By Hook or by Wolf

We howl until our throats hurt and finally, we shift back, exhausted. Once I’m back in my human form, I stand silently, staring at the wall. Finally, I close my eyes and think about my next steps. There must be something I can do. I don’t know if there is, but I do know that standing here isn’t going to help me figure out what my next move should be, so I dress in the remnants of my clothes. They’re still slightly wearable. Sort of. My brothers follow suit and then quietly, slowly, we leave the jewel room. We close the door behind us and ensure that it’s locked.

“Who’s going to tell Mom?” I finally ask. The jewels that were taken were rare. My mother painstakingly chose them during her pregnancy with us. They’re not three individual jewels. Rather, the sapphire she chose was broken into three pieces and a portion was given to each brother. Part of the beauty of being triplets is that we’re joined in just about every way possible, including this.

“I’m the oldest,” Lee says. “I should be the one to tell her.”

“No,” Trevor says. He stops and looks at us both. Then he shakes his head. “We’re a team. This affects all of us. We should go to her together and explain what happened.”

None of us wants to do that.

Our mother is sometimes referred to as the Wolf Bitch of Starton.

She’s shrewd and manipulative as most mothers are, but more than that, she’s fierce. When my father died, the pack didn’t go the beta. Nope. My father’s pack went directly to my mother who told the beta that he could fight her for it.

Gerald is a smart man and he stood down. He’s still her right-hand guy, though, and there’s no doubt that when it’s my mother’s turn to pass away, Gerald will be ready to step up and lead the pack. He’s smart and kind: wise beyond his years. Something tells me that no matter what happens to our pack, everything is going to be just fine.

No matter who leads it will love it.

We’ve got a great group of shifters who are all dedicated to helping Starton be a more beautiful, more wonderful place.

My mother is no exception. She’s fierce and she’s strong, but she’s also incredibly gentle and very brave. She does everything she can to lead this pack to the best of her abilities. She’s quite wonderful in her own way, although I’m not alone in being afraid of her sometimes.

“You’re right,” Lee finally says after some consideration. “And I don’t want you to be, but you are.”

“Of course, I’m right,” I say. “It just makes sense.”

“Shall we go now?” Trevor asks reluctantly.

“No time like the present,” I mutter.

Together we head out to our vehicles. Lee walked over to the gallery, so he rides with me in the car while Trevor hops on his motorcycle. We drive across town to Mother’s office. She’s got the top floor in a high rise overlooking the city. Technically, she’s also the owner of Claw Real Estate, but she leaves that entirely to Lee and me to run. Mom prefers to spend her time on other endeavors, so she’s in charge of Claw Enterprises, which is basically the head company for every other business she owns, including Claw and Sons, Claw and Friends, Claw Brokerage, and Claw Dining.

It’s a bit extravagant, really.

The fact that she runs an empire and manages to find time for pack runs is beyond me, but there you go. That’s our Mom.

We head inside the lobby, wave to the receptionist who doesn’t even seem to notice our disheveled appearances, and climb into the elevator. I press a button and it moves up, gliding carefully toward my mother’s office. Dread fills my stomach and I know my brothers are just as nervous as I am. It’s not that seeing Mother is going to be annoying or horrible. It’s just that telling your Mom something precious has been lost isn’t a very fun way to spend a day. Not when there are so many other wonderful things to do in the world. Telling Mom about the jewel is literally the last thing I want to do.

The doors open directly into her office and step out of the elevator in unison.

To my surprise, my mother doesn’t seem like her usual, vibrant self. She doesn’t seem as strong and bright as she always does. If anything, she seems a little bit...sad.

What could be wrong?

My brothers pick up on it, too.

“Mother?” Trevor, ever the sensitive one, moves over to her and reaches for Mom. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she waves him off. “I’m just a little bit tired.”

There’s more to it than that.

“Get dressed, will you?” She asks, motioning toward a wardrobe in the corner of the office. She keeps a supply of clothing here because you never know when someone is going to need to shift unexpectedly. My brothers and I each grab an outfit, go into the attached dressing room, and change quickly. When we come back out, my mother still looks somber.

“Did something happen with the company?” I ask. “Is everything going okay? Stock prices didn’t fall, did they?” Again, I glance at my wrist, but my device hasn’t given me any alerts about stocks dropping or investments failing.

What’s the problem, then?

Lee and Trevor eye my mother, considering her.