Chapter 45

#Chapter 45 – Camping trip 2 Alvin and Ian are thrilled with the spot, running around and checking out every detail. I smile, watching them, taking joy in their joy. As I watch them, a friendly Beta comes over and presses a cup of warm cider into my hand, giving me a small smile as he does so.

“Thank you,” I say, pressing a hand to my chest. “Thank you so much.” All of the Betas have been so kind to me – I feel suddenly guilty that I haven’t learned as many of their names as I should. I make a note to remedy this as I take a sip from my tin cup. I’m surprised – and, I admit, a bit thrilled – to note that there’s a strong hint of whiskey mixed in with the apple.

The Betas rush around the camp, unloading a massive number of supplies from the trucks. Victor strides around, directing the Betas seamlessly, clearly happy and in his element.

I look around for Amelia and laugh, a little, when I see that she’s already sitting in a camping chair by the unlit fire, wrapped in a blanket and rubbing bug spray on herself while she listens to her headphones. She has her feet tucked up beneath her, clearly working hard to touch as little of the nature as possible. Well, to each her own.

I walk over to Edgar and lean against his arm. He smiles down at me. “Have you tried this cider yet?

It’s fantastic.”

“No drinking on the job,” he says, winking at me and pointing at the pistol strapped to his belt.

“Are you seriously working?” I say, frowning at his utility belt and looking up into his face. “You’ve technically been on duty for 48 hours now. Haven’t you earned a break?”

Edgar runs a finger along my jawline, all the way up to my chin. “No breaks until you’re all set up, which means perfectly safe and at home. Plus,” he says, looking out into the forest and pretending to put on a serious stare, “Victor pays seriously good overtime.”

I laugh and take another sip of my drink. “Fine,” I say, “more whiskey for me.”

Alvin runs over to me, wrapping his arms around my leg and beaming up at me. “Mama, I love it here.

How long are we staying? Can we stay for a month?”

“I have no idea, baby. But I doubt it. Ask your dad.”

“DADDDD,” Alvin shouts, his voice full of excitement and joy. Victor turns towards us happily and starts to walk over.

“Don’t shout, baby,” I say to Alvin, putting a hand on his head.

“Let him shout,” Victor says, shrugging. “We’re completely alone out here.”

“Really?” I ask, looking all around for any signs of civilization. There’s nothing beyond this camp.

“Where are the closest people?”

“Maybe…50 miles? In each direction?” Victor shrugs. “We came here as children, the boys of the pack and I. The future Alphas. For training, camaraderie.”

“Wait, this isn’t a campground?” I ask. “Are you telling me…do you own this land too?” I stare at him, aghast.

Victor just shrugs again. “What? It’s not like I bought it. Inherited land, a wilderness preserve. If I own it, nobody can develop it. We keep it to preserve our heritage.”

“More like to preserve a place where you can hang out with all your buddies and howl at the moon,” I say, rolling my eyes.

Victor laughs. “You’re more right than you think.”

As the camp comes together, the Betas begin to fade away. At first there were what, fifty? Soon the numbers dwindle to thirty, then twenty…

“Where are all the Betas going?” I ask Edgar.

“Out on patrol,” he says. “They’re staking a perimeter. Some will stay very close, but others will go miles out into the woods with their own little pup tents to ensure that nobody can get close to us. Victor isn’t taking any chances.”

“Wow,” I say, breathing out some anxiety. “That’s…a lot to ask of them.”

Edgar shrugs. “It’s their job, and their honor to serve. Plus, free camping trip. Most of us love this stuff.”

“I love this stuff!” Ian shouts. I look around, frowning, trying to see where he’s gone. I can’t see him, and a little of the old panic starts to rise in my chest. “Up here, mama!” He calls.

I look up and laugh to see that he’s climbed up into a tree and, sneaky as a squirrel, has edged out on a branch until he’s directly above me. “Well, look at you, little monkey,” I say, smiling. “You’d better be careful, or else a big gorilla is going to catch you!”

“Nothing can catch me,” Ian says, smiling devilishly. “I am the fastest monkey!”

Edgar surprises me, then, by hunching his shoulders and swinging his arms, making wild ape noises and moving towards the trunk of the tree, playing along. Ian screams in delight and scurries further out on his branch as Edgar begins to climb slowly up. “Stay away from me, you big gorilla!” He yells, laughing as he climbs higher.

“Careful!,” I say, hating to still their fun but worried, as always, for their safety.

Suddenly, Victor is by my side, frowning up at them. I raise my eyebrow at him, surprised. Is he…

jealous?

“Come down now,” Victor says, and both Edgar and Ian swing down from the branches. Victor moves beneath Ian just as he hangs from the lowest branch, tickling him under the armpit so that Ian falls laughing into Victor’s arms. “It’s dinner time anyway, and then…something special.”

“Is it SMORES!?” Ian shouts, again thrilled.

“It’s better than smores,” Victor says, bringing his face close to Ian’s conspiratorially as he carries him to the fire pit. “Wait till you see.” Victor squirms in his arms, unable to contain his excitement.

Dinner that night is more delicious than it has any right to be. It’s just beans and hotdogs, potatoes wrapped in tinfoil baked in the fire, and – yum – more whiskey and cider, but something about eating it out in the open air makes it so much more delicious.

As we eat, Victor tells us the story of this place, barely getting a bite of food in as he talks. We’re all captivated by him – he is lit up by this place, revealing yet another side to Victor that I didn’t know existed.

Even Amelia is drawn in. She hasn’t left her chair, but she’s taken her headphones off. She even laughs along with everyone else at Victor’s jokes as he tells his story.

“This was the place,” Victor says, his voice low and spooky, “where man first felt himself transform into a wolf.”

Alvin and Ian gasp dramatically and we all laugh, unable to tell if they’re truly shocked or just playing along.

“It’s true!” Victor continues. “There was a hunter who moved alone in these woods, seeking food for his family. It was the dead of winter and they were starving. As he moved along in the woods with just his simple knife, he knew that if he didn’t bring home food today, they would all starve.”

We all fall silent at this, sensing the seriousness of Victor’s tone. “The man, at his last desperate moment, came into a clearing and there saw a wounded wolf. Yes! He said,” Here Victor throws his fist in the air, taking on the role of the hunter. “Finally, an answer to my prayers. My family can eat this wolf, which is surely a gift from the gods.”

“Don’t eat me, said the wolf,” Victor continues, giving the wolf’s lines a low and dangerous grumble.

“For I can offer you so much more. Would you rather have one meal, today? Or the ability to feed your family for years to come?”

“For years, of course, the hunter said. But you are a wounded creature – surely you will soon die. What can you give me?”

Alvin and Ian watch Victor with wide eyes, paying rapt attention. Victor continues in the wolf’s voice. “If you will agree to merge your spirit with mine, I will give you all of the knowledge of a wolf – all of my instincts, my ways, my ability to survive in the wild.”

“And what will you get?” Victor continues, putting a little suspicion into the hunter’s voice. “Surely this is a trick.”

“As you say, it is a selfish offer,” says Victor’s gruff wolf, “My body is dying. Only by merging my soul with yours will I ever live to see another moonrise.”

With this, Victor reaches into a sack next to the fire, filling his hand with some kind of sand. “The hunter agreed,” Victor says, raising his hand above the fire. “And the man and the wolf merged their souls, becoming one,” Victor drops the stand, which sprinkles onto the fire. We all gasp as the fire, miraculously, turns blue.

“That night, instead of going home to his family at dark, as he had always done, the man stripped himself of his clothes and let his new wolf nature take control of him. His teeth grew long, his nails grew sharp, his eyes could see in the night and he could run – run like the wolf, through the pines!

“The next morning” Victor continues, “the man returned to his house with seven hares for his family to eat. The family never went hungry again. And even better, after that, every child born to the hunter and his wife was born with wolf in their veins as well. And that, my sons, is the story of our people.”

“Wow,” Alvin says, hushed and reverent. He stares into the blue flames. Ian looks down at himself, almost as if he could see his wolf spirit through his clothes. I smile, watching them.

“Now,” says Victor, leaning close to them. “Now it is your turn.”

“Our turn?” Ian says, looking up into his father’s face, flushed with excitement.

“Yes, boys. For the first time, just like the hunter, in the same spot as he, you’re going to run free as wolves under the light of the full moon!”

“Wait,” I say, my jaw dropping open. “Wait what!? We did NOT agree to this, Victor!”