“We have to get up,” Joe begged. “We have to get up and go. Mom’s waiting for you.”
“You’re going to be fine,” Thomas said. “It’ll hurt. For a while. But you’ll be fine.”
Joe shook his head. He grabbed his father’s hand and held it in his own. “I can’t do this,” he said. “I’m not ready.” He sounded so impossibly young.
“You are,” Thomas said. “You have been. It’s what we’ve been working toward. You’ve—”
There was a loud groan of bone and muscle. Then, Richard said, “I can save him, Joe. I can save him. You just need to give me what I want. I can help you. And him.”
Richard stood, nude and bloodied, eyes on Joe but unable to take a step forward because of Gordo’s magic.
“Don’t,” Thomas said, eyes never leaving his son. “Don’t listen. It’s not—”
“You don’t need it,” Richard said. “I can take this all away. Your father will be fine. I will be the Alpha, and I promise you that all of this will seem like a dream. You can go home, and you’ll never see me again.”
I didn’t need to be a wolf to know he was lying.
And for all he was worth, for all that he’d been through, for all the horror that he’d seen, Joe hesitated.
I saw it. It was small. But it was there.
Thomas saw it too.
But so did Richard.
And he smiled.
So I took a step forward and said, “Joe.”
Joe looked up at me, Halloween eyes bright and wet.
“He makes promises,” I said, “that he won’t be able to keep.”
Joe bit his lip. “But—”
“He’s human,” Richard said, voice dripping with disdain. “Even if he is pack. He doesn’t understand. He’ll never understand what you are. What you’re supposed to become. His kind are the reason any of this is happening at all. They betray you, Joe. They will always betray you.”
“I promised you,” I said, taking another step. “That it would always be you and me. That I would take care of you. That I would never lie to you.”
Tears tracked down his face.
“They can only lie!” Richard roared, smashing his fists against the barrier. “It’s all they are capable of!”
“Hurry up, Ox,” Gordo bit out through gritted teeth.
“You trusted me with your wolf before you even knew me,” I said. “Back when I thought I was nothing. But you showed me. You trusted me. And I’m asking you to do it again.”
His eyes were wide. His breath hitched in his chest.
He tore his gaze away from me and looked back down at his father.
“This isn’t the end,” Thomas whispered to him, voice barely able to be heard above Richard’s shouts. “You’ll see. I am so proud of you and what you have become. What you will become.”
“I can’t do this alone,” Joe wept. “I can’t—”
“And you won’t have to,” Thomas said. “Because an Alpha is nothing without his pack. And your pack will always be with you.”
“Ox!” Gordo cried in warning, and I looked over. He’d fallen to his knees, sweating heavily, chest rising and falling rapidly.