I rolled my eyes and wrapped my good arm around his back. Kid was soft. “Yeah, yeah. Enough with the feelings, all right? We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
He stepped back, and his eyes were orange. “We’re going after her, aren’t we? Eventually.”
He wasn’t talking about Elijah. “Yeah. We are. You going to be okay with that?”
He didn’t hesitate. “This is my home. This is my pack. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I reached up and squeezed the back of his neck. “We’re lucky to have you, Robbie. Even if you insist on wearing those fucking glasses.”
He grinned at me.
OX SAID, “Do it.”
I kicked away the line of silver.
Pappas jumped forward, ready to bite and tear and—
Ox roared.
Pappas stopped.
He blinked, tilting his head toward Ox.
His eyes were violet.
Ox rumbled deep in his chest.
And Pappas listened.
GORDO GORDO gordo
“I know,” I told Mark, squatting in front of him. “I know.”
He pressed his head against my shoulder and breathed me in.
gordo gordo gordo
I WAS not a wolf.
But even I could feel the pull of the moon.
When I’d been alone, when all the wolves had left me behind, I hated it. I hated the way it stretched my skin tight. The way I always felt it overhead.
Eventually the bonds broke.
Eventually I didn’t feel the moon anymore.
But it wasn’t done with me. Not by a long shot.
Here, now, I felt it, maybe more so than ever before.
I was not a wolf.
But I was a part of them.
They were a part of me.
And the moon pulled.