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I might have accepted Claw—and, by extension, his pack—as part of my expedition. But that didn’t mean I had to spend the day with them.
“Come over for dinner,” Val suggested a couple of hours later. She’d bearded me in my lair—my home—and was currently giving me the hard sell. “Theta and Harry are going running to stock up on wolf time, but Claw and I have a movie date.”
“I don’t want to be a third wheel....”
“You won’t be a third wheel. Claw and I are brother and sister, not a bicycle.”
Val’s voice was so exasperated that I couldn’t help laughing and accepting her offer at face value. After all, I’d learned about their past in bits and pieces over the past three months, and what they’d told me matched her analysis of the situation.
Claw and Val hadn’t been born siblings. Instead, their acquaintance began ten years ago when Val had been a foster kid intrigued by the close-knit family outside her town’s borders. Unbeknownst to her, Claw was the younger son of an asshole alpha who used his dictatorial powers to keep the pack hidden from their human neighbors.
To cut a long story short, Val had snuck into wolf territory and seen Claw shifting. She’d gasped. He’d nabbed her. And, in typical Claw fashion, he’d extracted a promise of secrecy in lieu of the death penalty she’d rightfully earned.
Then his father caught wind of the leak. Claw was the spare, not the heir. The pack had been particularly unruly that season. Claw was hanged from a tree as a lesson to the rest of the clan.
“I did kiss Claw,” Val told me now, adding a new layer to the old story. “After I picked the lock in the cage they’d stuck me in, escaped, and cut him down.”
Her youthful intrepidness was inspiring. Still, my wolf growled. The picture in our head wasn’t Claw, barely surviving death by strangulation. Instead, my inner beast was taking offense at the long-ago display of affection.
“But there was no spark.” Val shrugged. “We’re brother and sister. I’ve told you this a million times. You’re 100% invited.”
My wolf was having none of it. She slunk into my belly, biting the insides of my gut as she progressed downwards.
I winced, pushing my hand into the pain and hoping she’d settle. When that didn’t work, I shook my head and rejected Val’s offer.
“Not this time,” I told her. “But thanks anyway.”
***
VAL WHEEDLED FOR A while longer, but eventually she gave in. And I was so intent upon managing my irascible wolf that I didn’t comment when my traitorous raven flew over to Val’s shoulder, leaving me alone in my home and my head.
Instead of ruminating, I plotted out our journey, gathering paperwork on a potential route and plan of attack once we arrived at Yellowstone. Barring another vision, there were two obvious spots to begin our explorations. Mummy Cave—easy to access, but picked over by archaeologists for generations—and the rumored living petroglyphs outside park boundaries that no outsider had ever been granted access to.
“What I need is an in with the Native American community,” I said aloud, waiting for Adena’s cawed response for far longer than I should have before remembering her abandonment. Shaking off my disappointment, I texted Patricia to expect me then headed back to campus.
No, I wasn’t searching for pack mates—companions. I was just getting a jump start on tomorrow by packing the van today.
My TA stood sentinel by the vehicle when I pulled up, clipboard in her hand and the rear compartment half-filled with lab items. “We’re all set,” she assured me. “If you want to check the list...?”
“No, I trust you.”
She glowed in response to my appreciation, a twenty-two-year-old ready to strike out on her own after this year’s graduation. The upcoming trip was a trial independence. A coveted test of her ability to spread her wings.
Being human was nothing like being part of a pack.
I stifled the twinge in my gut, uncertain whether it came from my wolf or my human half. Tossing my milk crate of paperwork in with the rest of the gear, I asked: “You don’t mind hanging onto the keys in case Suzy wants to stow her stuff early?”
“No problem. I live on campus. I’m only a couple of minutes away.” Patricia paused, smirked, then added. “Your boyfriend wants to drop off some stuff later too. I told him he was welcome. I assume that’s okay?”
“Sure.” Claw had no reason to stash supplies in the school van since he’d be taking his own vehicle. But he’d mentioned something about scent-marking to protect us from territorial werewolves. I hoped he didn’t intend to shift and pee on the seats.
“So...” Patricia raised her eyebrows, awaiting further instructions. If she’d been a wolf, her ears would have pricked forward. She was prepared for anything, while I was waiting for...what?
I shook my head, annoyed at my own foot-dragging. I should go home, take a long bath, get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow would be full of wolves and students. The smart move involved soaking up silence while I had the chance.
Inside my belly, my wolf snorted her disapproval. “See you tomorrow,” I told Patricia, heading back to my car.
***
HOURS LATER, I FELL asleep in PJs...and woke furry and running. Our nails clicked against cold asphalt. A chill March breeze bled through the shorter hairs lining our face.
What are you doing? I growled from within the wolf’s belly. Even my mind felt half lupine, or perhaps like I was dreaming. Rage and arousal danced across incorporeal skin.
Wait and see. Her reply didn’t come in the form of words, just tangible anticipation. Together, we leapt across a concrete planter then slid through a bush to arrive at a decidedly undreamy location—the archaeology-department parking lot.
In daylight, this expanse of pavement was mundane and boring. Now, it smelled of winter. Frost on dead grass. Layer upon layer of passing faculty and students. The harsh bite of car exhaust.
The silence of campus resembled the interior of Sleeping Beauty’s lair.
Before us, the van glowed white against the darkness. Its doors gaped open, as if someone had been packing then stepped away for a moment. I struggled to make sense of the vision, lost the thread of human rationalization as my wolf padded forward to sniff the closest tire.
Strength. Alpha wolf. Protection. Atop the customary salt and ammonia of a urine deposit lay Claw’s sandalwood-and-moss signature. This was a statement of ownership and warning. My wolf turned our back and added to the olfactory display.
Mine.
Then we were leaping through the large side door, mouth wide as we took in the roiling waves of scents around us. Not just Claw but also Harry and Theta had rolled across the seat cushions. They’d rubbed against head rests, breathed on windows, spread their aromas hither and yon.
Tomorrow, every student would end up smelling like werewolf. Unaware, they’d sit in these seats and be enfolded...just as I would be when I took my spot in the back.
Now, though, my wolf and I had a hard time considering the future. Instead, we nosed along the aisle until we found the one seat in the rear where Claw had focused the most attention. My water bottle sat in the cup holder just where I’d left it, but the faint hint of my aroma was long smothered by Claw’s recent efforts to claim this spot as his own.
Ours. The word was mine, the wolf’s, our shared conclusion. We barely managed to fit all four paws on the seat before flopping down and arching our back, rubbing against the arm rest like a catnip-drunk kitten.
The suede fabric stroked us like Claw’s fingers. We licked at the plastic wall panel and tasted alpha-wolf sweat.
Twisting into a contorted knot of pleasure, one eye came level with the gap leading to the rear storage compartment. My milk crate of paperwork was right where I’d left it, but a folder was pulled out. Papers spread across the surface.
Wait. What? I struggled to sit upright, to lean in closer so I could understand who had been going through my notes.
Don’t ruin this. Lupine emotions, not words, slapped my analytical mind backward. She scraped our chin against the cup holder where Claw’s thigh had made contact. She closed our eyes and panted up the joy of Claw’s scent.
Unfortunately, I was no longer there with her. We need to smell who’s been back there, I demanded. They only left for a minute. We need to figure out what’s going on.
Ruiner. My wolf smacked me with the annoyance of a hunter distracted. And this time I was knocked so deep into her belly that I faded all the way back to sleep.