Page 153 of The Good Boys Club

Mash whimpered, the sound overloud in the vacuum of noise. Rita eventually let go of her grandson, and he dropped like a sack to the stone. His left legs twitched violently, his eyes were now locked tight, his tail was glued to his underside.

I wanted to run to him, help him, tell him everything would be okay, but I couldn’t move. Physically couldn’t move my paws. Couldn’t open my mouth to speak either, but I realised I was whining too.

Then beside me, Clem howled. And Sean, and Zach, and Kimmy, and some other random wolf, and another, until every single wolf, including Felix and Juno, were tilting their heads up to the full moon and crying out.

As though the noise was being dragged from my throat by an invisible force, I felt myself howling alongside them.

Mash stopped twitching and went deathly still, but the howling continued. It was almost sorrowful, lamenting. A song of sadness and finality.

Rita knelt next to him.

Please let him be okay.

Moments passed by . . . seconds or minutes, I couldn’t be sure. Time and space felt stretched, pulled, like toffee. Like Mash was close by, but he also seemed so small and far away and unreachable at the same time. The howling never ceased, yet somehow the noise died down until it was only whistling in my ears. I could see the puckered shapes of the wolves’ lips, but I could no longer hear them.

And then, abruptly, every strange sensation in my body stopped at once. No weird noises or time and space stretching. I could move my feet again.

Mash pushed himself to a standing position. His legs wobbled at first, like Felix’s had, but because of his size, it seemed so much more pronounced. He shook his coat and then looked at me.

He was the same as before the alpha call. Everything was the same, except . . . the air felt different.

Charged, electric, exciting.

All around me, wolves bent their front legs and dipped their heads in respect and deference towards the new alpha. For most of them, not their personal alpha, but the power Mash commanded was undeniable. I didn’t need to know anything about werewolf culture to understand these packs would follow him without question.

I felt myself bowing too. Not because some mysterious unknown force was making me, but because I wanted to. I wanted to show him solidarity. Show him he’d done a good job. That he would be incredible as my alpha.

That he’d been brave, was still brave, and that I supported him.

The crowd hushed and Mash spoke. “Wow, that was fucking weird.” Everybody laughed. I didn’t know how to explain it, but his voice sounded bolder, louder, more assertive. “I don’t really want to make a speech, and I realise I’m wasting your one night of the month to run around, sniff butts, and hump everything.” More laughter. “But I just wanted to say thank you for being here, and it will be an honour to serve you all. Now go and have fun. And while you’re at it, try to stay away from the ravine in the east clearing. I’ve got someone I need to make mine forever.”

Wolves bowed once again and scattered into the trees, barking, howling, yapping as they ran. Rita hugged her grandson and climbed down from the rock. She looked frailer than a few moments ago, her skin paler, her back a little more bent.

Unless it was simply that Mash seemed bigger, more powerful, more commanding.

Being an alpha suited him.

Rita got onto her mobility scooter and waited. Silently, she wiped tears from her cheeks and smiled at us. It felt like she was closing a chapter in her book. Now it was someone else’s turn to read.

Kimmy approached Mash. We were the only wolves remaining around the stone.

“I always knew you could do it,” she said, her voice quivering with her emotion. “You were brilliant.”

“Love you, Mam,” Mash said.

“Love you too, sunshine. Right, I need to get your nana indoors.” She turned to leave, but then bounded back over to us. “I’m so incredibly proud of you. My boy.” She looked at me. “My boys. Perfect little family.” She returned to Rita’s side, and the pair disappeared down the pathway.

“I’m already power drunk,” Mash said once we were alone.

“I have this strange urge to lie on my back and show you my belly,” I replied. “Come on, let’s go to the ravine. You need to make me yours permanently. And after that, I’ll fuck you as a wolf.”

The air was much crisper than last month, colder, and the night stiller. Stars twinkled overhead. The moons hung fat and round and perfect in the sky, unobstructed by even a wisp of a cloud. Even the trees had shed their leaves as though to give us a clearer view.

Mash rubbed the top of his head underneath my jaw. “It might hurt,” he said. “Everyone tells me it doesn’t hurt, but they also said that about my jabs when I was a kid, so I don’t believe a word of it. Apparently, the most important thing to remember is to do it with conviction. Don’t chicken out halfway through, okay?”

We were standing on the edge of the ravine, in a place I now mentally referred to as “our” place. The ground was bare, the dirt solidified through weeks of cool, dry, hardy weather.

“Don’t lose my nerve. Got it,” I said, voice breathy.

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