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“Maybe we should step outside!” The stranger says as he pulls out his phone and heads outside. Ren slips his hoodie over my head and pulls the dress off my arms before threading my arms into the sleeves. The hoodie falls to my knees, so it’s pretty much a dress anyway. He grabs my hand in a vice grip, his body tense and ready for another attack. Leading me outside. I knew he would never let me be hurt, and I was safe with him there in the room. I never expected him to kill Gerald for me; I hold his hand like it is my only lifeline; if I let go, I will start to cry, and I would rather do that after a shower when I’m curled up safe in Ren’s room later, not where the whispers about the weak, worthless human will start making rounds again.

More people we don’t know start to arrive. Margo starts barking orders and bossing the stranger around.

An hour later, Ren gets pulled away by a man who feels familiar, but I can’t work out why.

More time passes, I just sit and watch, trying to process what this means for me now, I hear a familiar car pull up, and before I can shout for Ren, Jameson grabs the scruff of my neck and puts something that smells odd over my nose and mouth – my last view is of Ren, standing tall as if he was an adult not six years old, he has been forced to become older, more mature when Mama Lou was around he had times he was allowed to be a boy since he has been heir to the pack nothing more, I reach up and feel the corduroy jacket sleeve under my fingers as everything falls black.