Page 16 of Planet Wolf

Or maybe it was the big gaping hole around my heart that seemed to be getting worse every day.

I sighed. It didn’t help to think about it. If anything, it only made it worse. I had to stay busy, and for the most part, I did. But every day there was a time that it was all just too much.

I forced myself up the stairs of my house, passing the wings that belonged to my cousins. Somewhere in the distances of the halls, someone else was laughing. The portrait of my grandmother watched me as I entered my room, or at least it felt that way. It had always seemed like her eyes were on me.

As though the painting were alive.

Well… I hope she likes my dress this evening.I was pretty sure she would’ve approved, since she always liked me to wear white. She herself felt she looked faded out in the shade, but she loved to see me in it. She would’ve loved the dress I planned to wear, if she’d attended the event—long, sleeveless, V-neck, and summery. I pulled my nearly black hair into a messy bun that wasn’t the rage anymore, but I liked how it looked. I finished it off with just a little bit of gloss.

My grandmother had been gorgeous until the day she died. I smirked at the memory. She once told me she would be the most beautiful corpse there ever was, and she wasn’t wrong. Patrice and a few of my other cousins giggled through the whole funeral when reminded of that remark.

I’d been too busy wondering if I would be next.

But I was still around. Every year, the doctors indicated it might be my last, yet I continued so far. I was strong despite everything. Well, I had been strong. Now I could feel the hole around my heart starting to take over. Three men, and I didn’t even know their names. I shook my head. Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. Humans weren’t allowed on Planet Wolf as a rule, and I was certainly not getting back there anytime soon.

What would I do if I could make it back? Start describing them to strangers and hope someone somewhere on the planet knew who I was talking about?

I had to let it go. I needed to focus on getting Doug elected, even if it felt more like a pipe dream every day. Or I could figure out another career for myself. Maybe I should go visit my mother, although she’d have no idea who I was.

I finished dressing and made my way downstairs. A car waited to take me to the governor’s, so I climbed in, feeling my loneliness more acutely than normal. Years ago, we would’ve all ridden to the event together, but we lived on the same estate and barely saw each other. All of my relations, gone on to have lives, and even though they loved me completely, I lived peripherally from the rest of them.

Unless I was having a medical incident, they didn’t pay that close of attention to my comings and goings anymore.As it should be, really. We’re all adults. It’s time for me to get a life.

Mine is supposed to be elsewhere.

I blinked. That kind of thinking wasn’t helpful.

The exhibit was booming by the time I arrived, and all of the people looked gorgeous as they mulled around Patrice’s paintings. She looked radiant in red, her blonde hair striking as she laughed at something one of the patrons said. Patrice was the most beautiful pregnant person I’d ever seen, and my lips curled upward at seeing her glowing.

Across the room, she caught my eye, and I winked at her before I began walking around the room. That fake laugh she did for the sake of putting others at ease always grated at my nerves. She knew it did, and it had become a joke between us over the years. Her husband hovered nearby, a glass of what I thought was whisky in his hand. He sipped it and nodded at me, acknowledging my presence.

I found a group of donors I knew and stopped to speak to them. After this night, I might sleep for two days, maybe three, but damn it, I’d raise money for the cause.

“You look so well, Esther.”

I knew that I didn’t, but I smiled. I hated when people said that to me, but I smiled at the woman and thanked her anyway. Goosebumps broke out on my arms, and I rubbed them. What was that about? I looked over the woman’s shoulder and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Nothing to my left, either.

But something was making me anxious.

“Excuse me,” I said to my companions. It was weird, I was just going to leave them, and there might be talk, but my senses were on high alert. I wasn’t going to be okay until I determined what it was that should have my attention. Patrice was okay. There’s Doug, in the corner talking to the governor... I counted all of my cousins and their spouses. Everyone was great.

So, what was…?

A hand touched my elbow and a deep, striking voice said my name. “Esther.”

I jerked around to see who had grabbed me and stopped short, my breath catching in my throat. It was him. Leader. In the flesh.Here. In the governor’s house.

When I could speak, which might have taken seconds or years, I managed to get out the word, “You,” in response to him.

He grinned. “Me,” he agreed.

I threw my arms around his neck, propriety be damned. He smelled exactly the same, even though he was wearing a tuxedo. Like the woods back on the Planet Wolf.Wait a second.

He was wearing a tuxedo.

I pulled back to look at him. He was the same, only cleaner. His hair had some sort of product in it, and he’d shaved. He was also absolutely fully clothed, including shoes.

“What are you doing here?”

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