Chapter 13
“H oney?” Flora said at bedtime, as Honey was tucking the girls into their bunks. “Does Ignatius have to be in our pack?”
Honey sighed as she smoothed Flora’s blanket, pulling it up to the girl’s chin. “I’m afraid so.”
She still couldn’t believe Buck hadn’t told her about Lord Golden earlier. If she’d known that her presence here could put the camp’s funding at risk, she would never have agreed to stay.
Buck had been adamant that it didn’t make any difference. Look, worst comes to the worst, Zeph fires us both and Conleth smooths things over with Golden, he’d told her in that hushed, heated argument outside the dining hall. But it’s not going to come to that.
Honey wished she shared Buck’s confidence. Relying on Conleth to sweet-talk an angry alpha dragon seemed like a shaky back-up plan at best. Now she had double the incentive to make sure no one found out her secret.
Which would have been a lot easier without Ignatius. She didn’t know why his uncle had insisted on sending him to camp, but it was clear Ignatius would rather be anywhere else. He’d jump at the slightest excuse to cause trouble.
“We’ll just have to make the best of it,” she told Flora. “Give him a few days to settle in. He didn’t want to come here, after all.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t want him here either,” Estelle said sourly from the bunk above. “Zephyr should make us all happy and send him home.”
“You know he can’t,” Beth said from the neighboring bunk bed. “He can’t risk offending Ignatius’s uncle. I’ve seen the camp finances. Lord Golden has put a lot of money into this place.”
“Probably because he knew that he’d have to bribe any camp to take his horrible nephew,” Estelle muttered. “Motherloving butthole.”
“Estelle!” Beth said, before Honey could issue a gentle reproof. “No swearing in camp.”
“It’s not swearing,” Estelle protested. “Buck never swears, and he says motherloving all the motherloving time.”
“It’s what he says ,” Flora said thoughtfully. “But I don’t think it’s what he means .”
“Lights off now, girls,” Honey said, making a mental note to have a word with Buck. “Tomorrow’s another busy day.”
“With Ignatius,” Flora said without enthusiasm. She burrowed further under the covers. “Are you sure we can’t get rid of him somehow?”
“I know a cave,” Estelle volunteered. “A deep cave.”
“Estelle!”
“You’re right,” Estelle conceded. “That won’t work. You or Conleth could still find him. Maybe we could punt him into the lake.”
“No punting people into the lake,” Honey said. “Perhaps Ignatius will warm up once he sees how much fun the rest of us have.”
“What if he doesn’t?” Beth asked. “Estelle’s got a point, Honey. I don’t want him ruining things for the rest of the pack.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Honey said firmly, though she had no idea how. “Leave Ignatius to me, girls. I promise you all, you’re going to have the best summer ever.”
“You mean we,” Flora corrected. “We’re all going to have the best summer ever. That includes you too, Honey.”
Honey hesitated a fraction too long. Flora’s curly head poked out from under the blanket again. The wombat shifter frowned, peering up at her.
“Honey?” Flora asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Honey pulled the covers up to Flora’s chin, her heart twisting with a bittersweet pang. “This is already the best summer of my life. I’m so glad that I came here and met you all.”
“We are too,” Estelle said sleepily. “‘Specially because of Buck. He’s a lot better since you came.”
Honey, who’d been about to switch off the light, paused at that. “Better? In what way?”
“Y’know, more himself.” Estelle shrugged. “Less cranky.”
“Buck is usually more cranky?” Flora sounded thunderstruck, and distinctly impressed. “Wow.”
“Okay, maybe he’s still cranky,” Estelle conceded. She rolled over, snuggling into bed. “But at least he’s not locking himself away and refusing to talk to anyone. G’night, Honey.”
“Good night,” Honey said, still privately boggling at the concept of an even grumpier Buck. “Don’t stay up too late talking, okay? You’ll want to be full of energy for all the activities tomorrow.”
The other counselors sharing the bunkhouse had already tucked in their campers and left.
Honey turned off the light, tiptoeing out into the corridor.
She hesitated outside the door to her own room.
She wasn’t on cabin duty tonight, so technically there was no need for her to remain in the dorm…
but maybe it would be safest to stay in her own room.
No, her head was still too full of unsettled problems to get to sleep.
A walk would do her good, she decided. She’d go find Buck.
They should talk over the day, discuss what to do about Ignatius.
And maybe she could persuade him to tell her more about shifters.
Purely to help her maintain her cover, of course.
Keep telling yourself that , she thought wryly.
She was fully aware of her real motivation.
Much as she kept reminding herself that she wasn’t part of this secret, magical world, she couldn’t help being desperately curious about it.
She couldn’t stay, but at least she could learn as much as possible in the short time she had.
Is that the real motivation? some traitorous part of herself asked. Just curiosity? Or is there a different reason you’re finding excuses to spend more time with Buck?
That was a thought she didn’t want to examine too closely. Shaking it off, she slipped out of the cabin and went in search of Buck.
He wasn’t in the dining hall, though a lot of the younger counselors were. From the looks of things, a first night party was well underway.
That wasn’t the only form of celebration going on. Honey spotted more than a few counselors slipping away into the shadowy woods, either alone or in small groups. With the kids now in their bunks, the adults not on duty were taking the opportunity to release their own inner animals.
In more ways than one, Honey thought in amusement, watching one girl pull a blushing, grinning young man into the trees. Even at a summer camp for shifters, some things were still the same.
Somewhat to her relief, Buck hadn’t gone into the woods, either to shift or for other purposes. She caught him coming out of the junior boys’ dorm, soundlessly shutting the door behind him. Catching her eye, he put a finger to his lips.
“Keep your voice down,” he murmured. He padded down the porch stairs, soft-footed as a cat even in heavy work boots. “Finally got them all to go to sleep.”
“Already?” Honey said, impressed. “How did you manage that?”
“Easy. Told them a bedtime story.”
Honey cast a glance at the silent cabin. “That must have been some story.”
“Yep.” The corner of Buck’s mouth twitched. “NPFA 295, Standard for Wildfire Control. Seen it put whole crews of grown men and women to sleep. Kids didn’t stand a chance.”
She smothered a laugh, since they were still within earshot of the dorms. “You did not.”
“Swear to dog.” Buck took her elbow, guiding her away from the cabin. “What are you doing out here, anyway? Something wrong?”
“Oh, no. Everything’s fine.” Honey swallowed, keenly aware of his fingertips against her bare skin. To try to distract herself, she asked, “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Say dog instead of God, or things like ‘sweet baby cheeses.’”
“Oh.” He scrubbed his free hand through his hair, looking a little embarrassed. “Force of habit, I guess. Had to clean up my language after Zeph was born. My sister told me in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t having her son’s first word contain four letters.”
“You do it even when there aren’t kids around, though.”
“Let’s just say that my sister was a forceful woman.” Buck fell silent for a second before adding, “Wish you could have met her. She’d have liked you.”
Honey wasn’t quite sure what to say to that one. He still hadn’t let go of her arm. Had he even noticed that he was touching her?
Time to steer the conversation back to safer waters, she decided. “How’s Ignatius settling in?”
“He isn’t.” Buck scowled. “Threw a tantrum about having to share a room with the other boys. Apparently, his uncle had promised he’d have a private cabin. Surprised you didn’t hear the screaming all the way in the girls’ dorm.”
Honey winced in sympathy. “Did you manage to talk him down?”
“Nope. He pitched such a fit that Zeph had to step in. Said the kid could have the spare counselor’s room, since I’m not using it.”
Honey blew out her breath. “That’s not going to help Ignatius make any friends.”
“No kidding.” Buck’s scowl deepened. “Personally, I would have wrapped the brat in a blanket like a burrito and staple-gunned him into a bunk.”
“Buck! Honey!”
Turning toward the cheerful call, Honey saw Leonie waving at them from a little way off.
A few other people were with her, gathered around a small fire pit.
Honey could make out Zephyr, leaning back on his elbows with his long legs stretched out, and the unmistakable bulk of Ragvald, crouched on his haunches like some vast, shaggy beast. Moira shared a log with Leonie, straight-backed as if seated on a throne.
“Traditional first night celebration,” Leonie called, beckoning. Her clipboard lay on the ground nearby; the first time Honey had seen it out of the lead counselor’s hands. “Come join us!”
Before Honey could respond, Buck’s hand tightened on her arm. He leaned over, voice dropping to a warning growl. “Better make our excuses. Too much chance of slipping up. Don’t want anyone getting suspicious.”
Honey looked into that closed, hard-lined face, half hidden in shadow. Estelle’s sleepy voice floated through her mind: At least he’s not locking himself away and refusing to talk to anyone.
“We’ll be right over!” she called back to Leonie. At Buck’s exasperated glare, she added, in a whisper, “It’ll look more suspicious if we don’t join them. Look, everyone else is socializing.”