Page 57 of Raised By Wolves

She says, “So?” Then she leans over and sniffs him. “You stink.”

“I tried the chief’s cologne.” It was a mistake. He smells like fake pine trees. He should roll in something rotten to cover it up.

Mr. Johnston is waiting for them in the doorway of his office. His head looks especially shiny today. “Please, come in,” he says.

“What’s this about?” Kai demands.

“Just a few questions,” he says.

But Mr. Johnston’s not the one who’s going to be asking them. Sitting in the counselor’s office, on school chairs much too small for them, are the FBI agents who came to Chester’s house so early in the morning.

“Hello again, Holo,” says the gray-haired, grizzled one. “Kai.”

Kai spins around and tries to leave, but the little one’s too fast for her. He shoots up and grabs her arm. Leads her to another chair. “Sit,” he says. “Remember us? Rollins and Dunham?”

Of course Holo does. He remembers Rollins’s small, mean eyes and threatening posture. And Dunham’s lean, hungry face and gray, close-cropped hair. If it wasn’t a compliment, Holo would say there’s something wolfish about Dunham.

“Make yourself comfortable,” the older man says.

“Impossible,” Kai says.

“I just keep thinking about your stories,” Agent Dunhamsays. “About being raised up by a ferocious pack of predators. I want you to tell me more about it.”

Kai’s mouth is a thin hard line. She looks at Holo.You take this one, her eyes say.

Holo clears his throat. He still finds it hard to talk to anyone but Kai, Chester, and Lacey. And he doesn’t really want to tell these men about wolves. They won’t understand.

“I’m waiting,” Dunham says.

“That makes two of us,” says Rollins.

Holo stares down at his hands. “When you call them a pack, you make it sound like they’re a mob or something. But they’re just a family.” He remembers Ernie, and he clenches his fists. It’s easier to feel anger than sorrow. “They’re just parents and their kids, working together to survive.”

The death of an alpha can destroy a pack. It’s up to Beast to hold them together now.

“And how would you describe your relationship to this pack?” Dunham asks.

“They watched over us. They protected us. They brought food for us, the way you bring home food from the store for your family.”

“You’d think they’d’ve killed and eaten you,” Rollins says dryly. “I mean, you’d be so easy to catch.”

“Would you kill and eat your kids?” Holo shoots back.

Kai snickers, and Holo feels a surge of pride.

“How did you survive the winter?” Dunham asks.

“Wolves are like four-legged fur blankets,” Holo says. He smiles a little, remembering the nights he lay cuddled upbetween warm, luxuriously furry wolves, breathing in their musky, comforting scent, feeling their paws twitch in dreams. He’d dream of running. Hunting. Feasting.

“But prey must be scarce,” Dunham says.

“It’s harder to find, but it’s easier to catch,” Holo says. “A pronghorn can’t run very well in snow, but wolves’ paws are so big and fluffy they’re like—what do you call them? Snowshoes. And a wolf’s jaws can break bones.”

“This is all pretty fascinating,” Dunham says. “Okay, so the wolves fed you and kept you warm. But they sure as hell didn’t read Dr. Seuss books to you. So how are you going to explain that?”

Holo’s hands begin to sweat. “I’m not,” he says. He looks over at his sister. She nods almost invisibly at him.

You’re doing great, she seems to say.Don’t cave.

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