That he hadn’t answered my question.
“I think you broke numerous speeding laws getting to us that quickly, but I’m grateful, so I’m not going to ask about that part.” I was just going to hope they didn’t have speed cameras and that the local cops weren’t completely human.
“Smart man.” Braun’s dry response got another snort kind of laugh from Emeric but it also got him chattering again.
“I knew Alpha would come and help. He’s a good Alpha.” Emeric’s excited tone didn’t match the situation but that might’ve been a me thing…or a human thing. “He wouldn’t leave us. We’re important.”
“That’s right.” Braun’s casual response made me smile. “We protect pack.”
I wasn’t going to point out the fact that I wasn’t pack for a variety of reasons.
“Alpha Braun wouldn’t hurt anyone either.” Emeric’s tone finally started to shift into something more serious, but I wasn’t sure if it was reality crashing into him or just the giggles fading. “Other Alphas aren’t like that.”
Were we finally getting the story out of him?
Braun’s only response was a hum of encouragement which got a long sigh from Emeric before the boy continued. “Alpha Otto isn’t like that either. He attacks people…like my dad.”
It wasn’t unexpected but it was heartbreaking to hear him say so matter-of-factly.
I wasn’t sure how to respond but Braun didn’t have the same problem. “What happened, pup? We’re going to keep you safe but to do that we need more information.”
“Yes, Alpha.” I could almost hear him sitting straighter and channeling Braun. “Alpha Otto…I heard one of my mom’s friends say he has a short fuse. That means he has a short temper and just explodes when he’s angry. My dad had that too. You don’t. You’ve got a long fuse. I’m going to have one of those when I get older too.”
Oh.
Well, he wasn’t wrong about the long fuse part judging by the state of Braun’s pantry and the whole no one relieving him at the gas station situation.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I know you’ve got a long fuse just by seeing what a good job you did getting up here.” Braun made it sound so simple I knew Emeric would feel more confident. “I’m going to need to hear that story at some point because it’s going to be impressive, but we’ll stick with the practical stuff now.”
Braun sounded like they were going to drink beer around a fire pit and trade bullshit stories and it tickled Emeric’s funny bone because he laughed again. “I was good at hiding but I lost my backpack when the car hit me.”
A backpack?
How had no one noticed a wolf running through Louisiana wearing a backpack?
“We might be able to find that.” Braun’s lack of surprise at anything that came out of Emeric’s mouth was amazing. “You did good hiding. I hadn’t heard anything about a wolf running around.”
At the very least that should’ve made social media, so it seemed like he’d been careful.
“We’ll teach you to avoid stuff like cars better.” Braun made the whole thing sound reasonable. “There’s plenty of land to run and practice.”
Practice what?
Would it be rude to ask?
Deciding it would derail us at the very least, I stayed quiet as we drove away from town and headed back toward the house.
“I need to learn to remember smells better.” Emeric’s grumbling sounded so much like Braun I couldn’t help smiling. “The man in the store. I smelled him the night the Alpha fought with my dad and he disappeared.”
His father disappeared?
Wait.
Was he finally going to talk about his mother?
“They said he got into a car accident, but he didn’t have one any longer. I don’t know where it went but he said not to be a shit about it.” Emeric’s tone said he shrugged even if I couldn’t see it. “So I wasn’t a shit, but he still got killed somehow.”
By the Alpha, it seemed.
