Page 6 of Lone Wolf
Suddenly, I sat up and started to scrub the mask off my face, then I turned the shower on and washed the oil out of my hair. If I had a good heat… As soon as I was clean, I jumped out of the tub and got dressed, then rummaged in the refrigerator for an offering.
“Ah!” I growled. “Why is there never any good meat when you need it?” If I was going to make an offering, it should be worthy. Which was ridiculous. After all, I wasn’t particularly religious. But I couldn’t have explained why I felt this sudden, undeniable urge to go out and pray to the goddess of wolves. Just that I needed to, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until I’d done so.
There.I found a small steak in the freezer, probably something Ma had set aside for Da for some special occasion. I’d have to replace it for her, but for right now, it was perfect.
I wrapped it up in a scrap of paper, gathered up some string that had been dyed a pale, pale green and a small, sharp knife, and headed out to the running ground.
Juniper trees filled the air with their sharp, astringent scent, mixed with a soft note from the pines that were scattered among them. I was noseblind almost before I’d gotten to the trees themselves, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t hunting anything or anyone here tonight, except maybe my own future.
There was a little clearing where the branches fell back far enough that the moon could shine down to the ground. At the edge of the clearing was an old tree, older than the enclave itself, with wild twisty branches and gray, furrowed bark. The remains of offerings from last month’s full moon still hung from its branches. I counted ten love wishes, six for good luck, three for health and one general blessing among the limbs.
It wasn’t quite full moon but I didn’t think the Wolf Goddess Medeina would ignore me for being a couple of days early. So I picked a clean looking rock out where the light could find me and flattened the paper over my thigh. With the knife, I pricked the tip of my little finger and drew the symbols for luck and wealth and happiness on the paper, then wrapped it around the little steak and tied it all up with the proper knots before I picked an empty branch to hang it from. I didn’t want to have the wishing energy divided up between my wish and someone else’s.
Plus, there were plenty of branches available—no need to share.
Once I was sure it was going to stay, I stepped back into the moonlight and tipped my face up so the Lady could see the truth and worthiness of my asking. “Lady of Wolves,” I whispered. “Grant this your pup the wish of his heart, that he should be happy and safe and beloved of those who follow the paths beside him. Grant that this season be fruitful and bring him happiness in the future for the good of the family and the good of the pack. And know in this that, however you choose or refuse, that I your offspring and descendant love you and worship you, in all your forms, in all your faces. My eternal gratitude and faith to you, Mother of us All.” I kissed my still bleeding finger and made a mark on the Bleeding Stone, to call down her attention on my plea.
A breeze ruffled through the tree branches, bringing me the scents of sage and juniper and pine anew. Maybe it was a sign; it wasn’t as if I was more than half-convinced that these things were real. But it felt, in that moment, with the air caressing my face the way my mother used to when I was a pup, that someone, somewhere, had heard me.
CHAPTER SIX
My first heat hit right on schedule, the second week of November. Just like clockwork.
I waited until the end of it to check my credit balance, hoping for the best, prepared for the worst. I’d kept rough track of what I’d thought I’d earned, but we were paid for our time with clients while they were in our rooms, which meant that badging in and out with our bracelets was what determined exactly how many minutes we were charging, and getting paid for.
Ma was finishing her coffee and reading her emails before going into work. I was on the first of my days off and lounging in the chair opposite her in my robe, phone in one hand, toast in the other.
“Just check it. You know you’re dying to know,” she said without looking up from her tablet.
“But what if I was wrong?” I demanded. My thumb still hovered over the login button on the screen. One tap, and I’d know how close I was to my goal.
“Oh, for crying out loud, Salem,” she finally said in an exasperated tone and reached across the table to press my thumb to the screen.
I squeezed my eyes shut like a little pup while my account loaded and then, oh so carefully, peeked. “Barrens,” I shouted, then winced when Ma cuffed my ear.
“Your brother and sister are still asleep,” she scolded. “How did you do?”
I turned the phone around so she could see and her eyes widened. “Oh, that’s so wonderful!” She abandoned her chair to swoop around the table and pull me into a huge hug. “My baby’s growing up. It feels like just yesterday your Da and I were wrapping you up to take you to be blessed by the moon.”
“Ma!” I protested. She just laughed and kissed the top of my head, but I eventually convinced her that a man of twenty-two didn’t really need their mother mauling them over the breakfast table. Well, maybe a little mauling was in order—I was at least six months ahead of schedule on my savings. I could be in my own home by Midwinter, if things went well in my second heat. Birth Moon for sure.
“When did you want to go talk to them at the Housing Commission?” she asked once she’d sat down again.
“Not yet, I don’t think.” I chewed my lip and did a few mental calculations. “I was thinking about one of the new apartments, in the building right behind work. Where that little grove of peach trees is?”
She nodded and frowned. “Those are going to be expensive.”
“Not as bad as the ones going up in west end.” I really would have preferred to live there—the apartments were going to be larger and it was closer to the swimming pool that the pack had put in back when I’d still been a pup. But it was a pricier neighborhood, with more trees and less concrete. Not something a single omega could afford, even if he earned as well as I did when I really put my mind to it. Maybe someday, if I found an alpha I thought I could live with for the rest of my life, someone I’d be willing to have get a pup on me, then the two of us together could afford a place out there.
But I did try to be realistic and no one knew what the future would bring, so I was only looking at places within my means. Or, in the case of this new apartment building, just barely within them. If I earned well in my second heat.
Please let it be a long one.I crossed my fingers and directed a prayer to the Lady of Wolves to send just a little more luck my way. This was my first season since I’d graduated to a blue bracelet and the higher prices I could charge—I had no idea what my earning potential could be. But it did look promising.
“What are you planning to do today?” Ma asked.
“Sleep,” I told her, with feeling.
She laughed. “Are you booked to work any days in between your heats?”
