Page 46 of Wolf Reborn

Instead of voicing his worry, he asked, “What do you mean? I mean, sure, he’s pretty fucking special, but why this one thing?”

“He’s the promised wolf,” Graham answered.

The way he said it, Miles felt like the term was supposed to be capitalized. Clearly this was something important to Graham. But if it was actually important, why hadn’t Gavin mentioned it?

Sawyer looked over at Miles and very quickly rolled his eyes, then looked away.

“I saw that,” Graham said without looking up.

Sawyer stuck his tongue out at him.

“That too.”

“Meant you to see that one.” Sawyer gave a long, deep sigh and turned to Miles again. “Graham’s pack was all super-religious, growing up.”

“We believe in the wolf scriptures, if that’s what you mean,” Graham said, his tone mild and unaffected, as though Sawyer’s clear disbelief didn’t affect him at all. If they were talking about a religion, Graham clearly had a very healthy attachment to his. Belief, but not anger.

Still, a large part of Miles didn’t want to know what “the promised wolf” was. Gavin had never mentioned it. He seemed a little hesitant around Graham sometimes, in fact. Miles didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but it could be related.

Still, Miles wasn’t one for sticking his head in the sand when problems arose.

“Tell me about it,” he told Graham.

Though Sawyer sighed like someone had just said, “Read the state tax code aloud and then test me on it later,” he didn’t get up and leave. In Sawyer-speak, that meant he didn’t want to admit it, but he wanted to know too.

The look Graham shot their way said he knew Sawyer’s truth as well as Miles, but he also opted to keep his mouth shut about it.

“The prophecies are vague,” he admitted after a moment of silence, lips turned down in mild dissatisfaction. “They talk about how werewolves are hiding among humans now. About how we’re all part of a whole, but also separate from each other because we have to live in the shadows. Like Sawyer already told you, there’s no unity, just a loose pack affiliation, and most packs aren’t willing to back each other, let alone put their wellbeing on the line for one another.”

“That’s hardly Gavin’s problem,” Sawyer pointed out, and Miles was glad he didn’t have to do it. It was terrible, but what did it have to do with Gavin?

“Isn’t it?” Graham asked, looking up at them, the same calm demeanor in every line of his body. He was so relaxed, so happy, Miles was a little jealous. “It’s not his problem alone, of course, but the promised wolf is supposed to give us the unity we lack.”

Miles made a face at that. “And you think that’s Gavin.”

Graham looked up from his dough, surprised. “Oh yes. He’s the wolf who made himself.”

“He... what?”

“I guess he bit the alpha, not the other way around.” Sawyer shuddered and swiped a palm down his face. “Gotta say, just thinking about it squicks me. Gavin’s a stronger man than I am. I’d have just died.”

Miles figured that was probably true of most people, including other soldiers. “So that makes him the guy who’s supposed to unite werewolves?”

Graham nodded without looking up from his dough.

Maybe Miles was being naive or letting his privilege dictate his opinions, but he didn’t know why werewolves needed uniting. So far, it seemed like werewolves were in pretty damn good shape. Stronger, faster, and with better senses than humans, and then there was the ability to turn into freaking wolves.

He’d have said they didn’t have a sense of shared history, but that was because he’d come into a pack of wolves who had mostly been bitten. Their shared history involved a lot of each other, and not a species-wide identity. They didn’t have a promised wolf.

Of course, some wolves from other packs, like Graham and Sawyer, had joined them.

That was already a kind of unity, wasn’t it?

Miles turned to Sawyer. “What do packs usually do when a stranger comes into their territory?”

“Find out their intentions.” Sawyer cocked his head and made a face. “Usually then they give them a time limit and a hearty ‘get lost’ unless there’s some reason not to.”

“A reason like?”

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