The rest of the night was rather anticlimactic. Keys got sent to one of the guest rooms; Beta Lucas would come pick him up first thing in the morning. They would try to get his paperwork done so that he would be officially a member of our pack, get him enrolled as a trainee warrior, let him practice driving Beta Lucas' car, then someone would drive him down to Gate City so Keys could apply for a license, buy new clothes, and get a phone.
After that, Keys would be passed to Harvey for the afternoon. I didn't know what Harvey planned to do with Keys, but he was wearing a look very similar to Flynn during training sessions. Harvey was planning on making life a living hell for Keys.
Talking about Flynn, he and Hank were doing well. Alpha James had sent two white wolves to help speed up their healing, and Flynn and Hank were expected to be recovered enough to go home in about a week's time. They might even wake up tomorrow.
Thank Goddess for our good inter-pack relationship!
Tomorrow, it would be good if I could visit them at the hospital.
I was in my own room, staying up to finish my homework. Good thing it wasn't too much. The meeting tonight was postponed till tomorrow night too.
It was late, and I was tired. My eyes blurred as I stared at the words in my reading passage. I think my Wolfie had drained itself recuperating from archery practice, then from running around and scaling trees… oh yeah, and when I used my wolf strength and speed at full power? That was overkill and left my body aching all over.
I'll be all right after sleep. And I will sleep after homework.
The moon was out, and the snow was falling. I looked out the window to admire the scene. And then I saw it, weaving from tree to tree—the white fur against the dark bark of the trunks. It was too large to be Savy or Mum, and my first thought was that it was Rebel, even though I knew it wasn't. A white wolf… Alpha James? Really, there weren't that many white wolves in this world.
I slipped out of my room and onto the porch. I took a deep breath. I knew this wolf, but who was he? I carefully slipped behind the tree line, stripped, then shifted quickly.
{Beta approaches}
I waited, and the white wolf appeared in front of me. Immediately, it was obvious the moment I met his eyes—one blue and one green. It was Keys. He was a large wolf, matching me and Harvey in size.
I tilted my head. Let's try to mindlink since my wolf claims him as her Beta.
{Hi, Keys.}
Keys looked startled. I wondered when the last time he mindlinked had been.
{Goddess? …It has to be you.}
I guess he recognized my eyes too. If not, my dark blue fur would have been a dead giveaway.
{Why are you out here in the snow?} I asked.
{Because I could,} Keys answered.
{Keys?} I asked again.
{What is it, Goddess?} Keys asked. He sounded calm and content.
You're white/ Can you heal?/ Where are you from?/ Be happy/ Promise me you'll give this new life a chance/ Be good/ Let's change the world together…
What should I say to him at a moment like this? At this moment, I suddenly missed Rebel really badly.
{Do you know a fight dog named Rebel?}
It slipped out through the mindlink before I even realized it.
{Your mate?} Keys asked.
I didn't answer. My wolf stared into the woods, between the cracks of the trees. The snow continued to fall. Maybe the warlock princess could grant everyone a snow day tomorrow. That would be nice, except that Keys was supposed to take his driving test tomorrow too.
We sat there in silence for what seemed a long time but, in reality, could not be more than a few minutes.
{We've met,} Keys answered reluctantly.
{Did you guys fight?} I asked.
Keys' wolf looked away; he was withholding information. He asked very tentatively,
{Is he your mate, Goddess?}
My wolf nodded her large head.
{Oh,} said Keys. And after another pause, {You're welcome.}
Eh? What the hell?
{What are you talking about?}
Keys' wolf looked away again, but he had a wolfish grin when he promised. {I'll tell you one day.}
Whatever. I shook my thick fur out. The snow was piling on.
{I'm going to shift back and go to sleep. Go far away.} I ordered.
{Yes, Goddess.}
I could hear him laughing in my mind. I waited as his wolf ran further into the woods.
Now all I had to do was find my clothes—they'd been buried under the falling snow. It was a good thing wolves had a good sense of smell. I sniffed them out—actually, I sniffed out Keys' by accident before finding mine by the next tree. I shifted out and changed quickly, but my clothes were damp from the melted snow.
Keys was mysterious. There were so many things about his past that I didn't know. And I knew Gamma Endo had made a fuss over him being a fight dog—a top fight dog at that! Although I didn't get what the big deal was. Was he violent? But I just couldn't sense anything evil about him. A lot of brokenness, and also mischief, but what was it about Keys that made me trust him? I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
{Loyalty}
As I lay on my bed, this word came to my mind.
But all wolves are loyal.
{Some more so than others.}
I'm loyal.
{There is no wolf alive more loyal than him.}
In that hazy moment, just before I slept, I thought just how lucky I was to have found Keys on the road today.