Jasper heads into the bathroom and turns the water on, steam instantly floats through the door, which he’s left ajar. I catch a glimpse of him slipping out of his shirt, testing the water with one hand while the other massages his shoulder. Those shoulders. They must be exhausted from carrying the weight of all this.
On my other side is a window and through it the moon hangs just above the tree line, the rain clouds parting just enough for her to peek through. Did she do that because she’s watching? How does she feel about what’s about to happen here? She’s looking decidedly bulbous, a hair’s breadth away from being full. The blue moon is nearly here, bringing with it potency and the potential for destruction.
Every mating season a new crop of wolves head to this camp hoping to find a mate, using the energy of the blue moon to bolster their chances. We plan to harvest that energy and turn it into something powerful, something violent.
I just hope we’re strong enough to beat our enemy.
In the morning, Jasper is up early, moving around the room while I’m barely able to lift my head. I try to sit up and groan from the exhaustion. My legs are sore, my back tired. If yesterday was this tiring, how am I going to make it through the next few days?
“You’re up early,” I say, glancing through the partially open window at the dim morning light.
“Morven should be here in an hour or so and the officers are meeting to discuss strategy and troop formations.”
“You need me to come with?”
He moves to the bed and sits, his weight on the mattress pulling me closer to him. Leaning down, he pushes the hair off my forehead and plants a kiss there. “No, you sleep some more. There’ll be plenty to do and you need your energy.”
“Okay.” I lie back, nestling into the pillows.
Once he’s dressed and ready Jasper heads for the door, stopping when he’s there to turn back.
“Love you, Max.”
“Love you,” I mumble.
And then he’s gone.
Eventually I get up and get dressed and head down to find something to eat.
The lodge feels kind of empty so I head outside where the rain seems to have stopped for the moment, though heavy clouds still cross the sky.
“Max,” Katie says, running down the field between the lodge and the cabins where soldiers are lined up behind two long tables laden with food. “How did you sleep?”
I rub the last of the night-crust from my eyes. “Okay actually, what’s all this?”
“Breakfast—turns out the army is pretty self-sufficient, they brought all this and set it up. You hungry?”
A waft of salty bacon scent catches in my nostrils, my mouth watering instantly. “Starved.”
And it’s not just bacon on offer. Katie and I line up with the soldiers, all of them easily at least a couple of inches taller than me, and fill our plates with hash browns, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, and of course, piles upon piles of bacon. I grab a crunchy roll at the end of the tables and Katie and I head over to sit on a free log to eat.
“It’s crazy, right?” Katie says, chewing slowly while I shovel food into my face. “Being back here.”
“Mmhmm,” I get out, not able to form words with how much delicious breakfast food is stuffed between my cheeks.
“It’s sort of inspirational,” Katie says.
“Oh yeah?” I ask between forkfuls.
“Yeah.” I watch her as her eyes scan the packed field. “All these wolves are willing to give up so much just to fight for all of us. The last time I was here all I could think about was finding a mate. Seems sort of self-involved now.”
She’s stopped eating and is staring thoughtfully at the table where gamma wolves are happily serving their comrades breakfast.
“You can’t think like that,” I say. “Our whole society is brought up to believe that finding a mate is the most important thing a person can do. Our whole culture is geared toward it. You can’t help being a product of that.”
“Mmm, maybe not.” She shrugs. “But you could.”
I have to laugh. “Yeah, until I found Jasper and then he became all I could think about. I wasn’t exactly looking around at what other people had going on.”
