Page 36 of Way of the Wolf

It was hard not to feel like a complete stranger as I drove closer. No, not a stranger. Anintruder. Normally, I would have called someone before visiting, but Mom didn’t have a phone, and there wasn’t cell reception out here anyway.

Before I reached the parking area, two huge gray wolves loped out of the trees. Big males, they each looked powerful enough to take down a buck by themselves—or rip the fender off my truck.

Since I was driving slowly, I didn’t have to slam on the brakes, but their appearance startled me. Were these more cousins? They seemed vaguely familiar, but after so many years, my memories had grown fuzzy. One was young, maybe young enough that I hadn’t met him before.

They stood in the driveway, facing me with their hackles up. They blocked the way.

Sweat dampened my palms where I gripped the wheel. I might have veered off, weaved through trees, and reached the cabin, but I trusted they would continue to impede me if I tried that.

“Guess I’m parking here.” I rolled down the window. “Either of you boys need a ride?” I pointed to an Uber sticker on my windshield.

Before all this craziness had started, I’d driven for the ride-sharing outfit a couple of evenings a week, earning extra on the side in an attempt to reach my financial goals. My truck was on the verge of falling out of their minimum requirements, but it could have carried numerous werewolves in the bed without trouble.

Neither pack member moved out of the road, tempted by my offer. The older wolf, a touch of white at his muzzle, curled his lips to show me his fangs. The younger gazed intently through the windshield. With curiosity? It was hard to tell. His nostrils twitched as he tested the air, maybe trying to figure out who I was. Or…whatI was? This close to needing another dose of the potion, I probably didn’t smell that different from a normal werewolf, but I didn’t know that for certain.

After turning off the truck, I grabbed the gift box and slid out. The brisk night air chilled me through my hoodie, and a touch of frost already edged the roots of trees. With the engine off, I had no trouble hearing the soft growls coming from the older wolf. The other cocked his head and looked at the box.

“I came to see my mother.” I pointed toward the cabin, a lamp glowing yellow behind one of the windows. “I’m her daughter, Luna.”

Both wolves changed, magic blurring the air around them, obscuring the details of the transformation. Soon, two men with powerful builds crouched in the driveway, naked.

The older man, with gray shot through his beard and a bald—or shaven—head, was familiar, though he’d had hair the last time I’d seen him. Marco was another cousin, Augustus’s older brother. Had he heard about Duncan and the fight yet? Or… I squinted at him. Had hebeenat the fight? One of the wolves in the woods?

“Weknowwho you are,” Marco said, his deep voice as much a snarl now as it had been as a wolf. “Traitor.”

I opened my mouth, wanting to protest that leaving home hadn’t been a betrayal to the family. I might have betrayedRaoul’sfamily… but they were long gone. My memory was fuzzy after all these years, but they hadn’t seemed to blame me for that night, for his end. Strange that my own family held more of a grudge.

“Ididn’t know,” the younger wolf said. “I’ve only heard about Aunt Umbra’s daughter.”

“That’s because you’re a baby, Emilio,” Marco said.

“I’m twenty-three.”

“A baby. And a runt at that. You’re lucky Tony doesn’t floss his teeth with you.”

“I’ve seen the gristle hanging from between his teeth. Tony doesn’t floss ever.” The younger man—Emilio—sniffed the air, as interested in the gift box now as he had been before. With a broad face and big ears, he reminded me more of a Labrador than a wolf.

Marco sniffed the air—no, he was sniffingme. “You smell so human, Luna.”

“Yeah, I get that all the time.”

He squinted at me. “You’re not welcome here. Not since youalteredyourself to mate with a human and have puny human offspring.”

More than being insulted on my children’s behalf, and my life choices, it bothered me that my cousins knew that much about what I’d been up to the last twenty-plus years. They hadn’t visited or called, so I’d assumed they’d mostly forgotten about me. But Augustus had mentioned my mother and aunt keeping tabs on me. Maybe it had all been innocuous, but I couldn’t help but think of the hidden cameras.

“The last I heard, this is my mother’s house, not yours,” I said. “Shecan tell me if I’m not welcome.”

Which she might very well do. I looked toward the cabin. Other than the light, there wasn’t much sign of life. That might be Marco's Jeep, not Mom’s.

“I’m sure she will,” Marco said. “You disappointed her. You disappointedeveryone.”

“It was more than two decades ago. What I chose to do with my life shouldn’t have affected you then, and I don’t know why you’re worrying about it now.”

“Because you areherein our forest with your alteredhumanness. And you didn’t have the offspring youshouldhave had, werewolf pups. You were supposed to mate with an alpha to make strong offspring. The pack isdying,Luna. All werewolves are. We’re losing our magic. You knew that even then, and you left anyway.”

“I had to after… After.” Memories whispered through my mind, of a moonlit autumn night not so different from this one, of frost crunching in the leaves under our paws as Raoul and I ran through the forest. Before our tempers had flared, we’d been on the hunt of an injured stag, our blood singing with all that it meant to be a wolf.

“His death didn’t change anything. More, it proved you were the alpha female, that you could have had any male—anywerewolfmale—you wished and produced strong offspring to carry on our lineage, our destiny. Instead, you sterilized yourself.” Scathing, Marco sneered as he looked me up and down.

---