Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
So that’s cool.
I’m not prepared for the keepers at the center to roll out the welcome wagon when we arrive. They usher us in while talking a mile a minute about Meera and the pups’ progress. I tune them all out as I follow along, making sure not to let my troubled thoughts show whenever Sunshine sends me curious glances over her shoulder.
She holds out her hand, and I take it, kissing the back of it before dropping my arm over her shoulder and letting her pull me along.
We’re pretty much given a backstage pass when one of the keepers leads us through a gate with a sign marked Danger Ahead. Authorized Personnel Only.
Hands in my hoodie, I enter last and look around. The first thing I notice is that there are wolves everywhere, and that there are no more fences between us and them, but they pay us no mind as we enter and stand around.
The keepers are still talking a mile a minute about the care that went into reintegrating Meera and her pups into the pack. It was a slow process, but the pack seems to have accepted them all with no issues.
After a few minutes of keeping a safe distance, a wolf with gray fur stands and walks closer.
“Uh, don’t be alarmed,” the keeper says, even though none of us are. We live in the wilds, for fuck’s sake. We can’t take a walk without running across a predator or two. This is nothing. “Sometimes they get a little curious with newcomers, but they won’t attack unless provoked.”
The gray wolf growls, and I surmise that it must be the alpha of the pack checking us out. I can see the keepers eyeing each other as they wonder if they should cut our visit short. A moment later, another wolf with tawny fur appears next to the alpha. She brushes up against the incensed wolf, and the growls stop, replaced by a whine. The wolves rub their heads together before the tawny wolf cautiously approaches. She walks between Thorin and Khalil and I see her gaze on me, head tilting as if she can tell the difference between me and Zeke.
“Hey, it’s you,” I greet when Meera jots close enough to brush against my jeans. The keepers gasp when I reach out a hand and boldly scratch behind her ears. “What?” I ask when the keepers gape at me. “We’re old friends.”
Aurelia grins at me over her shoulder, and I wink. Meera does the same to Aurelia, nudging her thigh with her snout, and I lean over to whisper in her ear.
“I dare you.”
“Seth.”
“Double, triple, quadruple dare you.”
Thorin looks over his shoulder as if he can feel the mischief in the air and narrows his gaze. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
But Aurelia is already reaching a hand toward Meera, her fingers running through her rough coat a second before the alpha barks a call and Meera walks away. She returns to the wolf, and they walk to a spot under a tree.
“And I think you remember these two,” the keeper says as two smaller wolves wander over.
“Oh my God,” Aurelia gasps. “Is that Rom and Remy?”
“Yes, yes,” the keeper answers enthusiastically. “It’s them.”
“They’ve gotten so big!” she squeals.
Emboldened by their mother’s presence, the pups sniff at Khalil’s and Thorin’s shoes and legs and then Aurelia and me before losing interest and running back over to the rest of the pack to play.
We stay for a little while longer before we leave, and as we’re walking to the truck, something lands on Aurelia’s cheek and she swipes at it. Inspecting her wet fingers, she frowns. “Is it raining?”
“No,” I say as I stare at the white flakes falling down. “It’s snowing.”
“Already?”
Thorin snorts. “Prepare yourself for it to happen often. It shouldn’t stick for another month though.”
The four of us hop in the truck and we drive off, stopping in town for some food and supplies. We’re walking through the aisle of the grocery store picking up mostly junk food and liquor, to Khalil’s annoyance, when Aurelia stops by the stand of magazines.
I only glance her way before I search the store for any lingering gazes. Keeping our heads on a swivel is what we do whenever we bring Aurelia into town, which we don’t do often for this very reason. She—who is supposed to be dead—is still at risk of being recognized, so whenever we see someone looking too closely her way, one of us will kiss her senseless to block her from view. It really sends them scattering when we take turns.
Scandalous, they whisper.
Aurelia was annoyed at being judged at first, but now she thinks it’s hilarious, and so do I. What can I say? She breathes, and my heart sings.
When I finish my scan and notice her still over by the magazines, staring at the front cover of one, I wander over and cage her in with my hand braced on the wall. “Anything interesting?”