“Do you know where thatsciencecomes from? Neither do I. You can’t find actual studies, Saffron. I looked. And what I found was a whole lot of interpretations and explanations, a whole lot of final stats with no transparent way to backtrack how the conclusions were made. Also there’s nothing whatsoever that’s older than, like, seven years. Why not? What didsciencesay about lupines in previous generations?”
Saffron threw up her hands, forgetting to whisper. “Previous generations thought they were mythological.”
“Yeah, in some cultures, but not universally. There’s wolf lore going way back, Ezra told me. And some of it includes involvement with humans.”
“Lore? As in folklore. As in tall tales.”
“No.” Willow punched her fist down on the mattress. “Wolf loreis what they call the history that gets passed down. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh.”
Her face grew hot. This wasn’t fair. Saffron wasn’t listening. But they always listened to each other. That was sisterhood. That was friendship. She hugged a pillow to her chest. She had no other information with which to fight. The mission to win Saffron over to her side was failing. Her sister stared at her as though Willow had turned green and sprouted a pair of antennae.
“You’re not going to break up with him, are you?” Saffron said at last.
“No, I’m not.”
“I can’t even believe this. You, of all people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means, sis. You’re the best critical thinker I know, and you’re throwing critical thinking out the window.”
Saffron could have accused her of grand theft auto and hurt her less. Willow pressed her palm to the throb in her chest. One tear fell, but she swiped it away.
“I’m sorry,” Saffron said. “But it’s the truth, and you always want the truth.”
At least she didn’t assume Willow had thrown honesty out the window too. “Do you remember saying vampires are deadlyifthey want to be?”
“Yeah…” The word lilted with doubt.
“What if lupines are the same, and we’ve been taught otherwise? What if Iamthinking critically about all this? Can you just… Can you just consider that, given what you know about me?”
Saffron stood and took a few steps toward her door, and Willow’s heart lost a beat at the thought her sister was about to walk out of the room without another word. But at the door, Saffron turned back to her. “I’ll try, okay? I can’t get my head around this right now. But I’ll try.”
“That’s all I’m asking for.”
“Yeah. Maybe. Okay.”
“Okay,” Willow said. The adrenaline leaked from her system as her body caught up to the fact there would be no resolution between them, not tonight. She wilted on her bed, stared at the pillow in her arms.
“We should sleep,” Saffron said. “We’ve both got work tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Willow heard herself say. “Okay.”
Saffron slipped out of the room and shut the door.
Willow surged to her feet, threw the pillow onto the floor, and grabbed her phone. She needed more than anything to go for a power-walk, to work the tension from her body, but Dad wouldn’t be asleep this soon. He’d hear the back door. He wouldn’t want her out pacing the sidewalk in the dark.
As a substitute, she opened her window and began to pace the floor. The winter night’s bracing chill flooded into the room. It was mostly quiet for a few seconds; then a mockingbird’s song drifted in. Crazy birds, singing at all hours and all seasons. But she smiled and said, “Thanks,” as though fate had sent him just this moment, just for her.
She took a long cleansing breath and tapped her way to a text message.
No. She couldn’t text him, not this late. She had to take this slow, be cautious. She’d seen him just yesterday. She’d see him again on Thursday; he was meeting her at the park. He had promised to bring a first-rate picnic.
“And you’ll demonstrate your wolf gifts?”
She was learning to read the subtle shifts of Ezra’s usually calm expression, but his little smirk had required no interpretation.“We’ll need a secluded spot for that.”
