“No, they won’t. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve survived worse according to the stories Winifred liked to tell us when we were cubs.”
“Come on, Jim. Do you honestly think the humans are just going to roll over and show us their bellies?”
I didn’t think that at all. Winifred and the other Elders were so focused on helping the girls and getting the Judgement made that they hadn’t discussed what might happen afterwards. Like Henry, I’d thought of little else.
When I’d told Winifred, the cubs were our future, I’d meant it. They were the bridge that would tie our two races together. Growing up with us, they would have no fear or prejudice. But they were only two voices against many, and they wouldn’t influence the world yet for several years.
“Honestly? I think it will be chaos. Look at what they’re doing already. Human remains are popping up all over the place, dead from humans torturing other humans. They’re already obsessed with eliminating both werewolves and Urbat. But if you look at any pivotal point of history for our world, you’ll know one thing for certain. Change and acceptance don’t ever come easy.”
Henry closed his eyes and rested his head back against the seat, an arm around each cub.
As the tires ate up the miles, my mind stayed on Henry’s question. I’d heard enough conversation over the last few weeks to know the Judgement Bethi kept talking about was meant to change the ruling race. If I were human like them, I’d want to just stick with what I knew and Judge in favor of the humans.
I mean, it didn’t take a genius to know those girls would never Judge in favor of the Urbat. Not after what those bastards had done to Michelle, Isabelle, or the dreams that Bethi kept having about them murdering her in previous lives.
No matter how they Judged, we’d irrevocably changed the world by announcing our existence. I still remembered the fear in Michelle’s eyes when she found out what Emmitt and I were and the way Mom talked about how she’d feared our kind in the beginning too. The world would turn into a dangerous place to exist for any race.
At first, I’d questioned the wisdom of revealing ourselves. Then, I’d realized, just as the Elders probably had, we had little choice. Living in the shadows had nearly killed us. Mom’s persistence in bringing us into the human world had stopped our extinction, but our numbers hadn’t flourished. We needed to change. Not just for the sake of changing, but to make progress.
I fully believed the time for living in the shadows was at an end and hoped all our suffering now wouldn’t be for nothing.
Well before the sun rose, Paul opened his eyes and stretched.
“Want me to take over for a while?” he offered.
“Yep.” I pulled over to the side of the road. Elder or not, I needed sleep. How long had it been?
Paul and I got out and switched seats. Henry roused in the back but said nothing about the switch.
Paul’s driving. I’m taking a quick nap. We only have an hour to go before we reach the city,I sent Winifred.
I’ll let you know if I hear anything from Gabby.
I closed my eyes and sunk into an immediate dreamless sleep.
It felt like seconds before the smell of fear swamped the car. I opened my eyes just as the front window shattered from the impact of a large, furred body.
“Don’t stop, Paul,” I said, grabbing the wheel to keep the car on the road as the pup tried to avoid the next shape hurtling toward us.
The cubs started whimpering, letting me know they were awake.
Winifred, we’re under attack. I need to know how many.
There was a moment of silence.
Four. Nothing else is moving toward you.
“Henry, hang on to those cubs. Paul, stop the car.”
Paul slammed on the brakes. As the car screeched on the blacktop, I opened my door and launched myself out, already shifting. The momentum carried me into the next shape emerging from the trees. I slammed into the body and raked my claws up the mutt’s soft middle, just like they’d done to Mary. Letting him fall, I turned for the next. One ripped at the roof of the car, claws piercing the metal. Another pulled the driver’s door clear off its hinges. Paul burst out in his fur, snarling.
Be careful,I sent him, already launching myself at the one on the roof. I knocked the mongrel off and slammed into Paul’s attacker, taking them both at once. Claws ready, I gutted the first in a spray of blood. The teeth of the second dug into my shoulder. I shook him off and went for his throat.
A sudden yip filled the air, followed by another growl.
“Send ‘em out, pup,” a male voice called from the other side of the vehicle. “Or I’ll break his other leg.”
I hurtled over the car without a second thought. As the air ruffled my fur, I took in the sight of a half-shifted man gripping Paul in his arms. Still in wolf form, it was easy to see Paul’s broken hind leg hanging at a useless, odd angle. The man’s gaze shifted from Henry, inside the car, to me. He pulled back his lips in a silent snarl, tossed Paul aside, and jumped to meet me.
