THE SECOND MOON

Chapter Six: The Family That Doesn't Need Him

Drake sat in the car after the call ended, his phone still in his hand and the engine off.

Rebecca Shaw's voice stayed in his head, especially the part that bothered him even more than the word divorce.

"My client."

He ran a hand through his hair as if that might clear his head.

Eighteen years of marriage sat behind those two words. There were two children, a house, years of bills, birthdays, arguments, and promises they had both thought they would keep.

Now a stranger with a law degree called Maya her client.

Drake found Maya's name in his recent calls, but he did not press it. He wanted to ask when a separation had turned into a divorce.

"Ronan?"

Nothing came back.

Three years of silence had passed, and somehow today it felt worse.

Drake pressed both hands over his face and forced himself to breathe. Dawson's meeting started in five minutes. Whatever was happening with Maya would still be happening after work, and rent did not care that his marriage had just been handed to a lawyer.

Someone knocked hard against the driver's window.

Caleb stood outside and pointed at his watch.

"Meeting."

Drake grabbed his bag and got out.

"Coming."

Work had become his answer to almost everything. He worked first and dealt with everything else later, but somehow, later had turned into eighteen years.

The meeting was postponed before lunch.

Drake nearly laughed when Dawson's assistant announced it.

He spent the rest of the day fixing a scheduling mess and training Tyler, one of Dawson's newer hires. By five twenty, Drake was exhausted and still had no idea whether the promotion was actually happening.

He called Maya before leaving.

The call went to voicemail.

"Maya, call me."

He should have gone home.

Instead, he drove toward Blackridge High.

There was an open gym session that evening for students planning to attend Friday's basketball tryouts. Lucas had barely mentioned it, but Drake went anyway.

The gym hit him the second he walked inside. Sneakers squeaked against polished wood, and for a second Drake was seventeen again with Coach Dalton yelling at him to move his feet.

Lucas was running drills with several other boys. He missed one layup, made the next, then rushed the third so badly that the ball hit the backboard too hard and bounced away.

Drake knew exactly what was happening. Lucas was overthinking every movement, and every mistake made the next one worse.

"Relax your shoulders," Drake muttered.

Lucas missed again, then looked toward the doors and saw him.

Something in his face changed immediately.

Drake stayed near the doors and watched.

When the session ended, Lucas headed toward the exit with his bag over one shoulder.

"Lucas."

His son stopped.

"You looked better toward the end."

"I missed half my shots."

"You were overthinking them."

"Okay."

"Your feet are getting ahead of you when you're nervous. I could work with you before Friday."

"I've got it."

"Lucas."

"Dad, can we not do this here?"

"I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need help."

Lucas glanced toward the other boys.

"Mom's coming Friday."

"So?"

"So you don't have to."

Drake frowned. "I don't have to watch my own kid try out?"

"That's not what I said."

"Then what are you saying?"

Lucas lowered his voice.

"Don't make this weird."

"I'm trying to talk to you."

"I know."

The way Lucas said it stopped Drake. There was no anger in his voice. Lucas just sounded tired.

"I'll see you Friday," Drake said.

"Yeah."

Lucas walked away.

Something shifted beneath Drake's ribs, and he froze.

The feeling was so faint that he almost thought he imagined it.

"Ronan?"

It disappeared.

Drake waited until Lucas was gone before calling Lily.

"What?" she answered.

"Excellent greeting."

"Dad, I'm studying."

"Can I see you tonight?"

"I have plans."

"You just said you're studying."

"I'm studying with people."

"Tomorrow, then?"

"I don't know."

Drake leaned against the wall.

"I haven't seen you in almost two weeks."

"I know."

"I'd like to see my daughter."

Lily sighed. "I'll call you later."

"I have to go."

The line went dead.

Neither of his children had done anything wrong, and that was the worst part. They had simply learned how to live without him around.

Drake called Maya again, got voicemail again, then opened their messages.

Your lawyer called me.

He sent it.

Maya answered twenty minutes later.

I know, Drake. Sign it.

He stared at the message until the screen dimmed.

Is this really what you want?

The typing bubble appeared twice, but no message came.

By the time Drake reached his apartment, a sheet of paper had been pushed under his door.

FINAL RENT REMINDER.

He read the amount twice.

Tomorrow's meeting with Dawson had to go his way.

Drake tossed the notice onto the table, opened the refrigerator, and found one beer left. He twisted off the cap and sat down.

His phone buzzed.

SECOND MOON ECLIPSE WITH BLOOD MOON THIS THURSDAY. ELDER ROWAN SAYS KEEP YOUR PUPS OUT OF THE NORTH WOODS AFTER DARK.

More messages appeared beneath it.

Marcus: Old people still trying to scare everybody with Second Moon stories?

Someone replied that their grandmother claimed wolves had disappeared during the last eclipse. Another person joked that the same grandmother thought microwaves damaged wolf bonds.

Drake snorted.

Then someone posted a photograph of Blackridge Lake.

FIRST SECOND MOON IN 79 YEARS.

Drake stared at the picture.

His grandfather used to talk about the Second Moon when Drake was a kid. He said a second celestial body passed close enough during the Blood Moon to create an eclipse unlike any ordinary one.

When the two moons aligned, wolves felt it in a way humans never could.

Grandfather claimed the eclipse stripped away years of control and woke instincts modern packs had spent generations learning to bury. He used to say that for one night, a wolf remembered exactly what it had been before humans taught it manners.

Drake had thought it was the greatest story in the world when he was ten.

At thirty-five, it sounded like something an old man invented to keep children away from the lake after dark.

"Ronan?"

Silence answered him.

Thursday was the eclipse, and Friday was Lucas's tryout, right after it.

His phone buzzed again.

The documents will be served tomorrow.

Drake looked at Rebecca Shaw's message, then at the rent notice on the table.

Maya wanted a divorce. His children barely wanted him around. His wolf had stopped speaking to him, and tomorrow his financial future depended on a meeting with a man who had been promising him a promotion for two weeks.

For the first time that day, Drake stopped trying to tell himself everything would work out.

He knew tomorrow was going to be bad.