“I can picture his face. Puns are not one of your strengths, Trevor.”
The countdown to the full moon grew shorter. Maggie kept an early bedtime, and after that Trevor and Kelsey cuddled and talked for hours and hours, sometimes reminiscing, sometimes filling in the details of the lives they’d led apart.
One night they rested quietly together, one of his hands settled on her stomach. Kelsey took his other hand in both of hers and with her thumbs caressed it—palm, knuckles, calluses. Little nicks and scars, marks of his work.
“I love your hands,” she said.
“I love your hair.”
She giggled. “Really?”
“Mmmm,” he said, and the sound…had there been a rumble? Deeper than his voice? “You finally grew it out.”
“It’s pretty hot, huh?”
“You have no idea, Kels.”
“Maybe you should clue me in.”
“Mmmm,” he said.
Then his chest swelled with an old power he’d given up on feeling ever again. It didn’t burn, and it didn’t sap his strength. Instead it filled him and filled the room—the deep satisfied growl of a wolf.
“Your voice,” she said as if he needed to be told, as joy flooded her scent. “Oh, Trevor, your voice.”
He didn’t speak because he didn’t need to, not now. The growl deepened, grew louder, and if not for Maggie he’d tip his head back and release a roar of victory. But that could come later. Kelsey relaxed in his arms while he continued the low sound. Finally he felt like a wolf again.
For the first time in his life, he couldn’t wait for the full moon.
The afternoon before, all the pack traipsed to the containment paddock on Malachi’s property and put on their shock collars. They’d treated Trevor a little strangely since the day of the kettlebell. At first it felt like avoidance, but he came to see it was deference. As though he were a wounded warrior walking among them. He wanted to tell them to knock it off, that he was no less Trevor than he’d been before his mess was forced into the open. Except hewasless Trevor, in a way. Less than they’d thought he was.
But when the moon rose, when his body reshaped itself, when he stood on four paws, tongue lolling from a snout full of jagged teeth, tail swishing the air, rib mended, his fellow wolves came to him at last. Their ears were pricked, their heads up, one by one touching noses with him, and Trevor’s wolf heart swelled with the reacceptance each offered.
Last to approach was their alpha, largest of them all, his golden fur rippling under the moonlight, his great paws padding forward with slow ceremony. Trevor bowed his head, and Malachi gave him a gentle head-butt both playful and powerful. A rumble of gladness came from Trevor’s throat, ending the year of muteness in his wolf form. He lifted his nose to the moon and howled long, and his pack howled after him.
Then he ran with his pack. Together they ran, together they hunted, together they ate and rolled and played. He growled and yipped. He howled and rumbled and barked. He spoke and spoke to them, so much depth of feeling that overflowed his wolf heart again and again.
Slow to speak but never slow to notice, Dad approached in the morning, when they’d all gotten dressed and begun to disperse.
“Family dinner tonight?” he said. “Ezra’s up for it, and Cassius said he and Sydney are too.”
“Sounds good,” Trevor said. “I’ll bring Kelsey.”
That got a lifted eyebrow but no other response. His dad only nodded.
When he told Kelsey and Maggie about his impending reckoning, both of them agreed Kelsey must be there. That evening, as he lifted the big brass knocker and then stepped into his parents’ home, the home where he grew up, his mate stuck close to him. Inside Trevor inhaled expected scents. His siblings including his brother-in-law, his mom and his dad, and lasagna soup, Ann Sterling’s signaturewe have a lot to talk aboutmeal. He squeezed Kelsey’s hand, and she squeezed back.
Of course, the minute dinner was served and everyone seated, Mom took up the spokesperson role. Not that Dad had nothing to say, but he would bide his time, let his mate start off the truth-seeking query, listen to the young ones explain themselves before so much as a rumble passed his lips.
“Your daddy says there was some unusual behavior among the wolves last night,” Mom said for a beginning. “Seemed to be welcoming Trevor home, but he hasn’t been gone. Only he smells different, your daddy says.”
Ezra lifted his hands. “I promised not to comment on this before Friday.”
“Friday?” Mom tilted her head.
“He’s got a sibling-imposed deadline for coming clean with y’all.”
“So I would like to thank Dad for having us over,” Sydney said, “because Cassius will tell you, I’ve been going a little crazy.”
