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“Will you pretend to be the scary bear?” a little girl said. “My daddy always pretends to be a scary bear and chases us.”

“What? Like this?”

He raised his hands into claws and let out a cartoonish roar, the kids giggling, then screaming as they got to their feet.

“C’mon, Tessa!” one of the girls said when she just stood there, looking a little confused. “You’ve gotta run!”

So they did. He stomped along, butting into hard worn battles between the Empire and rebels, scattering the kids across the grass, roaring at regular intervals.

When he got close, he swiped at them with deliberately clumsy hands, always missing them, but getting near enough to send them shrieking away.

Some of the older kids saw the fun and started playing along, staging theatrical interventions to ‘save’ their younger siblings and friends, building up a whole story about the bear being infected by Lonan and they just had to stay ahead of him.

Finally, the rebels had enough and they clustered around Noah, pew pewing him until he was forced to crumble, then collapse onto the ground, dying in a series of exaggerated motions.

The kids thought this was awesome, clustering over and then throwing themselves on top of him, the mighty hunters who had brought down the enemy.

This is us , his Tirian said with real joy. This is who we are.

And for a moment, he basked in that, the giggles and the pronunciations of heroes of the Resistance for taking down the Sith beast, lying there and feeling the cool of the night air on his skin, soaking in the happiness of the kids.

Of course, it couldn’t last.

“What’s going on here?”

Everyone’s heads jerked up at the sound of a voice like a whip crack. The kids stilled and tensed against Noah, all that lovely fun draining away.

“Why is there so much noise? And why are you playing in the front yard?!”

He sat up gently, making sure the kids weren’t dislodged with too much force.

Protect the pack , his heart pulsed, prompting him to get to his feet and stand between the kids and the angry woman. Veronica stood there, hands on hips, bristling with irritation.

“And what are you doing with all of these children?” she asked, her eyes narrowing, her lip curling.

“We were bored. This party is boring and you wouldn’t let us play, so Noah took us out the front so we could play and not disrupt what you were doing,” Mila snapped, taking position at Noah’s side.

“Your place is with your families,” she growled.

“At every public event, you represent them. Your job is to stay clean, tidy…” Her eyes scanned the kids, and her brows arrowed down into a frown.

“And respectful. And you.” Those eyes swivelled around to settle on Noah, forcing his down.

“You’re an adult. What were you thinking?

The children could have run out on the street, been killed! ”

“I don’t like you, Nana Veronica,” Kade said. “You’re mean.”

“The kids were safe and having fun,” Noah growled, and when he looked up, he saw the woman pale. “They have a right to enjoy themselves. They’re people in their own right, not adjuncts to families. I thought?—”

“Did you now? Well, no one asked you to. Children, back inside. Clean your face and hands and then present yourself to your parents, now. Kaden?—”

“It’s Kade,” Noah snapped.

“Kade must take his position with the happy couple. We will provide a united front as a family?—”

“What’s going on?”

Noah’s eyes jerked right to see Flick had appeared. He noted the lines of stress in her face, making him long to smooth them away.

“I was gathering the children. We need to organise the petitioners as the alpha is arriving shortly?—”

“Yes, I know that. Noah? The kids’ faces look like a wet week. What happened?”

“He was letting them run around by the road. Anything could have happened with all these people arriving.” As if on cue, a car pulled up and parked on the other side of the road and people began to pile out.

“Anyway, the children are washing up and getting ready for the big event. I think the petitioners should be arranged?—”

“Yes, yes, fine. C’mon, Kade.”

Noah watched the two of them walk back inside, Veronica talking non-stop, him frozen to the spot as the words started to register.

“Thanks, Noah!” Kade called out as he ran in after his mother.

“Yeah, thanks, Noah,” Mila said as she shepherded some of the younger kids inside. Some were sniffing back tears, obviously unhappy with the shift in tone.

Help them , his brain pushed hard. Help them!

But he couldn’t, he just stood there watching everybody disappear inside the house until there was only quiet.

He heard the breeze in the trees, the dim thud of the beat of the music, then the cheers as they went up in the back yard, and his own heart pounding.

Then the sounds of car doors opening and closing.

“C’mon, we better hustle. This Flick chick is hot, and she’s supposed to be taking on new petitioners.”

“Yeah? I heard she’d sorted out her pack.”

“Not according to Sen’s mum. She sent the word out. Didn’t yours tell you about it?”

“Haven’t been at home. So she’s got what? Three mates? Four would be a nice neat number.”

“Except she’s got a kid too.”

“Eh, I can tolerate someone else’s brat if I was getting my hands on Mum. She’s got bigger tits than?—”

“What’s fucking Snow doing over there?”

“What? Huh, probably caught scent of the hot chick and found himself standing out here like a gormless twit.”

“Yeah, like he’s got a hope. Fucking retar?—”

Noah’s head jerked around, his body his again when he heard the smack. A blond man had strode over to the two men walking up the driveway and belted one of them.

“What’re you fucking doing, Shaun?” the other man shouted. He bent down to help his mate up.

“You fucking mongrel—” the man who’d been hit growled.

“What? You gonna call me names too? What are ya, five? No woman’s gonna touch a miserable piece of shit like you two, so you may as well turn around now.”

“Seriously? You’re gonna take the retar?—”

“Say another fucking word and I’ll flatten the both of you. I’ve had a shitty day, and working some of that out on your worthless hides sounds like a damn fine way to end it.”

Noah catalogued the slight shake in Shaun’s arms, his fists balled and ready to do the talking. The other men did the same, checking the man over to see if he was serious, then snorting and backing away, reluctantly walking back down the driveway.

“You wait until work, you fucking prick,” one of the men threatened once they were a fair distance away. “And that hot piece of arse you got hidden away. Can’t sit on that forever.”

Shaun ignored them, turning and walking over to Noah. His pace was more measured, slower now.

“Hey, Snow…”

“Noah.”

“Right, yeah. So what’re you doing out here?”

He appreciated Shaun stepping in. He was able to defend himself without too much effort, having to develop that ability here, but he didn’t like to. It all got too much, and suddenly, he was punching the ever-loving shit out of someone, just to see them bleed. And for a brief moment, he felt…seen.

“I… They…”

It was all too much. Shaun’s tone, those men, Veronica… It all came rushing up to the surface, wanting, needing to be screamed out but he couldn’t let it.

We must run! his Tirian insisted, but even its orders weren’t enough to move him.

“Did she… Has Flick chosen someone else?” Shaun was trying to cautiously fill the gaps, his brows coming down, his tone softening, his hand reaching out for Noah. “Has she…rejected you? Mate…”

He didn’t mean to, but Shaun’s words were a more brutal slap than any of the other slights he’d been forced to endure.

He hadn’t even considered that a possibility.

Like, she’d taken Sen as her mate, but not him, but…

His mouth opened, but nothing more than a croak came out, an ugly, incomprehensible sound.

“Look, mate, I’ve been there and?—”

Noah didn’t stay standing under the big tree in the front yard, listening to him talk.

He couldn’t, wouldn’t. His hands tugged at his shirt, pulling the buttons off in his haste to get out of the garment, his pants splitting as his animal rose.

He fell forward, the man’s voice a low buzz in his ears as his heart beat drowned them out, his claws forming and then his paws.

He burned it all away, the human clothes, restrictions, societal rules that hemmed him in, until he stood on all four paws on the cool grass, whining as he looked around.

The Shaun thing approached him, but he growled, no longer able to tolerate that.

Instead, his head was thrown back, his eyes able to meet the gaze of the moon without effort as his howl went out.

Everything, the pain and confusion and the hope and the love and the fun and the misery. It all went into the cry, pulling out of him like ribbons of smoke that dissipated into the night sky.

“Noah, mate…” Shaun tried one more time to anchor him here, but he was well and truly done with this.

He ran from a standing start, feeling it all uncoil the moment his paws slammed down onto the ground.

His haunches bunched and thrust him along, his nails digging hard into the relentless tarmac, not feeling right until he got past that and out onto the cool dirt.

Run, run, run, the urge pushed him hard, so he did. Away, out, beyond, into the darkness.