August kept his gaze on the windshield, on the dark slope of pines bathed in white moonlight. Yesterday, the moon had been full and all of the wolves, young and old, had run wild through the forest. August hadn’t been among them. At least not when I’d been with thepack.
After turning the key in the ignition, he drove down the dirt road, past the rusted fence and the large wooden sign emblazoned with the wordsPrivateProperty.
“Will you go for a run before you leave?” Iasked.
“Yeah.”
Old August, the one who’d looked upon me like a little sister, would surely have asked me if I wanted to run with him. This new August . . . he didn’t ask me to join him. Not that I would’ve gone. I hadn’t left the party early to go for a run. Besides, what would Liam think if he showed up on my balcony and I wasn’thome?
I reached over and touched August’s knuckles before realizing that I probably shouldn’t touch him at all. What if it somehow strengthened our bond? I removed my fingers, feeling my navel pulse as wildly as myheart.
“I’m really sorry about . . . about all this,August.”
“Not your fault, Ness,” he said in a rough voice. “No one’s fuckingfault.”
Iwinced.
After a beat, he said, “I’ll have to add a penny in Mom’s curse jar now. Closer to a quarteractually.”
For the first time since August had driven back to Headquarters, I smiled. “She still hasit?”
“Oh, yes. She calls it her retirementfund.”
I smiled wider. “I miss your mom.” Preoccupied with making a place for myself in Boulder, I hadn’t paid Isobel a visityet.
“She misses you too. You should go see her once I’m gone. It’ll make herhappy.”
I nodded. “Good thing I’m signing up to get my driver’s permittomorrow.”
August glanced at me, his face much more relaxed than earlier. “You don’t have yourlicense?”
“I didn’t really need one back in LA. Besides, we didn’t have a car, so it wouldn’t have served much of apurpose.”
Jeb made a little sound, between a wheeze and a sob, which had me spinning in my seat. His lids were shut, though, and his neck craned at an awkward angle—he wasasleep.
“Still can’t tell me where you’re going?” I asked August, turning back towardhim.
“It’sclassified.”
“But I’m yourmate.”
He almost swerved off theroad.
“Sorry. That was supposed to be funny; it wasn’t.” I wrung my fingers in my lap, wondering what had gotten into me to even joke about our new bond. “I can’t believe I just said that. Can you just delete it from yourmemory?”
August didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned on the radio, tuning into a jazz station. August had always been a great fan of jazz. I used to tease him about it, telling him he had the taste of an old man. Unfortunately, I didn’t consider him such an old man anymore. Would’ve been a heck of a lot easier if Idid.
Speaking of old men . . . “Did Frank have amate?”
“Not to myknowledge.”
“Does anyone else in the pack have amate?”
“Eric. He and his wife are going on fiftyyears.”
“That’s a longtime.”
“My parents are celebrating thirty nextmonth.”
