Wulfric

Perhaps telling Griffin that I couldn't sense our bond anymore had been a mistake. He stood frozen in my arms, not returning the hold, while his chest silently heaved against mine like he was close to hyperventilating.

"Griffin?"

He pulled himself from my hold and shot down the street, running just a little too quickly for a human. In seconds, he was back in Glenna and Safiya's house, while I stood staring after him. Even if I could still move preternaturally fast, he had surprised me enough to have gotten away from me this time. Why had he run?

I followed after him, allowing myself the time it took to walk back to clear my head. I was still reeling from all the changes the past few days had wrought, and I didn't know how to help Griffin when I was barely keeping myself afloat.

Before I reached the house, Griffin darted out again, running straight for his car and shooting away before I could hope to reach him. Had he just... left me here?

Well, I wouldn't force my presence on him if he didn't want it, and it seemed Griffin had been pushed beyond his limit. When I walked back into the house, it was to find Griffin's fathers waiting by the door. Everett wore a sympathetic grimace, while Felix just looked grim.

"Griffin told us what happened," Felix said.

Of course he had. I might not have spent much time around Griffin's family yet, but already it was evident how much Griffin relied on them. "Did he say anything else?" I asked.

Everett shook his head no and sighed. "Not really. And I'm not happy that he thought he was in a good state of mind to be driving."

He'll still manage better than I would. It was an inappropriate time for a joke, but the thought still made me smile a little at how twisted up everything had gotten. It wasn't funny, but surely someone out there must be laughing at all of this.

"He'll be fine," I said instead. "Werewolves are almost indestructible."

Felix's expression shuttered at that, and Everett wrapped an arm around him. "Felix's parents died in a car accident," Everett explained, and I immediately felt awful. And worried. Griffin certainly wasn't in a good headspace to drive. I hadn't thought much of it because he still had his fast reflexes and, if worst came to worst, werewolves were exceedingly difficult to injure. But what if something did happen to him because of something I said?

"We should go check on him," Felix said. He fixed me with a very direct look and added, "Griffin must need some space, or he wouldn't have left. But don't give him too much space."

"Take care of yourself," Everett said, and they left.

Space, but not too much space? Could he not have been just a bit more specific?

But my instincts said Felix was wrong. Griffin struggled with deep insecurities around people leaving his life, and he formed deep attachments to the ones who stayed. I knew better than to go after him when he left this way, but that didn't preclude me from reaching out, at least a little. I sent a text asking him to let me know he got home safely, then went off in search of a distraction.

The magic shop was buzzing with activity. My father had recovered from whatever tangle of emotions had been keeping him silent this morning (despair, I thought, but it hardly mattered). He could now be heard yelling profanities as Roderick and another man tried to talk him down.

Well, I wasn't going in there. And I didn't have anywhere else to go outside of this house, so my feet carried me to the only true home I had ever known.

Edmund appeared to be sleeping when I inched open the door to check on him, but he sat up when it creaked. "I apologize. I didn't mean to disturb you," I said, already stepping into the room.

"No, stay. I could use the company," he said. "What's all that ruckus?"

I shook my head at him. "Nothing you need to worry about." He made a face, so I elaborated, "Our father."

"Funny," he said. "I never thought to hear you refer to him as such again."

Neither had I, but it had slipped out. "Old habits." Die hard.

He hummed in response and looked expectantly toward the door. "Is Griffin waiting for you? He can come in, you know."

I shook my head. "We should talk about him, though."

Edmund waited expectantly for words I had a hard time voicing. "What's on your mind?" he finally asked. When I still didn't explain, he added, "Would you like me to guess?" He sounded amused rather than annoyed.

I cleared my throat. "No. I just..." I just didn't know how to tell him. Or whether what I was thinking was even feasible.

"Go on," Edmund encouraged softly with knowing eyes.

"I'm going to stay here to be with Griffin," I finally said. Getting the words out should have made me feel better, but it didn't. I still felt anxiety constricting my throat.

"Yeah, I figured that. But what's got you so worked up?" Edmund asked.

What, indeed? Edmund and I had moved together so many times. I should know better than this. He would come along.

And if he didn't...

The thought didn't bear consideration.

Edmund had mercy on me. "Think there's room for a third?" he asked, looking a little uncertain, himself.

I sighed in relief and tugged Edmund's arm so that he fell against me for a hug. "Always."

"But won't Griffin mind me hanging around?"

And here, I had to smile. Because that was the easy part. I was beginning to understand Griffin, at least a little. He aimed to live independently, following some archaic idea that an adult who wasn't completely self-sufficient was a failure. As though wanting to surround yourself with the people you loved was wrong, somehow. But it wasn't making him happy. Even though Griffin hadn't moved far from his family, and even though he was still surrounded by community at the pack house, he wasn't happy with his little apartment, and didn't feel it to be a home.

Griffin was a family man. He would want to be closer to his parents, closer to his siblings. And he would never begrudge me for being close to mine.

The fact that Edmund thought it a possibility that Griffin would mind him being closely involved in our lives only served to illustrate how badly I needed to get Griffin and Edmund together. Somehow, after everything, they were still little better than strangers.

"It will be fine," I assured my brother, already planning how to ease their acquaintance. "I still need to determine whether there are any constraints on our living situation due to Griffin's pack. I don't know if they allow vamp-.... humans to live on their land permanently."

"They haven't minded you staying with Griffin so far," Edmund pointed out, gracefully not commenting on my slip of the tongue.

"True. But enough about all this. How are you doing?"

Edmund smiled, and it was like the sun coming out after weeks of cloudy days. I had thought I remembered what happiness looked like on his face, but it was so much brighter than I remembered. "This is everything I could have wished for," Edmund said. "Now, you won't leave me behind. We've been left by each of our siblings, one by one, and I don't know if I could have survived being the last of us." I was about to comment on that when Edmund continued, "And maybe now I can find someone to settle down with."

That surprised me, because it wasn't something Edmund had ever mentioned wanting in the past. He had occasionally sought out companionship over the long years, but he never showed any interest in a commitment. "Really?"

Edmund's smile faltered for a moment, and I could see conflict in his eyes before he finally let out a deep exhale. "Wulf... Did it never bother you, living for so long with the knowledge that the person who was meant for you wasn't out there, and there was no use in looking for them? Or that if you did manage to find someone you wanted to share a life with, they would eventually leave you behind?"

I frowned. Not really. Ever since our father cast his curse on us, I had seen a committed relationship for what it was: inevitable and life-rending. It was never something I was eager for. An image of Griffin came to the forefront of my mind at the thought, and I winced. Was that unfair to him? I couldn't tell.

Edmund laughed a bit and said, "See? This is why I never brought it up to you. That look on your face right now. You think differently from me on this. But I would like to have a relationship with the possibility of it going somewhere, for once."

And if I had been able to stay a vampire as I desired, Edmund would have kept this quiet from me forever. How much would that have hurt him? It was unacceptable. "Talk to me from now on," I said sternly. "Swear you will."

Edmund laughed again, sounding lighter this time. "I swear."

I nodded, satisfied, and checked my phone for a message from Griffin that hadn't come in. Sighing, I messaged Everett to make sure Griffin was safe. He immediately replied, "Griffin got home okay."

I stared at the screen and considered my options, then slowly slid the phone back into my pocket. Griffin could have today, I decided. He would probably spend the rest of the day burying himself under his anxiety. But I wouldn't let him stay there. If he didn't reach out to me tomorrow, I would go to him.

I might not be a predator anymore, but I could certainly hunt down a werewolf.

--

Edmund, Arlo, and I decided to stop taking advantage of our hosts' hospitality. It had made sense for us to stay with them while I was sorting things out with Griffin and while they were helping us with the curse. We had no excuse for staying any longer. None of the three witches had so much as hinted that they wanted us to leave, but they didn't need to. They must want their house back.

So, the three of us checked into a hotel, and the next day I started looking into housing options in the area. Either Edmund and I would move onto Griffin's pack territory, or we would need to find a house nearby. Going back to our home so far away no longer felt like an option, even temporarily. Especially now that I no longer felt the soulmate bond, I couldn't leave Griffin like that. Not knowing what it would do to him.

"This one's nice," Edmund said, holding the screen of his phone toward me so I could see the bungalow he was looking at.

"The roof isn't slanted enough. It will hold debris and snow," I said, and turned back to my own search.

"Aw, Wulfric! We'll never find a place with you being this picky," Edmund griped.

"Is there even that much snow in this part of California?" Arlo chimed in, to which I shrugged.

Did they not understand? Our cabin used to be our refuge, but at times it had also felt like a cage. Now, we were entering a new chapter in our lives and I wanted our house to be a home. It had to be perfect, and if I had to buy land and build the damn thing myself for it to be right, I would do it.

I found something that looked promising. It was a house built on a huge plot of land, with a mother-in-law suite that could be perfect for keeping Edmund near while giving him his own space. "What about this?" I offered.

Edmund squinted at it. "I don't know. Isn't it a little..."

"Old?" Arlo supplied, and Edmund nodded his agreement.

"What?" I asked, looking through the pictures again. It didn't look old to me.

"C'mon, Wulf. It has an orange refrigerator and shag carpet. And what are all those tassles hanging off of everything for? Has this place not been touched since the seventies?"

I tsked. "None of that matters. We can renovate. The bones of the house are what matter, and this has good bones."

"I'm not sure how you can tell past all that wood paneling," Arlo said under his breath.

I flipped through the pictures one more time, trying to see what they were complaining about. Edmund's brow creased deeper the more he saw, and I finally sighed and exited the listing. "This is hopeless."

"This can wait," Edmund said. "We'll find something. You're stalling."

I glared at him for saying so, though I couldn't argue with the truth. I knew I should be going out to find Griffin, but whenever I thought about it, a little voice of doubt niggled in my thoughts, suggesting that he may not be ready to talk yet.

But this was ridiculous. He was avoiding me because he was worried about our relationship, and he would never feel better about it if we didn't see each other. "Alright. You two keep up the search while I'm gone."

Arlo opened his mouth, almost certainly to say something taunting. Edmund slapped a hand over Arlo's mouth and gave me an encouraging smile. "Drive safe," he said, and he only sounded a little bit teasing. Of course, he'd gotten a real kick out of hearing how badly my first attempt at driving as a human had gone.

"Thanks," I answered sardonically. And then I left to find my wayward soulmate.