Page 104 of To Trust a Wolf
“After that we worked even harder,” Arlo said. “We gave him every opportunity we could to be a young pup. He loved to run, to climb to the top of a tree and look around at the world. He especially loved to fish in our creeks. Not with a line and a pole, you know. He and I would go in barefoot and snatch those fish out of the water just like a bear does. He was so proud to bring home supper and fry it up himself.”
Rebecca nodded. “And once we knew how he loved books, I drove to the library two towns over as often as I could and let him have at the half-off library sales. He’d come home with an armful. I had to get him a dictionary, because half the words that he didn’t know, I didn’t know either. Tackling big old classics—Malachi was dauntless. He wanted to read and he wanted to learn.”
While she listened, April watched Malachi. After a wide lap around the yard, he brought Gigi back to the corn hole game and set her down, and then Tori ran to him with her arms stretched upward. Malachi obliged her too. Finally he returned to his chair with a smile in his eyes.
“Heard enough yet?” he said to April.
She laughed. “Hardly. I want to know everything.”
A growl rumbled from the depths of his chest. “Keep in mind you’re setting a precedent.”
“Oh?”
“If you learneverythingfrom Arlo and Rebecca, then I can learneverythingfrom your mother at dinner next week.”
She pretended to consider, then grinned, unable to maintain the pretense. “Deal.”
“I see.” His eyes shone as he set his left ankle on his right knee and leaned back in his chair. “Go ahead then.”
Rebecca didn’t try to hide her smirk. “I was thinking next we could tell April about that time you ‘stole’ a paper clip from Ann and confessed your wrongdoing to her, to us, and to William.”
“I took it home without permission,” Malachi said.
“It was a paper clip,” Arlo said with a rumble of laughter.
“A paper clip that wasn’t mine.” He cocked an eyebrow at both elders when they shook their heads. Then he turned to April. “I’d been doing homework at their place, and Ann loaned me a paper clip to organize my work. I didn’t realize I still had it until I got home that evening.”
“So you didn’t steal it,” April said with a shrug. “Theft is deliberate.”
“Not how I saw the world at twelve years old.” Malachi’s mouth twitched.
“Which doesn’t surprise me, now that I think about it.”
A little later, when Arlo and Rebecca got up for coffee, April tugged her chair closer to Malachi’s. He offered his hand, and she twined her fingers through his.
“About our first date,” she said. “I know we’ll have a lovely time together. But I want you to know, after our special night out, I’ll be just as happy to come home and have Arlo and Rebecca over for coffee.”
Malachi’s thumb ran over her knuckles while he gave a contented rumble from his chest. A deep sense of rest fell on April like a gentle rainfall. It must be different for her, not being a wolf, yet she thought she felt what Malachi described—strongest among pack. She drew a long breath and held it in her body, let it fill and cleanse her, then let it out.
“My pack,” she whispered. Malachi’s hand pressed hers, and she squeezed his tight and said it aloud this time. “My pack and my wolf.”
