The Mating Habits of Werewolves

Part 1

Seeing Brennan again was weird. He wasn't any taller than last summer but there was a Dominant's power to him now that he was head of the pack. My wolf knew, and his wolf knew I knew. I went to hug him but found myself slowing because my vision was doubling as my brain and my body battled for dominance. It was like that really messed up image of the young maid who turns into an old lady with a hooked nose. There was my little brother in front of my eyes, but there was also my Alpha, my pack's Dominant; the man who held my fate in his hands.

He didn't hesitate, scooping me up in his arms and crushing me close. He buried his face in my neck, breathing me in and murmured, "I miss his smell," into my neck, then let me go and suddenly I could see my brother again through the haze. The boy I had grown up with, played with, fought with. He had been bossy, sure, but he had been funny as well and protective as all hell. He loved me and he was the only one that got how much I missed my dad at that moment. In that room where his smell was fading, an absence so physical it felt like I might fall into the void if I stumbled, Brennan was there, holding me steady. I got over my ridiculous shyness and pulled him into another hug. And then my mum was there, I felt her before she even spoke, "Devlin," she murmured and it was like her heart was breaking in her voice. Or maybe it was mine. I let go of Brennan and enveloped her in my arms, she wasn't a small woman and she was a wolf besides so she gripped me back hard enough to hurt and I just thought, Good. Brennan came closer and put his arms around us both with some difficulty. But it didn't need to be easy to be right. These were my people and suddenly I didn't know how I had spent long so far away from them, from my dad.

Maybe they were right and wolves weren't meant to live away from their packs. Of course, wolves weren't meant to die in their fifties, either. It didn't matter how strong you were, or how beloved, not even how powerful; nobody was really safe.