Ox.
Gavin said, “Not like you were. Magic broke. It’s different. You feel it now?”
Not like it used to be. But it was closer than I cared to admit. “No.”
“You lie. Smell different. Not Omega. But not Beta.”
“You don’t know what I was like before. You weren’t there. You only came when shit went crazy. When that hunter chick dragged—”
He whirled on me, hand raised, claws out.
I didn’t flinch.
He did. He stared at his hand in horror, claws receding. He slid away from me, putting space between us. “No. Don’t. Don’t talk about. About her. It’s not. It’s not. Don’t.”
I held up my hands. “Okay.”
“You need pack,” he said, curling in on himself. “You need home. Go. Before you can’t.”
I shook my head. “I told you, I’m not going to leave here without you.”
“I’m not going.”
“Then I guess we’re stuck here. You think you’re stubborn? Man, you haven’t seen anything yet. Where did you go last night? What happened to you?”
“Stop talking.”
“Fuck you. Did you go to Livingstone? Is he doing something to you?”
“Stop. Talking.”
“Make me.”
He said, “I heard you. Talking. To your brother. To Kelly. He’s not here.”
I recoiled. “That’s not…. It wasn’t anything. It’s—”
“You left him.”
Anger, bright and hot. “You left—”
Me.
I couldn’t get the word out.
“Make things worse,” he said, and I knew then what he was doing. What he was trying to force. “Robbie gone. Kelly sad. Robbie comes back. Kelly happy. Then you leave. Break him again. And now he’s ghost. In your head. I know ghosts. I see ghosts.”
Are you… are you real?
I felt cold. “What ghosts? Who do you see?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You hurt him. You hurt Kelly. Go home. Make him better. Make yourself better. Find pack.”
It dawned on me then what this meant. The hidden meaning behind his words, a gift I didn’t think he meant to give. “You remember.”
He lifted his head, eyes narrowing. “What?”
“You said Kelly. Kelly sad. Kelly happy. How do you know his name?”