Page 3 of The Wild Moon
“How’s life in the big city?” she asked, following me inside and closing the door behind her. “Are you still loving it there?”
“It’s great,” I said. “Wonderful. I’m really starting to find my place there, actually.”
I didn’t want Jo to worry about me.
“By Vir’s Oath,” Jo said, uttering a familiar shifter curse. “You have got to be theworstfucking liar I have ever met, Dan. Seriously. How do you expect me to believe that?”
“Blind hope and faith?” I replied deadpan. Okay, maybe I should have expected better of Jo.
“Tell me the truth,” she said in a more serious tone. “How are you doing? I know these visits aren’t enjoyable for you. But I care about you, Dan.”
“Thanks, Jo,” I said, flopping down on the old wooden couch covering the crayon marks, my usual lounging spot when I crashed at the Alustria household. “And the truth is, it’s been hard. Really hard. Making ends meet is tough. Some of my jobs have been rough.”
That was an understatement, I thought to myself, thankful that my shifter healing meant Jo would never know the truth. I didn’t want her to worry about me more than she already did.
“You know you can come back,” Jo said quietly. “You can stay here. With Dad and me.”
She didn’t mention her mother. We never did. It was easier that way.
“You know I can’t,” I said quietly. “Not here. I can’t be here anymore, Jo. It’s too painful. The memories. Ever since they disappeared, Jo, I … I can’t stop thinking about them. I can’t stop blaming myself.”
“Dan,” my best friend protested gently, telling me with that one word that I shouldn’t hate myself for what had happened. She didn’t need to say more to get the point across.
“I know,” I said. “But still. I have to try and find them.”
Jo nodded silently. She didn’t press me for more information. Like I said, BFF. She knew I didn’t want to talk about my search for my missing parents. After all, there was nothingtotalk about. They were gone, and there wasn’t a single clue about what had happened to them. I’d spent thousands of dollars over the past eight months trying to track them down to no avail.
I bit my lip as everything started to come back. Not now. I couldn’t handle the thoughts right now. I needed a new subject. Something that wouldn’t threaten to overwhelm me and send me into a spiral of depression and sadness.
“I’m excited to see you tonight,” I said, switching back to the big topic. “Finally, both of us will have shifted.”
“Yes!” Jo cried. “Me, too. Being eight months younger than you has never mattered more until now. I’ve beendyingto shift. To run with you under the moonlight, Dan.”
“And maybe find your Soulbound mate?” I teased.
“Maybe,” Jo admitted sheepishly. “You’re going to be there, though, right?”
“The entire way,” I promised.
Unlike me, Jo would not go through her Soulshift alone. No shifter should. That first meeting of wolf and human, transforming into the animal form, it was scary. Terrifying even. But I couldn’t speak to the part after. The forming of a Soulbond with another shifter.
After all, I’d been denied that particular pleasure. Eight months running now. Unheard of for a female shifter. They never went Unbound past their Soulshift. Only the males did that.
Not me.
I was determined that Jo would have someone there for her. Her Soulshift would not be traumatic.
Unlike my own.
“Thank you,” Jo said a bit sheepishly, clearly embarrassed but appreciative of my support.
“That’s what best friends are for,” I said. “Now, tell me what you’ve been up to since I last saw you!”
It would be best to distract her for the last few hours until the sun fell. At which point, we, and every other shifter in Seguin, would head to one location.
The Alpha’s house.
Isn’t life grand sometimes? Once a month, I get to come back to the place I hate and spend it in the company of the people who destroyed it.
