“So he abandoned us?” I shot back. “He’s scared, so it’s okay that he took off and left me alone to deal with everything? What the hell do I know about shifters? Fuck all, that’s what. But he left his clan, and they all turned to me as if I was their new alpha. They needed him. I needed him.”
“I know,” he said sadly. “And that’s the problem. You two can’t live without each other. You’ve both survived so much shit, monsters and loss and violence. But you’ve dealt with all of it together. You don’t know how to exist without one another. I always told Calvin there’d come a day when he and Brie would regret how close they let the two of you become. I just didn’t realize they wouldn’t be around to see it.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, unable to keep the frustration out of my voice. “We’re brothers. Why wouldn’t our parents want us to be close?”
“Look, I’m not getting into this with you right now,” he said, rising to his feet and walking out to get more beer.
I ripped at the label on my bottle, pulling shreds away from the glass as I stewed over his words. He was the one who’d started the conversation in the first place. He was as bad as Bryce. Always starting but never willing to finish. Quick to point out a problem but never able to provide his own solutions. Why was he suddenly trying to avoid talking about the topic he’d brought up to begin with?
Pops came back and slid a third beer across the table to me. I caught it but didn’t open it. The roars and snarls issuing from the woods around us were setting my teeth on edge.
“Do we have to put up with two more nights of this?” I asked.
“Probably,” he shrugged. “Tomorrow will be the worst of it. The moon’s orbit being so close will make all three nights of the cycle feel like full moons. But they’ll be okay. There’s nothing in those woods that will hurt your pack.”
“They aren’t my pack,” I retorted. “Those cats belong to my selfish, runaway brother.”
Pops blew out another sigh and set his bottle firmly on the table. I glared back at him, unwilling to give an inch. I had every right to be pissed at Bryce, and nothing my grandfather said would change that.
Silence fell over the table as we drank. Finally, he got up and grabbed a deck of cards, dealing out a game of Rummy as he’d been doing with me for thirty years. We played and drank and just enjoyed the companionable quiet. I’d missed him. Now that I was here, it seemed a shame I’d been away so long.
We played for hours to the music of giant cats crashing around the woods, howling and occasionally laughing eerie human laughs. It had always wigged me out that the weres I’d met spoke in human voices. They seemed like cartoon characters.
“What have you been up to? We haven’t really talked in forever,” I said as I shuffled.
“Nice gear shift,” Pops said, with a chuckle. “I’m all right. Good health. Good spirits. Good woman.”
“Yeah? Tourist or townie?”
“She’s a snowbird,” he said. “Her name is Cadence, and she’s only here for the summer, though I’m thinking of trying to talk her into staying a while longer. Great sense of humor. When she found out Bryce got me hooked to the town grid, she ran right out and bought me a lamp and one of these stupid things.” He clapped his hands loudly twice and light flooded the cabin. “Stupid. But it tickled the hell out of her so I use it.”
He looked happy. It had been a long time since I’d seen him smile the way he did while talking about his new girl. I was glad. We’d worried about him out in the woods all alone. He wasn’t infirmed by any means, but he was getting older and it was nice to know someone else was looking out for him. With us being so far away, it was difficult to get up to check on him in person as often as we probably should have.
“Maybe, you should try to get some sleep,” Pops suggested
“Can’t,” I said, getting to my feet and crossing the room. “I’m worried about Sebastian and Darla.” And Bryce. “Besides, I’ll never get any rest with that caterwauling going on.” I looked out the window but couldn’t see anything, even in the bright light of the moon.
“Shit,” I said, smacking my forehead and looking around for a clock. It was midnight already. “I left my packs out in the woods. I was so distracted when I got here I completely forgot. All my clothes, not to mention an armory, are just laying out there.”
“It’ll be fine ‘til morning, Cole. The weres won’t mess with it, and no one else is out there.”
“No, I have to go get it.” I didn’t really want to tell him I couldn’t sleep without my .45. It was like a security blanket. “The weres won’t bother me. I’ll just snatch up the bags and, maybe, head out to the tree house for the night.”
“You got a piece to take with you, just in case?” he asked, ever the hunter.
I held up the sawed-off I’d stowed next to his door. With a quick nod, I headed outside into the darkness. I hadn’t dropped my stuff
