Chapter 7

I had more sympathy for Wolfie's recent outburst after I calmed my own wolf down and came back to my human senses. If the out-of-control rage I'd felt after reading the Tribunal's letter was a side effect of fully embracing my alpha abilities, then I wasn't entirely surprised that my mate had barked me into line. The strange part was that he hadn't done so more often.

Which made me wonder if I really wanted to share my mate's job. And made me yet more dubious about fully submitting to Wolfie's will with a claiming moon.

But soul searching quickly took a backseat to pack life. The shifters around me seemed to be accepting Ethan better now that Fen had stood up for him a time or two, but Cricket was less happy about her son's integration into our pack. "He's been acting...erratically," the aforementioned shifter informed me three days later during her usual state-of-the-pack morning report.

Spy master—yet another essential duty that my stepmother had carried over from the Chief's regime to my own. Cricket blended into the background so seamlessly that werewolves of all sexes and ages tended to talk freely in front of her...and then she passed along any relevant tidbits to her alpha when next we spoke.

I had to admit that I'd initially been dubious about allowing Cricket to continue this particular duty after my father turned wolf and left the pack in Wolfie's and my hands. But I was soon forced to admit that my stepmother's insights were usually right on the money and that they always came in handy.

Now, though, I hoped the observant shifter was just reacting like a typical overprotective mother when her son came out from under her protective thumb for the first time. Ethan probably had been staying up late out in the Barn with the other teenagers, maybe overdosing on video games and junk food. But I'd seen my brother interacting with Ember just the day before and the teenager had proven himself to be a kind-hearted and loyal member of our family beneath all those tattoos. Personally, I was more worried about the pack harming my brother than about my brother harming the pack.

Still, Cricket would probably have an easier time releasing her worries if we talked them over. So I drew her out. "Erratically how?" I asked as patiently as I could.

Empathizing with my stepmother wasn't as easy as it should have been that morning. After all, there were a dozen more important issues waiting for my attention, first on the list being a stop by Dale's clinic to see how the live trials of the so-called Fur-to-Feet drug were going—F2F for short. As the name suggested, the yahoos had gotten involved in the non-technical aspects of the pharmaceutical project. And my long-suffering brother-in-law had willingly allowed them to christen his medical cocktail, accepting their offer of performing guinea-pig duty during the testing phase as well.

Unfortunately, although I appreciated the young shifters' unwavering support for Ember, I had to admit to a little concern that one of them might accidentally jinx the whole operation with their well-intentioned but immature antics. Which is why I'd hoped to drop by Dale's office first thing this morning, rather than spending my time calming the nerves of a jittery stepmother.

"It's hard to explain," Cricket said, pulling me out of my own thoughts and returning to the topic of my little brother. She was obviously having a tough time pinning down a more solid piece of data than her own gut reaction. And, in any other scenario, her gut reaction would have been enough evidence for me. In this case though, I had a feeling that Cricket's intuition was being clouded by maternal urges, so I had a hard time taking her words seriously.

"Yesterday, he seemed unsteady on his feet," she ventured at last. "And when I dropped by the Barn, I caught him squeezing ketchup straight out of the container and into his mouth."

Yuck. Doesn't Ethan know that ketchup only looks like blood? my wolf asked.

"You know the kids like to challenge each other to eat strange foods, right?" I said, doing my best to soothe my stepmother while also attempting not to laugh at my lupine half's comment. Of all of the bits and pieces of pack culture bubbling to the surface in the Barn's melting-pot environment, this was one of the more disgusting but less dangerous youthful indiscretions. After all, while the yahoos were busy eating anchovies on ice cream, they weren't setting anything on fire. So I made a point to keep their larder well stocked.

"I know," Cricket agreed, her submissive wolf preventing her from naysaying my explanation. She'd probably noticed additional strange behaviors that made her feel the issue was worthy of bringing to my attention. But I trusted Ethan, and I was worried sick about Ember. So I cut our conversation short.

"I appreciate you telling me," I said instead of poo-pooing my stepmother's intuition further. "But don't worry—I'll look into it."

Then I took my leave in hopes I'd catch Dale before the yahoos fully invaded his testing lab.

***

I was too late, of course. The Barn rats—now including several of my young-adult relatives in addition to Wolfie's core yahoos—were fully ensconced in the largest room of the clinic by the time I arrived. There were wolves on the floor, two-legged shifters sitting on benches, and, inexplicably, helium balloons floating through the air. The last appeared to be simply toys, although I was pretty sure I'd noticed a few of the human-form shifters tying ribbons together in preparation for hoisting Ember aloft.

The bloodling would have to take care of herself, though, because my attention immediately went to the F2F trial taking place at the other end of the room. Dale was injecting the drug into a wolf's upper leg as I walked in, and the change back to a human Fen was nearly as rapid as my mate's shift had been in the other direction. The young woman's eyes met mine as I strode toward her, and I was relieved to see that she was just as alert as ever.

"How does it feel?" I asked. F2F was an obvious success, but I was still terrified of unwanted side effects harming the bloodling who now floated around the room beneath a bevy of balloons. Despite my worries about her future though, I had to hide a smile at seeing my favorite pup swimming through the air as if she were riding in a spaceship in zero G.

But I still had business to attend to. So I returned my attention to Fen and added, "Any side effects?"

"Just a headache," she responded. "Actually, it feels a lot like a forced shift from an alpha's command."

I raised my eyebrows at her answer, wondering how Fen would know what a forced shift felt like. She'd been too young to transform when Wolfie spirited her away with several other members of his hidebound pack in order to start a clan of his own. No way would Wolfie have forced a shift on an unwilling werewolf.

But the female yahoo had spent a couple of years roaming the countryside alone as a teen, I now recalled. And perhaps her experiences out in the wide world hadn't been entirely positive ones. Still, Fen didn't mention any traumas and I respected her privacy, so I just nodded and aimed my next question at Dale. "Has the drug affected anyone's ability to shift back without help?"

This was one of the issues I was most concerned about. Would injecting F2F into a wolfing too young to change forms on her own make it impossible for Ember to shift without the drug in the future? If so, I wasn't entirely sure the effort would be worthwhile, which would mean I needed to start hunting down another solution to counter Justin's challenge.

Too bad no viable alternatives came to mind.

But Dale didn't seem concerned about that potential issue. "No problems at all on that front," the doctor reassured me. "Of course, we don't know what would happen if F2F forced a shift in someone who hasn't yet come of age. Which is why, if you think it's acceptable, I'd like to try the drug next on someone just a little younger than Keith. That way we could test forced shifts on a teenager who can't change forms at will, but who would have the potential in the near future. Side effects should be more mild than we might see injecting the drug into Ember, but they would still warn us about possible future hazards."

My brother-in-law's face was grave now, and he angled his body away from the joviality that filled the rest of the room as he lowered his voice. Fen immediately glanced toward me, asking without words whether she should leave us alone, but I shook my head shortly in reply. No, I trusted the female yahoo to take part in our conversation. In fact, I looked forward to hearing what she had to say on the topic.

When Fen saw that I was waiting on her reaction, she spoke up. "I can think of two or three kids who'd be willing to risk it for Ember's sake. And I agree with Dale—it's the right thing to do. Any one of us would willingly accept the consequences if it meant keeping our favorite bloodling safe."

So I signed off on the next stage in the testing process. But I couldn't help wishing that there was some way to take the risk onto my own shoulders rather than outsourcing it to the pack at large.

And putting Ember in danger in the process.

***

Which is why I broke a promise to myself an hour later.

When he left, I'd silently vowed not to bother Wolfie while he was assisting Chase with Operation Childhood Sweetheart. My mate would call me, I knew, as soon as he had a free moment and access to cell towers. In the meantime, bugging him would likely only slow his return and get in his way.

But I still pulled out my phone that morning during a lull in pack business, locked the door, and dialed my mate's number. The call went directly to voice mail of course, but I spilled my guts anyway. I told Wolfie everything—about the Tribunal's demands, about my selection of peacekeeping as the best of a series of bad choices, and about Dale's efforts to ensure F2F was safe for use on bloodlings.

"But even if the drug won't physically harm her, I still don't know if this is the right thing to do," I murmured into the phone. It wasn't that I was afraid of being overheard, not in this sound-proofed office and not when every member of our clan respected a locked door. Instead, I was ashamed of admitting to my mate that I was choosing a course of action in his absence that I didn't think he would have selected had he been standing in my shoes. Surely Wolfie would find a way around precipitously transforming Ember into a human girl, especially after he'd made it clear how strongly he felt about the topic.

"I know you wanted Ember to spend her childhood as a wolf. And I'm not going against that on purpose," I continued. "But I just can't think of any other way to get Justin off our backs.

"So, if you get a minute, I hope you'll give me a call," I finished, sensing someone's approach even though I couldn't hear footsteps outside the confines of my office. Sure enough, when I flicked the lock and opened the door, Ethan stood waiting on the other side.

And he didn't look so good.

Despite myself, I had to admit that Cricket had been right. My half-brother wasn't as perky as he'd been when I picked him up at the boarding school a few days earlier. Instead, his eyes were now dilated and his gait was unsteady. Surely the teenager couldn't be drunk?

But the teenager's words weren't slurred when he opened his mouth. And the information he had to impart pushed any concern for my brother onto the back burner.

"The peacekeeper is here," Ethan informed me. "He's cutting Ember down from her balloons as we speak, and he wants to talk to you ASAP."

I could tell Ethan was judging me yet again for letting the Barn rats' antics continue. And I had to admit that Ember was definitely still being treated as a toy by our pack.

In this case, in fact, the oversight had flown back in my face much faster than expected. I could only imagine what the peacekeeper might think of my parenting skills and how that would affect my upcoming contest with Justin over guardianship of Ember.

So I dropped my phone into my pocket and broke into a sprint. Time to get a start on that damage control....