Chapter 38 #3
“Good. Everyone’s here,” Austin muttered, turning to Roscoe. “Bring on the food, Emeril Lagasse.”
Roscoe scooped up a handful of sand.
“Bam!” he shouted, throwing it to the ground, but a strong breeze whipped it directly into Mosavi’s face. “Uh oh.” Roscoe tore away from the fire before running back into Darryl’s house with his tail between his legs.
“This is all a test, isn’t it?” Mosavi snarled, turning to Willa. “Everyone is seeing how far they can push me before I start rampaging.”
“Relax, dear,” she said, brushing the sand away. “It’s the beach. We’re going to get sand everywhere anyway.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Adam was quietly leading three werewolves to the beach, signaling for me to keep Austin distracted.
“Uh, Austin, what’s in that little box you brought with you?”
His eyes brightened. “It’s a surprise for Adam, but don’t tell him. He thinks I was just working on the still.”
“I take it things have been going alright for you two,” Darryl said.
“I think so,” Austin said. “I’ve got a lot to make up for.”
“Adam doesn’t see it that way,” I said as the four werewolves stopped just shy of the fire.
There was a short brown werewolf with a thick black mane, a silver werewolf around Roscoe’s height with dark gray mane, and a taller skinnier werewolf with shaggy black fur.
They each wore a dog tag and army fatigues similar to Austin’s.
“The pack’s got your back, ain’t that right boys?” the silver werewolf said, his voice cracking and shuddering slightly.
Austin snapped his head toward them as the others shouted in unison, “Yes sir!”
“W—what?” Austin scrambled to his feet, stumbling a few times in the sand before running up to the other three. He let out a high-pitched whine. “How?”
“Where the hell have you been?” the silver werewolf said through tears as they all surrounded the larger werewolf in a group hug. “You went AWOL without saying a word to us.”
“I thought you guys were dead,” he shouted hysterically, pulling away before wiping the deluge of tears from his eyes.
He reached for his chest and snatched the dog tags he wore before pulling them away until the chain broke.
“They threw these in the trash. I thought they killed you all, and I thought I was next.” He struggled to catch his breath, his legs shaking as though he would collapse at any second.
“It was all classified, and they didn’t fill us in on anything until later.
North Korea developed a nerve agent that can take down werewolves without having any effect on humans.
They were testing ways to immunize us against it, but they weren’t gonna kill us.
They kept the doses really low until they found something that worked. They were protecting all of us.”
Austin looked down at the tags in his hand. “All this time…” His voice was weak and shaky just like his legs.
“We’ve been looking for you everywhere,” the taller black one said. “You have any idea what you put us through? We weren’t ever gonna let you go.”
“Big-little shit,” the short brown one said with a chuckle. “We missed you taking everything seriously all the time.”
Austin finally fell to his knees as the others held onto him, each one pressing their faces into his. Adam leaned in close to me before whispering into my ear.
“I’ve been chatting with them for weeks.
They’re gonna live in Norwich with Austin.
They really were looking all over the world for him.
” Tears welled in his eyes as he smiled, watching the four lick at each other.
“I didn’t understand what I was a part of when I was a half-turn, and I don’t care what our original purpose was to the witches. We’re so much better.”
“I can’t wait until my day comes,” I whispered, looking around at everyone.
Darryl watched the pack’s emotional reunion while cradling his father’s guitar.
Mosavi slipped an arm around Willa’s waist as they kissed softly.
Roscoe emerged from the shack and made his way back to the fire before standing by my side.
“Now that’s a happy werewolf,” Roscoe whispered.
I tugged at the thicker fur on his chest, and he leaned in, allowing me to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss of my own. It didn’t matter where we were or how bad things had gotten before—when our lips met, we were at home.
“We’re gonna need a bigger house,” I whispered to Roscoe. “I think we’re about to add a few more to our pack.”
“Hell yeah. More people to cook for,” Roscoe said, his tail wagging.
Austin and the others pulled away, and the larger werewolf turned to Adam while reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small, wooden box.
“I don’t deserve all this,” he said through tears before gently pressing the box into Adam’s hand. “This doesn’t even come close to what you just gave me.”
Adam opened the gift and smiled as he looked inside. He pulled out a polished, silver chain that had two dog tags with leather wrapping, Austin’s name was on one and his name was on the other.
“You looked good when you wore my chain that night you turned.” He took the piece of jewelry and slipped around the smaller werewolf’s neck. “It’s better than any kuu, and Willa helped me make it. I think you’ll like what it can do.”
Adam pushed his larger mate into the sand, falling on top of him, their eyes locking for several moments. It was as though everyone else had disappeared and they were the only ones left on earth.
“You’ve been asking yourself for years the same question.” Adam rested his head along the crook of Austin’s neck. “This is why you’re still here.”