“Hey.” Rema smiled at the pair as they joined most of the siblings in Diana’s patched up living room. “You look like you are having fun. How’d the meetings go?”

  “I have a few more questions. That I wanted to ask all of you at some point, but I think…” Nova’s mischief filled eyes sparkled.

  “Don’t you dare.” Amari leaned her head, filling her eyes with warning.

  “Please dare.” Max sat straighter on the close end of the couch.

  “Nova.” Amari fought the smile pulling at her lips. It seemed Nova felt comfortable teasing her and tattling to her siblings. Her joy battled against the desire to keep her spending the entire evening with Benjamin off the family grapevine. The revelation would spark all sorts of responses amongst her siblings. Trying to cover Nova’s mouth with her hand, Amari wrestled with Nova.

  “What is all the commotion?” Orion stepped in from the dining room.

  “Nova was about to tell us something about Amari.” Rema brow lifted, her mothering tone in full effect.

  “Oh, already ready to throw her under the bus. You are family.” Orion chuckled. “What is the secret little one? It won’t stay secret long regardless.”

  “Ask Amari about who she shared a corner with all evening.” Nova twisted out of reach. Joyfully, Max helped balance her as she escaped down the back of the couch behind him. With a hop over the other armrest she dipped under Orion’s surprised arms.

  “Who?”

  Amari stood silent. Exasperated as only family could stir, she swiveled two fingers between her and Nova. Mentally she braced for the dam break as Nova’s mouth formed the syllables.

  “Ben-ja-min.” Nova popped out the tip of her tongue from behind Orion.

  “Amari, again?” Orion stepped forward, voice measured.

  “It isn’t like that.” Wounded pride gripped Amari’s fists tightly against her sides. Youth long laid down for the wisdom of family.

  “Sure it isn’t. He tried to take you away.” Max stood, brows furrowed over alarmed eyes.

  “That was a long time ago.” Amari fumed. The hurt grew in her chest.

  “I was worried about this possibility.” Rema’s eyes darted to Nova with her careful words.

  “It’s not going to be like the Ghostfire Pack.” Restrained outrage pushed at Amari’s lips.

  “History can be a powerful thing.” Rema downcast her gaze.

  Amari bit back the ache. The worry had a foundation. She had begrudgingly made the choice years ago, but she had chosen them. Never once did she ultimately regret that choice, why didn’t they trust her. “Our history is more.”

  “Even if?” Rema pressed further.

  Weighted silence filled the room. Her three siblings’ expectant waiting settled on her shoulders. She hadn’t let herself go there. It hurt. The thought of having to choose. Really choose how to navigate a new reality after so much had already changed. Amari watched Nova look at each of her siblings with her speechless eyes that finally settled on her.

  “If what?”

  Amari somberly answered. “If you chose to join the Morningstar pack.”

  “You said it wouldn’t be an issue if I picked another pack.”

  “I said you wouldn’t lose me. Which is true.”

  “But?”

  Amari faltered at the panic she saw but answered honestly. “It hasn’t been done. Families tend to stick within one pack should the packs ever become enemies.”

  “Is that what happened to the Ghost-” Nova shook her hand in the air.

  “Fire pack? Not exactly. There were internal issues that caused the pack to dissolve. Members broke bonds and joined with other packs.” Amari watched Nova's chest begin to move rapidly. “But that is not happening here. We are family. Your family. No matter what.”

  “Little one, I heard you had questions for us. Let's answer them and see if this is all a moot point.” Orion pressed his aura out into the room.

  Amari felt the calm seep into her bones and saw the skittishness bleed from the others.

  “Has any pack been absorbed by another?” Nova quietly asked.

  “Other than like the Ghostfire Pack. Sometimes if the pack is small enough, marriage is the gateway to being absorbed.” Rema looked at Amari.

  “Could that be possible with the Morningstars?” Nova looked between Orion and Amari.

  Orion exchanged glances with Rema. “Not while Benjamin’s father is Alpha. Why do you ask?”

  “They offered to send me to school for free. Seemed too good to be true but Amari sat with Ben all night and I thought they couldn’t be that bad.” Nova looked around. “I’m not so sure now with how you all reacted.”

  “That is protective siblings worried about broken hearts.” Orion pulled back his aura. “If you want to go to school, we’ve done it before, we can do it again.”

  “Really?” Nova spoke careful hope in her voice.

  “Ye…” Orion started.

  Diana burst through the door, her head twisting back and her hands raised. “What the heck did I just walk into?”

  “A family discussion.” Max collapsed, knocking the couch up on its back legs.

  “Right, that is why a wall of emotions just smacked me in the face.” Diana blew out her nose forcefully.

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  “Just tell us why you came in like an imp in a tizzy.” Rema leaned on the arm of the chair.

  “Don’t appreciate the comparison…” Diana pointed a finger. “But my boss just dropped a bomb on me.”

  “A local bomb or a nuclear one?” Shorthand spilled over Amari’s lips. She hoped it was a local problem. Perhaps Diana was temporarily reassigned or she had a new trainee.

  “Closer to nuclear. They have footage of Nova being chased on the trail cameras. It has already been sent to a big research facility. An expert wants to come to investigate the “abnormally large” wolves.” Diana quoted the air with her fingers. “I am supposed to be her liaison and guide unless my skills are needed.”

  “Hex Vex that’s bad.” Rema ran her hands down her face.

  “Why?” Nova tentatively moved back across the room to Amari’s side.

  “We average a third bigger than natural wolves. Researchers tend to stay in an area for months if not years.” Rema pointed to the picture on the wall.

  “So?”

  Amari chuckled. The picture was deceiving. It was a family portrait Rema set up. Without a reference point it just looked like a pack of normal wolves in the forest with two that were slightly larger.

  “They gum up our woods, make our patrols more difficult.” Max petulantly crossed his arms.

  “Which means creatures like the minotaur could enter our world?” Nova puzzled together.

  “That and we have lost a few humans to the Fae. Alpha King doesn’t like that.” Orion commented.

  “I want to come back to the Alpha King and Fae. But what do we do?” Nova blinked quickly.

  “We warn the other packs and put up warnings in the major crossroads.” Amari tucked an arm around the young girl. Guilt washed over her, she promised the rollercoaster would be wrapping up. Seemed she lied.

  “When is the researcher due?” Orion clapped his hands.

  “Within the week.”

  Amari led Nova along a path through the thicket. She asked Orion to assign her and Nova to the major crossroads. Time alone and away from humans would be beneficial. She called over her shoulder. “Before they have a chance to set up, now would be a good time for us to have you practice transforming.”

  “I’m sorry.” Nova mumbled. Her toe dug into the dirt.

  “Even with my excellent hearing, I missed that, do you not want to practice?” Amari paused and turned back.

  “I said I’m sorry.” Nova spoke up. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.”

  Amari saw the shaky watchful eyes. How many times in those first couple years had she overstepped and felt she would lose her family. A hundred, a thousand? She sighed. “It had to come out sometime. Like Orion said, secrets don’t last.”

  “Still it didn’t have to be me to say.” Nova looked at the ground and stepped past.

  Amari stepped quickly after her. “I want you to feel like you could tell us anything. You did nothing wrong.”

  “Are you sure?” Nova tucked her hands into her pockets.

  “Yes.” Amari ducked her head. Desperate to convey the truth of her words and see the truth in Nova’s eyes. “Do you want to join another pack?”

  “No.”

  “That makes my heart happy.” Amari squinted slightly. Watchful of every flick or twitch of muscle. “Do you want to be part of our family?”

  Nova paused. Her eyes switched between each of Amari’s. “Yeah.”

  Amari saw nothing deceitful or uncertain. “That makes my heart very happy. You do know we will be tough on you?”

  “Yeah.” A ghost of a smile crossed her face.

  “Then everything is great.” Amari promised. Clapping her hands together she pointed. “But we still need to train you. I want you safe.”

  “What is so wrong with humans finding out?” A subtle shaking wavered her voice.

  Amari hesitated. “They outnumber us and have a tendency to have a destructive group-think tendency.”

  Nova's face scrunched.

  “It leads them to destroy what they fear or worse exploit it.” Amari still had the ridiculous image of being forced to lead a militarized version of a dogsled team of Mutares. She chuckled to herself, she had no idea where the thought came from but it was better than silver bullets or pitchforks, beheadings or pyres.

  “Longswords and labs?” Nova plucked a leaf from the branch slowly tearing it into bits.

  “Exactly.” Amari felt a deeper kinship at the similar vein of thought Nova followed. Stepping over to a tree, she pulled out a small can of ultraviolet spray paint. Breathing deep, she focused on switching her eyes. With a few abrupt strokes, she left the image of a print with a giant line through it on the trunk of a rather large oak.

  “What did you just do?” Nova

  “Used my wolf sight to paint the warning symbol. Humans can’t see it without a black-light but we can. This tells them to not shift in these parts.”

  “Sweet action!” Nova scrunched her eyes trying to discern the image. “Where do we start?”

  “First we kneel.” Amari dropped to her knees in the center of the little clearing.

  “Kneel?” Nova stepped backwards, eyes still on the trunk as if the image would suddenly reveal itself.

  “Trust me you want to be closer to the earth when your bones reshape themselves. You flop like a fish out of water until you learn to get the hang of it.” Amari chuckled at the appalled shock blanching her face.

  Swallowing hard, Nova knelt on the ground beside Amari.

  “Take a deep breath. Feel the coolness of the air in your lungs. Let it fill you.” Amari breathed deeply. “Search for the spark. For me, Diana, and Max it is a forest. Orion has a mountain.”

  “What?” Nova’s eyes snapped open.

  “The spark, it starts as a little light. The more you access it the closer it stays and usually it stays in the form of where you find the most peaceful.” Amari patiently waited for Nova to close her eyes again. Reminded once more of the similarities to herself at that age. Rema, bless her heart, dealt with such forbearance. A bead of concern dug into her heart.

  “This is weird.” Nova’s shoulders wiggled.

  “Feeling foolish passes once you practice enough. Trust me.” Amari kept her breath steady.

  “Fine.” Nova matched her breathing. A few slow moments, she lit up. “It’s cliffs over a starry ocean.”

  “Nice.” Amari smiled. “Okay, rest in that power. Let the peace wash over you.”

  Amari shuffled back on the ground. Eyes locked onto Nova’s until she twisted onto the dirt and grass. Cream colored fur sprouted from tanned olive skin. Growing up her arms, Nova curled in on herself. Leg bending awkwardly with a loud crack and pop she shuttered. Back arced, her ribs rounded wider and fuller. Soft, rumbled guffs pushed over the long incisors. Pointed ears flicked back and forth as more grinding and snapping reshaped her body.

  Amari smiled up into the cream tipped brown fur covered face. Stretching to reach Nova's shoulder, Amari spread her fingers into the warm fur. A rumbled purr emanated with the scritches. “My, you are beautifully colored.”

  Nova chuffed with the rhythmic swish of her tail against the grass.

  “Okay now we need you to switch back. Until you are bound to us, we will not be able to communicate in that form.” The cute puppy-dog head cock, had Amari melting. “Breath. Focus on relaxing. Step away from the edge of the cliffs. Let yourself become small.”

  A symphony of crackles and crepitus echoed in the hollow air. Strained whining as she got stuck at an odd angle.

  “You can do this. Just breathe. Listen to the cadence of my voice. You are doing amazing.” Amari hoped she sounded soothing. Anxiety wrecked her nerves. Her own claws dug into the palms of her hands.

  “Ouch.” Nova coughed lying on her back.

  “Yeah it will get easier, but it's like when you start running, you will feel it for a while after you are done in your legs and your lungs.” Amari held out her hand. With a sharp tug, she pulled Nova to her feet. “You really did do amazing.”

  “Thanks.”

  Amari nodded her head towards the path. “I can’t wait until I can take you on your first run.”