Page 21 of Planet Wolf

“I’m sure it’s on the table.” She winked at me. “Trust me on that.”

“Congratulations on your baby.” Alfie met her gaze. “Amazing, really, to see you walking around. So healthy. So able to do this.”

“Is that unusual where you’re from?”

“It is, unfortunately. As the instances of true mating declined, so did our fertility rates. The females who do get pregnant have a very rough time. So far along, a woman would be hospitalized and watched.”

That sounded awful. “How long has it been like this?”

“Fifty years or so.” Jadon scowled. “Packs are decreasing. It’s a terrible struggle and one of the reasons our people are erupting to violence and dealing with the Union.” He put out his hand to me. “It hasn’t been a problem our best healers and scientists have managed to solve yet.”

Alfie shook his head. “Because it’s not a problem that’s going to be solved. Our previous leaders screwed with the way we did things. When they ousted everyone from our planet, they changed the natural order of things. I can’t explain exactly why that stopped Wolf mating Wolf, but it did. We need to go back to how things were before. You’re a perfect example of why.”

I’d never been a perfect example of anything. “This is a lot to digest. And… for what should be obvious reasons, I should mention I can’t have a baby. Among other things that are wrong with me, that is also a problem. If that makes you want to rethink the mate thing, then I understand.”

It would hurt. I could already feel that hole coming back, if they decided it wasn’t for them. But if the mating they spoke of had to do with procreating, then they were going to be out of luck when it came to me. It was just one of those factors of my life. Whatever made me sick, whatever the illness was that no one could identify, it also kept me from ever menstruating.

I wasn’t going to be having their babies… or puppies? Or whatever it was that we’d call them, because I wasn’t really sure how that worked. Did they come out in human form or as the Wolves?

It didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be having either.

Carl ran his finger down my cheek. “It’s not only about making babies. If we can’t have them, then we don’t have them. It’s about you and us. Whatever else happens, that’s really all that matters.”

They were sweet words, but I’d never known them to be true. If they changed their minds later, my body would be the same. “Maybe Doug was right…”

Jadon interrupted. “Whatever else Doug is, right is not on the list.”

Patrice cracked up and my mouth fell open in surprise. Had I been the only one who didn’t know Doug was problematic? “Why are we trying to get him elected if you feel that way?” I asked Patrice.

She shrugged. “Well, he’d be better than the Union, but I doubt it’ll ever really happen.”

“It’s my sole purpose in life to get Doug elected before I die.”

Patrice hugged me tightly. “Time for a new purpose. Besides, you had many purposes, ones you don’t even know you’ve been doing. Do any of us really know what our sole purpose is? Do we haveonlyone? Oh, forget it. We are not going into this right now.” She yawned. “Goodnight. Have her back tomorrow, gentlemen. If you take her off planet before I have this baby, I am going to be very, very annoyed.”

Alfie lifted his eyebrows as she left the room. He turned to me. “She could lead a pack.”

“Is that a compliment?” I wasn’t sure.

Jadon laughed. “From Alfie, we can’t ever really be sure. Come on. I want out of this house before Doug comes home and I have to shift and kill him. I think that might upset my mate.”

He put his arm around me, and I let him lead me from the house. We walked through the night toward the house where they were staying.

The night was quiet, and I could hear the noise of our footsteps as though it was an important sound instead of just incidental to the experience.

“How do you like Earth? I mean… the bit you’ve seen so far?” I asked all three of them. “When I first landed on Planet Wolf, it didn’t seem real to me. Like it was just vast mountains in the distance we’d never reach.”

Carl cleared his throat. “Well, it could be that we delayed the return to the mountains a bit. Just a little bit. And only until we realized that you were really sick, and then we hurried up. But we didn’t want to leave you. Or to have to figure out how to share you with other people. It was like the woods were our own personal cocoon, and we wanted to stay there.”

I stopped walking. “So, what you’re saying is that the mountains weren’t quite so far.”

“Not quite so far.” Alfie took my hand in his. “As for Earth, I can only speak for myself. It’s noisy.”Funny, because I was just thinking how completely quiet it was tonight. “But I like it here because this is where you are.”

Shaking his head, Carl sighed. “I’d like it better if I was looking at it as we flew away. I don’t like it here because it feels like Earth is what is keeping me from taking you home.”

I blinked. “I haven’t said I’ll go with you away from here.”

“Ah, so the point is that I might as well get used to it, because we could be staying forever? Got it.” He winked at me. “I love Earth. It’s absolutely fantastic. Can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.”