Will chuckled. “That you are. And you’re right. Not just men.” He looked back at me. “What was I saying?”
“Something stupid,” I snarled at him.
“That’s right. Never knew anywhere else, really. Born here. My daddy owned the motel before I did and handed it off to me when he retired. And this is where I’ll die. You think I’d just pack up and run?”
“If you were smart, yes. I do.”
He squinted at me. “What about you?”
I was exasperated. “What about me?” There was a strange pressure in my head. I pressed my fingers against the sides of my skull.
“You could leave.” He nodded toward the window. “Take your pack and run. Hide out. Let us deal with whatever comes.”
I dropped my hands. “Are you out of your goddamn mind? Why the hell would we do that?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Because you love this place just as much as we do. This is our home. This is where we belong. And you’re part of this town, which means you belong to us too. Do you really think we’d just pack up and leave you to fight on your own?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I think.” I looked around to the others, sure I’d find a friendly face, someone who agreed with me. I would latch on to them and get them to help me change some minds.
I was met with a wall of silence and blank stares.
“What is wrong with all of you?” I demanded. “You could die. You remember what it was like when the hunters came. We got lucky then. I can’t promise we’ll get lucky again. For fuck’s sake. Some of you have children. Why the hell would you take that chance?”
“Don’t you worry about the kiddies,” Will said, and I jerked my head back toward him. “We’ve got a plan in place. We knew this could happen. Your Alphas prepared us.”
“What?”
Will was smug when he said, “After what happened to your pack in Caswell, Ox and Joe wanted to make sure the children could never be harmed again, or worse, be used against your pack or us. We built a bunker on Bennett land. Concrete walls inlaid with silver and some magical hinky-dink that Gordo and that woman witch made up. Aileen, I think her name was. First sign of trouble, those with kids know to bring ’em to the bunker, as well as the elderly. Enough food and water in there for at least three months.” He chuckled. “Cost a pretty penny, but your ma assured
us there was no cost too high for the safety of the people who can’t fight for themselves. Made some other alterations to the town too.”
“A fallout shelter,” I said in wonder. “You built a fallout shelter.”
He sat back against the booth, looking proud of himself. Everyone else in the diner looked the same. “We sure did. Kept it off the books. The people we brought in to build it just thought we were small-town kooks planning for the end of the world.” His face hardened. “Might as well think that’s the case. We’re with you, Carter. We’ve got your back. And the sooner you realize that, the better off we’ll be. We’re in this together.”
“You’re all fucking crazy,” I said faintly.
He arched an eyebrow. “And you’re a shape-shifter. We all have something, I guess.”
I lowered my head to the table, pressing my forehead against the surface, struggling to breathe. I was overwhelmed by these ridiculous people who had so blindly put their faith in us. Normal people would have run screaming the moment they’d seen me shift in the Lighthouse when a massive timber wolf was chasing after my pack. And to be fair, some had left Green Creek behind. But most had stayed and kept our secret.
“Why?” I muttered into the table. “Why are you doing this?”
I felt Will’s hand on the back of my head. It was a gentle touch. He said, “I told you once I knew your daddy. Didn’t always understand him, but I knew a good man when I saw one. He was kind to me when no one else was. Never you mind about what, but I never forgot it. And once my eyes were opened to what was really going on, I knew then what a great man he was. He ain’t here no more. We are. And we’ll fight until our last breath. You’re not alone, Carter. You never have been.”
I blinked against the sting of tears. I shuddered when people murmured around us, reaching out to touch my shoulders, the back of my neck, my hair. Their voices sounded like the wind, and though they weren’t pack, it sounded like they were in my head. They said, “We’re here” and “We’ve got your back” and “No one messes with our wolves” and, randomly, “I’m gonna fuck some shit up, you better believe it, you just watch me, I swear to god.”
I laughed wetly. These ridiculous people. Humans all, but how they sounded like wolves.
Eventually they subsided and stepped back.
I lifted my head as I wiped my eyes.
Will had a soft look on his face, craggy and wonderful. He said, “You see? Now. Let me tell you what else we’ve done to this town while you were gone. Might have a trick or two up our sleeves yet. I asked Ox to let me be the one to tell you so I could see the look on your face. Don’t let me down.”
I listened.
And in the end, I didn’t let him down.