As if on cue my stomach, dependable as always, rumbles with the might of a thunderclap.
“That sounds great.”
Jasper jogs back to where I left my bag, grabs it, then swoops in, taking my hand and walking me toward the lodge.
“After, I thought it might be nice to take a walk, visit our spot?” he says.
“Perfect.”
The forest hums with the buzz of cicadas and the chirp of crickets. Stars peek through the canopy and the earth is soft underfoot. Fireflies dance between trees like fairies.
“It’s sort of wild,” I say, stepping over a fallen log. “The last time I was here this place felt more like some kind of apocalyptic wasteland.”
Jasper is a few steps ahead of me, he turns back and offers his hand to help me up a short rise. I take it and use a mossy boulder as a step to hoist myself up.
“And now?” he asks.
“It’s like magic,” I say.
He makes sure I’ve got my balance then continues.
“Nature has a way of healing like that,” he says, and I love the wonder in his voice, a hopeful sort of optimism I’m not used to hearing from him. “Tell me more about where you’ve been lately?”
“You know where I’ve been.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t told me in person. I want to see what your face looks like while you’re remembering how you hiked with wolves in the Amazon or explored the catacombs in Paris with French werewolves.”
My eyebrows lift of their own accord. “The Parisian packs were wild—very snooty, or snouty even, but amazing taste in pastries and clothes. Plus, they’re way ahead of us in terms of rogue integration. But that was months ago now. The last couple of months I’ve been in South America, meeting with rogues all over the place. Helping them connect with each other. Last week I stayed with the desert tribes in San Pedro.”
He lifts a confused eyebrow.
“In Chile. They took me to the Valle de la Luna in the Atacama, it’s this incredible valley with the most insane sunsets. They say the landscape is as close to walking on the surface of the moon as you can get without, you know, a spaceship.”
“Sounds amazing.”
“Yeah, it was. And the stars were on another level. We’ll have to go sometime.”
He tightens his lips, but smiles and says, “Yeah, we’ll go.”
“Before that I was in Santiago, and before that Colombia. I met this bunch of rogues who live in the forests there. Only they’re not forests like this, they’re more tropical. Seriously, the humidity was intense. I was sweating buckets. And what’s so cool about them is that there are only, like, five or six families living there but they’re just so full of life and they make all their meals together and eat outside. It’s this whole different way of life.”
He looks back at me with this mix of pride and smugness.
“What?”
“You’re really doing it,” he says. “You’re out there having adventures and helping people. It makes me happy.”
“I think—no, I know it’s what I’m meant to be doing.”
“Good.”
Jasper plows on, speeding up a little.
“So tell me,” I say. “How are things with the pack?”
“Good, busy as always.” He marches forward, moving branches from his path easily and finding footholds as we climb uphill. “Dad’s sanctuary initiative wasn’t met with the most enthusiastic response at first. Feels like it’s taken the better part of the last two years to really make any headway.”
“Some people don’t like change,” I say.
