Leo laughed.“Thinking of calling one of the pack females for some company?”
“Meh.We could go to Lykos.”
Lykos was the shifter-friendly bar owned by the pack but run by a fallen angel named Paris.All shifters were welcome, and high-ranked members of the various shifter groups that called Northern Ohio home had reserved tables.
“I highly doubt my truemate would just happen to be at the bar on a random night in August.Plus, we can’t go tonight because we’re working, and tomorrow is the full moon.”
“So Saturday then.Sometimes you gotta put yourself out there, man.You just never know what fate might have in store.”
Leodidknow a little something about fate.
Fate was a son of a bitch.
Leo had no family of his own.His parents had gotten together to have him and then decided to split, leaving him in the care of his grandma in Thorn Hollow.His parents had moved on as if he’d never existed, settling down with others and starting families, expertly excluding Leo.When his grandma died, he’d floundered for a while, acting out and getting in trouble with the former pack alpha, Lit.Brick, Solan, and Adam hadn’t let him get too crazy, though.They’d become his family when he’d had no one else, and they still supported him.
But he wished fate had been kinder to him in the past.
He envied people with idyllic childhoods.
Imagine having parents who loved you?
He punched Solan in the arm.
“Ow, shit, man.What was that for?”Solan asked, rubbing his arm.
“You made me think too hard about my past.Now I need a drink, but I’ve got to work.”
“Sorry.”
“Ass.”
“So…Saturday at Lykos?”Solan asked.
“Yeah, why the hell not?Maybe you’re right and fate will smile on us.”
“It would be nice for a change.”
As they walked, Leo glanced up at the sky through the canopy of trees.He noticed a particularly bright star in the sky.He stopped and pulled out his phone, opening an app that gave the names of stars and constellations.When the app opened, he pointed his camera at the sky, and it showed a map of the heavens.The very bright star?A recently appearing one named Velastra.
“See something cool?”Solan asked when he walked back after realizing Leo hadn’t been with him.
“It’s a very bright star named Velastra, which means Veil of Secrets.”
“That’s cool.”
“Maybe that’s a sign,” Leo said, closing the app and putting his phone away.
“A star?”
“Sure.It happens.Celestial events tell the future all the time.”
“You’ve been hanging around the Wiccans too much during the ceremonies.”
“The last time I hung out with them was for the spring solstice when I stood guard with them on the bluffs.”He glanced up at the sky once more, wondering if there really was something coming.
Was that why his wolf was acting up?
* * *
