Page 71 of Heart and Soul
“Not yet. But it’s close enough.”
I take deep, controlled breaths. “Okay…but…okay…” My brain is struggling to form thoughts. To know what to say. What to do. I just feel like running. All the way home. My wagon train home. “She was fine. We just had her birthday party. She was dancing with strippers.”
“Shayne, listen.”
“What happened?”
“Shayne.” He waits until I’ve focused my eyes on him. “Nothing happened. It’s her choice. She’s…she’s going to shift.”
“No.” I try to sound confident. Even defiant. “No!”
“At dawn.”
“Dawn…” I fall back against the truck. Jay grabs my arm to steady me.
Nolan shuffles his feet. He folds his arms. Unfolds them. “I’m sorry,” he mutters. “It doesn’t look like you were having such a good night to begin with. Bunica just told us today, or else I would have come sooner.”
“Don’t apologize,” Jay says. “That you came at all is…” After searching for the right words, he gives up and simply says, “Thank you.”
Nolan tugs awkwardly at his rolled shirtsleeve. Jay leans against the car next to me. Both men are waiting for me to find my voice again. I know what I want to ask, but the possible answer is too horrible to consider, let alone hear out loud.
Jay helps me to stall a few more moments, when he says, “I’m sorry, I don’t fully understand what’s happening, but I assume—when you say she’s going to shift at dawn—you’re talking about something like a funeral?”
“Something like that,” Nolan answers quietly.
Fighting back my fear, I finally spit out the words with a tremor in my voice. “Nolan, you have to give it to me straight. Is she doing this because of what happened? Because I left?”
Too quickly, he says, “No.”
“Did I do this?” I press.
More firmly this time, he states, “No, Shayne.”
“Because I’ll talk to her.”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what? Why is she doing this?”
“You know what she says at every birthday—that this is the year. Well, this is the year.”
“No, it’s not.”
“That’s all. It’s just time.”
“It’s not! I’ll talk to her.”
“Can’t do that, Shayne.”
“Just let me talk to her, Nolan. Five minutes.”
“We can’t.”
“Nolan, don’t.” I pull my hands into fists. “Don’t do this.”
“Can’t happen. It’s strictly pack only. That’s a given.”
Losing control of my senses, I lunge at him with my claws. Jay acts quickly to pull me back. “Hey, come on now. Easy. Ease down.”
