Wolf: To Your Bones (Wolf series Book 2), page 33
“I can’t assess GenTec’s next steps.” Liam sat, relaxed, on the sofa, but his gaze was thoughtful. “I don’t know how they will react. They may consider the area dangerous now and build another base.”
He paused. During this time, only the sound of chewing filled the silence.
“But it could also be that they’re hunting us.”
His words weighed heavily.
“Josh in particular is in danger,” Liam added. “They know where he lives.”
I nodded, because Liam was right. It would be best if Josh found another apartment. Maybe it would even be reasonable to leave Shatterlake—or the country. The thought caused a glaring pain in my chest that almost made me double over. I couldn’t imagine losing Josh so soon after he came back.
No. If he left, I’d go with him.
However, Josh shook his head.
“I won’t leave my house,” he growled. “If they want to come, let them.”
It was the first time I could feel his true resentment toward the organization. It brought the air around him to boil. His muscles tensed under my fingers as his gaze turned into the emotionless stare I remembered from his fight with Ian. The blood rushed so fast through his veins that I saw it pulsating at his neck. It made me flinch.
There was no doubt: Josh was willing to kill anyone who tried to take him away from here again. His body language made that undeniably clear.
Hunter felt the electricity and pushed the plate toward Josh. “Hey. Better eat some more cake.”
That seemed to bring Josh back to reality. His anger disappeared, but Liam dropped the subject just in case.
“Fine,” Liam said. “Then we should at least consider an emergency code. Something that can be sent quickly and easily by text message.”
Hunter threw a third piece of cake between his teeth. “What do you mean?”
“A cry for help,” Liam answered. “Or an alarm signal. Something like 110 or 404. It’s fast to type in an emergency and doesn’t take half as long as dialing a number.”
That was a brilliant idea. It was not a full-grown security system, as only the hybrid could detect other humans and werewolves, but it was better than nothing.
I knew I was going to have to reason with Josh—to convince him to leave Shatterlake, maybe for a year at least, and let matters settle themselves here while the pack watched the situation. However, a single look in his eyes was enough for me to understand that my efforts would be in vain. Josh wasn’t going to back down. His decision was set in stone.
“We’ll go with 404,” Keith said. “Everyone remember that.”
We all nodded almost simultaneously.
“I don’t know if these men will ever come back to Shatterlake.” Liam’s voice urged caution. “But no matter how long it’s quiet, we need to stay alert.”
The tension in the air was palpable. It was almost too thick to breathe.
“A single mistake could be the end if these guys come after us,” the alpha noted. “Keep your eyes open. Watch your ass.”
We nodded again.
“And if any of you notice anything, let me know,” he added.
“I will consult with the other werewolves I know.” Liam put the documents back in his doctor’s case. I suspected the cake crumbs were scaring him. “If I find out anything, I’ll tell you.”
With that, our meeting was ended. I had been so focused on our conversation that it surprised me how late it was already. Josh had promised to have dinner with my parents tonight, so we had to leave soon.
“Anybody want more cake?” Hunter asked. Nobody answered, so he chuckled and sized another piece.
“See you soon,” I said to the group after I jumped off Josh’s lap. My rump had fallen asleep, so I hobbled to the front door to slip into my shoes. Meanwhile, Josh had taken our jackets off the hooks.
Keith seemed to want to accompany us to the front door, because he had also got up, supported by his crutches. When Josh looked at him, Keith frowned.
“So long,” he said casually. “And be careful.”
It was a final warning—a word of concern. Josh had never officially joined the pack, and Keith knew as well as I that he never would. Not because he was a loner, but Josh was simply used to making his own decisions. Still, I had a feeling that the pack would support Josh. If something happened, they would help him, and he would help them.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope with all the events of the last few weeks in the long run, especially knowing that our enemies knew Josh’s location. That Josh had the pack backing him at least gave me a little bit of relief. In this respect, the course of events had been beneficial. It had made allies out of two opposing fronts.
“Get well soon,” Josh said to the alpha. Then we turned and left Hunter’s stately home.
A wintery evening awaited us, and the freezing air hurt my lungs. The temperature had dropped several degrees in the last few days, so I rubbed my hands to warm myself up. I still needed to get used to the cold. Josh saw my gesture and grabbed my wrists to gently push them into his pockets. I couldn’t believe how warm they were, even after Josh had worn his jacket for only a few minutes.
“Better?” he whispered.
“Better.” I used our proximity to lean forward and put a kiss on his lips. Josh kissed me back and wrapped his arms around me.
“Are you okay?” My breath painted clouds in the air that touched the tip of his nose. “Be honest.”
He was silent for a moment, as if he had to think about it. His eyes were fixed on my face. “Yeah. Why?”
I hesitated.
“This whole thing . . .” I murmured. “Your kidnapping, the fights in the lab . . .”
I couldn’t forget that Josh was possibly the result of a successful lab test. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me that much, because I knew Josh was special. Nevertheless, that possibility seemed to cast a shadow over his existence. I was afraid that it would make him doubt things—himself, his transformation, the hybrid. I didn’t want him to feel like he didn’t belong. Not again. The thought that these men could have bred Josh made me sick and raised far too many questions. What exactly had been done to him when he was a child? How had he escaped then? Or . . . had he even escaped? In the end, any guesses, any attempts to explain why Josh was so important to this organization, remained simply speculative.
Josh probably noticed the chaos in my head. He gave me a careful, loving smile that made my heart beat faster.
“Ruby.” He was so close to me that his lips touched mine when he talked. His eyes thoughtfully ran my features. “You showed me what it means to have a home.”
His frank words touched me. I wanted to respond, but Josh interrupted me with a fleeting kiss. It fluttered over my lips and silenced me before he held me tighter.
“Do you understand?” he asked softly. “I don’t care why I’m different, where the hybrid comes from, or if I’m a genetic mutation after all.”
He smiled again.
“I’m Josh, and you’re Ruby. All other details are unimportant.”
His optimism took my words away. He’d hit the nail on the head. It didn’t matter how or why he had come into this world. Josh was here, and that was all that mattered. I knew that wasn’t all, though. At some point, when Josh was alone with himself, he would toss these thoughts around. He hadn’t lied to me, but he was human, so it was inevitable to question. There was no human who didn’t compare themselves to others and fear to becoming eclipsed. I knew this fear, and Josh knew it too. Maybe even Keith and the other pack members knew. Josh, however, had decided not to give the thoughts any space right now.
As long as he stayed Josh, everything was fine.
My arms fell around his neck. “I love you.”
His chuckle was the most beautiful sound in the world. “I love you too, Ruby.”
He tilted his head as if he wanted to kiss me but suddenly stopped. At first, I didn’t understand his hesitation. Only then did I hear it—a shrill, whining sound behind us. When I turned around, I almost jumped at the sight of Hunter’s distorted face. He was pressing his lips against the windowpane from the inside and making a terrible smooching noise at us. He pushed himself against the glass so hard that he looked like a fish.
I blushed. He was worse than a child. “You idiot!”
Hunter left to laugh at his own joke. Even Josh couldn’t help but grin.
“I can’t believe they’re all werewolves,” he said amusedly. “Each one is stranger than the other.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. I was still embarrassed, so Josh looked at me with delight and widened his grin.
“I love it when you blush.” He took my hand and pulled me to the Toyota. “We still have an hour. This calls for a hot shower.”
I saw both mischief and fire in his gaze. I was so captivated by his eyes that I simply forgot the cold. “Sounds great.”
Epilogue
It was a clear winter day that Josh and I had chosen for our trip. I loved to watch the snow-covered tops of the conifers when the sun shone on them, and there were plenty of opportunities for that this year. Barely two weeks after Josh’s return, the first snow had fallen, and it had been piling up ever since. Dad had already thought about unpacking his snow chains even though he drove a heavy-duty truck.
“It’s so high!” My legs sank so deep into the snow that I could hardly take a step forward. That was no wonder, because no one plowed the snow here. Josh and I had decided that Sunday to walk the dogs through the forest. I must have raced over this ground countless times on the back of the hybrid, and yet now everything looked completely different. It was almost like an alien world we had never explored before.
Charlie and Jamie could hardly stand the excitement. Whenever they didn’t watch where they were going, they ended up neck-deep. Jamie was already panting as if he had ran for miles.
“Come.” Josh chuckled and reached out his hand to pull me out. “You mustn’t put so much weight in your steps. Then you stay up—” And he suddenly sunk to his waist. He got shorter so fast that it scared me before my laughter echoed through the treetops.
“I think we have to go back around,” Josh admitted, and it took him some effort to free himself. At least the dogs seemed to be getting the hang of it. They jumped around and when they did break through the surface, they used their chests like icebreakers. That was a great trick, but unfortunately it only worked for four-legged animals.
The same thought seemed to come to Josh at that moment, because he suddenly stripped off his clothes.
“What are you doing?” I asked and laughed again. “Josh! Stop it!”
It didn’t take long for Josh’s light gray fur to cause him to almost disappear against the white backdrop. In the sparkling snow, he looked even more beautiful than usual. Like a living spirit of winter, whose amber eyes shimmered in the sun.
Josh generously offered me his nose to help pull me out, after which I picked up his clothes. I noticed the dogs’ reaction. They had interrupted their chasing game in order to stare at Josh in fear. It was the first time in their lives that they had seen the hybrid, and it obviously agitated them. The two pointer mongrels clamped the tails between their legs and gave Josh a growl. It made my hair stand on end. I remembered their growl from that night when I was a child and I had first met Josh as a werewolf.
“Josh, they’re afraid of you.” I saw their laid-back ears and their curved backs. It must be a shock for them to see such a huge wolf. I worried that they would attack him, but Josh wasn’t afraid of that. He trudged through the snow, which now barely reached his chest, and carefully approached the two animals. Jamie took off immediately, dodging Josh in a big arc. Only Charlie had stopped to sniff in Josh’s direction with a trembling flank. Josh commented on Charlie’s contact by lying flat on the ground and yipping. The hybrid’s voice was loud and made Charlie wince. However, Josh’s body language seemed to reach the dogs. For a while, they still stared suspiciously at Josh before their anxiety suddenly discharged. I guess the excitement was too much for them. They rushed around Josh like maniacs, jumping and snatching at each other. They went so wild, I was on my knees laughing. I’d never seen them like that before, not even as puppies.
Spurred on by their vigor, Josh made a resounding bark echo through the forest. Then he started to race through the snow like a torpedo, chasing Charlie and Jamie and taking care not to run them over by mistake. It was a fascinating sight. Two dogs that I had known for years—and a wolf who was five times their size. It made me realize once again how imposing the hybrid was. The three unconventional friends tore through the snow like little children, leaving deep furrows wherever their weight made them sink. Soon all of the white forest floor was full of the trenches they made. They made it easier for me to follow them, but their legs were just too fast. Soon they had left me almost a kilometer behind.
“Josh!” I shouted and waved my arm to draw attention to myself. “Don’t forget me!”
I saw his ears prick up in the distance. A moment later, he turned around. He rushed toward me like an avalanche, turned the snow into dust, and halted so close to me that his breath touched my face. It smelled of forest, pine needles, and of icy winter air.
“Will you take me with you?” I asked softly.
Josh yipped once more before he bent down. I took my time snuggling up to his thick fur before I climbed up.
An hour later, we were on our way home. We had gone as far into the wilderness as we dared, but now we had to go back. The dogs couldn’t take it anymore. Their tongues almost hung to the floor, and their panting was loud and unrhythmic. I sat on Josh’s back, his clothes in my arms, and made sure that Jamie and Charlie didn’t fall too far behind. Instead of continuing to fight their way through the snow, they followed the hybrid like a shadow, trotting in his tracks.
“I think they’ll sleep well tonight,” I said.
Josh returned my words with a rumble, which I interpreted as a chuckle. I was sure the dogs loved Josh even more now than before.
While his nose led us home, snow started to fall again.
“It’s not gonna stop snowing this year,” I murmured, looking up at the speckled sky. Mr. Harrison would be over the moon. The more snow fell, the better his winter supplies sold. Caps, scarves, heavy boots, skis, and skates were only a small part of what he had up his sleeve.
Lately, the shop had become quite crowded again. Thankfully, I had kept my job despite my wordless disappearance. Mr. Harrison was a magnanimous man who forgave me—on condition that I worked for two weeks without pay. It had been a test to see how important the job was to me, and I had passed it. Josh, meanwhile, was still learning the ropes in the auto repair shop in the neighboring town. Dad had kept his word and gotten him the job. Josh still had to be absent during the full moon, but Liam was taking care of his alibi, giving him doctor’s notes to hand to his boss so that Josh could take three days sick every month and blame it on the aftereffects of his accident. We would see how long this trick would work.
It was quiet for a while. Only the breathing of the hybrid and the panting of the dogs filled the cool air, drowning out my own breathing. The sky had turned gray, and soon even more snow would pour down on the town. I couldn’t wait to have a cocoa and lie in bed next to Josh. A winter with him wouldn’t be bad. As long as he transformed regularly, I’d never freeze.
“Mom says Christmas dinner’s ready. I hope you like raclette.” Normally Mom didn’t serve such “simple” dishes as raclette when she was expecting visitors, but our second Christmas with Josh seemed to be slowly elevating him to family member status. For my mother, serving him raclette was a high compliment.
Josh’s furry ears stood up, and he looked pleased with the invitation. Who would have thought how cute such a big wolf could be! It made me lean forward to wrap my arms around his neck. The leisurely rhythm of his steps relaxed me.
“You know what?” I whispered. The trees moved past us like big, slow giants. “I’m incredibly happy.”
My confession made Josh break his stride and tilt his head to look at me. I knew that he wanted to answer, and I was sure that he was as satisfied as me. I could tell by the peace written on his features. The expression in his eyes showed me that he had truly arrived.
Josh was home—and he had never been as much at home as he was now.
The end
Afterword
That was Wolf: To Your Bones, the second part of the Wolf trilogy.
I would like to use the epilogue to thank you with all my heart. When I published “Wolf - Under your Skin” on May 16th 2018 in Germany, I would never have thought it possible to find so many wonderful readers, contacts, and friendships within such a short time. Your positive feedback and your support fill me with great joy and pride. I’m incredibly happy that you love Ruby and Josh as much as I do. It’s a great feeling to share their story with you!
After the second adventure, the trilogy is now heading for its finale. Just like in Wolf: Under Your Skin, some questions in Wolf: To Your Bones have remained open, but they will be clarified in the final volume:
Who is this organization, and what exactly is the goal of their research?
What happened to the werewolves that escaped from the lab?
Is Josh really a genetic experiment?
I know Josh’s absence caused you some grief, so I promise that Ruby and Josh will not be separated again. What happened in part two has welded them together into a unity that can overcome anything. That’s what’s important for survival in their next ordeal.
