Page 20 of Season of the Wolf

“I kinda miss you,” he recited, doing his best impression of Roz. “But have fun with the guys and call me later,” he added as I snatched the phone from his hand.

He and Lucas got a laugh out of it, of course. To them, it was still strange how Roz had gone from being my sworn enemy to … well … ‘kinda missing me’.

They didn’t have to understand it, though. To me, tous,it made perfect sense. In so many ways, we were compatible. She was calm and level-headed, while I had a tendency to take things too seriously. We were opposites, but that’s why we worked.

I took a sec to text back, letting her know I missed her, too, and then un-paused the game.

“Things with y’all are getting pretty serious, huh?” Lucas asked.

I shrugged, having an answer, but being very much aware of the fact that he was only asking to mock me.

“So, how’s she feel about your new job?” This time it was Chris who asked, and, unlike Lucas, he wasn’t aiming to get under my skin.

I shrugged and waited until completing my touchdown to answer. “I’m sure she hates it, but she hasn’t said much. In her opinion, I should’ve ghosted when we came back from the U.P.”

In my peripheral, Chris nodded. “With how things are going, she might be right,” he scoffed.

We all noticed the changes—how the streets, stores, and schools were more crowded than they’d ever been. All the newcomers, theshifters,were hard to miss in such a small town. The Council was readying Seaton Falls for attack. Our quaint town nestled beside a waterfall, was likely soon to be marked in history as the site of one of the supernatural world’s bloodiest battles.

And yet … I hadn’t run away.

Maybe I was crazier than I thought.

“Where do they have you posted?” Lucas asked, chiming in again as I intercepted another of his sloppy passes.

I laughed, giving the most accurate answer I could. “As far away from Evie as possible.”

They both chuckled, understanding.

In the Council’s eyes—maybe in mine, too—I was a ticking timebomb, set to detonate at some unknown hour. So, the smartest thing to do was position me far from Evie’s house, with a team of experienced guards who I had no doubt would shoot me on site if I started freaking out. In fact, one had all but told me so during training.

So, there’s that …

“They’ve got me near the old warehouse, deep in the woods,” I clarified.

“Seen any action?” Chris asked

“Not too much. We get the occasional mutt wandering in, but nothing too crazy. They’ve gotten to be a bit more frequent over the couple weeks they’ve had me out there. I’m guessing because the Sovereign is sending them in to scout, report back.”

Neither spoke right away, probably thinking the same thing I was—that, soon, things here would change forever, and there wasn’t much of a chance they’d ever go back to being like they were.

“I, for one, just wish we could get it all over with, take the fight tohim,”was Lucas’ idea.

“You read my mind,” Chris concurred.

“Nah, they have to play it cool. The guy has some pretty powerful witches.” I’d seen as much with my own two eyes. “And who knows what else,” I added.

All our thoughts seemed to snag on that concept—that no one had any idea what the Sovereign had planned, what he had up his sleeve. All we could do was prepare ourselves for battle.

For war.

“And that’s game,” I gloated, patting Lucas on his head when I stood.

He pushed my hand away and I laughed, stepping over his outstretched legs as I passed between him and my grandfather’s old school TV set, which was even older than Richie, I guessed.

“Give yourself a pep talk while I’m in the bathroom,” I called back over my shoulder, rubbing in the fact that I beat him.

Again.

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