Page 7 of A Brighter Yellow
“We are friends,” said Anna. She supposed they were. And it was nice of him to worry. Not worried enough to show up himself, but apparently, that was the kind of friends they were.
“He wanted to go get you himself with Scarlet, but Azure saidno.”
Anna nodded and thanked her lucky stars that Azure had saidno.
“Azure said I was the one with the best shot to make everything come out OK.” He tilted his head a little as if trying to gauge her reaction. Was he worried that she was upset? She blurted out the first thing she could think of to defuse that impression.
“And you believe everything she says about the future?” asked Anna with a laugh, and her father almost choked on his sausage.
How many years had Baird asked her the same question? Anna knew she was stubborn. But growing up in her pack as the only girl under a hundred and eighty, the only way to get anything she wanted was to never takenofor an answer. And most of the time, not taking no as the last, final, and only answer had turned out to be the right decision. Then one year, she’d been invited by a college friend to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. After Baird had gotten tired of yellingno, Anna had packed up her bags and hopped on a plane. And on that trip, she stopped to get her fortune read by a woman who claimed to be a real live voodoo priestess.
The priestess had looked in a cracked crystal ball, waggled a fingertip in one ear, and said, “Huh. It’s not usually that specific. But here you go,ma chère.The path to true love lies with Liam Grayson. Do with that what you will.”
Anna had always liked Liam Grayson. He was a few years older than she was and very liberal for a wolf. She’d thought being his mate would be an excellent idea. His mother was for it. Her father simply said, “I guess.” The only person who hadn’t liked the idea had been Liam. She’d spent the better part of five years trying to convince him otherwise because she knew thatnowas never really the answer if she didn’t want it to be. Then two years ago, the news had come that he’d mated, and it brought every single one of her plans to a grinding halt. Because mating couldn’t be undone, and if Liam was destined for someone else, then her destiny, the destiny that she’d been counting on, had been a crock of shit, and she had been an idiot. She hadn’t bothered to tell her family. She’d just stopped talking about him and focused on what she told her family was research. They’d all been relieved. They wouldn’t have been if they’d known what she was really doing, but she didn’t see any reason to upset the apple cart.
“Well,” said Ochre, drawing a breath as if trying to keep his patience. She was familiar with all the varieties of someone counting to ten in her presence. She was very good at helping people never make it past five.
“Yeah, I do believe everything Azure says. When it comes to the second sight, she’s been right every time. Sometimes when I don’t want her to be, but that’s not her fault.”
“Oh,” said Anna feeling an enormous bloom of bitterness. So real fortune-telling existed, just not for her? Swell. “I suppose she gave you some sort of spell for the wolves?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, his head cocking to the side in a rather wolfy gesture.
“The natural wolves at Yellowstone. How’d you get them to do what you wanted?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair and glanced at Baird and Garett for assistance, but they looked like they were waiting for the answer too.
“Well, they’re wolves…” said Ochre slowly. “You can’tmakewolves do anything. You just ask them real nice and hope they don’t eat your face off.”
Garett laughed so hard that he choked on his eggs. Anna kicked his chair, and it skidded sideways, nearly dumping him on the ground. He clutched the edge of the table and hauled himself back up, still giggling.
“He’s got a point there,” said Baird, still chewing.
“OK, fine,” said Anna, annoyed. “But how didyouask them?”
“I said:hi, will you help me and a shifter wolf,and they saidOKand helped come up with a plan.”
“That is not how they talk!” growled Anna. “Wolves don’t have words. They just are.”
“No, but I can’t translate how they talk,” said Ochre. “Can you? Because fresh leaf, tail wag plus left ear up, stinky gas smell, pee on that, remember the summer, doesn’t really come across in English.”
“Remember the summer…” said Baird, still puzzling through Ochre’s words. “Oh. That’s funny.”
“Thanks,” said Ochre, nodding at Baird in acknowledgment. “It usually gets a laugh. With the four-legged set anyway.”
“I don’t get it,” said Garett. “Tail wag plus stinky gas?”
“No,” said Baird. “Tail wag and…” He used a hand to mime left ear up.
“Oh. Heh. That’s funny.”
Anna looked at her father and her brother. What the hell was the matter with them? Had her father just laughed at a joke from this… Fae? It was admittedly a decent wolf joke, but how did he even know wolf jokes? And her family was supposed to be on her side.
“Yes, he’s a laugh riot!” snapped Anna. “He should go on tour as a wolf comedian. How do you know how to talk to wolves?”
“I can talk to most animals,” said Ochre. “It’s why I’m a vegetarian. I don’t think it’s ethical to eat creatures that talk to me. And honestly, I’m not that good at body sign. I just know enough to get the basics. When it comes to actual communication I….” He looked around the table. He smelled embarrassed, although Anna wasn’t sure why. “Well, I’m kind of telepathic.”
“Oh, well, sure. Can you read this?” Anna asked, putting her finger to her head and glaring at him.
