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Leo pouted. “Dad says you’re only pretending to work so you don’t have to talk to people.”

“Well, your dad’s a dick,” Oliver said and winced. “Don’t tell him I swore in front of you. He’s still pissed about the A-hole thing.”

“Asshole,” Leo corrected proudly.

Oliver shushed him. His little brother Ben had gotten annoyingly uptight about swear words since becoming a father. One of the only things he’d gotten uptight about, thankfully. It had been a surprise pregnancy, and for a while, everybody had worried if fun-loving Ben Musgrove would be able to handle his new responsibilities. Then Leo was born, and Ben had stepped up so wonderfully that everybody started joking that maybehecould be alpha one day. At the time, Oliver had laughed along with them. Oliver’s place as the next alpha was inevitable. Grandmother was solid in her decision, and so was Oliver.

Then the fire happened, and the pack moved to Claw Haven. A proud new start, they claimed. For Oliver, it had been a guilty slink with his tail between his legs, sitting on a secret he could never tell the family. He started snapping at people, going off alone instead of airing out his problems to a trusted ear. His pack thought it was the guilt of an up-and-coming leader not being able to protect his family from a crazy hunter who tried to burn them in their beds. No one knew the real reason it shook Oliver so deeply. And if Oliver had anything to say about it, they’d never find out.

Ben came barreling into the lobby, his wife Sabine under his bulky arm.

“Wondering where you two got to,” Ben said, leaning on the counter next to his son. “What’s the holdup?”

Leo pointed at the roof. “Roof’s gonna cave in!”

“It’s not caving in,” Oliver protested as they all looked up at it.

Outside, the wind howled. Oliver winced. The storm was really picking up, cold air leaking through the thin insulation.

Sabine squinted, blonde hair falling over herscarred eye. “I don’t know about caving in, but that’s definitely going to drip. Do you want to get the buckets, honey?”

“Okay,” said Leo, rushing off. He was still excited about the inn, always asking what he could do to help. Oliver almost felt bad turning him down all the time.

Sabine pushed her hair out of her face. She’d never been embarrassed by the scar over her left eye, even when it was bright red and healing in the days after Ben found her in the woods mauled by a bear.

A scar means I survived, she told him once.Why would I want to hide that?

Ben reached over the counter, tweaking an invoice Oliver was stacking. “Put down the work for five seconds, man. Come and have fun with us. Remember fun?”

“No,” Oliver said sarcastically.

Ben snorted, stroking a line down Sabine’s shoulder absently. Once upon a time, they used to throw parties, huge and lavish. Everyone was invited. Ben and Oliver would shout and dance and run through the woods until their legs hurt. They even got matching tattoos on their elbows:party animals,with a howling wolf curling on top of the words.

Now, here they were. Oliver was doing work so he wouldn’t have to go to a party, and Ben was ditching early to hang out with his wife and kid. How times changed.

“It’s a great time up there,” Ben tried. “The townsfolk are really friendly. I think you’d like them—don’t roll your eyes, jackass; youwouldlike them if you just talked to them.”

“I’ve talked to them,” Oliver said, shuffling his invoices again so he’d have to re-arrange them in a second. “They won’t stop talking to me. Every time I dare leave the inn, everyone’s goinghi, Oliver! How’s it going, Oliver? Try my chocolates, Oliver; they’re wolf-safe!”

“Wow,” Sabine said flatly. “What a bunch of jerks.”

“I hate it when people give me free chocolate I can actually eat,” Ben agreed.

“It’s condescending,” Oliver argued. “She keepsasking, like one day I’m going to change my mind about her stupid little chocolates?—”

A throat cleared. Oliver looked up just in time to see Jackson Jay, dragonborn and roof guy extraordinaire, come around the corner. He looked awkward, scratching his scales in the way he did when he wanted to get out of a conversation. Which, in Oliver’s opinion, wasn’t often enough.

Then a woman followed after him, and Oliver understood why he looked awkward. Beth Haberdash was the hedgehog woman who owned the chocolate store on Main Street. She would be sweet if she wasn’t so annoying. Always bumbling and stammering and getting all apologetic about selling her own chocolates, like she wasn’t the one who opened the damn shop. And she kept getting things stuck on her spikes.

Oliver grimaced. This was what he got for not paying attention to his surroundings. He tried to be better nowadays, always on alert. But holy shit, always being on alert wasexhausting.

“Hiya,” said Jackson. “Just about to head out. Wanted to say goodbye to all the hosts first.”

“Bye,” Oliver said loudly.

Ben gave him an exasperated look, then turned to Jackson. “Thanks for coming, Jackson. Good to finally get everyone around for a housewarming party.”

A particularly loud howl of wind made them all look around nervously.