Page 5 of Ascendant Moon (Gladstone Shifters #6)
After three hours of driving, Gray Claw finally reached the city, allowing the phone app to direct him to Harrison House—a short-term housing facility for medical patients on the Albuquerque Cancer Center campus.
His grandmother, Tayen, had phoned yesterday with the latest update and an invitation to come and see them over the weekend.
He’d agreed to house-sit while they were out of town, and brought the mail, some clothing, and other items Tayen had requested.
Gray pulled into a parking space out front, surprised that the building looked something like an expansive ranch house with two large wings connected by a veranda.
He put on the mask he’d been instructed to wear, grabbed the laundry basket with their things, and locked the pickup.
While he was eager to see them, Gray couldn’t shake the nagging fear that his beloved grandfather might succumb to cancer.
It ran in the family, after all, killing his great-grandfather in his fifties.
His relationship with Walter ran deeper than with any other family member, including his own mother.
Gray had what was called an “old spirit,” mature beyond his nineteen years, and deeply respectful of his heritage.
He and Walter had been close from the beginning, with shared interests, open minds, and similar views of the world.
To lose the man now would leave him anchorless and achingly lonely, but he refused to do or say anything that might discourage Walter in the midst of his treatment.
Now inside the lobby, Gray turned left down the hallway, stopping to knock softly on door number seven. Tayen, also masked, opened the door and waved her tall, slim, long-haired grandson inside.
“Gray! I’m so glad you’re here, and thank you for bringing our things.”
She took the basket and set it next to the small closet. Walter waved at him from the sitting area, propped up with pillows in an overstuffed chair. He’d lost his hair and looked worn out, but Gray tried to hide his dismay and leaned down to hug him gently.
“Grandfather, I have missed you. Mother sends her love, and your friends at the museum asked me to bring this for you.”
Gray handed him a sealed greeting card, which Walter set on the side table.
“I will open that later, but tell them I appreciate their kindness. I regret dragging you all the way to Albuquerque, but the drive is too long for Tayen and I to shuttle back and forth, and I need to be here for all the tests and appointments. But enough about me. Right now we want to know how things are with you.”
Gray sat next to Tayen on the nearby loveseat while he brought his grandparents up to speed on his life, his work with the new Lobo wolf packs, and tribal news. Before long, Tayen announced that she had errands to run while someone else was here to keep Walter company.
“I should be back in a couple of hours, but I need to do our laundry and make a few other stops. Besides, I believe your grandfather has something he’d like to discuss with you privately.”
Gray’s worry returned, and once they were alone, he asked what the doctors had to say about Walter’s condition.
“The chemo is supposed to shrink the tumors and keep the cancer from spreading further. After that, they want to try something called CAR T-cell therapy. If I understand it correctly, they collect some T-cells from my blood and change them so that they kill the specific cancer cells in my body. I’ll have to stay here near the hospital so they can watch for any trouble. ”
Gray noticed that Walter didn’t really answer the most important question.
“But will that cure you? Will you be all right?”
Walter’s expression softened as he walked a fine line of telling the truth without scaring Gray.
“They can’t guarantee the procedure will work, and the last resort is a bone marrow transplant.
If that fails, I probably won’t have long to live—which is why I need to tell you something of great importance.
It is a secret held by our family alone, passed from father to son by Gray Feather himself.
Your Uncle Matthew cannot be trusted with this information, and before you ask, not even my beloved Tayen knows.
All I ask is that you listen with an open mind and heart. ”
Gray’s eyes widened with wonder and grief.
Walter couldn’t die! Not now. Not so young.
And what kind of secret was so important that Gray Feather felt compelled to leave it to his descendants?
Obviously, this was something dear to Walter’s heart, and despite his feelings and questions, Gray would not disappoint him.
“You honor me with your trust, grandfather. I am listening.”
Walter’s love for Gray swelled up in his heart, along with the confidence that he’d chosen the right person. But, their discussion was just getting started, and his grandson was about to undergo a test rarely required for one so young.
“Thank you, but first tell me what you know of the Diné traditions regarding wolves.”
Gray wondered what that had to do with the secret, though he assumed Walter would explain.
“They were greatly respected for their skills and never killed unless necessary. Our early oral history even includes stories about wolf-people, and later they appeared in the Skin Walker legends as frightening creatures.”
Walter nodded his head.
“Correct. What you don’t know is that those stories about wolf-people are true.
They often interacted with us, and when the killing of natural wolves began, the Diné stopped mentioning them in the stories to protect them.
Eventually, they were melded into the Skin Walker legends and our people declined to correct anyone’s thinking.
Among themselves, they are known as shifters, and you’ve already met several of them. ”
Astonished, Gray couldn’t believe that Walter was serious. Had the treatment affected his mind? Was he joking? His deep respect for the man prevented him from being rude, but he struggled to come up with a reasonable response.
“I don’t understand, grandfather. Who are you talking about?”
Walter could see the conflict in Gray’s eyes and hoped the young man would hear him out.
“I understand your doubt, but you know I would never lie to you about something like this. I’m referring to Jack Eby, William, Katrine, and Mandy.
In fact, all of their friends living at Gladstone are wolf shifters, and there are many other packs living in the U.S.
, Mexico, and Canada. With my own eyes, I have seen them change from man to beast and back again.
“The secret I told you about began when Hezekiah Matson left a set of journals with Gray Feather for safekeeping in 1853. Both he and Jack Eby are a special type of shifter called a True Elder. They are long-lived and tasked with teaching their people shifter history and practice. Since Matson was already quite old, he wanted the journals to go to Jack’s family if he died before completing the boy’s training.
“The journals were placed in a leather satchel and strapped to Hezekiah’s wolf form so he could bring them to Gray Feather and then return home.
When he arrived, Gray Feather witnessed Hezekiah’s death at the hands of a bounty hunter.
He then entrusted the journals to his son, charging him with finding Jack’s family so they could be returned as planned.
Unfortunately, the Ebys had moved away after Hezekiah disappeared, and the contents of the satchel were handed down through eight generations of our family.
“Your great grandfather told me this story shortly before he died, leaving me with the responsibility of finding one of Jack Eby’s descendants. The study of those journals led to my work at the museum, and I spent most of my life collecting information and waiting for the day I met a real shifter.”
Gray’s head swam with the fantastic account, and though Walter believed what he was saying, he had to start somewhere and chose the most obvious.
“But I’ve met Jack. How could it be the same person?”
Walter knew this would come up, and he answered it honestly.
“I already mentioned that True Elders live long lives. In fact, Hezekiah was over two hundred when he was killed and Jack celebrated his one hundred and seventy-fourth year in April.”
Gray struggled to believe. Jack’s age. Shifters. Secrecy. He simply couldn’t accept the tale as Walter told it without some proof.
“Forgive me, grandfather, but I don’t see how this could be true…”
Gray needed to be convinced, now, and Walter cut him off with two Diné words.
“Ma?iitsoh atsilí” (wolf brother.)
Gray’s face went slack; eyes unfocused as a memory implanted by Jack last year rose to the surface like an air bubble. In it, he heard a beastly growl and saw Jack’s eyes change to a glowing amber—wolf’s eyes that reached into his mind with a message. I am shifter. We are real. Believe.
Walter held his breath while the memory surfaced, hoping it was enough to convince Gray. Once his brown eyes refocused, the young man blinked several times and zeroed in on Walter’s face.
“Grandfather! Jack… he really is a wolf. Please tell me more.”
Walter proceeded to answer a multitude of questions about the historic interaction of wolf-people and the Diné, when he’d met Jack Eby, and how shifters lived and kept their secret from the human world.
Walter also explained the different types of shifters and the unique abilities given to True Elders.
The discussion then turned to the journals, including the notes his own family members had made, and the conclusions they’d drawn through the years.
Though Walter no longer had them, he practically knew the stories by heart and had also learned much by visiting Gladstone and through his friendship with Jack.
“As you may have guessed, they’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and have very strong pack and family bonds.
Things have changed a lot for them in the last few years, and they’ve had to deal with some serious threats, too.
Your oversight of natural wolves on Navajo lands will become much more meaningful to you now, and it will help you understand our shifter friends better.
And before I forget, Jack and William are coming to see me next month, and they want to meet with you and answer your questions.
“There’s one more thing I need to say before Tayen returns, and I can’t stress this enough.
Under no circumstances may you reveal the existence of shifters to anyone , including family.
We’ve kept their secret for nearly two centuries, and they are literally trusting us with their lives.
I don’t know if that will hold true forever, but until they tell us otherwise, we dare not say a word. ”
Gray nodded in agreement, understanding the awesome responsibility he now bore.
“Diné and shifter history have some things in common, and it is an honor to know and protect them. Do not worry, grandfather, the secret is safe with me.”
############
That evening, Gladstone
Though the twins had been taught to pick up their toys, their playroom was never completely clutter-free.
William didn’t mind, so long as the book nook in the corner remained clean and ready for story time.
Tonight, he continued the dragon fantasy he’d been reading to the twins—a book they’d all enjoyed so far, including their papa.
Marie loved the thought of being able to fly, while Kiah, in typical Alpha fashion, wished he could spew fire whenever he felt like it.
William explained that they’d have to be content with shifting, growling, and howling—things dragons simply couldn’t do.
Out in the living room, Jack studied maps of Mexico in preparation for his mission next month.
He’d never been as far south as León, though if he had, he probably would have found the lost pack on his last visit decades ago.
Luna’s dreams, however, seemed to indicate something significant would result from this trip that went beyond the pack itself.
Gray Claw was somehow tied to the group, though the images he’d seen so far revealed little.
Whatever Luna was hinting at would become clear in time, as always, though Jack could imagine some interesting possibilities.
He anticipated reconnecting with his mother’s side of the family, wondering how many of his relatives would be found in León.
She’d lost contact with her Mexico relations after mating with Samuel Eby and moving to the States.
Later, after Jack and his parents migrated north to Minnesota for safety reasons, Jane told him about her family and made him promise to find them again someday.
In the years that followed, he had only attempted it once and found no trace of them—assuming they had been killed in the purge of Lobos south of the border.
Jack’s reverie was interrupted by a phone call, and he smiled when he saw it was from Walter.
“Hello, my friend. How are you feeling these days?”
“It’s good to hear your voice, Jack. I have good days and bad, and wish the treatment could move along a little faster. Until the chemotherapy is finished, there isn’t much to report. I wanted to let you know that Gray came to visit us today, and I spoke to him about shifters.”
Jack was all ears.
“I see. How did he take the news?”
“He was struggling to believe until I triggered the memory you implanted. I’m happy to report that he is thrilled with the news of your true nature, and has promised to keep the secret just as I have.
He understands the danger and responsibility, and while he accepts what I have told him, he would benefit from a demonstration when you and William come to visit me. ”
Jack was pleased that his perception of Gray had been accurate.
“This is wonderful news. As long as we have the needed privacy, we would be happy to provide all the evidence he needs. We plan to be with you on August thirteenth, along with my bodyguards, although I can only stay for two days before leaving for Montana. Perhaps Tayen could recommend nearby rooms so that we can make reservations. William will be staying for at least two weeks, and he is bringing all the necessary forms for your updated last will and testament. If there is any other way he can be of service, please let us know.”
“Thank you, Jack. Give William our greetings, and tell him we can’t wait to see you again.”