Each of us had a place in the pack, including me. As much as I missed my life in the city, my place was here with them.
If they let me stay.
With so many wolves gathered outside, there was no telling what Ash might do.
Minutes passed, and still no sign of Ash. The noise on the other side of the doors was hard to read, the scents of more wolves sending me into a tailspin. It started with just the three, but then they were joined by four others.
As their scents continued to grow, I stepped closer to the door, straining to hear whatever Ash said on the other side.
“You need to trust her,” Fallen said, keeping her voice low as she stood beside me. “She’d never put you in any real danger.”
“I know.” Which was what worried me. “But what about her?”
“Regardless of what an Alpha may have done, no pack will attack them when they’re alone. Not unless they want to face the same judgment from the other packs in the area.”
“But I thought they were all here.”
“Some of them, yes. However, those to the north are absent. I haven’t been able to pick up any of their scents.”
The front door opened just then, causing me to jump in response. If wolves could go pale, that’s exactly what Ash would’ve done.
Her ears were low, her tail down, and when she walked, it was with more effort than usual.
When her eyes met mine, the ring around her iris flickered.
“They’ll speak to you now,” she said, her voice hoarse. “No matter what happens, just tell them what you told me.” When Fallen tried to join me, Ash stopped her. “Only Jo,” she said, her words full of regret. “They have no idea about your relationship with Jo and I’d like to keep it that way. At least until this is all over. The last thing we need on top of everything else is for the other packs to think you turned Jo because you fell in love with a human.”
“Man, talk about being insecure,” I said, pausing just inside the door.
Ash made a sound resembling a laugh. “If you’ve been in a pack as long as I have, you start to recognize the words that no one else dares to speak. They haven’t mentioned it yet, but if Coren brought their attention to us, then he must’ve seen you and Fallen on one of your runs.”
“But wolves run together all the time,” I argued.
“They do.”
She waited a moment more before stepping back outside with me walking close behind her. Outside the manor, the air was colder than I remembered. More than a dozen wolves gathered on the front lawn, their pelts ranging from timber, brown, and even white. The white one was the first to step forward, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Zander, this is Jo, our newest wolf. Jo, this is Zander. He leads the Thornpeak Pack.”
Stepping forward, I bowed my head, keeping my eyes on the ground. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I wish I could say the same.” His words were sharp, but the bitterness I expected to sense on him wasn’t there.
“This is the one that was turned?” he asked, his eyes locked on Ash.
“It’s complicated,” she said, struggling for words. “This is a very unique case as we’ve never heard about it happening before.”
“Explain.”
“Jo recently had a heart transplant and actually worked in the city. The hospital she worked at is one of the first to offer care to humans and wolves.”
“And you want me to believe that a human could survive from such a mistake?”
“We can’t believe it, either,” I said, taking a cautious step in his direction.
A low growl stopped me from taking another step.
“I mean no disrespect,” I said, doing my best to meet his gaze. “I simply want to explain. I have no idea how this happened. In all intents and purposes, it shouldn’t have ever been a thing. Humans and wolves have different markers, blood types, and a transplant such as this should never stick.”