Page 35 of Same Thing
“I did,” she clipped out, trying not to think of Roxy. “And I was attached, she went everywhere with me, she was the light of my life, and then she got old, and she’s not here anymore, and I am scared of getting attached like that again.”
“Loyal,” he murmured.
“To a fault,” she agreed.
“Chh, maybe my Pack needs to hang around you. I need you to rub off on them. I guess if I have friends, they would be Vic, Tabian, Dodger, Nate, Bridger, and we have a new female named Delta. I don’t know her well, but she seems okay.”
“That’s a lot of friends. I have one. Her name is Alese, and you saw her the other day at Shipwrecks. And my family are my friends. I’m close to my mom and grandma. We do puzzles together when I visit them. It’s our thing.”
“I haven’t done a puzzle since I was a pup.”
“Pup,” she repeated. “So, you were born a werewolf?”
“Yep. Both parents are werewolves. I have no Turns in my Pack either. We are all born werewolves. It makes things a little easier, I guess. Turns can be a mess. It’s hard to Turn one, and ifthey live, they usually turn out crazy. My old Alpha was a Turn. He went to pieces at the end.”
“He’s dead?”
“Nope. Just kicked out of the Pack. He wrecked us for a long time, and we have to figure some stuff out now.”
“Like what?”
“Like if we can even keep being a Pack. Most of them talk about going Rogue until they find a better Pack to take them in. Hell, sometimes I even think about it. We’re a mess right now.”
“That sounds like a lot,” she said softly as he took a right on a narrow road toward the mountains.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho was beautiful, but sometimes she forgot that in the day-to-day. Driving out past the lake always stole her breath away and demanded reverence. The highway was elevated, and she could see right down into the water, and all around the enormous lake were hills smattered with fragrant, vibrant green pine trees. Even in the cold season, as it was, this place held a secret beauty that reminded her of how lucky she was.
Eventually, Liam pulled off onto a road called Cold Creek. There was a no trespassing sign near the entrance that was enormous and could be seen from the highway easily. They made it past an open gate, and just inside that was another sign. It was the symbol for werewolves. Just an outline of a big wolf.
“Are all of the territories like this?” she asked, scanning the trails through the trees, and the roads that snaked off the main and led to homes deep in the trees.
“They’ll be similar, but none are exactly the same. The government gives us a certain number of acres, and limit on the number of wolves in one territory, a water source, and then we pay a shit-ton in taxes to exist where they want us to exist.”
She squeezed his hand. “Is this all just for your Pack?”
He shook his head. “Our Pack is small. We’ve lost a lot of members over the years. Ran off or got killed fighting each other. It leaves extra room for Rogues to set up homes here, or stay here temporarily, so it’s kind of a shitshow in here when Changes happen sometimes. Never know who you are going to run into.”
He took a few different turns, and she paid attention to the signs and tried to remember the names of the streets so she could visit him again someday. Maybe. Movement in the trees dragged her attention, and an enormous gray wolf was loping in a parallel with Liam’s truck, disappearing and reappearing between the towering trees.
“Liam,” she whispered.
“That’s Vic,” he said. “He’s one of ours. He’s just curious.”
She couldn’t drag her eyes from the animal. He was huge! Much bigger than any dog she’d ever seen, and she’d seen some huge dogs in her line of work. Vic was twice the size of a German Shephard, and thick with muscle on his front end. His paws were enormous. He weaved through the trees, picking up to a trot, approaching.
“He’s getting closer,” she whispered.
“You’re safe,” he assured her as he pulled to a stop in front of an enormous pile of burned rubble. “Come on.” He threw the truck into park and turned off the engine, then got out.
“You want me to get out of the truck?” she yelped. “With a werewolf right there?” She turned to point to Vic, but the wolf had disappeared like magic.
“He’s already gone. Trust me, no one will mess with you while you’re with me.”
“Ha. Handcuffs myself to you,” she joked, but he’d already shut his door. “Right. Be brave.” Nory pushed the door open and slid out of his tall truck, scanning the woods around them.Everything was so quiet here. She could hear the wind rustling the tree branches, and that was it.
The depth of the silence was eerie.
She froze for a three-count and then forced her legs to move her forward. More specifically, she pushed her body closer to Liam’s. He’d made his way to the edge of the charred rubble and was just standing there with his back to her.