Not once has Brooke Changed, but she’s needed the cage anyway, because as Finn told me on the phone the other day, being locked up and left to dry out is definitely a bone of contention for her. She’s been downright abusive about her circumstances.
Ginny steps inside to reunite with her mom.
Charlotte waits with Finn and me, hugging herself. Her ears don’t pick up on the words exchanged between her friend and her mom, and the voices stay low, but Finn and I know the moment Brooke turns mean, telling Ginny she deserved everything she got—a statement that’s made in connection to the topic of the infamous boyfriend who Finn beat multiple child molestation confessions out of, which then prompted Finn to tear the man into tiny lumps and pieces. Lumps and body pieces require disposal, and as Finn declared, it’s a good thing the Vlkolak House keeps pigs.
Body disposal is actually exactly why Vlkolak keeps pigs. Get a passel of fifty swine together, and they’ll eat every scrap of person, plant, or animal you put in their pen.
In other words, handy place. Finn, as well as our other territory enforcers, kill too many humans to eat them all ourselves.
Finn hauls Ginny out of the cell with a glare at her mother. “One day, you’ll be ashamed of yourself, you pooched cunt.”
‘Pooched’ is a derogatory word among us, slung at those who are werewolf by blood but who couldn’t master Changing.
If Finn’s mother had heard him call someone this, she’d have beaten him. But then again, if Finn’s mother had been here to hear the goings-on, she’d surely have beaten the ever-living hell out of Ginny’s mom before Finn could say a thing about it.
Being as no one seemingly scarier than herself is here to encourage her to curtail her urges, Brooke hurls a rather inventive set of invectives back at Finn as he closes the door in her face.
Looking shaken, Ginny lets herself be enveloped by Charlotte, and the two move upstairs with Finn and I following.
Finn lets Ginny walk the yard a bit with Charlotte, and when Liam—still in his wolf pup form—brings Ginny a stick, she begins to thaw out of her frozen state, even managing a smile for the boy. Maggie happily chases after her new friend, only to stop suddenly when he freezes, drops his stick, and starts digging.
He’s found an anthill.
When he starts licking the ants that he’s managed to disturb into marching at him, Maggie crouches down beside him. With a furrowed brow, she picks one up on her finger and eats it.
Susan calls warily, “Maggie what are you doing?”
“Did you notice her scent got stronger as her emotions built?” Finn asks me, watching Ginny.
“Having lunch with Liam!” Maggie calls back, scooping up another ant, which has Susan hustling for her. Tiny snout buried in a tunnel, Liam’s tail is wagging wildly, excited to share a snack with his new friend.
“I did,” I agree, training my attention on the emotionally injured werewolf. “And that’s not the first time.”
“She’s going to Change,” Finn warns, his chin turning sideways in a very Gaelic half-head shake. “I don’t know how she hasn’t already. Her wolf smells strong.”
Susan approaches us. Behind her, Maggie pokes at the ground with a stick, probably helping Liam hunt. “I take it the visit didn’t go well?” She’s wincing.
Finn shakes his head.
Susan places her hands over her heart, face pained. “That poor girl! She never gets a break!”
“She’s got you,” Finn says.
“She’s got Charlotte,” Susan corrects. “She’s afraid to get near anybody else.” Shaking her head sadly, she checks her phone, then moves her attention to me. “Well, Deek, it’s almost one o’clock. How long do you want to stay?”
“Ginny also has the pack,” Finn points out, still watching her. “And I know she’s been a regular girl to your family, but she’s going to be a wolf here soon. She could benefit from tutoring. She’s lived her whole life as a human and doesn’t know hardly any of our ways, our rules. Yet she’ll be expected to live by them. Deek and I were just discussing the fact that she could Change at any time. It’d be best if that first time is here.”
Susan’s dismay couldn’t be more clear. “You’re saying that you think she should move in.”
Finn meets her gaze, implacable. “I think she needs to.”
Susan is shaking her head. “Finn, you don’t know her. She’s run away from foster homes. She—”