Page 13 of Same One
“Chhh, I had no idea how tough until I was thrown into the fire with one. I didn’t get to bond with him when he was a little kid. Sometimes I regret that part too. Just a life of regrets, yeah?”
Tabian leaned over and plucked a dead leaf from the porch and spun it slowly by the stem between his fingers. “I think any life can be one of regret if you look at it like that. You control your life though, Tru. You just don’t realize it yet.”
“That’s rich coming from a werewolf who is controlled by Elders, and government, and by Pack dynamics, and last but biggest, controlled by the wolf.”
Clever girl.
“I think we are both trapped pretty efficiently by circumstances beyond our control,” she said softly.
Her pert little nose flared as she leaned forward and glanced at her front door. “Bayen will be home from school soon. I’m going to start on dinner.”
“Mmm, what are we having?”
“Wearen’t having anything. Bayen and I are having spaghetti.”
“Save me some,” he teased, messing with her.
“I honestly can’t remember a single time I cooked that Bayen left a single bite of leftovers.”
“Damn, that boy can eat. Prop me up while you cook.”
“What?”
“Prop the phone up and hang out with me while you cook. I’m going to start dragging furniture inside.”
“Oh. Okay, but we will both be busy.”
“Yeah, but isn’t it nice to be busy with someone?”
He caught a glimpse of the smile on her face before she ducked her gaze away from him. “That actually sounds nice. I’ve been pretty lonely.”
“Same.” He heard the truth in his own voice. Even with the Pack, he’d been lonely for a while. The wolves here had been pairing up and morphing into something he didn’t recognize, and he’d been left behind. At least, that’s how it felt.
What harm could it do to hang out with this little human and hear stories of her childhood and about her stepson. Tru was a beautiful distraction from the monotony of his daily life. She was so…wholesome.
It was a breath of fresh air, learning about her life.
He carried the phone with him and showed her the shed he’d been stacking furniture in, all covered in different colors of plastic. She was boiling spaghetti noodles and stirring red sauce by the time he was on his second trip inside. He kept the phone in his pocket when he was carrying anything heavy.
“Hey, if you have a Pack, why aren’t they helping you?” she asked from his pocket.
“I didn’t tell them about my house being delivered.”
“Why not?” There was curiosity in her pretty voice.
He frowned and set the couch he’d been carrying on its side so it would fit into the doorway. He eased it through and then pulled his phone from his pocket and checked on her dinner progress. She was buttering hot dog buns and putting them on a foil lined cookie sheet. From the looks of the butter, it had garlic and parsley stirred into it.
He could practically smell the garlic bread from here, and his stomach growled. “I guess I got scared a couple months back. One of my Packmates was taken. It was a public thing, with his abductors pretending to be police. It happened right in the middle of town, and he was shot in the face. I felt the Pack bond, and his was almost gone. I thought we lost him. For a while afterward, we did. He had been badly injured and got stuck as a wolf. I came out to the woods every day in the weeks he was stuck, just hoping to find him human again, you know? Icouldn’t sleep. I didn’t like him out alone in the woods at nights, but he wouldn’t let any of the Pack Change with him. He fought us when we tried. It kind of…”
“Kind of what?” she asked softly.
“Tortured me.”
“The Pack bonds scared you after that?”
Tabian pursed his lips. “I’ve barely talked to him since.”
“It wasn’t his fault though,” she said.
