Page 16 of Who Let The Wolves Out?

“That’s the most dragon-ass answer I’ve ever heard,” I say, ruffling his hair. “You crushed it.”

His smile could power the whole damn camp.

Later, after the kids head to the showers and the adrenaline settles, I’m sitting on the cabin steps with a root beer and a weird ache in my chest.

Alice joins me.

She doesn’t say anything. Just sits beside me, our shoulders barely touching.

“I heard,” she says finally.

I glance over.

“He shifted,” I say. “It was... wild.”

She smiles. “I’m proud of him.”

I nod. “Me too.”

She looks at me for a long moment. “You’re good at this.”

“At root beer?”

“At mentoring.”

I shrug. “He just needed someone who didn’t talk down to him.”

She nudges me gently. “You’re better than you think, Jason.”

I stare out at the trees.

The ache in my chest spreads, but this time it’s warm.

Maybe this camp’s doing more than keepin’ me busy.

Maybe I found something here.

Hell... maybe I found me.

CHAPTER 7

ALICE

The forest is quieter this morning. Like it knows something changed.

I sit on the cabin porch steps with a mug of tea that’s long since gone cold, staring out at the obstacle course. Bits of rope still hang from the trees, and there’s a trail of glitter—of all things—leading from the mud pit to the bathhouse. Someone, I suspect, took the “legend” part of Dragon Gauntlet Day too literally and added sparkles to the “lava trench.”

But all I can really focus on is Nolan.

And Jason.

I didn’t see the actual shift. But I saw the aftermath. I saw Nolan walking back to the cabin like he was three inches taller. Beaming. Surrounded by other kids who usually pretended he didn’t exist.

And Jason? He just sat there grinning like he didn’t even realize he’d changed a kid’s life.

Or maybe... like it wasn’t about him at all.

I blow gently into my tea, watching steam that isn’t there.

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