Griffin

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up," Blair chanted. She had a finger stuck in each ear and her eyes squeezed shut while she tried desperately to ignore Tyler, who was babbling incessantly about how excited he was for our camping trip.

Blair and Tyler were twelve, and they had a fascinating dynamic. They could drive each other raving mad, but if someone so much as looked at their twin in a way they didn't approve of, a switch flipped and the deep love they had for each other shone through.

I kept looking back at them, amused by their little fight. Margo was pounding her head back onto the headrest in annoyance and Pop kept whispering under his breath, "I love my children, I love my children, I love my children," sounding like he, too, was deeply irritated. Dad's eyes caught mine when he turned around to look back at us, and they were warm with affection. He was like me, too in love with our family to ever get truly upset with any of its members.

We smiled at each other before I glanced back at the twins again. Tyler was pulling at Blair's arms, trying to dislodge the fingers from her ears so she would have no choice but to hear him. They still hadn't transformed yet, so she had human hearing for now.

I liked to try and find Dad and Pop's features in theirs. A surrogate had carried Blair and Tyler for them. One of them was biologically Felix's and the other was biologically Everett's, but our fathers wouldn't tell us which was which. The answer was in their medical records in case of future problems, but our fathers insisted it didn't matter outside the doctor's office. That didn't stop me from speculating, and today I thought Blair looked more like Everett. Besides, Tyler's mannerisms reminded me of Uncle Magnus, Felix's brother. So maybe there was a genetic link there.

"Oh my God, stop it!" Margo shrieked. I rubbed my ears and grimaced at her, but she was too busy glaring into the back seat to notice.

Margo was biologically my half-sister. We knew a little about our mother – just her name and where she came from – but no one knew anything about who Margo's father was. That line was blank on her birth certificate. After years of insisting we call her Margo instead of the name our mother gave her, Marla, our dads had finally broken down and let her change her name legally. I was still getting used to it, and it still made me feel a little uncomfortable that she was so desperate to cut ties with our mother. Margo insisted she didn't want or need anything from the woman who had abandoned us, not even a name.

"Margo, be nice to your siblings," Pop said.

"But-" she protested, but he cut her off.

"I think we could all use some quiet time. How about some music?" Pop said. He turned on the radio and jacked up the volume before any of us could argue, keeping it just low enough not to blast out our supernatural hearing. I could still hear the twins bickering and shoving at each other in the back seat, but it was muted now. Funny that this was what Pop called "quiet time."

I leaned back against my headrest and shut my eyes, feeling utterly at peace.

That feeling stayed with me the whole drive. We were going to our old favorite camping grounds. They were a couple hours away from our pack and offered a lot of privacy. In fact, they were on private property owned by one of our ally packs. We'd be in the true wilderness, not a toilet or shower in sight, and no humans allowed. The last time we came here, I had been too young to shift. Now, I was excited to explore new land in my other form. It was a rare opportunity.

Margo was in a terrible mood, of course. She'd found her mate, Krish, when she was fifteen. They were too young to move out from their parents' homes, and he belonged to a neighboring pack, so she was regularly in a foul mood over how little they got to see each other. It didn't help that she'd begged our dads to let him come, too, and they insisted on limiting the trip to the six of us.

I felt a little bad about it, since I knew the restriction had been put there for my benefit. Dad and Pop were trying to give me family bonding time, and though Krish was part of our family, he wasn't what I needed. I'd have to find some way to make it up to Margo later.

Somehow, we made it to the camp grounds without any more bickering. Margo had even loosened up some, singing along with Tyler to some of Pop's music while Blair borrowed Margo's headphones and played on her tablet. Meanwhile, I held a book open on my lap, one of my favorites, but didn't get much reading done. It was too nice to have everyone together like this to waste my focus on something else. Sure, we had a lot of family time together. Even with everyone's busy schedules, we all ate dinner together almost every night, but that had become routine. It was exhilarating to get time with my parents and all my siblings in a new setting.

When we parked, Dad and Pop assigned everyone tasks. Blair and Tyler were just in charge of carrying their own things. Margo had to carry her bag and one of our coolers of food. I carried my bags as well as the tent and a satchel full of other essentials. Pop carried everything else while Dad pulled out an honest-to-goodness paper map and opened the compass app on his phone so he could find a good camping spot. I vaguely remembered there being a river in these woods, barely not deep enough to really swim in. There were crawfish in the shallows, and I had spent hours one summer catching and releasing them.

While we walked, I daydreamed about showing the crawfish to Blair and Tyler. Tyler would probably squeal and get all squeamish, but then he'd throw himself headlong into caching some on his own. Blair would pretend not to be interested, but her eyes would take on a calculating gleam and she would catch them quicker and easier than the rest of us.

I could hardly contain my excitement.

It was getting dark by the time we made it to the riverside where Dad proclaimed we'd make our camp. He made us to go a clearing a little ways away from the river itself. "Water draws in wildlife," Dad explained. "I'd rather not run into any predators. Not with the kids. And anyway, what if Ty or Blair sleepwalks into the river at night?"

Pop's eyes filled with warmth and affection. He hooked an arm around Dad's shoulders and kissed his temple. "You worry too much," he said, but he didn't argue. He just started setting up our camp in the place Dad had chosen. Pop always went along with what Dad wanted.

Maybe Dad did worry too much, I reflected as I wrangled two tent poles that were supposed to fit together. But I liked that he was always watching out for us like that. Nothing could make me feel safer than having Dad plan everything out and Pop there to protect us. Was it any wonder I wanted to stay close to them?

The thought made my stomach churn, because no one my age should be so dependent on their parents. Even with parents as wonderful as mine.

"Can I help?" Tyler asked, holding out a hand for the poles I was still struggling to snap together. Sighing, I passed them over and in an effortless maneuver, he clicked them into place.

Blair laughed when my eyes bugged out and she said, "Why don't we leave the tent to Mr. Tent Prodigy here and go scouting? Dad said it was okay as long as we stick together."

I glanced at Dad, who was talking with Pop. He spared me a smile and a nod of approval, and my heart lifted. "Yeah, let's go!"

We walked into the woods, veering off away from the river for now. I was happy to follow Blair's lead in this and anyway, we'd have plenty time at the river later. We didn't talk for a while, instead taking in the sounds of the forest around us. I could hear the rushing, tinkling sound of the river in the distance, the scampering of small forest creatures, the crunching sound of our footfalls over bracken and leaves, and the sound of my sister's heart beating alongside my own. It was so peaceful.

As we walked, I sank further and further into that feeling of comfort and safety, and Blair seemed unusually serene, too. When she finally spoke, I was relaxed enough to give her a truthful answer. "Griffin? Why the sudden camping trip?"

I looked down at her warm brown eyes, her honey-colored brows arching inquisitively above them. Those eyes were full of concern for me, and I knew she must have at least partly guessed that trip was an attempt to fix me. For a twelve-year-old, she could be awfully mature and perceptive.

"I've been having a kind of hard time," I admitted. "I'm..." I struggled to put into words and finally settled on, "I'm afraid to be independent."

Blair's nose crinkled and she looked up at the canopy of leaves above us before glancing at me with a little smile. "We're werewolves. We aren't meant to be independent."

She had a point, and judging from her tone, Blair wasn't thrilled about that. But it was the truth. We needed our family, our pack, and our mate. We needed to be connected to other people who loved and supported us, and we needed to love and support in return. That was central to life as a werewolf, something ingrained deep into our psyche and instincts. Was it any wonder the thought of growing distant from my family was enough to shackle my dreams?

But it wasn't as simple as Blair thought. Other werewolves went away for college. They had aspirations for themselves and their bonds to others didn't hold them back. The problem wasn't that I was a werewolf; it was that I was me.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I wanted to explain, but I didn't know how and anyway, was it fair to put this on my kid sister?

Blair took my hand and pulled me to a stop. She waited until I met her eyes and said, "You don't have to have it all figured out right now. Or ever, really."

I smiled and felt the knot of anxiety in my chest loosen, just a bit. "Thanks."

She nodded and smiled, and we started walking again. "You know, you'd probably feel better if you found your mate. Have you thought about going out looking?"

Her question knocked the breath out of me. it had no place in the safe space we'd just been conversing in, not when it made my heart race like this. My mate would force changes on my life I wasn't ready for. Even though I admired and longed for the kind of relationship I had seen between my parents, I knew I wasn't ready for that yet. But I didn't want to explain all that to Blair. She wouldn't understand, and I didn't want to complicate her view of what was meant to be a werewolf's greatest treasure in life. Not when she was so young still, so innocent. So I offered a noncommittal response of "Maybe."

I was saved from further talk about mates since Tyler started hollering for us. We exchanged amused looks and Blair laughed a little. "I still think he's half-banshee." It was a theory she had posed countless times over the years.

"Wouldn't that make you half-banshee?" I asked as we started heading back toward camp.

Blair wrinkled her nose. "Maybe he was switched at birth."

As if anyone who saw them together would believe that. Even though they were biologically only half-siblings, they looked like... well, like twins.

Since we hadn't gone far, it didn't take us long to make it back. We found Tyler dangling from Pop's neck and clinging to his back. Margo and Dad were trying to get a fire started, but didn't even have smoke yet. Blair smirked at them and headed right over. This was exactly the kind of preparedness Blair excelled at. She probably spent hours researching how to make a campfire before we came here. She quickly had a little fire going, which she coaxed into bigger flames.

"Goody-goody," Margo accused, but she was smiling. Blair stuck out her tongue at Margo and accepted a quick hug from Dad and a kiss on top of her head.

Meanwhile, Pop and Tyler were all-out wrestling, which looked really funny when Tyler still refused to relinquish his hold on Pop and had his legs wrapped around Pop's middle. When their roughhousing got too close to Blair's fire, Dad threw himself between them and the flames, only for Pop to catch him around the waist and pull him in for a quick kiss. Tyler groaned in disgust and finally let go of Pop, falling to the forest floor dramatically.

"Victory!" Pop proclaimed while Dad tugged Tyler to his feet and brushed the leaves out of his hair.

"I let you win!" Ty argued.

Margo and Blair were fishing through the cooler for drinks now, and Margo held one out for me with a smile that looked an awful lot like the one I saw in the mirror every day.

Warmth flooded my chest and I felt so happy it actually ached. This trip was going to be perfect. I just knew it.