This wasn’t that. Not at all.
The medium gray walls matched the siding on the outside, and the thick trim along the bottom of the walls was bright white, giving an attractive contrast. The small wood fireplace was set on a stone paved corner of the living room. The couch was a light gray that matched a small love seat. Other than an open beer on the coffee table, the place was immaculate.
“I like simple,” he said softly, eyes on her.
“It’s simple, but also very homey in here. I love it.”
He huffed a sigh and looked around. “This is all still new. I have half of this place paid off already. Someday I’ll own it. Me. A werewolf. I’ll own a den. That wasn’t an option when we were on government land. Those houses are temporary. We just pay rent and an insane amount of fees to live there. Now, I feel like I have bills like a normie. Like a human.”
“Because of what Nory did?”
He nodded. “That Pack went after the dens because our wolves attach to territory. Ruin a home and it’s like taking a loved one from our animal. Take a shelter from our females, and it poisons us.”
A wave of anger washed through her. “I hate the new Pack for what they did to the houses here. You guys aren’t doing anything wrong.”
Dodger shrugged his shoulders up and helped her out of her jacket. “We expected it. We will rebuild.”
“And that’s the plan? To rebuild? Each time they destroy your homes, you just have to eat the cost and rebuild?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, Dodger hung her jacket on a hook beside his coat near the front door.
“Dodger,” she said, unwilling to let him escape answering.
“We will bleed them for what they’ve done,” he growled, turning around to face her. “It’s already in the works.”
Shock stole the words from her throat. He’d talked about fighting them, but it was different now. She had met his Pack. She was investing her heart in these people. Now, she worried they would be hurt. “Will you fight them in their territory?”
He nodded once. “And until the aftermath is finished, you will have to go about your life like I don’t exist in it.”
“Impossible.”
“You’ll pretend. You will be their first target, just like Nory is. They see humans as collateral. You and Nory will be seenas weapons for them. Weapons against us. Damage you and damage your dens and it cuts us deep.”
“When will you go there?”
“Not tonight.”
“Dodger, when?”
“Not. Tonight. We have here and now, Destiny. No one can see us, or judge us, or take this away,” he said, gesturing around the living room. “Not tonight. Werewolves and humans are different, and we can’t get around that fact. You can make plans for your future. You can make goals and reach for them. Tomorrow, our Pack could be in war. The next day, we could be mourning something awful. The next day, one of us could decide to leave, or the Elders could make new rules, or the police could show up, or we could get fired from our jobs after fighting a human or Change on accident in public and be thrown in shifter prison, or a hundred other things that keep us unsteady. There is always a disaster to manage for people like us. You though…because you are human, you can know and understand peace, because you aren’t like us.”
“My dad knows peace,” she pointed out.
“Because he doesn’t live like a werewolf. He lives like a human.”
She looked around and then sank down onto the soft couch. “You own this.”
He nodded, a confused frown etched into his face.
“And that,” she said, pointing to the kitchen table.
Another nod.
“And you pay human bills as you say, because of what Nory has done in buying this territory for your people.”
“Yes.”
“So, it seems you are reaching for steady and living like a human too. Maybe we aren’t so different after all.”
