Thanks

"Cam? What's wrong?"

"Crap! I— I forgot I have somewhere I need to be—" I shove down my panic as I quickly pack up the rest of my belongings, cursing that I still don't have a phone after smashing my old one into a wall. That was really dumb. "I have to go, but I'll, um, see you tomorrow?"

He nods. "Yeah, sure. Hope you aren't in too much trouble."

"Probably, but it's nothing new."

He gives me a worried look, so I give him one more quick side hug for reassurance. "Hey, it's fine. I wanted to be here for you. Just… can we plan to study during our free period tomorrow?"

"Uh huh."

I smile. "Great. See you then."

I rush out of the library, frantically trying to think of why no one tried to call me on the pack link while I was with Alastair.

When I reach the woods behind the school, I double check my surroundings before stripping down. I loosen the straps on my backpack all the way and put my shoes and clothing in the bag before shifting. After a month of running home in wolf form from school, I've gotten pretty good at awkwardly looping my bag's straps through my front paws and maneuvering it onto my back. It would look really weird if anyone saw a bookbag riding a wolf, but it's better than leaving it where it could be found.

Once I'm a good distance from school, I try calling Ellie first. The link remains open on my end for several minutes before she finally connects.

"Cam! Where the heck are you? No, don't answer that. This is actually not a really good time. I snuck off to the bathroom to transform, so it will be suspicious if I'm gone for too long." Her thoughts come to me in rapid fire succession, almost as if she is frantic. Worried.

"Sorry, sis. I'm on my way now. Is Mom mad?"

"You better kiss my ass when you get here. I covered for you. Told her you had a mandatory group project."

"You are a saint. Thank you."

"Pff. I'm no saint. I'm a GODDESS."

"Yes. You are. Wonderful. Amazing. Best sister ever. Thank you. Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. Just come and save me before I murder our Luna."

"That bad?"

"You have no idea. She is trying to convince me that the wage gap is a myth created by women choosing lower paying careers."

"Yikes. I'll be right there."

"Ok, got to go!"

I'm a little nervous about how exactly Ellie expects me to "save her", considering the last time I tried to stand up to the Luna she was the one doing the saving. But, my worry is unwarranted. When I enter the Luna's office, she is sitting behind her desk smiling at my sister.

"Let's say for the sake of the argument, that you are right and there is a higher percentage of women that work as nurses and teachers," Ellie is saying. "Why should 'caregiving' careers, as you call them, be paid less than, say, architects or engineers, which require the same level of schooling, but are still male dominated fields?"

"While I agree with you in theory, there is no 'should be paid' in economics. Wages are determined by supply and demand."

"That's only in a perfectly capitalized society, which we aren't, since the majority of teachers and nurses are paid by government entities."

"Exactly. Which is why we should privatize schools and hospitals. Oh! Cam, there you are!" Then, she smiles at me. "Your sister and I were just having a lively discussion about the wage gap. What's your stance?"

"Uh…" What the heck is happening here? "Can I plead the fifth?"

Ellie frowns at me, but Luna Esther laughs lightly. "That's fair. It's a complex topic with no easy answers. Although your sister has surprised me with her sharpness and quick wit, even if she is a little bit misguided." She looks warmly at my sister, her eyes filled with… affection? This is really weird. Have I entered an alternate dimension where politics isn't a cantankerous subject? And my sister doesn't even blink an eye at the Luna's "misguided" insult.

I shake my head and sit, determined to just ignore the pair while I get to work designing an invitation for Ashley's baby shower. When I finish, I sigh in frustration. Graphic design is… not my thing. I thought I could just use a preformatted template to make something simple and elegant, but it still turned out really ugly. Luna Esther looks just as disappointed in me as I feel when she sees it, but she must be in a good mood, because she lets Ellie and me go home on time anyways.

"Sooooo, where were you today?" Ellie asks once we are a safe distance from the pack house. "And, for your sake, I hope your excuse is better than your invitation making skills."

"That was pretty bad, wasn't it? I thought maybe a gender neutral green color would be nice, but it just turned out looking like vomit."

"Well, babies vomit more than adults, so maybe it's appropriate."

"Yeah, but baby vomit is white."

"Why do you know that?"

"Who's the older sibling here?"

"Only by ten months! There is no way you remember me vomiting as a baby. Also, you're trying to distract me! Where were you?"

"Actually… your lie wasn't too far from the truth. My math teacher asked me to stay late to tutor another student."

"Precalc?"

"Errr… yep."

"Hey, isn't that the class you share with Alastair?"

"Uh…" My sister's eyes narrow on me. "Yes?"

"So… who was so important that you completely forgot about Luna training and risked Mom withdrawing you from school?"

"No one. Just some human. Mrs. Huang told me that she would write me a letter of recommendation for college if I helped them out."

"Cameron." She stops in the middle of the street, looking at me severely with her hands on her hips. "Don't lie to me."

"Fine. It was Alastair. Happy?"

"Yes," she beams at me before her expression gets serious again. "And no. I don't know if you've been paying attention Cam, but you need to be careful hanging out with him. The peace treaty is hanging by a thread right now."

"What?"

"Yeah, while you've been running around in the woods every afternoon, Dad and the rest of the Alpha's counsel have been meeting nearly everyday for the past month to talk about the situation. Apparently the High Priestess asked the pack to help hunt down the wolf who killed Addy. The one that ran away and became a rogue? But Alpha Edmund refused."

I knew this much, but Ellie's not finished.

"Then the coven refused to send the plant witches to bless our harvest this year and just last week, after the full moon, Old Man Wilson found collar rot in the apple orchard. Nearly a quarter of the trees are infected and a lot of the wolves are blaming the witches, saying they snuck in to kill the trees during the ceremony."

"Holy shit. I— I had no idea."

"Listen, you know I don't have anything against witches in general and, even if I was skeptical of Al at first, I think he is a good guy. I'm not saying you shouldn't be friends with him, just… be cautious ok? You don't want to give our parents any more fuel for the fire."

"Yeah. Ok. Thanks for telling me Ellie."