3. The Phone call
My hand trembles as I lift the receiver to my ear. For a moment, I can't speak—my throat suddenly bone dry.
"Hello?" I finally manage.
"This is not a warning." The female voice on the other end is cool, controlled, but with an unmistakable edge of fury beneath the surface. "We want the human who did it."
I swallow hard, trying to steady my voice. "I understand your anger. This is a terrible situation that none of us wanted—"
"Spare me," she cuts in, her tone razor-sharp. "We don't need your empathy or your excuses. We need the human. Now."
"The situation is more complex than—"
"Nothing is complex about this. One of our pack was shot by a human who knows better. The treaty is clear on what happens next."
John is watching me intently, his face pale, jaw clenched. I try again, working to keep my voice calm and measured.
"I hear your pain. I truly do. And justice must be served, but surely we can find a solution that—"
"Justice?" Her laugh is cold and humorless. "You speak of justice while standing in that building? Your kind has never understood justice. You understand force. You understand fear. That is all."
"Please, if we could just—"
"You have until sundown," she interrupts. "Deliver the human to the north clearing. If he isn't there, we will come for him. And we won't come alone."
The implications hang in the air between us. The town is defenseless. Reinforcements would take days to arrive. By then...
"Please. We need more time."
I hear movement on the other end of the line, a muffled conversation. Someone else has taken the phone.
"Who am I speaking with?" The new voice is deep, male, and radiates authority. Not loud, but somehow filling the space between us.
"My name is Alara. I'm the new Communicator. This is my first day. I—"
"I know what Communicators are all about," he interrupts. "I've met many over the years. You speak of understanding and cooperation while your guns are loading behind your backs."
"That's not—"
"Save your diplomatic bullshit for someone who hasn't heard it before." His voice remains calm, which somehow makes it more terrifying. "I want the human who killed one of our own."
"We have laws—"
"Your laws." The contempt is undisguised now. "Your laws that somehow always find humans innocent of crimes against wolves. Your laws that punish a wolf's defense of territory as aggression. Your laws that treat us as animals when it suits you and as criminals when it doesn't."
I feel a chill run through me. He's not wrong.
"I give you my word that we will investigate fully and—"
"Your word?" He laughs, a sound like stones grinding together. "The word of a human means nothing to us. The human. At sundown. Or we come for him ourselves."
The line goes dead.
I slowly place the receiver back in its cradle, my hand still shaking. When I look up, John's eyes are fixed on me, waiting.
"What did they say?" he asks, though I think he already knows.
"They want the human responsible," I say quietly. "By sundown."
John runs a hand through his hair, his face ashen. "Then we have to give him to them."
"We can't just hand over a child."
"You don't understand what they're capable of," he hisses, leaning closer. "If they come here—if they attack—it won't just be Tyler or Ivan who dies."
I stare at him, this man who only minutes ago seemed so arrogant and sure of himself, now willing to sacrifice two children.
"There has to be another way," I say, more to myself than to him.
John laughs bitterly. "Another way? Listen to me. These are wolves. They don't forget. They don't forgive. And they don't negotiate."
"That is exactly why the CdC was developed—to change things, to actually negotiate." Well, at least in theory.
John stares at me like I've lost my mind. "We need to talk to Tyler and Ivan," I say, already moving toward the door. "I need to know exactly what happened."
"It doesn't matter what happened!" John grabs my arm. "A wolf is dead. That's all that matters to them."
I pull away from his grip. "Everything matters. Every detail. If I'm going to find a solution that doesn't end in bloodshed, I need to understand the full picture."
John shakes his head, but follows me as I head back downstairs.
The sun will set in a few hours. And when it does, I'll either have found a way to prevent or...