for her, but she was already stepping away, back into darkness. She adjusted her scarf, tightening it around her throat.
“I sensed your distress down the pack bond,” she said. “I came as soon as I could. Why did you call me?”
“Same reason as before.”
He hadn’t meant to call out to her, that first time. But she had come anyway, drawn by his pain, his mental howl. She was his sister. Pack didn’t leave pack to suffer alone.
“Need more serum,” he continued. “Nearly run out.”
“Already?” Lupa said, in clear dismay. “I told you to be careful with it! I wouldn’t have given it to you at all, if she—if you hadn’t insisted. I thought you were only going to use it for a little while, while you learned to control your animal.”
“Meant to. But…”
He trailed off. He wasn’t going to discuss his animal’s overpowering, constantly growing desire to mate. Not with his little sister.
“Is getting harder to keep it subdued,” he said. “I need to keep using the serum. Just for a while longer.”
Lupa blew out her breath, but flicked back her coat. She had a small tranquilizer gun holstered at her hip, next to a leather pouch.
“Here,” she said, taking a small box out of the pouch. She handed it to him. “This is all I can spare.”
A faint green glow emanated from the box as he opened it. Six small syringes glinted at him, each carefully nestled in protective foam padding.
“Thank you.” He closed the box, tucking it into his jacket pocket. “Will try to make it last longer this time.”
“You’ll have to. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get you anymore. I need all that we can make—ah!”
She hunched over with a small gasp. He instinctively lunged for her, but she waved him off, her face still twisted with pain. Taking a deep breath, she straightened, though she kept one hand clamped to her forehead. A dull red glow seeped from between her fingers.
“It’s her, isn’t it.” His hands clenched into useless fists. “Uncegila. She’s hurting you.”
“Only a little. Just as a warning.” Lupa tugged her hat lower, down to her eyebrows. “I’m grateful for the reminder, actually. There are things I…can’t talk about. She keeps her word, but only if I don’t break mine. I was being too careless.”
He wished that he could grab hold of the shadows that swathed his sister and tear them away. “She shouldn’t hurt you at all. I know you can’t talk about it. But there must be some way you could break free of her. Some way I can help you.”
“If you truly want to help me, stay away.” Lupa lifted her chin, regaining her usual cold composure. “This will all be over soon. In the meantime, make sure you uphold our bargain. Don’t try to remember your past. And keep your friends off my trail. Trust me, you don’t want anyone you love mixed up in this.”
“No,” he agreed softly, looking into her eyes; clear brown, flecked with copper fire, a mirror of his own. “I don’t.”
Something cracked in Lupa’s face, and his heart cracked too. For an instant, she wasn’t the polished, poised stranger, but someone smaller, younger, vulnerable. Someone that he’d known a long time ago…
He flinched away from the memory, turning aside. “I have to go. Darcy will worry if I’m out too long.”
“Yes. We’ve spent too much time here as it is. We can’t risk her growing suspicious.” Lupa took a step toward the waiting wendigo, then hesitated. She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Fen—Fenrir? When you…when you were a wolf, did you ever dream of me?”
“I don’t know,” he said, honestly. “All the time that I was a wolf feels like a dream now. Everything blurs together. Why? Did you dream of me?”
“Maybe.” She glanced at the wendigo, and her face softened. “When I was little, Uncle Mort gave me a big stuffed wolf toy. I slept with it every night for years. Sometimes…sometimes I dreamed that it was a real wolf. That he was watching over me, protecting me. It was so vivid that I used to wake up crying because the wolf was just a toy again.”
His throat hurt. “I’m sorry. I would have come for you, if I’d remembered.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.” Lupa brushed a hand quickly across her cheek, as though flicking away a snowflake—but there was no snow falling now. “I’m glad you have a life of your own. I’m glad you found your mate. It