When de-escalation doesn’t work, escalate, but make certain you can and will do whatever you threaten. If we had to, the cat would kick her ass. No way could we let a wolf threaten a guest on our territory.
And just like that, Nora’s wolf went submissive and slunk off the porch, away from us, back towards her father’s house.
“Nora.” I didn’t raise my voice. Wolves have excellent hearing.
She stopped but didn’t turn towards us.
“I’ll have you and your brothers over for lunch or dinner to meet Frost in the next week or two. I expect you’ll do something in the coming days to try to make up for the disrespect you’ve shown me this evening. I’m disappointed in your actions. I would expect this of a small child, not a teenager.”
She kept walking, and I stepped to my garage and opened the door. “Put your bike in here,” I told Frost. “I’d like to say she won’t do anything to fuck with it, but I’m not sure I know who she is right now. I never thought she’d...” I sighed. “I want her to feel as if this is her home, too. I suppose I’ve done my job, since she’s trying to defend it.”
He pulled me into his arms. “She’s a kid. She’s lost a lot of people in her short life, and now she’s worried she might be losing you. Dinner is a good idea.”
He put his bike in the garage, and I closed the door. She had the code to get in, but we’d hear the door going up and could come check on her.
“After what I just put you through, I can’t bitch about a little fourteen-year-old pup.” He followed me onto the porch. “What’s the deal with your cat? Has Nora seen you fight? She calmed right down.”
“Yeah, she’s seen the cat in action.” And I wasn’t going to tell him anything more about that. Gil had tried to shift into wolf to intimidate me once. I’d gone cat and attacked him. It hadn’t been pretty — we tore each other up, but the wolf took way more damage. Gil showed me his belly before it was over. Flat on his back while the cat bit his throat.
The cat had jumped on top of his SUV when it was over, clearly prepared to pounce again if he did something else, but he’d changed to human and just sat on the ground, defeated.
And Nora had watched from inside the house. If the cat could beat her father, she knew she didn’t have a chance.
I stopped and texted Gil once Frost and I were in the house. You have a naughty wolf on the way back to your house. She and I are not okay right now. She was aggressive with my guest. You and I need to talk tomorrow, to strategize how we’re going to deal with her.
Agreed. She’ll spend the night in the cage. That kind of aggression won’t be tolerated, and she knows it.
If you don’t have lunch plans tomorrow, maybe we can meet somewhere to eat and talk.
Works for me. Have a good evening.
Because it’s rude to text when someone’s standing and watching, I showed Frost what had been said.
“It’s good the two of you are working together.”
“It’s the only way this works. If I want the kids in my life, I have to respect their father. If he wants his kids to continue to have a mom-figure in their life, he has to respect the mom-figure. It’s awkward at times, but we’re figuring it out.”
“He wants you back.”
“I honestly don’t know if he does or not. I mean, I know he doesn’t want anyone else to have me, and I know his wolf hasn’t let go of me, but I’m not certain the human actually wants me back. It feels more like an ownership thing than a relationship thing.”
He sighed. “Wolves are fiercely loyal. Nora’s wolf is likely confused, if she thinks her father wants you back. Also, Nora’s probably hoping the two of you get back together, which would also have her wolf acting up. Gil’s feeling the need to keep you in your little family pack, I imagine.”
“Loyal. Yeah. Maybe I can figure out how to use that to bring them around.”
He chuckled. “And cats are master strategists.”
I met his gaze. “I’m pretty sure owls are, too.”
His grin told me I was right, and he wasn’t the least bit remorseful. “Guilty as charged. Our evening