Yes. Yes I would.
The phone stopped ringing.
I breathed in. I breathed out.
And then the phone started ringing again.
I stared down at the screen.
UNKNOWN.
But was it? Was it really?
“Little wolf, little wolf,” I said. “Can’t you see?”
The skin between my neck and shoulder felt like it was on fire.
The phone beeped as I connected the call. I brought it to my ear. “Who is this?”
“Robbie? I need you to listen to me. We don’t have much time. You need to—”
“Shannon? Alpha Wells?”
“Yes,” she snapped. “Did you find him? Did you find the prisoner?”
The day grew brighter around me. I pressed a hand against the tree to ground me in reality. The membrane was thinner still. “Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“Kill him? What the fuck? No, I didn’t kill him. I don’t know who the hell you are, but you need to—”
“His name is Robert Livingstone,” Shannon said, and I fell silent. “A witch. And he’s the reason all of this is happening. To us. To you. You need to—”
The ground rolled beneath my feet. “He’s not—that’s not his name. I don’t know who that is, but he’s not who’s in the house.” Unless he was lying, but with the amount of effort it took and with the way his mind seemed destroyed, I didn’t think that was possible.
Silence. Then, “What?”
“The man. He’s a witch. But his name isn’t Robert Livingstone.”
“He talked to you?” Shannon demanded. “He told you his name? Jesus Christ, Robbie, he could be fucking with your head. They told us he was—goddammit. Who did he say he was?”
I am.
I am
I am—
“Dale.”
“No,” she whispered, sounding terrified. “No, no, no. Oh fuck, that’s…. That means…. Robbie. I need you to listen to me, okay? I know you don’t remember me. I know you don’t have any reason to trust me. But I need you to hear me.”
Would you hear me, dear?
My claws dug into the bark of the tree. Sap spilled over my fingers.
“We’ve met before. Days ago. You came to my house. You met my pack. Malik. John. Jimmy. He showed you his monster movies. You slept in my barn. You ate at my table.”
The colors of the world around me began to bleed together. My stomach clenched and my knees felt week. “I’ve never met you before in my life.”