Chapter 35
We backtracked to find Val, stumbling but upright. She flinched as Jacob rubbed up against her in fur form. And when Benjie—over-eager, oblivious—asked if she wanted to draw her own wolf spirit into her body, she shook her head furiously.
“No. Just no.”
“But the smells!” Patricia rose to two feet, grabbing Val’s hands and trying to spin her into a giddy circle. “A wolf....”
Val was usually willing to dance at the drop of a hat, but now she planted her feet and shuddered. “I can’t....” Her sentence was swallowed by an endless coughing fit.
Only when Claw looped one strong arm around his sister’s shoulder did the spasm ease. “Maybe later,” he told the wider audience. Then, whispering in her ear: “Or never. Doesn’t matter. You’re still a member of our pack.”
Confident that Cl
