Green Creek had transformed.
Will had told me as much when we’d met in the diner, told me what they’d done, but hearing about it was one thing. Seeing it was something else entirely.
I knew about the metal grates that had been installed after Elijah. On the businesses. The houses. We’d paid for everything, wanting to make sure the people of our town were safe, come what may. No wolf could get in.
But they’d also been warded. The stench of magic was thick. Gordo. Aileen. Patrice. A handful of other trusted witches. Wolves couldn’t enter, but anything else would have a bitch of a time too. They weren’t meant to last, merely a stopgap.
I’d known about these.
I hadn’t known about everything else.
In the year I’d been gone, Green Creek had prepared for the worst.
On either side of the main thoroughfare, men and women stood on the roofs. Slats of metal had been built into the roofs on hinges. They’d pushed them up and locked them in place along the edges. They were four feet high and surrounded the roofs on all sides. The slats were interlocked and thick, inlaid with silver.
In the distance, along the one main road into Green Creek, barriers had been placed in the streets, along with signs saying the road was under construction and that entrance to the town was closed. It’d be fine for now, but not for the long term. Eventually someone would ask questions. We needed this to be over before that happened.
“Careful,” Will called down, sounding amused. He was standing on top of the hardware store. “Silver powder on the sidewalk.”
I looked up at him. He had a shotgun against his shoulder, and in his hand was a small circular bag that he tossed up and down. “And that?”
He shrugged. “Something Robbie came up with. Gordo helped. More silver powder. Very fine. Explodes into a cloud when it hits the ground. Can’t imagine what that feels like if a wolf inhales it.”
“Let’s not find out,” I muttered.
“You all right?”
“Why?”
He laughed. “Got a little spring in your step. And you’re not letting that boy of yours go.”
“He’s not my—”
“We’re mates,” Gavin told him. “We fucked and I bit him and he bit me and now we’re mates.” He sounded very proud of this fact.
The people on the roofs burst into laughter.
“Jesus Christ,” I groaned, trying to stop Gavin from stretching out the collar of his shirt to show them all the mark on his skin. He growled at me and did it anyway.
“Very nice,” Will said. “I should question your timing, but hey. Love is love, I guess. Might as well get it while you can.”
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to let this town be overrun.
But then Will’s expression softened. “Good on you, Carter. It’s about time you pulled your head out of your ass. Granted, not much you could have done about it when he was wolflike for all those years.” He frowned. “Unless that’s a thing. I don’t pretend to understand all there is to know about shape-shifters, but I don’t think I want to hear if you do the deed while shifted.”
I groaned as everyone looked toward us, obviously interested in hearing if that was true.
The woman next to Will said, “Furries. I learned about it on the internet.”
Will nodded as if that made sense. “Yeah. Ain’t much you can’t find on the internet. Well, I’ll tell you what. Furries, werewolves, whatever. We’re pretty accepting in Green Creek.” He paused, considering. “Except for the bad wolves that want to try to take from us. Then we shoot first and ask questions later. Ain’t that right?”
The people cheered in response.
“The kids?” I asked, desperate to get them back to the matters at hand.
“All in the bunker,” the woman said. Her name was Hillary, and though she looked like a sweet older woman, she was actually pretty fucking terrifying. After Elijah, she’d demanded to be included in protecting the town. Will had laughed in her face at the diner, until she picked up a steak knife off the table and hurled it. It’d flipped end over end before piercing the far wall, the handle quivering. “Made sure of it myself. Hung up Christmas decorations and everything. Even put presents down there for the little ones. They’ll be all right. We’ve got good people protecting them.”
I nodded before looking down the road. “Anything?”