“What is that smell covering?” Angel whispers.
“Nothing.” There’s no conviction in my voice; it’s just a hoarse thread of sound.
“I see you,” Angel whispers.
I tense, but he closes the distance and runs his nose up the side of my face. I exhale in a puff, my chest heaving.
“Angel-”
“Shh, don’t ruin it.”
He turns his head slightly, and his lips graze mine. My eyes are wide open, and he doesn’t even blink.
It’s a powerful kiss, not even a kiss, it’s a touching of lips. Angel draws back, and then he’s up and walking away.
Just like that. Did that even happen?
I sit up, my lips tingling. I want to go after him, but I get the impression I won’t find him.
Angel kissed me.
I thought he hated me.
What do I even do with this information?
I turn back around and continue planting, only to find myself again, surrounded by wolves and Khaos.
“We’re going to help.”
“What?” I squawk.
“You need help; you won’t get this done, so where do you want us to dig?”
I stand up and look at them. Hazard butts his massive head into my thigh.
“All right, I need the weeds dug up, and there needs to be a furrow dug like this.”
Khaos leans over, looking, and then sets to digging.
What would have taken me hours is done in minutes as the wolves lose their minds, digging in my garden.
They love it.
I press my lips together and watch them as they bounce around, and then Riot gets the zoomies. His butt sinks down, and he just takes off, which sets off Hazard. The two of them race around the small clear space around the cabin. They come very close to running into trees, but the sheer speeds they get up to, they swing back around and almost crash into each other, but that just sends them into even faster speeds.
I catch sight of Angel, walking around the side of the house like nothing has happened, his eyes fixed on me. Khaos, who is now in wolf form, simply lies down in the grass, puts his head on his paws, and goes to sleep.
Wrath bounces around, chasing butterflies.
For a long moment, I just stand there watching them. I’ve never seen wolves behave like this. In the pack I grew up in, they would be fighting, snapping at humans, biting and causing wounds. They didn’t play or relax in the sun.
The wolf inside them is a weapon that they wield against everyone who is weaker, and it’s a constant battle, an endless war.
But this pack, they float up and down their dominance hierarchy like it doesn’t matter. Khaos is the leader, but he’s not always stronger. Pack members can and do say no, and that’s okay. They protect each other like the families in the books I’ve read.
There are no politics, no games, just a bond that seems impossible to break.
Watching them is like seeing the sun for the first time, like getting clarity after a long time of confusion. This is what being a wolf is supposed to be.
