Ox’s chest heaved. He said, “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Please,” Joe begged. “Please don’t leave me.”
Ox said, “Never. I’ll always….” Then, “Hello. I see you. I lost you, but now I found you again. Mom, I did it. I was brave. I was—” His face twisted as his body seized. He screamed as we struggled to hold down his arms and legs. The cords in his neck stood out, his eyes red and violet.
And then, in the distance, came the thunderous howl of a wolf.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Kelly whispered, “That… that sounded like—”
“It was,” another voice said.
We looked up.
There, standing on the dirt road, were the people of Green Creek, Aileen and Patrice at the front. We hadn’t even heard them approach. The wolves of Caswell were mixed in with the crowd, and their eyes were glowing.
But it was all the others that I looked to. The people of this town. Our people. They held each other up, some more injured than others. Their eyes were wide. Some of them were crying. But they stood true, even if their numbers had dwindled. Will should have been there, at the forefront.
Aileen said, “We must get to the clearing. Quickly now.”
“Why?” Joe asked in a broken voice, Ox muttering deliriously in his lap.
“Because of all dat you’ve done,” Patrice said quietly. “You’ve given everyting. It’s time for your territory to give you someting in return.”
We were weak. We were battered and bruised and broken. Rico could barely stand on his own. Chris and Tanner propped him up. Jessie’s back was shredded, but Dominique was there to hold her close. Mark pulled Gordo to his feet, his knees buckling. Joe tried to lift Ox on his own, but Ox screamed in pain. “I know,” Joe whispered. “I know. I’m trying. I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you.” He looked to me. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this on my own.”
I didn’t know how we were going to carry Ox. I was having a hard enough time just standing up. I gathered the last of my strength because Ox needed us. He needed all of us. We’d make it work.
I couldn’t speak when the people of Green Creek gently pushed us aside. They came forward, men and women surrounding Ox. They crouched next to him as Mom pulled Joe away.
One of the men said, “Keep him as even as you can. On three. One. Two. Three.”
They lifted him onto their shoulders.
Ox cried out for his mother, for his father.
His arms hung, spread wide from his body.
Blood dripped onto their arms. Their necks. Their f
aces.
They didn’t let him go.
The others took each of us by the hand, tugging us after our fallen Alpha. I looked over when someone took mine. Hillary. The woman who’d been standing with Will before he died. I asked, “Why are you doing this?”
And she said, “Because you’re our wolves.”
THEY LED US TOWARD THE CLEARING. Ox kept speaking, talking to ghosts that only he could see. Once, he laughed, a quiet chuckle that caused my eyes to burn.
He said, “Daddy, where are you going?”
He said, “There’s new people next door. A family.”
He said, “This is a dream. Ah god. This is a dream.”
He said, “You’re wearing a bow tie.”