They didn’t need to do anything.
Four men walked from among the trees. All of them had their heads shaved. The one in the front, the Alpha, had a beard, dirty blond and full. He was the same size as the other two wolves, large and intimidating, moving with a grace he hadn’t had before. The fourth man moved with them, smaller than the others, but his tattoos were as bright as they’d ever been, the raven fluttering on his arm.
They all looked similar to each other. They wore dusty black jeans, scuffed boots. Worn jackets. The man with the tattoos had his sleeves pushed up, exposing the bright colors on his arms.
The other two wolves moved like they were orbiting their Alpha, never more than a foot or two away.
They approached slowly but surely, only stopping once their feet touched dirt. They took a formation much like our own, moving in sync with each other, the witch next to the Alpha, the two Betas on either side of them. It was practiced. They’d done it before. Many, many times.
They stopped.
We breathed.
Joe.
Carter.
Kelly.
Gordo.
Hey! Hey there! You! Hey, guy!
None of my pack moved from behind me, though I could feel how much Elizabeth and Mark wanted to. They were waiting.
&nb
sp; For me.
Who are you?
Because we weren’t one pack.
We were two.
Ox? Ox! Do you smell that?
Robbie’s hand tightened on my shoulder.
Joe, whose eyes had never left me from the moment he’d broken the tree line, glanced at Robbie’s hand. His hands twitched slightly and the skin around his eyes tightened briefly, but nothing more.
No, no, no. It’s something bigger.
The others were there. I understood that. My brothers Carter and Kelly. My friend and brother and father Gordo. They were there. I hadn’t seen them in thirty-eight months. They’d disappeared into the wild and left us behind.
But at that moment, I only saw Joe.
It’s you! Why do you smell like that?
He was larger than he’d ever been in the life I’d known him. Before. He was roughly my size, and carried the weight of the Alpha well. He’d once been tall and lean, still growing into the man he’d become. Now, he was thick, the muscles in his arms and legs straining against the coat and sleeves. His chest was broad and wide. We were probably the same height now.
Where did you come from? Do you live in the woods? What are you? We just got here. Finally. Where is your house?
This wasn’t the boy I’d known. The one I’d first found on the dirt road. This was an Alpha, pure and true. He was road worn, the dark circles under his eyes stark against his pale skin, but his strength showed even as he stood there. The clumsy boy I’d known was gone, at least physically. I didn’t know how much else of him remained.
We have to go see my mom and dad. They’ll know what this is. They know everything.
I didn’t know what to do.