“The vironoct?” His face nearly touched mine, so I pushed him back. “I just want to be left alone so I can try to put my life back together. I need to know what to do about Mosavi.”
The werewolf cocked his head. “Is your life broken?”
“Yes!” I shouted, nearly swallowing the herbs by accident. “Ever sincethishappened.” I pointed to my sharp teeth and pointed ears. “I can’t start the career I want. I’m slowly turning into a monster. I can’t seem to catch a break, and now Mosavi is threatening me.”
The feral’s warm stare turned to ice. He wrinkled his nose.
“What?” I asked.
“Go back to the Midna.”
“I need your help.” My tone was nicer this time, and I grabbed his arm. “Take me to your alpha… or chief or whatever. I think he knows how to counter Mosavi’s magic with those stones.”
“The stones break a witch’s enchantments. What Mosavi gave you was not our magic. It is not our way.”
The hair on my arms stood straight as a familiar scent caught my nose. It was irresistibly potent, just like Mosavi’s.
“You’re like him, aren’t you?”
He said nothing before reaching into his pouch.
“What is the life you want, Cody?”
The question surprised me, and the answer caught in my throat before spilling out like vomit.
“I want everything to go back to the way it was before I went half-turn. I want my career and a lot of money so I can have a future.” Though I was passionate in my response, there was something in my chest that ached.
The werewolf snarled this time. “Go back to the Midna.”
“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t help me!”
“You do not want our help. You should seek his.”
I balled my fists and slammed them hard into the log. “That’s the entire reason we’re here!”
“And what is it you wantmeto do?”
“I…” The words I really wanted to say disappeared as quickly as I could think of them, so I shook my head. “I just needsomething to keep Mosavi away from me so we can go back to the city.”
The werewolf stood and looked over at his pack before giving a grunted yip. The others in camp stirred awake, pushing a still-sound-asleep Roscoe to the side.
“You’re really not going to help me, are you?” I asked. “Just tell me what I need to do.”
He took my hand and pressed a bundle of herbs firmly against my palm.
“You and this—Mosavi are more alike than you care to admit. The life you want is the life he struggles to hold onto, and you will chase it like he does. You will grow bitter like he is. You will always chase but never obtain.” The other werewolves disappeared into the woods, but the elder stayed behind. “You are at the precipice of self-discovery.” He glanced down at Roscoe. “Some know who they were meant to be, but for others, it could take centuries to figure it out. You may be special in many ways, but at your core, you are only one part of something bigger.” His thin black lips pulled into a smile one last time, and then he turned toward where the others had disappeared into the fog. “When you were in the city, did you ever see happiness among our kind?”
At that, he dashed into the brush with surprising speed before vanishing like smoke. Moments later, a distant howl echoed a farewell through the trees.
I spat the herb onto the ground, and the colors of morning shifted back to normal. My thoughts raced, and I remembered my time as a human in that city. Werewolves had just been pathetic nuisances I’d never given the time of day. When I started showing signs of my condition, the misery manifested as desperate resumes, like playing the lottery just so they wouldn’t have to live one more cold and humiliating night on the streets.Those that weren’t begging for scraps ended up like how Roscoe had been before I met him.
The werewolf’s snoring drowned out the caws of ravens hidden in the leaves. They eventually scattered in all directions, but not before swooping to give a swift peck at Roscoe’s head.
Adam and Austin were likely wondering where we were, if Mosavi hadn’t drilled them for answers already. The less they knew, the better off they were. All it would take is one of those bewitched items strapped to any of us, and the mayor wouldn’t need to ask. He wanted control—at least, that’s how it seemed to me.
That elder feral resembled Mosavi in many ways, but he had a peace about him that I couldn’t quite comprehend.
“He is a living contradiction, and the reason I stay in these woods so close to town.”
