is?"
"I need to talk to Ian," I said, turning for the front without letting go of his hand. "I have an idea."
I got there just as Ian stood, clearly intending to address the pack. The sight of me made him pause, though. "Elena?" he asked.
"I know how to deal with this," I told him. My words made the other betas move closer. Lane tapped Ashley, so she came to listen as well. Once they were all beside me, I explained, "Mason's claiming that he saw Xander shift, right? The video doesn't show that it's Roman. We're the only ones who know that - "
"No," Ian countered. "I've been told other kids at school saw Roman."
"Where are you going with this?" Ashley asked. "We're not going to sacrifice either of the boys."
"No," I groaned, because that wasn't what I meant at all. "I'm saying we let Roman take the blame, but we shelter him. Ok, I know a lot of you natural-borns don't understand racism, but look at the immigration issues. How many news stories have you seen of ICE coming to arrest an undocumented immigrant and their neighbors blocking them? Legal citizens acting as shields for the one who others want to attack. The same thing works here, and Wolf's Run is an exclusive gated community. They can't even get in without authorization."
"Ok?" Ian asked.
"So we don't mention that the rest of us are wolves. We make it clear we don't care if Roman is - although I don't know how to deal with that if Xander's exposed. It's easier with just one person, and if we try to say that Roman turned Xander, or vice versa... Yeah, that's not really going to help, because it'll convince people that there really is a threat."
"Wait." Ian lifted his chin, turning toward where Kim stood with her family. "Kim!" He called out. "Bring them?"
With a nod, the woman ushered her husband, son, daughter, and Gabby our way. "Yes, Alpha?"
"Elena has an idea," he said.
"And a problem," I admitted, my eyes going to my daughter. "Gabby, I'm thinking we can work this like neighbors protecting people from ICE. The community acting as a shield, like we talked about last year when it was happening."
"Ok," she agreed. "but for all the wolves?"
"For Roman," I told her. "It seems some kids at school saw him. My problem is that Mason keeps saying it was Xander, and if one boy infected the other, then it'll be seen as proof that they're dangerous."
"So I say it was me," Roman offered. "Look, no one's seen Xander change. He's never done it at school. What Mason's talking about is us laughing about running at the moon, and Xander saying he shifted with his watch on. Talking about how he didn't realize it, then had to run back to the car naked, because wolves don't have thumbs."
"So he didn't see it?" I asked.
Roman shook his head. "We would never shift outside of here for that reason. I mean, we sometimes slip out the back and run around the walls, or in the woods next door, but we don't shift. We're already wolves! Those are the rules!"
"Same as back in Montana," Kim said. "Wolves are easy to explain. Humans as well. It's the shifting that's the problem."
"Ok, that actually helps." Then I looked at Kim. "The problem is that if this happens, your son is going to take the blame. He's going to be ostracized, the entire pack is going to have to be extra careful for a while, and he may not be able to go back to school."
"We can homeschool him," David offered. "One of us would have to quit work, but we could make it happen."
"We'll take care of you," Ian promised.
But Gabby wasn't on board with this plan. "Mom," she whined, "that's stupid. Werewolves don't exist. No one's going to believe him."
"There is a video, young lady," I snapped. "A few people will believe it is real, and all it takes is a vocal minority to have problems. One crazy guy with a gun, which I'd think you know by now."
She just pulled in an annoyed breath. "And there are plenty of movies with werewolves, too. Everyone knows they're fake. Some of them even look good. Why would anyone believe this when they don't believe those?"
"Because people are saying this one is real," Seth said. "Gabby, you know how conspiracy theories work. How many UFO videos are out there? Most people know it's a hoax, but a