Page 170 of Sigils & Spells

“My notes. Things she might be able to use to help you figure out what’s going on. “Sterling gave me a warm smile. “I hope you figure out what is happening to you. And even if you aren’t a werewolf, if you think it would be beneficial to you at all, feel free to come with Minho to a W. A. meeting. We spend a lot of time helping people who have been suddenly shoved from what they thought was the real world into this one. It can be a lot to handle.”

I nodded numbly. “Thank you.”

“Thanks Sterling.” Minho stood, and I followed suit. “I’m sorry to wake you up so early.”

The older man waved him off. “No problem. My gates are always open to my pack.”

Minho’s face shifted a little, and it looked almost like he was glowing. He looked proud. Like his father had just patted him on the back.

The two men led us to the door, and we thanked them as Kent handed me a baggie full of crackers.

* * *

When the doorsclosed behind the old werewolf couple, Minho and I looked out the front window and stared. Night was turning gray around us, and I could feel the dark circles hanging from my eyes like weights. The ease Sterling’s presence had brought me was gone.

“He’s cool.” I said finally. It didn’t seem to properly match how I felt about that man. In awe was more accurate. I’d met him for only a second, but I’d probably march off a cliff if he told me it would be okay. “So the people who come to the W.A. are like a pack?”

Minho rubbed his eyes aggressively with both fists, looking a little like a child. “Yeah. I love them. Not everyone that comes to the meetings are part of the pack. And there are members who don’t come to the meetings. The W.A. meetings are just for support. There is, like, a ritual for joining the pack. ”

He yawned. I yawned.

“How did he do that?”

“Do what?”

“I don’t know he just…” I rolled my hand, looking for the word, “he just felt so… important. Like he could have said anything and I would have had to listen. He felt calm, I guess. Being near him made me feel better?”

“Oh, right.” Minho started the car. “It’s because he’s the Alpha. They don’t work the same way they do in like those horny books. He’s not, like, dominant, I guess. Like I said, it works more like real wolves, he becomes like the parent of the pack. He’s the caretaker, and some werewolves just become an alpha, or a caretaker when they’re made. He doesn’t dominate, he guides and soothes, I guess. The effects work on everyone. That’s how he’s so rich, he’s a celebrity therapist.”

“Huh.” I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Just that I’d gladly tell that man every thought I’d ever had. Or even give him all my money if he told me he was proud of me. “Universal dad.”

“Basically.” Minho started towards home.

After a few minutes of dim sky and the flashing of trees out the window, I said, “What now?”

Minho yawned again. “Now we find Ruby. She’ll have the answers. She always does.”

“Oh yeah, what on earth does your girlfriend have to do with any of this?”

Minho’s face cracked into a little smile, “You’ll see.”

YOU’VE GOT TO BE SHIFTING ME

The sun had just crestedits head over a pink horizon when we pulled down the gravel driveway of the Brambles farm. Even so, a few people already milled around the animals and their pens. A distant moo mingled with the familiar snap and pop of gravel under the tires.

I’d been on the farm a few times. It was always picturesque and pleasant like something out ofLittle House on the Prairie. Minho and I had gone to school with Ruby, and we’d been almost friends for a few years when she and Minho dated in high school.

I recognized her as Minho’s truck came to a stop by the end of the driveway, near a pen where a few dairy cows dozed. Ruby stood at the end of the driveway like she’d been expecting us, a pissed looking rooster tucked under one of her arms like a misbehaving child.

I hadn’t seen Ruby since high school. She and Minho had only started dating a few months ago and we had just kept missing each other until now. She looked different but not unrecognizable. She’d always been small and slightly round, with not a single sharp edge on her. Even her glasses were big and round with thin wire frames. Her hair was shoulder length and pink. She’d always been cute, but the couple years since I’d seen her had done her well. She looked more comfortable in her skin than I remembered.

Minho hopped out of the truck before I did and I saw Ruby smile as he kissed her on the cheek.

I clambered out of the truck, catching the end of Ruby saying, “—this early in the morning?”

“What? I can’t just visit my girl?” He seemed revived by seeing her, but I was still just as sleepy and almost lost my balance as my feet hit the gravel. I could feel Ruby look at me.

“Julian?”

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