Epilogue #2
“It’s really like that,” Bay assured him. The steady confidence in his voice lifted chills up her spine.
She’d never heard his voice sound so terrifying. He wasn’t the little undersized seventh grader giving her dandelion flowers anymore. He really was grown enough.
Nory reached her and pulled her by the hand toward the porch. Delta and Destiny were speeding this way on four-wheelers, and Bridger had inched toward the front of the truck, closer to the fight.
Zane jammed a finger at Bridger. “I know you.”
Bridger didn’t answer. He just offered Zane un unsettling smile.
Zane was backing toward his car. “You know what, fuck you, Bay. You ungrateful pup. Now I remember why I didn’t want you. You were a disappointment from the day you were born. Shameful having a son like you. You’re weak.”
“Change right now, or leave right now,” Tabian said, advancing on him with Bay.
“Fuck this. It’s not worth my time,” Zane said, and yanked his car door open.
Silently, the Pack watched as the car spun out and sped out of there.
No one moved until the engine sounds faded to nothing.
Bay hung his head and stared angrily at the ground. Tabian reached over and gripped the back of his neck, said something to him, and twitched his head toward the woods. Bay glanced at her and said, “I’m okay.”
She was standing so still, her hand over her heart as it raced. What awful things for that boy to hear from his father. Those were words that would haunt.
Bay strode for the woods and his wolf exploded out of him before he even reached the tree line.
Dammit, that was his best pair of jeans, and now it was just tatters of denim.
She was going to have to go shopping again.
She one hundred percent blamed that on Zane.
Asshole has some nerve showing up here wanting money from Tabian.
He really thought they were going to give him money for Bayen? What was wrong with him?
“I’ve got him,” Tabian told her, and headed for the woods. “I love you, Tru,” he said over his shoulder.
“I love you too.”
Liam nodded at her and then followed them.
Bridger said, “I’ll stay with the girls,” but he didn’t move any closer. He just stayed by the truck, looking out at the woods. She guessed he was waiting to see if Zane would return.
Nory told her, “Bay will need to run some steam off. The boys will probably do a hunt with him and wear his wolf out a bit. He’ll be okay. It’s hard on them to pull off a fight when the wolf is ready.
“What’s up, sluts,” Vic said from out of nowhere.
Tru startled hard. “Geez, Vic, where did you come from?”
“My mother’s womb, but before that, I was just a little sperm, swimming around—”
“Oh my gosh, stop talking,” Nory told him.
“How’s Alien?”
“Once again, we aren’t naming the baby Alien,” Tru gritted out.
“I’m going to be calling him Alien. It can be his nickname. Don’t you think babies look like aliens when they’re born? I already bought him a video game console. I’m using it while he grows up though.”
“Why don’t you go Change with the Pack?” Nory asked tiredly.
“Wait, the Pack is Changing?”
“Yep,” Tru said. Already she’d seen Lyric and Delta and Destiny slip into the woods right behind Dodger and Nathan.
A howl lifted into the air.
Vic gasped dramatically and started speedwalking toward the woods. “Bye bye, bit—”
“No!” Nory demanded.
“Bitch is the proper term for female dogs,” Vic defended himself.
“Well, we are humans. We don’t like the word. I’m telling Lyric.”
“Don’t! I’ll be good! Bye, Alien!” He disappeared into the woods as Tru bit back a smile.
“That stupid nickname is probably going to stick, just so you know,” Nory muttered as she sat down on the porch stairs.
Tru sat down beside her and rested her head against Nory’s shoulder. They’d become dear friends over the past year.
“I hope Bay is okay.”
“Have you met him? Toughest kid I know,” Nory said. “I bet he would’ve won that fight.”
“I know he would’ve. Zane wouldn’t ever back down unless he knew he was beat. He couldn’t get out of here fast enough.”
“Bay’s not a little boy anymore.”
Tru pouted out her lip and shook her head against Nory’s shoulder. “Nope.”
Another howl lifted into the air, and Nory said, “That’s Liam.” They could recognize all of the wolves by their howl by now. On nights that the wolves changed, she usually spent time with Nory. It was tradition.
Something had struck her though in that encounter. “Hey, Bridger?”
He looked over at them, his eyes still glowing.
“What did Zane mean that he knows you?”
Bridger didn’t answer. He just shrugged and returned his attention to the mouth of the clearing where Zane’s car had disappeared.
Strange. But Zane knew a lot of people. That came along with being kicked out of a bunch of Packs.
The fireflies were really putting on a show now as the last rays of sunlight faded from the sky. Liam had said he hadn’t seen fireflies here in several years, but this year for some reason they were attracted to something in these woods.
Tru liked to think it was the good mojo here.
The baby kicked and she sat up straighter to give him more room to move. Sometimes he liked to roll, especially at nights.
“We did okay, didn’t we?” Nory asked out of nowhere.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we ended up in a pretty good spot.”
And Tru really absorbed the moment. She knew what would happen as soon as the boys Changed back.
They would come find her and reassure their inner wolves that she and the baby were okay.
They would be tired, but relieved and relaxed.
Bay would hug her before bed and say, “Night, Mom, love you,” like he did every night.
And then he would haul six pounds of snacks into his room with him, and she would reprimand him the next morning about hoarding all the dishes in his messy room.
Tabian would wait until he was in his room, and draw Tru into a hug that would pull her completely back together again.
He would sway them and kiss her cheeks and tell her how beautiful he thought she was.
He would stay wrapped around her tonight in bed, and then in the morning the boys would be up early, getting ready for the day with her.
She would go to a job she loved, and Bay would drive his new truck to school, where they were taking care of his educational needs much better over the last year.
He and Breah would probably hang out at lunch, and Tabian would meet him and the coaches for weightlifting, and after school, Bay would hang out with Breah and their friend-group he’d slowly bonded to.
Tabian would come home to her, start packing for their next camping trip coming up, and spoil her with affection and sweet words, and taking care of her body.
She would get to hang with her friends tomorrow night for a Pack meeting and dinner, and this weekend, she would join Tabian on his camping trip with Bay.
In a few months, she was going to have a little miniature of the man she loved, and Bay would be an amazing big brother. She was going to raise another werewolf.
She couldn’t imagine her life being any happier.
So yeah.
Yeah.
Nory was right.
“We surely have ended up in a good spot.”
And together they waited for their wolves to come home.