If he got expelled, then Paige would have to come home, too. She wasn’t a shifter, so once she was away from stupid Conleth, she’d recover from the mating fever. Everything would go back to normal.
His bear didn’t understand this either. It was right for older litters to leave the den. A mature female like their sister should have long since established her own territory. Now she had found a mate of her own. Not a bear, true, but still a good match for her. They would make strong cubs together. There would be more bears. This was good. This was the way things should be. Why was he trying to interfere?
Sometimes his bear just didn’t get it.
It was nearly a whole day before Paige came back to see him. By that point, he was so bored, he was actually looking forward to getting yelled at some more. But it seemed they were way past that point.
“Come on,” his sister said. Her mouth was a tight, flat line. “The director wants to see you.”
His guts squirmed like bugs under a log. “Is he gonna throw me out of camp?”
“I don’t know, Archie.” Paige led the way out of the cabin. “He said he needed time to think about it. But I don’t see how he can let you stay. It would set a terrible example for the other kids.”
His feet felt way heavier than normal as he trailed after her. “Does that mean you’ll come home too?”
“I’ll have to.” Paige added, a little too quickly, “Mom has to work, and you can’t stay at home alone. Someone has to look after you for the rest of the summer.”
That was good, considering it had been the point of his whole plan. Yet, for some reason, it didn’t make him feel any better.
He wanted to play it cool, because an alpha shouldn’t care about getting in trouble, but his voice came out small and scared. “I didn’t mean to put the camp in danger, Paige. I thought the sheriff would ask a few questions and then go away again. I don’t know why I shifted. It just kind of happened.”
“It always does, with you.” Paige stopped, turning to face him. “Why, Archie? Do you really hate Conleth that much?”
Yes,he wanted to say, except he didn’t. Not really.Hatewas pure and clean and simple. He hated broccoli and algebra and greedy companies who cut down rainforests. It wasn’t at all the right word for the big hairy knot of feelings in his chest.
And anyway, it didn’t matter how he felt about Conleth. He could have been the greatest guy in the whole world, goofy and funny and always up for stealing popsicles out of the campfreezer, and it wouldn’t have made one bit of difference. Archie would still have had to keep him away from Paige.
But he couldn’t tell his sister the real reason he had to stop her from falling to the mating fever. He scuffed his sneakers against the ground, not saying anything.
Paige let out a deep sigh. Then, to his surprise, she pulled him into a hug.
“You know I’ll do anything for you, right?” she murmured into his hair.
Confused, but grateful she didn’t seem to be mad at him any more, he hugged her back. “And for Mom, too?”
“And for Mom.” Paige released him, blinking hard. “Come on. The director’s waiting for you in the office.”
Director Zephyr was indeed waiting in the office. He wasn’t alone, though. Stupid Conleth was there too, leaning against a wall with his arms folded. He must have finally managed to scrub off the skunk stink because he smelled mostly like himself again. His hair was still carrot orange, though. At least that was one good thing.
“Thank you, Paige,” the director said, inclining his head at her. “I think it’s best if we speak with Archie alone.”
Paige gave Archie’s shoulder one final squeeze before leaving. He wasn’t sure if it had been meant as a gesture of comfort, ordon’t-you-dare-screw-this-up.
Director Zephyr folded his hands on his desk. Archie had only seen him from a distance before, making announcements or welcoming kids to camp. He’d always seemed nice enough, but also kind of boring. Archie had never been able to figure out why all the grown-ups treated him with such respect.
Now he knew.
“Archie.” Zephyr didn’t sound mad, or even annoyed, yet Archie felt his bear curl up into a small, still ball. “You are awarethat our number one rule here is that every camper must be careful to keep non-shifters from discovering our secret.”
Hehadknown that, of course, thanks to Paige making him spend so long studying the camp rulebook. That’s what had given him the idea for his plan. He’d had to do something so bad, it would be unforgivable.
He just hadn’t meant it to work this well.
He realized Zephyr seemed to be waiting for some kind of response. Had the director asked him a question? He tried to remember, but it was like being in class when he could haveswornhe’d been paying attention, right up until the moment the teacher called his name.
His bear’s instinct was to cringe and try to appease the powerful adult male, but that would defeat the whole point. Archie swallowed hard, gathering all his courage. He could do this. He was an alpha, and a real alpha protected his family. No matter what.
“I’m not sorry.” He balled his hands into fists, willing the tears to suck back into his eyeballs. “And I know exactly what I did and why it was wrong, and I don’t care. So you might as well save your breath and expel me now.”
