Matt was pure butter with my parents. After everything, I felt like a high schooler with my first boyfriend. He was hitting every bar with perfect clearance. I looked over at him, listening to him talk about his own family. He smiled while describing his mother. My father's baggy clothes swallowed him up. I absently grabbed the hem and toyed with it.
"She loved flowers too . . ." Matt paused to look at my hand on his shirt and then at my face.
"I didn't know any of this about your parents," I said.
"They've been dead for a few years now."
I lifted my head.
"I'm sorry to hear that," my mother said. "You are always welcome here. I'm sorry, again, about before. It's just—we don't see many good wolves around. We've learned to distrust them."
"We'll set aside some time for me to meet with the mayor," Matt told her. "It's easier for humans and wolves to blend in the cities. The suburbs are sometimes a weird social straddle for everyone."
"Thank you. How long are you two staying? I can have the guest bedroom made up in no time."
I smiled over at Matt. He squeezed my hand with a wink.
"We didn't know how this was going to go," I explained, "but I would like to stay a few nights. If that's okay."
My father nodded. "Perfectly fine. I have some making up to do for you."
"It's okay, Dad. I know it's been hard. I just needed to see you both."
"We had assumed the worst," my mother said. "We just knew so many whose children or parents had been killed . . ."
I closed my eyes, trying to blog out the images forever impressed in my mind. "Where are Beth and Eloise?" I asked, almost afraid to know.
"They're workin' in the city," my father told me. "Work is easier to find out there. I begged 'em not to go . . . I know they have to work with wolves and don't get any choice. But they've been doin' fine."
"They called as soon as the lines were back up." My mother sighed as if it was the first deep breath she'd taken in a long time. "It was so good to talk to them from so far away. They're coming home for their next long weekend."
I felt so relieved to know my sisters were alright. I missed them terribly.
"I'd like to pay my sisters a visit on the way out," I told Matt.
He nodded, smiling. "Of course. I'd love to meet them."
"And also," I paused to look at my parents, "we need to do something for those families. Matt, we need to provide aid and counseling and whatever else these families need."
"We'll do what we can," he acquiesced.
Something flashed across his face that made me think Basileus was telling him otherwise. This was a battle in the war I could win. Once I got my hands on him again. My core tingled.
My mother began gathering the dinner dishes. I hopped up to help and Matt did the same. We made a team of cleaners while my father leaned against the kitchen wall and watched. A light conversation flowed through. When we finished, I grabbed Matt's hand.
"Mom, Dad," I announced, "we're going for a walk. Be back in a little bit."
"Okay, honey. Be safe," my mother said as she tucked herself into my father's side. It was the same message she always told me in high school. I could do almost anything I wanted so long as I was safe. I smiled.
Matt leaned into me while we left the house. Dusk had settled over the streets and street lamps flicked haphazardly on. He released my hand to wrap his arm around my waist. I nestled into him.
"They're nice people," Matt remarked. He looked down with an easy smile as I arched a brow. "After the initial upset, obviously."
"I'm just glad they came around." I sighed. "They didn't used to be like this. I still can't understand the death that they're so involved in now."
"We'll do what we can to alleviate some of their stress. No one can blame them for being afraid. Wolves are bigger, stronger, and faster. We haven't been doing a good job at making sure wolves across the country—much less the world—aren't using those things for abuse." He pulled me to a stop and tugged me into his chest. His chin rested on the top of my head. The pressure of him surrounding me felt like heaven. "I need your help. I want to plan a convention or a conference to host all the world leaders. And another one in the U.S. for local leaders."
My lips stretched against his shirt. "I'll help you. We should hire some people with work experience too. Maybe some humans?"
A disgruntled noise that sounded all too much like Basileus vibrated from his body. I laughed and peeled myself back, peering up at his face.
"Definitely the big guy," he assured me with an eye roll.
I brightened with a sudden idea. Grabbing his hand, I led him forward. "Come this way. There's something I want to show you."
We walked for about a mile through the twisting and turns of the neighborhood. At the very last cul-de-sac, a narrow path led through an overgrown yard. Matt resisted a little. I tugged him on and he followed. The grass was hip-high. I brushed off the unpleasant thought of snakes. We wouldn't be in these forms for much longer and our wolves could make quick of a snake or two.
"Where are you taking me, gorgeous?" Matt asked finally.
"Somewhere special," I told him.
We followed the path down a steep slope into a grassy valley. The grass here never grew high. A creek ran through the backside of it, buried amongst the roots of old pines. I stopped at the border of the valley and looked back at him.
"You want to let him out?" he asked. His face was flushed.
I placed my palms on his cheeks and kissed him, deeply. "I want to let us out."
He nodded slowly. I turned away from him, threw my arms in the air, and leaped forward. My wolf howled as she pushed through the human fibers of my body. I landed on my paws. I felt my tail wag. Matt grinned. Tilting my head back, I howled at the sky bursting with radiant blues.
When I opened my eyes, Basileus stood on all fours. His eyes glowed with pride and desire. His eyes winked shut as he howled, his voice thunderous and deep. His call for the wild echoed off the trees. Off my ribs and the throbbing ventricles of my heart.
I love you, I thought. Until we perish. Until we run dry. I love you.
He walked up to me and brushed his massive face into my fur. I leaned into the bulging brawn of his shoulder.
I'm his flower and he is my rock.