Wolf Bargain (Wolfish 3)

The boys look at their father with eyes that are filled with a deep respect. I don’t think they’ve ever heard him speak about his brother in such bold and simple terms.

He’s right; Remus needs to be put down.

“See?” Vivian teases. “So, stop flattering yourself. You’re not that important.”

This time, though she means well, her words fall flat. I might not be the only reason Remus and his pack descend on us now, but I am the reason they’re here tonight.

As Remus’ pack gets closer, the nervous energy around our pack gets higher.

It gets so high that it starts to feel as if even the ground beneath our feet is vibrating. It vibrates louder and louder until … it’s not just like it’s vibrating. It’s not just energy. These vibrations have started to feel more like movement, as if the hill is moving to a steady beat. It’s almost like the pounding of footsteps growing closer.

And then Vivian turns her head over her shoulder, and everything changes as her voice calls out in surprise.

“Look!”

We all turn around to see what she is pointing to, to see what’s making it feel as though the hill itself is thrumming.

My jaw drops when I see all of the people walking toward us from the opposite side of the hill. There are more than I can count, more than I can see, and certainly more than Remus has marching up the hill with him. Even with his growing numbers.

There are people coming onto the top of the hill from all sides around us except for the single direction in front of us where Remus is positioning his pack. The boys look around at all of them in astonishment and when they reach within a few feet of us, they stop.

A few of them walk forward and Romulus steps ahead to meet them. A woman puts her hand out to shake hands with Romulus and I watch as he smiles at her with the most grateful and happy smile that I have ever seen him have.

“You came,” he says.

And in that instant, I know what’s happened.

The other packs heeded his call after all.

31

Sabrina

Almost all of the other packs that Romulus reached out to are now here standing before us. I can’t believe it, and from the looks on the boys’ faces, neither can they.

Maybe all is not lost.

“I didn’t know if you would come,” Romulus says, looking between the faces of the other pack leaders.

“I have to admit,” the woman before him says, “we were all a bit reluctant at first, but we all owe you an apology for our hesitation. When we heard about what you were doing … we knew that we had to come and help you.”

A man beside her starts to nod his head.

“You have helped us all,” he says to Romulus. “You have spent decades of work helping all of the packs in the alliance. If you are willing to accept the human girl, then so are we. It’s the least that we can do to repay you for all that you have done for us.”

Romulus reaches out with two hands to shake the man’s hand.

There’s a sincerity to his voice that makes a lump rise in my throat.

“Thank you.”

For saving us.

Or, at the very least, giving us a chance.

“You lost your pack once,” the woman says, “and you spent near the last century building and protecting others so that the same thing didn’t happen to any of us. As far as we’re concerned, you are the head of all of our packs. We will follow you into any fight that you need us for. We would all die to protect you if need be, Romulus.”

Vivian turns back around to keep an eye on Remus and his pack, who are now nearly at the top of the hill. They’ve slowed slightly at the sight of our ever-increasing numbers.