Page 70 of The Wolf Professor

Finally, Max followed the other two wolves into a cave.

“This is the Felcin pack’s sacred burial cave,” Calvin explained.

Inside, a thousand prisms of light shone from the rocks, and stalactites glittered from the domed ceiling. Max wondered at the beauty of it, and how it came to be; he knew that even his sharp wolf eyesight could not make light from nothing.

“Where is the light coming from?” he asked, gazing around the cave.

“Fireflies,” Wade explained. Max looked harder and realized the ceiling was actually covered in the tiny creatures.

“Are they always here?” he thought-beamed incredulously.

“No. They fly in when they sense us approaching. Fireflies are spirit creatures to our wolf. They light up our sacred burial sites and often lead ogres away from us, blinding them by flying in swarms.”

Max shook his shaggy head in awe.

As they prowled through the cave complex, he noticed rock formations with strange markings on them, written in a language he did not comprehend. Were these werewolf graves?

Finally, Calvin led him to a headstone that looked grander, more recent than the rest, and they sank down on their flanks in front of it.

“Your father, Alec, is buried here,” Calvin communicated to him. Both his cousins prostrated themselves in front of the grave, muzzle on paws, eyes closed.

Max followed their lead, lowering his muzzle, and sank onto his huge front paws as the twinkling light of a thousand fireflies arched above his head.

Here, he paid homage to his father.

And to the wild wolf embedded in his own soul.

CHAPTER 26

“Oh—hi there, I remember you…” The girl with the piercings who was signing folks in tapped her nose, then pointed at Charlie. “Fangs and Claw wine bar—you were there with a nagi and a pixie.”

Charlie smiled. “You’ve got a great memory.” She frowned. “Taryn, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me. So glad you decided to attend.”

Charlie nodded, taking in Taryn’s face, seeing the similarities to Max in her sharp cheekbones and topaz eyes.

“Here, let me sign you in.” Taryn ran a black shellacked nail down a very long list of names. “Are we providing you with a partner/partners, or have you brought your own?” she asked.

“I have a plus one.”

Taryn’s pierced eyebrow rose. “Just one?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, okay, I see you on the list. You’re signed up for theTrue Mate Chase. And you’ve booked Love Shack 3 for two nights with champagne and breakfast, right?”

“Yes.” Charlie said, hoping she hadn’t been outrageously optimistic.

“Cool.” Taryn smiled. “You’ll both have the best time.”

Looking around, Charlie saw that the venue was brimming with a wide mix of species, all milling around in the lit-up grounds. A little troll sat on the back of a muscular centaur whipping his ass cheeks, the centaur happily displaying his rainbow-colored butt plug.

Other monsters were wearing bondage outfits, leather and chains, body parts joyfully exposed and covered with tattoos and piercings—it literally made Charlie blink.

A few folks were carrying ice skates. She asked Taryn about them.

“That’s a new feature this year,” Taryn explained. “A couple of krakens are up for grabs in the lake.”

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