7
" Joe looked curious, glancing between Kelly and me.
Ox’s expression was blank.
“Kelly,” Joe said. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Kelly said, sounding exasperated. “I’m getting really sick and tired of that question.”
“As your Alpha, I—”
“I’m older than you,” Kelly retorted. “I changed your diaper when you shit yourself. You may be my Alpha, but I’ve wiped your ass, Joe. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
11
" It took eight months, but then we found you. In Caswell. There was a wolf who said he’d seen you in the compound. He was visiting, and he recognized you from your picture. He said he tried to talk to you, tried dropping a couple of hints, but there was nothing.”
I couldn’t think of who this had been.
“And it hurt,” Kelly continued, “because he said you seemed happy. And I almost convinced myself that maybe what we’d thought was right, that you had betrayed us. But then I remembered something, and I knew it couldn’t be true.”
“What did you remember?”
“The way you loved me.”
It was a punch to the stomach.
“You loved me,” Kelly said softly, “without reservation. Without expecting anything in return. You loved me, and I knew that you wouldn’t stop, not unless you were forced to. And I knew then that I wouldn’t stop, no matter what it took. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
12
" I never wanted it to end. I wondered if it felt like this the first time. Seeing him. Really seeing him.
He wiped his eyes. “You really want to know, don’t you.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
I gave in. I couldn’t not. I reached over and put my hand on his knee. He tensed briefly but settled when I curled my fingers over his leg, just letting my hand rest there. I couldn’t look at him. I thought my face was on fire.
He said, “That’s….” His voice broke. He cleared his throat. “After the hunters came, something shifted. Between us. I don’t know how or why exactly. You stopped being weird around me.”
“Seems like I’ve picked that right up again.”
He chuckled. “A little. It’s okay, though. It’s like… a beginning. You came to me one day. You were sweating. I remember thinking something bad had happened because you kept wringing your hands until I thought you were going to break your bones. I asked you what was wrong. And you know what you said?
“Probably something stupid.”
“You said that you didn’t think you could ever give up on me. That no matter how long it took, you would be there until I told you otherwise. That you weren’t going to push me for anything but you thought I should know that you had… intentions.”
“Oh dear god,” I said in horror. “And that worked?”
Kelly snorted, and I felt his hand on the back of mine. “Not quite. But what you said next did.”
I looked over at him. “What did I say?”
He was watching me with human eyes, and I thought I could love him. I saw how easy it could be. I didn’t, not yet, but oh, I wanted to. “You said you thought the world of me. That we’d been through so much and you couldn’t stand another day if I didn’t know that. You told me that you were a good wolf, a strong wolf, and if I’d only give you a chance, you’d make sure I’d never regret it.”
I had to know. “Have you?”
“No,” he whispered. “Not once. Not ever.” He looked away. “It was good between us. We took it slow. You smiled all the time. You brought me flowers once. Mom was pissed because you ripped them up from her flower bed and there were still roots and dirt hanging from the bottom, but you were so damn proud of yourself. You said it was romantic. And I believed you.” He plucked a blade of grass and held it in the palm of his hand. “There was something… I don’t know. Endless. About you and me.” He took my hand off his knee and turned it over. He set the blade of grass in my palm and closed his hand over mine. He looked toward the sky and the stars through the canopy of leaves. “We came here sometimes. Just the two of us. And you would pretend to know all the stars. You would make up stories that absolutely weren’t true, and I remember looking at you, thinking how wonderful it was to be by your side. And if we were lucky, there’d be—ah. Look. Again.” His voice was wet and soft, and it cracked me right down the middle.
Fireflies rose around us, pulsing slowly. At first there were only two or three, but then more began to hang heavy in the air. They were yellow-green, and I wondered how this could be real. Here. Now. This moment. How I ever could have forgotten this.
Forgotten him.
It had to have been the strongest magic the world had ever known.
That was the only way I’d have ever left his side.
He reached out with his other hand, quick and light, and snatched a firefly out of the air. He was careful not to crush it. He leaned his head toward mine like he was about to tell me a great secret.
Instead he opened his hand between us.
The firefly lay near the bottom of his ring finger. Its shell was black with a stripe down the middle. It barely moved.
“Just wait,” Kelly whispered.
I did.
It only took a moment.
The firefly pulsed in his hand.
“There it is,” he said. He pulled away and lifted his hand. The firefly took to its wings, lifting off and flying away.
He stared after it.
I only had eyes for him. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
15
" I leaned against the SUV he was working on. “So….”
“So?” he asked, looking back down at the tablet.
“How rich are we?”
He snorted. “Get back to work.”
And I was going to do just that, except that Kelly Bennett decided to appear right at that moment.
Wearing a deputy’s uniform. Tight green pants with a tan button-up shirt that pulled against his torso. He had a mic clipped near his shoulder and a black utility belt around his waist. He wasn’t carrying a gun, but I barely noticed because at that exact moment, I discovered my legs decided to quit working and I tripped and fell into the side of the SUV.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at me.
“Sorry,” I said quickly, using the SUV to pull myself back up. And immediately hit the top of my head on the open hood. “Son of a bitch.”
“What are you doing?” Gordo asked slowly.
I laughed wildly. “Nothing! It’s nothing. Just… don’t even worry about it.”
He turned toward the front of the garage.
“Oh no,” he said when he saw who was standing there. “Not this again.” He pointed the tablet at Kelly. “I swear to god, if I find an animal carcass brought here at any point, I will make both your lives a living hell. Do you understand me? I’m getting too old for this shit.”
“I can’t believe we have to watch this all over again,” Chris said to Tanner. “It was bad enough the first time. Remember when Robbie figured out that he wanted to put himself all over Kelly?”
“Yeah,” Tanner said. “How could I forget? We had to tell Ms. Martin that her side mirror was broken by accident instead of telling her the truth, that Robbie got a weird wolf boner and forgot his own strength.”
“Maybe it’ll be like it was with Ox and Joe,” Rico said, tapping a socket wrench against his hand. “Mini muffins, you know? I ate, like, ten of them.”
Chris looked scandalized. “You did what? That was one of their mystical moon magic presents! You don’t touch another man’s mystical moon magic present, Rico. They could have killed you, or worse, gotten confused and made you their mate.” He frowned. “Are there werewolf threesomes? That sounds complicated. Too many limbs. I don’t know anything about being a wolf. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
17
" The others disappeared.
I only had eyes for him.
He nodded slowly.
He said, “I know.”
He said, “I know you’re scared. Confused.”
He said, “But we’re not going to hurt you. You’re safe, Robbie.”
He said, “You’re home.”
I took another step toward him.
“That’s it,” he said, stepping away from the Alphas. Joe looked like he wanted to stop him, but he kept his hands at his side. “Hey. It’s okay, Robbie. It’s okay now. You’re here.” He smiled, though it was broken. “You’re with me now.”
It would be so easy.
To go to him.
To let him fix all of this.
To have him take me away.
And part of me wanted to. Part of me believed him. A quiet part, whispering in the dark, but there nonetheless.
But it was a trick.
It had to be.
They were Bennetts. And they were the enemy.
He knew then. The moment before I made my decision. I didn’t know how. But he did.
Even as my muscles coiled, the skin around his eyes tightened.
There was an opening to my right. Chris and Tanner were spread too far apart.
The secret part of me whispered for me to stop. To stay. To listen.
I ran. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
18
" Sorry about this,” Kelly said as Ox and Joe looked on.
I said nothing.
Kelly closed the line of silver, trapping me in the basement once again.
Ox nodded at me before heading toward the stairs.
Joe said, “Your tether.”
Ox stopped, but he didn’t turn around.
Joe said, “Who is it?”
I scowled at him. “Fuck you.”
“Simple question.”
“None of your business.”
“Joe,” Ox said.
Joe ignored him. “Is it still your mother?”
Little wolf, little wolf, can’t you see?
I snarled at him.
And Kelly said, “Enough.”
Joe left then, followed by Ox.
Kelly glared after them before slamming the door shut.
I paced back and forth, prowling the edges of the silver line.
Kelly hung his head, hands pressed against the door. He took a deep breath before turning around. He picked up his blanket and pulled it around his shoulders. He sat on the floor again, back against the wall. He picked up his book but didn’t open it.
I said, “This is all shit,” and “You all act like you know me,” and “You’re fucking with my head, this could all be a lie, everything could be a lie. Please let me go. Please just let me go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.”
He didn’t respond, at least not verbally.
His chest hitched.
I could smell the sting of salt.
He blinked rapidly as he looked down at his book. He didn’t turn the page for the longest time. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
19
" Last chance, Robbie.”
“Fuck off, Gordo.”
“All right,” he said. “If that’s how it’s going to be.”
I thought he was going to leave.
I should have known better.
One moment I was in my blanket cocoon, and the next the cot was tipping over, sending me tumbling to the floor. “Hey!”
“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. Get dressed.”
“No.”
He bent over me, eyes narrowed. “Tell me no one more time, I dare you.”
I steeled my nerves, looked up at him, and said, “No.”
Five minutes later I was glaring daggers at his back as I followed him up the stairs. The clothes he’d given me were a little tight, but they smelled like oil and metal and wolves. The shirt had a patch on it, my name stitched neatly into it.
“The sun isn’t even up,” I grumbled.
“It’s good to know your powers of observation are still intact. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
20
" Kelly said, “I knew. The moment I saw you standing on the porch when we came back from hunting Richard Collins. I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That you were my mate.”
I hung my head.
“Mom always told me when it happened, I would know. She couldn’t explain how exactly, but she said it would be like this light. In my head and chest. The clouds would part and there would only be sun where there’d once been shadow.”
I blinked rapidly against the sting in my eyes.
He shifted in his seat. “And I guess it was like that. But I wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. I was different than I was before I left with my brothers and Gordo. Harder. Less trusting. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want you. I was too focused on trying to keep my family alive. I didn’t trust you, especially given all we’d been through. I told myself that I was pissed off about it because you were a stranger and you’d carved yourself a home in the hole we created when we left. It took me a long time to realize I was jealous too.”
I looked back up at him. “You were?”
He shrugged. “A little. I didn’t know what to make of you. You were always… there. There was this one day before the hunters came and tried to take over the town. It was just you and me. We were in the kitchen, and you said something that made me laugh. It took me a moment to realize I was the only one laughing, and when I stopped, you were staring at me like it was the first time you were seeing me. After that, you always found some reason to stand near me. "
― T.J. Klune , Heartsong (Green Creek, #3)
