Temperance

“Dad, I really don’t think you’re getting what’s happening here.” I let out a heavy sigh. “You can’t seriously believe that my wolf, which I don’t even have, is showing up, can you?”

My father lets go of our hug and looks at me, confusion in his eyes. “Temperance, I thought you’d be thrilled.”

My mother gets up hesitantly and pulls my father away, her arm looped through his. They stand a few feet away, both looking at me in a way I’ve never seen before.

“I’m human, Dad,” I say, trying to emphasize the fact that we all know can’t be changed. “There’s no way I’m a wolf. The pack doctors have told you over and over that I have the ~human~ gene. Not the wolf one.”

Before they had me and my brothers, my parents struggled with fertility. They saw every expert and specialist within a ninety-mile radius of the pack, but nothing helped.

My father insists it was the Moon Goddess, the Goddess of the wolves, who finally helped them conceive me.

Worried that I might be their only child, my father naturally hoped for a wolf pup.

But by the time I was two, there were no signs of the animal instincts a normal pup would show, like being territorial over toys or food.

He gave up on that hope after my brothers were born, since they had the wolf gene.

It didn’t make him love me any less, but I could always sense his sadness when he looked at me when I was little.

Just a regular human child. It seems his disappointment didn’t fade like I thought it had.

Anger surges through me. “I thought you were okay with me not having a wolf.”

“Honey, we are!” my mother insists. “Your father just got carried away and—”

“You always say that!” I shout, tears blurring my vision. “Dad has never said it! I want to hear it from him!”

My father looks down at the floor. My mother is begging him to reassure me, but he stays silent. My heart aches.

“So, you never really accepted it, did you?” I give my parents a cold smile.

My mother starts to say something but closes her eyes, as if she’s known all along.

“Whether you like it or not, I am human!” I yell. “This wolf shit never fit into my life! I only follow the pack’s damn rules because I live here!”

“Temperance—”

“You won’t have to worry about having a human in the pack anymore, Dad.” I pause as my father looks at me, but I push on. “I’m moving out as soon as the ceremony is over.”

***

“Goddess, Temperance.” Talia sets a coffee in front of me and sits down next to me.

As soon as I announced my plans to move, I ran from my house straight to my best friend. Her apartment is just inside the pack’s territory on the other side of town—I made it here without much trouble.

My phone lights up. The screen shows, “Mom,” in bold letters with a selfie of us using the dog filter on Snapchat, but I let it go to voicemail—again.

That’s ten missed calls from her, and two from each of my brothers. Not to mention the thirty-something unread texts from my father.

“You should at least let them know you’re safe.” Walker walks through the dining room and gives Talia a kiss on the forehead.

“Not now, babe.” My best friend shoos her mate from the room. “We don’t need men right now.”

“Tal, what do I do?” I wrap my hands around the warm coffee mug and stare into the drink. “My dad has been lying to me my whole life.”

Talia lets out a heavy sigh. “Your dad is a wolf, so he naturally wants to pass that legacy down to all his children. It’s instinct, sure, but it’s also about safety.”

I scoff. “The pack won’t hurt me.”

“It’s not the pack I’m worried about, Temperance.” Talia takes my hand and gives me a serious look. “It’s the rogues—male wolves outside the pack. And that’s just the start.

“You’re a human in a wolf world; it’s dangerous.”

“Talia, my mom has lived her whole life in one. There’s no way I’m in that much danger.” I argue. “Once I move, the wolf world will only be part time.”

“No, it won’t.” Walker comes back into the room and sits next to Talia, right across from me.

“Walker, did I ask for your opinion?” I snap at the male wolf who thinks he knows everything.

Walker and I have never gotten along, ever since he and Talia met. He’s always been jealous and clingy whenever I’m around.

Talia and I almost ended our friendship because of the constant fights it caused between the three of us.

While my best friend is a fiery redhead with ocean blue eyes and skin like a goddess, Walker is a tall, muscular, gross male—like most wolf males in the pack.

His eyes are a dirty brown that always seem cold and sneering. His long blond hair is always tied in a tight bun on top of his big head, like he’s trying to be trendy.

“Once someone leaves the pack, whether they’re human or wolf, they’re seen as an outsider.” Walker says confidently. “If you move outside the territory, you’re fair game for anyone, inside or outside the wolf world.”

Talia jumps in before I can respond. “What Walker is trying to say is that someone could find out you’re the sister of our new Alpha and target you.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard, Talia. My brother is going to lead a small pack. We don’t have any enemies.”

“Walker, you’re underestimating my knowledge of our territory,” I say, my voice laced with irritation. He laughs, a hint of arrogance in his tone. “Our hunting grounds and soil are the most fertile in the state.

“Regardless of our pack’s size, a larger, more powerful pack will always try to undermine us and take what we have.”

“Walker, I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I snap back.

Anger flares in my chest, my vision starting to blur. My grip on the mug in my hands tightens until it shatters. His scent, a musky odor, is stronger than before.

“Temperance!” Talia rushes to my side, grabbing my hands as coffee drips from them. “Walker, get the first aid kit!”

Walker rolls his eyes but does as he’s told. I watch him leave, my nerves on edge, the urge to tear him apart growing stronger.

“That coffee was boiling hot!” Talia exclaims, turning back to me with the first aid kit. “How could you…”

She trails off, her gaze fixed on my hands. The burns that should be there—aren’t. My hands aren’t even red. They’re just there, perfectly normal.

“What the hell?” Walker returns, examining my hands. “Temperance, how are you not burned?”

My phone vibrates again. This time it’s my father. Talia picks up the phone for me as I sit there, stunned.

“Temperance? Where are you?” I hear my father’s voice on the other end. How can I hear him from this far away?

“It’s Talia.” She glances at me, uncertainty in her eyes. “Temperance is—”

“Talia, you need to bring her home—now,” my father interrupts. “I sense something. It’s not normal.”

“But—”

“Now, Talia.”

The line goes dead.

Walker steps back as I rise to my feet. My body moves on its own, as if guided by instinct. There’s another presence in my mind. I don’t know what—or who—it is.

“I need to get home…”

“I’ll get the car.” Walker pulls his keys from his pocket and dashes out of the apartment.

“Temperance, it’s okay.” Talia wraps her jacket around me and guides me towards the door.

Pain shoots through my bones and nerves.

My heart pounds in my throat. The food I ate earlier threatens to come back up. I can barely walk as the bones in my feet shift uncomfortably under my weight.

“It hurts…” I whimper as I’m helped into the backseat of Walker’s gray Toyota. Talia slides in next to me as Walker steps on the gas, sending us speeding down the road.

When we reach my house, my mother and Talia help me out of the car. I practically collapse into their arms as my father rushes out of the house.

My vision blurs, my muscles feel heavy. Something in my back cracks, but I’m too exhausted to react. All I want to do is sleep.

“I guess I’m not so human after all…”

Any hope I had of being normal, of living a normal human life, shatters as my bones start to shift and crack.