thomas said. “The pack is waiting.”
Joe looked like he was gathering steam to argue, but Thomas’s eyes flashed red and Joe said nothing. He stalked by his father and went into the house.
I moved to follow.
Thomas touched my shoulder and I paused.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“I know you were on your date.”
I shrugged. “This is important?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Then it’s okay.”
Thomas sighed. “Joe is very lucky.”
Osmond said, “Date? With Joe? Thomas, he’s a human and—”
Thomas had him pinned against the wall before I could even think to react. The Betas behind us growled out in response, but they came no farther. They may have had some loyalty to Osmond, but they knew their place.
Regardless, I moved until I stood with my back to Thomas, glaring at the wolves in front of me. I wouldn’t leave my Alpha unprotected.
“Word of warning,” Thomas said, voice even and cold. I glanced back at him over my shoulder. “You do not get to come into my territory, into my home, and pass judgment on things you know nothing about. My son has chosen. It doesn’t concern you. Speciesism has no place in Green Creek or in my pack.”
“But he’s to be the Alpha. What do you think—” He was cut off when Thomas half shifted, fangs descending, muscles expanding.
“It. Doesn’t. Concern. You,” Thomas said.
Osmond nodded.
“Apologize to Ox.”
Orange eyes.
Thomas growled, “Now.”
“I meant no offense,” Osmond said stiffly, glancing at me. “My apologies, Ox.”
I said nothing as I turned away from the wolves below us.
Thomas stepped away and Osmond slumped against the house. The Betas in the yard did nothing.
Thomas said, “Ox, join them inside if you would.” He never took his eyes off Osmond.
I touched his arm. “Are you sure? I could stay and help you.”
He smiled quietly. “It’ll just be a moment, Ox.”
I went inside.
The others were in the living room. Mark was standing, looking out the window, face pinched.
Elizabeth was speaking quietly to Joe, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Carter and Kelly stood up as soon as I entered and crowded around me. They were both rumbling low in their chests and I could feel it vibrating into me. I didn’t know if it was for my benefit or theirs.
“All right?” Kelly asked me.
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
Carter said, “No idea. Osmond and his bitches came and they went into Dad’s office. Five minutes later, Dad’s storming out, breaking the door off its hinges and howling for you and Joe to come home.”
I said, “Mom. Where’s my mom?”
“Gordo,” Kelly said. “He’s getti
ng her from work.”
“It’s bad?” Because they would know better than I.
They looked away.
Thomas came in. He ignored the rest of us and went to Joe and Elizabeth. I heard Joe say, “What happened?” but Thomas hushed him gently and told him to wait.
Osmond followed and he pointedly avoided my eyes.
It was only minutes later that a car approached outside. Osmond tensed, but Thomas said, “The witch and Ox’s mother.”
There was some growling outside, but I heard Gordo say, “Oh shut the fuck up before I burn your furry asses.”
Mom’s eyes were wide as she walked through the door. She sought me out and took my hand. I told her I didn’t know what was happening.
Gordo came in a moment later and stiffened slightly. “Osmond,” he said.
“Livingstone,” Osmond said, sounding just as formal.
“This isn’t going to be good, is it?”
Osmond sighed. “It never is, Gordo. I’m sorry it’s come to this. The—”
“Ox,” Thomas said.
I looked over at him as Osmond fell silent.
“Do you remember what I said? About tethers.”
He’d said many things about tethers. I told him as much.
He said, “They pull. In times of great uncertainty. They’ll pull. Like you’ve never felt them pull before. You’ll need to hold on as tightly as you can. Do you understand?”
“Thomas,” Gordo said with a scowl. “What the hell happened?”
Thomas ignored him. He only had eyes for me. “Do you understand?”
I said, “Yeah. Yes.” Because I did. I thought I did. I could feel the tension rising in the room and there were little flickers on my skin. In my head. My chest. Pulling me toward Joe. Toward Gordo. I touched these little strings that tied us together and sent back a wave of calm and peace and it’s okay we’re fine we’re all just fine because we’re pack pack pack, even if Gordo wasn’t. Not really. But he was tied to me. And I was tied to them.
“Tether?” Osmond asked. “Who?”
“Mine,” Joe said, eyes burning orange.
Gordo said, “And mine.” The raven on his arm glowed briefly and looked ready to take flight.
Osmond looked at me, head tilted. “Just who are you?”
“I’m Ox,” I said. “Just Ox. That’s all.”
For some reason, he didn’t look like he believed me. It was the strangest thing.
Thomas said, “Richard Collins has escaped,” and the air was sucked out of the room.