“What is your name?” I whispered, the memory of what I’d been told rising like a ghost. They’d killed the ones who’d attacked. They let the others go. We’d found one of them in the town of Portal. Gordo had— “Oh Jesus Christ. You were there. You were there. All this time. They knew you. They knew you.”
His eyes flashed, but all I felt from him was an ocean of blue. “Didn’t hurt them. Didn’t want to hurt them. I….” He took a step back. I couldn’t breathe. He said, “Left. Away, away, away. Caught. By hunter. By Elijah.” He spat her name like a curse. “Chain. Around neck. Always silver. Always choking. Dying. I wanted to die. But she wouldn’t let me.” He looked around wildly. “This house. Haunted. Only ghosts. Everything is haunting me.” He glared at me. “You’re haunting me. Gavin, Gavin, Gavin. That’s all you say. Why, Gavin, why. How, Gavin, how. You never stop.”
I was spiraling out of control, barely able to keep up. “I can’t.”
“I hear you,” he said. “Talking. To Kelly. To ghosts. He’s not real. Maybe you’re not real too. Dreaming. I’m dreaming. I want to wake up. I want to wake up. I want to wake up!”
He lurched forward, and I steeled myself for an impact. But he didn’t go for me. He flipped the old bed over. The rusty framed snapped. He went to the walls, claws extended as he tore into them, plaster breaking and raining down around him. It looked like snow in his hair.
I grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. He roared, kicking his feet up against the wall and pushing off, causing me to stagger backward. I kept upright and held on as tightly as I could. “Gavin, stop.”
He panted as he laid his head back on my shoulder, his cheek scraping against mine. The scent of him, of the wild and untamed forest, flooded my mouth. I wanted to bite into him. Make him bleed. Hurt him for hurting me.
He howled then, the cords on his neck sticking out in sharp relief. It made my skin vibrate, and I knew what it meant to want to wake up, to want to know this was real.
I said, “You’re not alone.”
I said, “Not anymore.”
I said, “I’m here. Okay?”
I said, “I’m here. I swear it.”
I said, “I’m real.”
He sagged against me, his skin too warm and slick, and as I whispered to him, as I told him again and again that I was real, I felt him shake and shudder.
I held on for dear life.
HE SAID, “I STAYED. Because I couldn’t run. Not anymore. Tired.”
I looked over at him sitting against the opposite wall in the small bedroom. He’d taken one of the ratty blankets off the remains of the bed and draped it over his shoulders. It was early afternoon, and winter sunlight filtered in through a broken window.
“In Green Creek.”
He nodded, blowing out the side of his mouth to get his hair off his face. “I remember. Bits and pieces before… before then. Like little flashes of light. Hunters. Elijah. Always moving. She was mean. And loud. Said we were her pets. No pet. I am no pet.”
I hesitated. Then, “The other wolf with you. With them. Did… did you know him?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. Just another wolf. Dead.”
I grimaced. “Yeah. Gordo was trying to—”
“Don’t care what Gordo does.”
“He’s your brother.”
“Witch,” Gavin growled. “Magic. I hate it. Hate all of it. Father magic. Hurt people. Gordo magic. Hurt people.”
“Only to protect himself and pack.”
Gavin glared at me. “Never anything else?”
I thought about the Omega in the alleyway. Gordo had said he’d let him live, but I hadn’t believed him. “No.”
“Liar.”
I was startled into a laugh. “Heard that?”