I said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Please don’t disappear again. I need you.”
His expression crumpled as he rushed forward, stripping his coat off. He fell to his knees next to me, and then I was surrounded by the scent of him, and it was like he was there. It was like he was real. It felt like home, and I said, “Why are you crying? Please don’t. I can’t stand it when you cry.”
He said, “What happened to you? Oh my god, Carter, what happened to you?”
“I don’t know. Did I scare you?”
“You bastard,” he said, rubbing my arms through his coat, his face streaked with tears. “You fucking asshole. Do you know how long I’ve been—”
“I wish you were real,” I told him, needing him to understand. “I wish you were here so I could be strong again. So I can be brave again. My phone broke. I had your phone number, but it broke. I always wanted to call you. I howled. Did you know that? At the full moons. I howled for you to hear me just like I said I would.”
He said, “Stay here, don’t move, stay here.” And then he was up and running.
I did as he asked.
I stayed.
His coat was warm on my chest. It didn’t do much for my legs, but that was okay. I inhaled deeply and laughed at how odd this was. How strange. It was like he was real. It was like he was—
I sat up slowly at the sound of crashing through the trees.
It was coming toward me.
My legs were shaky as I stood.
Kelly appeared again. His eyes were wide, and he skidded to a stop when he saw me.
He said, “Carter?”
And it was then I heard it.
Something I hadn’t heard in a very long time.
His heart.
I heard his heartbeat.
Not-Kelly never had a beating heart, no matter how hard I tried.
Not-Kelly was a ghost, and ghosts didn’t have hearts.
But this Kelly did. It was the loudest sound in all the world.
And then someone else appeared beside him.
He was bigger than I remembered. Stronger. Greater. More. I felt it wash over me, Alpha Alpha Alpha.
I said, my voice fractured like glass, “Are you… are you real?”
And Joseph Bennett said, “Carter. You’re….” I watched as a single tear slid down from one of his red, red eyes.
Kelly’s shoulders shook.
Joe’s chest hitched.
I sank to my knees in the snow.
They came for me.