When I stepped through the front door, the scent of savory spices hit my nose. Gran was cooking, which also meant the trailer was one hundred degrees inside. Even without the oven being used.

“Made it back in one piece I see,” Gran said without looking at me as she continued stirring a large pot at the stove. The pork chops sizzled in one of her cast-iron skillets.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Dad asked.

He was on the couch. He shifted around, repositioning the heating pad against his lower back and propped his feet up on the coffee table. A glass of water sat near him, which was surprising, considering the time of day. Was it possible he hadn’t started drinking yet? I knew my answer without having to think too hard. The closer to a full moon we came, the less pain he was in. Gracie sat beside him, her nose buried in another paranormal book.

The entire scene looked so normal. It was slightly jarring.

“I went four-wheeling today,” I said as I started toward the fridge. My clothes were already sticking to me from my day in the sun, but the heat in here was making it worse. Something to drink was necessary.

“Who did you go four-wheeling with?” Dad asked.

I pulled a cup from the cabinet near the fridge and filled it with tap water. “Alec and some of his friends.”

“Was it all boys?” Dad asked with a grumble.

“No, there was another girl,” I said as I took a sip from my water and headed to the couch.

I passed the AC unit in the window. Warm air blew out of it instead of cold. It was time for a new one. Who knew when that would happen, though.

“As long as you weren’t in the middle of the woods with a group of damn boys,” Dad said as he adjusted his heating pad again. His face reddened. He reached for his bottle of painkillers on the table and dumped one or two in his hand.

“Even if it were all boys, it wouldn’t matter. I can handle myself,” I insisted.

“I know you can handle yourself, but I still worry.” He reached for his water and swallowed the pills. “You’re my daughter. I’ll always worry.”

It was the sweetest thing he’d said to me in months. In fact, it had me choking up a little. Moments like these were so few and far between.

“You got home just in time,” Gran called from the kitchen, and she pulled plates down from a cabinet. “Dinner is done. We’re eating early tonight. Come get it.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. This was my favorite meal. Even though I’d eaten a sandwich and bag of chips earlier, I still managed to work up an appetite for Gran’s cooking.

Once we were seated at the table, all I could think about was how long it had been since we’d eaten as a family. A meal where Dad hadn’t been shit-faced already.

When he stood and headed to the kitchen, I watched him carefully, hoping he was going for the salt or maybe even the pepper. Instead, he swung the fridge door open and grabbed a beer. My heart shrank in on itself as I watched him twist the cap off and take a long swig. He hadn’t even given his pills enough time to work before he reached for a damn bottle. Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t need to drink so much this close to the full moon.

No one said a word to him when he sat back down, but I knew we were all thinking the same thing.

“Where did you go four-wheeling at?” Gracie asked in an attempt to clear the air and start a conversation.

“Not far from here. Alec’s uncle owns a piece of land that butts up against the lake. They created a dirt track there,” I said as I stabbed at my black-eyed peas.

Images of the blood I’d seen and the scratch marks on the ground flashed through my mind. I wondered if Gran or my dad knew if anyone had gone missing from our pack or been hurt. Did they know Alec’s uncle had been bitten a while back? Did they know who did it?

“Alec? What’s his last name again?” Dad asked before I could voice any of my questions.

“Thomas.”

His face scrunched up in disapproval. “I’m not too keen on the Thomases.”

This surprised me. It was rare he ever said he wasn’t too keen on anyone. Generally, he liked everyone he met. Then again, maybe it was because he was a friendly drunk.

“Why not?” I asked around a mouthful of food. Gran glared at me, and I knew it was because she was chastising my table manners, or lack thereof.

“One night when Westley was out for a run he ran into David Thomas. I think he’s the uncle you’re talking about who owns that piece of land you were on today,” Dad said before taking another long swig from his beer. The bottle was nearly empty already. He sure knew how to put them away. “Anyway, Westley was running around the lake, burning off some energy alone one night while that Thomas guy was camping on his property. It was during deer season. I guess he must’ve thought Westley was a deer or saw his wolf form and got scared. Either way, he shot at Westley. He missed and Westley took off like a bat out of hell, but it didn’t stop David from pursuing him. Chased him for miles he said. Shot at him numerous times, too. Until the asshole ran out of bullets, which also happened to be when he had Westley cornered. Westley did the only thing he could—he bit him on the arm to escape. I don’t blame him. I would’ve done a hell of a lot worse if it had been me. I think that Thomas guy got lucky.”

Westley, Eli’s dad, was who had attacked Alec’s uncle?

Eli’s dad was our Alpha. There was no way he would do anything to jeopardize our packs safety. I could only imagine how scared he must’ve felt to push himself to the point of biting a human. Alec had made it sound like his uncle was viciously attacked. I knew there were two sides to every story, but wow.

Was this why everyone didn’t like the idea of me dating Alec? I guess I could understand, but still. Alec wasn’t his uncle.

“The main point of that story is,” Gran said as serious as I’d ever heard her. “He was alone. Never go on a run alone.”

All of us nodded in agreement, knowing how much drilling the point into our minds meant to Gran. A decade ago, our grandfather had gone on a run alone. He never came back. A hunter shot him. His body was found at the edge of the woods the next day by a pack member. He was no longer in wolf form, but instead had transformed into his human form. This wasn’t uncommon. When injured while in wolf form, a werewolf always transformed into their human state to heal. Even if the wound happened to be fatal.

We cremated my grandpa later that afternoon and held a wake in celebration of his life. I’d been seven.

Since then Gran always stressed to everyone in the pack not to go on runs alone. She always said it was best to run with a buddy or wait until the full moon run and go with the pack.

Running with the pack during the full moon was safest. Not because there was safety in numbers, but because of the deal our pack had struck with the Caraway witches of Mirror Lake decades ago.

“I know,” I said as I sliced into a thick piece of pork chop. “But, I might not have to worry about that. My wolf gene might not be triggered.”

Gran sighed as though she was sick of hearing me say those words. “You will. You’re just a late bloomer. Always have been,” Gran insisted.

“How far are we from the next full moon again?” Gracie asked.

“What does it matter to you?” I demanded. She was still a few years away from having to drink the nasty tea meant to trigger the werewolf gene.

Maybe triggering it was a bad word to use. It didn’t just trigger the gene, it created some sort of allergic reaction within the body that awakened the dormant gene inside. At least for most. Sylvie Hess was a different story.

“Maybe that’s my entertainment,” she snapped and then stuck her tongue out.

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to say something smart-ass in response, but Gran spoke before I could.

“Ten days.”

“I can’t believe it’s only ten days away,” Dad said as he took the final swig of his beer and stood to retrieve another. His limp was becoming less prominent, but not enough. While it wouldn’t disappear once the full moon was upon us, his pain would lessen enough to make his limp barely noticeable when he walked. It was one of the reasons I thought the moon was so magical. “The month seemed to blur by.”

I knew why his months blurred by, we all did, but just like before we all kept our mouths shut about it. What was the point? Hashing it out would only drive him to drink more. I’d seen it happen numerous times when Mom was still around.

I shoved another forkful of Gran’s black-eyed peas in my mouth to help me stay quiet. They were seasoned to perfection just like always. It was the greens I’d never cared for. Of course, I didn’t have the heart to tell her.

“I’ve got two days until my harvest of salvia is ready,” Gran said.

My stomach twisted at the mention of the powerful herb. You’d think after so many times of drinking the tea she made with it, I’d have gotten over the taste by now. Frankly, I didn’t think it was possible.

“What’s the matter, Mina, not ready for another taste so soon?” Gracie asked. I didn’t care for her snotty tone.

“You just wait until you have to start drinking it. Then, we can talk about the taste and whether you’re ready each month.”

That shut her up. Her time was coming. She’d be forced to drink the same tea on a monthly basis until she became Moon Kissed, or didn’t.

“I damn sure don’t miss it,” Dad said with a shiver. “I never could get used to the horrible taste. Nothing helped, not even plugging my nose. I had to down it as quickly as possible and pray I didn’t puke it right back up.”

“Exactly! I can’t wait till I don’t have to drink it anymore.” I chuckled. It was nice to hold a conversation with him, even if he’d already started drinking.

“It’s not that bad. You two exaggerate things,” Gran insisted. “Aren’t you girls going to eat your greens? Mina, I thought they were your favorite.”

“They are. I’m just full,” I said, still unable to bring myself to tell her the truth about them. No matter how much sugar or ham hock she added, they always tasted bitter.

“And why is that? You knew I was cooking.”

My stomach flip-flopped. She wasn’t happy with me. “I don’t know. I think it’s the peas. They’re filling.”

If I told her I’d eaten a late lunch, she’d have my head. Especially since she mentioned what she was making for dinner before I left.

Gran’s gaze never wavered from me, but I couldn’t bring myself to lift my eyes to hers. The second I did, she would know I was lying. Heck, she probably already knew. Her intuition about things was strong.

“Do you think I can go to the movies tomorrow night?” Gracie asked, saving me from Gran’s wrath, even though she didn’t realize it.

“Who are you going with?” Dad asked.

“Callie and Violet,” Gracie said, naming two girls who lived in the park.

“No boys?” Dad asked.

“No,” Gracie said. She’d responded too quickly. I knew she was lying. Gran did, too. Her eyes narrowed on Gracie.

“I don’t see why you can’t,” Dad said. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty. Since when did it cost twenty dollars to go to the movies? “Here, I don’t have anything smaller. Bring me back my change.”

And there it was. I knew there was no way he was going to give her twenty bucks to see a movie. It would tap into his beer money.