Chapter 22: Eve

On Wednesday, day twenty-nine, I drove to the Alpha's ranch with Joss beside me and the printed offer folded in my shirt pocket.

Emmett Varney's kitchen smelled of burnt coffee and dog.

He sat at the head of the table in a pearl-snap shirt with his reading glasses pushed up on his forehead.

The Keeper sat at his right hand with her thermos and her black book.

Her green Buick stood in the yard.

Neither of them looked surprised.

"Sit," Emmett said.

We sat.

I had practiced it in the truck, and it came out shorter than I had practiced.

"I have an offer from Colorado State. A two-year large animal residency in Fort Collins. I applied in March. They held a spot."

I put the paper on the table.

"I'm taking it. I answer by Friday."

Nobody spoke.

A clock ticked on the wall above the stove.

"And tomorrow night," I said, "I'm going to say I stay, and bite him, if he'll have me."

"The bond and the residency. I want both."

Emmett took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Well," he said.

"I know the pack has been calling me Luna. I know the title is heavy."

"I'm not saying I won't wear it. I'm saying I won't wear it in place of my own life."

Emmett lowered his hand.

He was smiling, tired and kind.

"I have run this pack for eighteen years, Laney. I can wait two more for a Luna."

I stared at him.

"Has anyone told the pack that a Luna has to be in the valley?"

"The law does not say where a mated pair sleeps. It says nothing is owed."

He looked at Joss.

"Your leave letter is already on my desk. You gave it to me at six this morning."

I turned my head.

Joss looked at the table, and his ears went red.

"I wanted it done before she asked," he said.

"I'll run the mill by phone, and come back when the crew needs me. The rest of the time I'll be wherever she is."

"You didn't tell me that."

"You had enough to say today."

My throat closed.

The Keeper unscrewed her thermos cap and poured tea into it, slowly.

"A bond," she said, "can be thirteen hours long, if it has to be."

She lifted the cup to me in a small salute.

"I have tied cords on pairs who lived in one house and never spoke a word."

"A mated pair that drives to each other is a good pair. Go and answer your letter, Dr. Dunnaway."

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