Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

But I owed him more.

I owed him everything.

I moved toward him as he leaned against his cruiser in the autumn sunlight. He spread his legs, allowing me to step between them. His hands went to my hips, fingers tugging on the hem of my work shirt, my name stitched in red on my chest.

He said, “Hey,” and “Hi,” and “Hello,” and I knew I would do whatever it took. He never stopped fighting for me. I needed to do the same. For him. For myself.

For us.

I pressed my forehead against his, breathing him in, and it was grass and lake water and so much goddamn sunshine.

“I’m scared,” I whispered.

He said, “I know you are. But I’m going to be with you every step of the way. No matter what.”

He kissed me, warm and sweet.

Which, of course, was ruined a moment later when Chris and Tanner drove by, honking the horn, hollering out the open window. They slowed but didn’t stop. I flipped them off but never stopped kissing Kelly. I heard them laugh as the truck sped up, heading for the houses at the end of the lane.

“We got this,” Kelly said. “All right? We got this.”

I sighed. “I know. I just….” I shook my head. “What if this changes? You and me?”

“Then we adapt,” he said. “We grow. We learn. And we do it together. The two of us. I love you, Robbie. No matter who you are.”

We stayed there for a time.

Eventually we moved on.

That night we lay curled together in our bed in the blue house. He fell asleep first, and I watched him as the night stretched on.

“Okay,” I whispered to him. “Okay.”

Nightfall on an autumn evening.

The moon was full and bright.

The pack was together again.

We ran through the woods.

Into the clearing.

Bambi was there, laughing and trailing after a black wolf with white paws like socks (much to Rico’s dismay and Chris and Tanner’s delight). He was still learning, apt to stumble, not quite used to four legs. He’d learn. I thought Bambi would be pack, and soon. Jessie was making rumblings of needing to open up membership for Team Human, seeing as how the numbers had dwindled. Ox and Joe were going to talk to her in the coming weeks. I didn’t think they had anything to worry about. It probably didn’t hurt that Bambi was pregnant, though I didn’t think Rico knew. Elizabeth was the first to figure it out, given how her scent had changed. We were all waiting to see how long it would take Rico. Chris and Tanner had a bet going. Chris said it’d be another month or two. Tanner thought he wouldn’t know until he was actually holding the kid in his arms. And since it’d happened before Rico had been turned, the kid would be human.

A child.

In the Bennett pack.

Carter trailed after Kelly, rubbing up against him at every chance he got. I watched them from the sidelines, sitting with Patrice and Aileen. Carter was thinner than he’d been even a few weeks before. He had a haunted look in his eyes that never seemed to fade. Kelly was worried. I was too.

“You can run with them,” Aileen said quietly. “There’s still time, boyo.”

I shook my head, the itch of the full moon maddening. “It’s okay.”

“In your head,” Patrice said. “Stuck. What are you afraid of?”

“Most things.”