Chapter 47

Thankfully, Carter doesn’t question me further and only snorts—things like this happen when you spend too much time in the wolf’s skin. I walk to the bottle of water on the table and take a big gulp, only now paying attention to the hunger and thirst of my body. It doesn’t taste as good as the crystal clear water from a creek running through the rocks high up the mountain, but it’ll do.

“Should I call Gray?” Carter asks, and when I turn to him with a confused frown, he gestures at the wall. But my thoughts are too messy to catch up so I just stare at him, struggling to understand what he means.

“Why?”

This time, it’s Carter’s turn to look at me with confusion. "I thought you're gonna tell us about the pack."

Oh. Right. The pack which I left three days ago to find. Yeah, it’s definitely something worth sharing, so I nod and linger on the way to the bathroom. “What about Abel?”

Carter shrugs. “He’s with Rorie, I don’t know where.”

“Okay then, tell Gray to come in ten minutes. I wanna take a shower first.”

If you’ve ever spent four days without a shower, you should know what a damn blessing it is. My wolf spirit prefers to brush its muzzle through morning dew and put its paws into the cold stream of mountain water—but in human form, I’ll always choose hot water and soap over everything else. I don’t even know how much time I spend there, just reveling in the feeling of washing dirt and pieces of leaves off my body, but by the time I emerge from the bathroom Gray is already in our room, skimming through a book.

“Where’s Carter?” I ask when I notice that the youngest isn’t there. Gray doesn’t even care enough to look up and acknowledge my presence.

“Went to the diner.”

“Why?”

“To get something to eat. He said you were a little off.” He finally glances at me, but I only shrug and spread my arms—here I am, looking fine. Gray hums and returns to the book in his hands. He’s always like that—quiet and serious, especially since we arrived—so I don’t bother him anymore and check my phone for any news from our family instead.

A few minutes later, Carter barges in with two bags of takeout from Till Dawn. Ignoring the fleeting thought about Asya, I dive straight in. It is fun to hunt for deers and hares, but they don’t even come close to a fresh, tasty burger and fries. The wolf spirit in me huffs at the smell of oil and salt, but what can I say, we aren’t the same in everything.

“So?” Carter starts first after we settle around the only table in the room and deal with the first bag of takeout. It looks like the two of them had already had dinner before, so now I’m the only one to devour the food like an animal, only humming and nodding in response.

“Did you find them?”

I gesture for them to wait for a second, swallow a large piece of steak, and clear my throat with a gulp of cola. “So, it’s even better than I imagined.” I finish with my portion of fries, dust my hands off, and properly sit up to tell the story of the last few days. “There is a pack of wolf shifters a few miles up Fox mountain. I spent two days looking for them, and yesterday morning I caught a trail of two young wolves, a boy and a girl. It brought me to their settlement."

“It must be big if they have youngsters,” Gray murmurs, and I nod—that was exactly what I thought when I caught their scents for the first time.

New and small packs can’t allow themselves to have pups because they are too vulnerable and can be easy prey for other carnivores and humans. Take our pack as an example. Can you imagine any of us, say, Abel bringing a child into the pack? We wouldn’t be able to raise it properly or protect it from prying eyes, so young shifters weren't a good idea.

“It is old and, I think it used to be big,” I continue, going through my memories with a frown. “I didn’t go far into the settlement, but I saw a few cabins on the edges. They were solid and kept clean—but they were empty. Even more strange, I sneaked around to smell their marks, and I didn’t catch even a sniff of an adult wolf."

At that, Carter and Gray look up at me at the same time and with the same confusion in their eyes. “How can that be? Do they not have an alpha?”

I shrug—I haven’t had a chance to ask them personally yet—and voice my thoughts. "The only explanation I have is that they've lost their alpha, or he's too old and sick to take care of them."

"That's awful," Carter mutters with a frown a moment later, and I guess he is genuinely stricken by the thought. For someone as young as him, it is hard to imagine himself not being led by someone he can rely on. But Gray isn’t as easily impressed and only shrugs, swirling a cup of juice in his hands.

"But it's good for us. If Owen proves himself to be a good alpha, they will follow him—and you know what they say."

"A big family is a strong family," Carter says absentmindedly and with a thoughtful frown.

"Exactly.” Gray nods and turns to me, as calm as ever.

“Are you going to them again?"

"Yeah, but first, I have to…" Clear out the mess with Asya. "Have some rest and figure out how to live here. Have you found a job?"

They have. Carter excitedly talks about his position as a clerk at the local camping gear store while Gray just mentions that he has taken a position at an auto repair shop. We talk about their work and first impressions of the town folk for a bit more—while I try to figure out where I can find a place for myself—before Gray gets up to leave and we all kind of bid each other goodnight.

Despite the exhaustion of the last few days, I don’t fall asleep right away. Partially, it has to do with Carter who keeps watching something on his phone and giggling to himself—but mostly, it’s the thoughts about Asya that don’t let me go. Was she scared of me? Is she gonna tell everyone by morning? Shit, she could be calling the motel manager right now as I think about it, and I automatically listen to the noises from outside. But everything is as quiet as it can be next to a highway.

Okay, maybe I’m safe for now—but how long is it gonna last? What’s in her mind, and what am I supposed to do with it? I remain restless for a long time, longer than Carter’s snickers and the buzz of cars from outside, but the physical exhaustion takes over and I don’t even realize I’ve fallen asleep until the sun wakes me up from behind the open curtains.

As I lie in bed staring at the ceiling and mindlessly scratching my neck, the answer finally comes to me: I have to talk to Asya first. Just talk to her and explain what has happened. If she’s aware that she’s a witch, there should be no problems with revealing that I am a shapeshifter. If not… Well, then it may be a problem—but she couldn’t have missed the burst of her own magic, and it should give her a hint, right? From there, I can find a way to talk her into staying quiet.

Carter and Gray leave early for their shifts, and as soon as they are out of sight, I gather myself and hurry across the street to the bright colors of Till Dawn. Large windows let in plenty of sunlight from the valley, and the diner looks way prettier than I remember it, with the smell of fried eggs and toast in the air and sleepy truckers sipping on their coffee. Rorie is sitting by the counter with a cup of her own coffee and smiling at Abel on the other side, but as soon as the doorbell rings, she perks up—and greets me with a look of confusion.

“Oh, hey, Owen.” Abel turns to me with surprised eyes and holds out his hand while I exchange greeting nods with Rorie. “When did you come back?”

“Last night.” I shake his hand and glance between them. “Carter said you were busy.”

“Yeah, I was.” Abel grins and glances at Rorie, who flushes a shade of pink and gives him a glare before turning to me with the same displeased look.

“Anything for you, Owen?”

“Yes, Americano. And where is Asya?” It doesn’t come out very subtle, but what can I say, I’ve never been a delicate kind of person. Rorie eyes me with surprise, but it is Abel who answers me, probably not as clear-sighted as his mate.

“She’ll come for the afternoon shift. Around five, yes?” He turns to Rorie and she nods, albeit reluctantly.

“Yeah. Why are you asking, though?” There is a hint of suspicion in her voice as she squints at me and well, I guess

I deserve it. “I don’t think she’ll be happy to talk to you.”

Oh, trust me, I know. But should I tell them everything? I have only a moment to decide—before I shrug and pretend to be careless. “It’s nothing. Just, you know, I wanted to make a better first impression.”

I smile awkwardly, cursing myself when Rorie raises her eyebrows in surprise and Abel snickers. So now I have to pretend like I’m interested in Asya. Damn awesome. But as much as I trust Abel, I don’t want to talk about it even with him, not to mention Rorie who I’m seeing for only the second time in my life. It was me who messed up, so I want to deal with it without anyone knowing.