Chapter 203

Sarah POV

I knew there would be press, but the avalanche of attention when we came out of the auditorium still almost knocked me to my knees.

People were screaming our names. Someone had already somehow made a huge poster of Chloe’s work and was waving it up and down frantically.

We managed to get into the car only because Buddy and Danielle just shoved people out of the way. Inside, in the blessed silence, my phone beeped with a text from Lainey.

You didn’t warn me? Holy shit!

If I’d told you it was great, you’d just think I was a proud parent, I texted back.

This is insane. You realize that, don’t you? Grace has a once-in-a-lifetime voice, and now Chloe’s some sort of Michelangelo?

“Is that Lainey?” Chloe asked.

“Yes. You want to say hi?”

“Sure.”

I looked at her carefully. “Are you OK, honey?”

Chloe shrugged. “When you were my age, you had all sorts of choices.”

I looked at Zane, who seemed worried. I chose my words with care. “You feel trapped, sweetie? You don’t have to be an artist just because you won the competition.”

Chloe giggled and all but rolled her eyes at me. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“Didn’t it make you mad? I mean, it took you so long to figure out what you wanted to do.” She crossed her arms with a huff. “That would have made me mad.”

“So, you like knowing you’re going to be an artist?”

She scowled at me. “Of course. I’m going to work with wood and make pretty things. I mean, people really loved Mavis’s statue. Of course I’m happy.”

I met Zane’s eyes, and we both burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Chloe demanded.

I put my hand over my heart and couldn’t think of what to say. Was I supposed to explain how worried I had been when Chloe was so calm?

“We’re just happy for you,” Zane said.

My phone beeped again, but I didn’t look at it. Lainey was doubtlessly sending me links to articles about Chloe’s award.

“Hey, let me see your certificate,” I said, and Chloe dutifully turned it over. I unrolled it and saw it was quite fancy. “We’ll get this framed.”

“Miss Carmen wants me to go to a camp this summer,” Grace said.

“What camp?” Zane asked.

“It’s basically an opera workshop,” Chloe said. “They’re going to focus on Gilbert and Sullivan this summer. I think you should let her go.”

“Do you now?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

I met Zane’s proud, exasperated eyes and smiled.

“So, you two have your futures all planned out?” I asked and got two nodding heads in reply.

“I am incredibly proud of both of you,” Zane said, “but you are the alpha daughters of a pack alpha. I need you to learn about that as well.”

“What does that mean?” Grace asked.

Zane hesitated.

“Grace, you partially transformed, but you don’t really remember it, do you?”

She shook her head.

“When you get older and transform more naturally, both of you are going to learn what it means to be a wolf. You’re going to know what it means to be a member of a pack. You’re going to know the responsibility of being part of something greater than yourselves.”

We were all looking at him now. This was a part of his life about which I knew almost nothing. It was easy sometimes to forget he was a different kind of being from me.

I thought then of how I felt when I dreamed of being a wolf, the freedom I felt and the connection to the world around me were not part of my human life. What would it be like to feel that when I was awake and aware? What would my sweet girls feel when they were older?

“The pack isn’t just your community; it’s your duty, your birthright, and something that goes beyond your skin, deeper than your bones. When you feel that, I want you to be prepared, as much as you can be.”

“They don’t have that class in school,” Grace said.

“No, they don’t. So, I need to start talking to you about it. Are you both OK with that?”

The twins nodded, and I felt a pang of envy. This was a part of their lives I couldn’t know.

Zane nodded. “OK, look out the windows. What do you see?”

Grace and Chloe briefly looked at each other and then looked outside. I did as well, seeing people walking along the street, the afternoon sun getting a bit lower in the sky, and a good-looking young man juggling some batons. A hat lay on the ground in front of him with some money inside.

“He’s juggling!” Grace said.

“He is,” Zane said. “What else did you see?”

“People walking around,” Chloe said. “Other cars.”

Grace nodded.

“Did the people look happy?”

The girls considered this. Chloe shrugged. “I guess.”

“Did they look angry?”

“No,” Grace said. “They just looked normal.”

“Ollie,” Zane said. “Please make the block.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ollie took three right turns, and then we were again driving past the man juggling his batons.

“Do you see that woman in the gray parka?” Zane asked.

We all looked. The woman was frowning.

“Yes,” Grace said.

“She’s not having a good day,” Zane said. “Why do you think that is?”

Grace and Chloe looked at each other and shrugged.

“We don’t know,” Chloe said.

“She’s a member of your pack. Shouldn’t you know?”

The girls thought about that for a minute.

“Does she need help?” Chloe asked.

Zane smiled. “Excellent question. That’s exactly what a Pack Alpha should ask.”

But Grace was frowning. “But she’s just, you know, walking down the street. She can frown if she wants to.”

“Also excellent.”

Both girls were scowling now.

“So, are we supposed to help her or not?” Chloe demanded finally.

“Make the block again, Ollie, and then park.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ollie turned several times and then parked in the red zone in front of the juggler. Zane opened his door and then gestured for the girls to follow. I stayed where I was until he looked at me and gestured a bit more strongly. I followed.

The juggler caught up his batons and gave a little bow. “Alpha Zane.”

“You’re going to Cavendish U?” Zane asked, looking pointedly at the man’s sweatshirt.

“Yes.” The man looked at me and the girls, obviously confused.

“And you’re street performing to make tuition?”

The man looked slightly ashamed. “It’s a, I mean, I enjoy putting on a good show.”

“No, you don’t, not like this,” Zane said. “I saw you last year with the Cirque du Soleil. You were incredible. What are you doing out here on the street?”

“I don’t, I mean, I haven’t—”

Zane pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to the man. “Call this number, and you’ll be speaking to my attorney. Well, one of them.”

He smiled, and the man tentatively smiled back. “I’ll tell him we’re paying your tuition.”

“Alpha Zane, I can’t—”

“Are you a member of my pack?”

“Yes, of course.”

Zane nodded and gestured for the girls and me to get back in the car. “Repay me by graduating.”