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In this latest chapter David's going to finally properly meet the pack that he was supposedly fated to join. How will David receive properly meeting the group that saved him from the asylum two weeks prior.

As always, Chronicles of Darkness is a very horror and gore orientated IP. So if that's not your thing it's best not to read this. Especially since I wrote a truly horrifying thing in today's chapter. I wrote, oh god, I wrote the characters enjoying Iced Tea. I hope you all can find it in your heart of hearts to forgive me.

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David rubbed his chest. It still hurt from the previous night when the spirit of fire and rage plunged its fist into his chest and gave him his first Shadow Gift. Tongue of Fire the elders said that Gift was called. It certainly felt like it too, like the worst case of heartburn he had ever seen. They wanted to teach him how to use it, and many more things now that he was a fully inducted member of the Bone Shadows tribe. But they told him they only had the initial two weeks he had been with him to mentor him. That the rest of his training would have to be handled by his more permanent teacher that would be teaching his entire pack.

So there he was, standing outside and leaning against the warehouse with a small backpack that contained his painting supplies and the clothes the elders gave him when he was rescued from the asylum. He kicked a random piece of gravel and saw it miss the random beer can he aimed it at as he waited for someone from the Iron Masters tribe to pick him up to meet his pack, and then go to meet this new teacher that was supposed to teach them.

The sound of rapid footfalls from inside the warehouse caught his attention and his head snapped to the door to the office section of the warehouse. He saw it slam open and Colin came bursting out of it clutching a bundle of tawny fur and a half-zipped duffle bag.

“Madhouse, wait! Don’t leave yet!” yelled Colin as he skidded to a stop.

David couldn’t help but cringe at being called Madhouse. Him burning down the asylum he was committed to the night before for his task to join the Bone Shadows left quite the impact in the Elders eyes and gave him Madhouse as a deed-name. Much Colin’s excitement and David’s chagrin.

“Don’t call me that,” grumbled David.

Colin looked over to where David was leaning against the wall and sighed, “Oh thank Luna, you haven’t left yet.”

“Yeah, still here,” David said before kicking another piece of gravel towards the can, and missed again.

He snorted at the can before looking at the bundle of fur and duffle bag in Colin’s arms, “Why do you have all that?”

Colin started bouncing, clearly glad and excited to be asked that, said with a wide smile, “The elders wanted more time to teach you now that you’re in our tribe, and since your pack are all Iron Masters, and your pack’s teacher is a Storm Lord, and that I already taught you how to use your Essence and have such close ties with the Bone Shadows. So since the Elders couldn’t get the time with you that they wanted, they told me to tutor you.”

“Ok?” said David. “You were already doing that after each of my lessons.”

“You don’t understand what that means?” asked Colin.

David tilted his head like a dog. He didn’t.

“I’m gonna be joining your pack!” Colin said with an even bigger smile.

David’s eyes widened and he felt butterflies take flight in his stomach. He couldn’t think of what to say and settled for, “That’s cool.”

David turned back to kicking gravel at the beer can, and Colin continued to bounce with excitement next to him.

“I'm finally gonna get to meet Elder Morrison,” beamed Colin.

“Who?” asked David. “That my new teacher?”

Colin nodded excitedly, “Elder Howlmore Morrison. But most people just called him the Old Man. He’s the oldest elder in the Las Vegas Protectorate, probably in all of Nevada. The Elders have been trying to get him to join Council meetings for years now. And he hasn’t taken any new pups under his wing for years either. I wonder how the Council finally got him to accept new ones. He’s held the entirety of Pioche by himself for years,” said Colin.

David nodded, half listening while Colin continued to fangirl over this Old Man and listed off achievement after achievement.

Colin suddenly stopped listing the Old Man’s achievements and rapidly patted David’s shoulder and pointed at a large four door pick up truck that pulled in towards the warehouse, “Ohohoh! They’re here! They’re here!”

Colin took off in a run towards the pickup, tossed his duffel bag into the back and then jumped into the passenger side back seat.

David couldn’t help but feel some of Colin’s excitement as well and jogged up to the truck. He climbed into the front passenger seat, putting his backpack in the footwell.

He buckled his seatbelt as Colin asked the driver, “You didn’t pick the others up first?”

“No,” said the driver, a good looking young woman with long curly brown hair, brown eyes and was dressed like a trucker with blue jeans, and a torn sleeve denim jacket over a flannel shirt. “You two were further away from the highway than the others, so it’d be easier to get you two and pick them up on the way there”

She then turned to David and offered her hand, “Dixie Clawblade.”

David stared at her hand and, after Colin kicked the back of his seat, hesitantly shook it, “David.”

“David ‘Madhouse’ Lupo,” clarified Colin, making David cringe again at the mention of his new deed-name. He then shook her hand. “I’m Colin Campbell.”

“Cool deed-name,” she said as she put the truck in drive.

“It really isn’t,” mumbled David.

David leant against the door window and watched the warehouse disappear out of sight in the side view mirror. He felt rather sad to see it go, the lessons were tortuous but he had actually felt like he belonged with the other werewolves there. He didn’t feel alone there. He had his teachers, he had Colin, he even felt kinship with the bikers he had briefly met. Even if he didn’t like how overly affectionate the bald one was.

But now he was being shipped off to a group of people he didn’t know, being told that he was fated to be with them, and some old reclusive man.

He looked over to the rear view mirror and saw Colin slowly combing his fingers through the bundle of tawny fur in his lap. David still had him at least, with the redhead being the only other tribemate in this pack they were being made to join. Though technically, he wasn’t a full inducted member of the Bone Shadows. He was close enough.

His mind wandered, and he thought how in just a matter of two weeks his life could’ve gone in multiple different directions. He could have disagreed with the Iron Masters elder and joined the Iron Masters. He could have joined that biker gang who wanted to have him join their pack. He could have even died by that same pack if that one biker didn’t call the bald one off him in time. So many things could have been different.

“We’re here,” said Dixie, snapping David out of his swirling thoughts as she pulled up to a small, dingy house on the edge of Las Vegas. Its roof was covered in an array of different aerials and satellite dishes.

Waiting outside of it were three people next to a small pile of duffle bags. A very tall muscle bound african-american woman with her head shaved except for a short mohawk. She seemed to be a military veteran as she was wearing a full camo utility uniform. What branch of the military she was, David couldn’t recognise.

Standing next to her was someone that gave David pause. It was a small and young effeminate man, with long hair that was wearing pink thigh high socks and a pink mini skirt.

“What the f-?”

“Language!” hissed Colin.

Dixie stopped in front of the trio. Colin quickly unbuckled and jumped out of the truck, catching the third person’s attention. A tall but not as tall as the veteran, pale man with black hair and piercing blue eyes.

“Lucas!” cried out Colin before running up to the man and gave him a hug.

“Colin? What are you doing here?” asked Lucas while he hugged the shorter redhead back.

“I’m joining your pack!” Colin said with a huge smile after he broke the hug. “The Bone Shadows elders sent me along with David to tutor him.”

“That’s great!” Lucas said with a matching smile. He gave Colin a side hug and turned him to face the other two there. “Jesse, Tsu’mara. This is Colin, my old tutor that I told you about from before I joined the iron Masters.”

David glowered in the truck as he watched Colin give so much attention to the trio. The effeminate man hugged Colin and gave him a kiss on both cheeks, and the african american woman patted Colin on the shoulder.

“You’re not gonna go introduce yourself to your pack?” asked Dixie.

“No,” David said curtly.

“Wrong answer,” said Dixie as she leaned over to unbuckle David’s seatbelt and shoved him out of the truck.

David stumbled as he tried to keep his balance. He caught himself and straightened himself, or at least straightened himself as much as he could with his slouch. He jumped back in surprise when he saw the effeminate man standing in front of him with a smile.

“Hey, David. It’s nice to actually meet you when you’re not trying to bite Lucas’ head off,” he said before extending his hand for a handshake. “I’m Jesse.”

David looked down at Jesse’s hand and noticed his nails were painted pink as well. He didn’t shake his hand.

Jesse’s smile fell and he slowly took his hand away. He turned away and said to himself, “Wow. Rude.”

Lucas then walked up to David, “Hey, it’s nice to properly meet you. It’ll be nice to have another Ithaeur in the pack.”

Lucas then raised his hand to shake David’s. The same hand that he used to stab David in the chest with the needle.

David hooked Lucas right in the jaw.

“David!” exclaimed Colin.

“Guess I spoke too soon,” sighed Jesse.

Lucas stumbled back holding his jaw. He glared at David and demanded, “What the hell was that for?”

David snarled, “That was for the needle, you son of a bitch!”

Lucas growled, and instantly shifted to Dalu. His ears grew pointed, black fur like hair covered his body, and his nose flattened and its tip became black and moist. He swiped at David’s face with a clawed hand.

David yelled out in pain and clutched his face, he brought his hand away and saw it covered in blood.

“THAT was for being such a pain to subdue,” spat Lucas. “It’s only because of Tsu’mara that you didn’t get yourself killed.”

David snarled and spear tackled Lucas to the ground. The pair wrestled on the ground, kicking, swiping, and punching each other. Neither of the two being able keep the advantage over the other for very long. Lucas, in his Dalu form, was much stronger than David. But David was more experienced with brawling from all the fights he had gotten in with other mental patients in asylums, and other homeless people on the streets.

David managed to get his hands around Lucas’ neck when a strong, firm hand grabbed David by the back of the neck and pulled him off Lucas. David cried out in pain and he flailed his arms behind him as he tried to dislodge the fingers that dug into his neck. He was then slammed face first into the dirt, knocking the wind out of him.

“Break it up!” Tsu’mara snarled into his ear.

David wheezed and still tried to struggle out of the woman’s iron hard grip. But that only made Tsu’mara growl and tighten her grip. David kicked his legs in pain and struggled some more before he gave up and let out small, pained, and very canine sounding, whimpers.

“Can you lot establish your pecking order later?” Dixie called out from her truck. “We’re on a schedule here, and I’d rather you not do it near my truck. There’ll be hell to pay if you scratch the paint job.”

Tsu’mara let David’s neck go and marched back to the pile of duffel bags. She picked up a khaki one that David saw from the ground had USMC printed on it. She was a marine. She slung it over a shoulder, and grabbed two others that Jesse was about to grab. She dropped them off in the back of the truck.

Lucas came up behind her. He dropped his duffel back into the back, looked at Tsu'mara expectantly and said, “With Colin tagging along, there’s not gonna be any room for all five of us. Someone’s gonna have to ride in the back in Urhan.”

“Fine,” she groaned, and vaulted into the back of the truck. While mid-vault, she shifted into her Urhan form. A large African Wild Dog.

David picked himself up from the ground and asked Colin, “Why is she a dog? I thought we were werewolves.”

“Uratha from countries that don’t have wolves, often take the form of whatever canine that country has. Like Australia, most of them look like dingoes,” explained Colin as he roughly brushed the dirt and dust from David. “It can take a couple generations for the future Uratha from those bloodlines to reflect their new country if the family immigrated elsewhere.”

“Ethiopia has wolves though,” said David.

“Then clearly her family wasn’t from Ethiopia,” said Colin, giving David a glare and climbing back into the truck.

The rest piled into the truck, David back in the front passenger seat and glared at Lucas in the rearview mirror, who was back in Hishu, who glared back. Once everyone was buckled in, Dixie drove off towards Pioche.

David watched the desert pass by as they traveled along the US93. It was largely colourless and barren. The only colour from flowering purple desert flowers, and the long green needle-like leaves of Joshua trees.

That all changed after they crossed over a hill and entered Pharangat Valley. A beautiful marshy oasis that teemed with grass reeds. Flocks of birds swooped in and out of the reeds.

Dixie slowed down and parked by the side of the road.

“Just gotta stop and introduce your guys to your new neighbours,” Dixie said as she turned the engine off.

“Neighbors?” asked David.

“Luna’s Pride,” said Dixie. “An independent tribe, but they’re on good terms with the Protectorate. Try and keep it that way.”

Colin spoke up, bouncing in his seat with excitement,”Oh! I was told about an independent pack of Bone Shadows. This them?”

David’s attention peaked at the mention of possible Bone Shadows neighbours.

Dixie nodded, “Yeah, that’d be them. Led by Matt Dane, a renowned fetish crafter. His pack does a great job protecting the valley and keeps this area of The Shadow stable. They also make a great buffer between the Protectorate and the closest pack of The Pure.”

“The Pure?” asked David. The biker the night before that called off his bald teammate mentioned David not being of The Pure as a reason to not kill him.

“I’ll explain later,” Dixie said and pointed to a truck that was driving towards them. “Matt’s here.”

The new truck pulled up against Dixie’s and boxed the group in, preventing them from leaving. A teenaged girl with mismatching eyes, and wearing a hoodie sat in the passenger seat. The driver, an intimidating man in cowboy fatigues, got out and walked up to Dixie’s truck.

Dixie rolled down her window and said, “Hey, Matt. We’re just looking to pass through.”

“Off to see the Old Man?” asked Matt.

“Yeah,” said Dixie with a nod. She gestured with a thumb behind her to the others in her truck. “Got a new pack of pups for him to train.”

Colin excitedly waved at Matt whose intimidating demeanor dropped and he smiled at the redhead’s gesture.

Colin reached across the inside of the car to offer his hand to Matt to shake, “It’ll be great to have some fellow Bone Shadows as neighbors.”

“Oh?” asked Matt as he shook Colin’s hand. “You pups are Bone Shadows?”

“No, just me and Madhouse here,” said Colin while clapping David’s shoulder. He clapped it far harder than necessary, which made David think that Colin, despite his current cheery attitude, was still very upset with how David introduced himself to the others. “He was just inducted last night.”

“Last night, huh?” asked Matt with a smile at the information. He offered his hand to David, “Welcome to the Bone Shadows.”

David shyly shook Matt’s hand who pulled it away afterwards and out of the truck.

“I’ll let you lot get to it then. Welcome to Lincoln County,” Matt said.

Before leaving he leant towards Dixie and muttered to her, “Careful passing through Alamo and Caliente. The Ashenga have been a bit, uh, annoyed as of late.”

He and Dixie exchanged nods and he left. He pulled his truck away, granting Dixie passage and letting the pack continue their journey to Pioche.

As she pulled back onto the road, Dixie told them, “It’s always polite when you need to pass through another pack’s territory that you wait on their border for them and inform them that you just plan on passing through.”

They passed by the Extraterrestrial Highway. As they passed a sign advertising alien jerky Dixie said. “Ignore all that crap. The Herd thinks it’s aliens but they couldn’t be more wrong.”

Dixie slowed down just as she turned towards Caliente. She pointed out the mile marker, “You see the graffiti on that sign?”

Everyone inside the car piled forward to see it. Tsu’mara simply just poked her patchwork-coloured head over the roof of the truck. They noticed a strange symbol spray painted on the mile marker, a symbol of a flame with three claw slashes through it.

“That’s the symbol of the Ashenga. The Firetouched,” explained Dixie. She nudged David with her elbow, “They are one of the three tribes that make up The Pure. Unlike us, The Forsaken, The Pure don’t follow the Oath of the Moon.”

“So… We gonna wait and introduce ourselves?” asked David.

“Oh, Luna, no,” Dixie said before slamming her foot on the accelerator, throwing everyone back into their seats. Tsu’mara was thrown to the back of the cargo bed and the duffle bags piled on top of her.

“The Old Man knows more about the Ashenga, since he’s dealt with them the most,” Dixie calmly as she roared down the highway. “And since they don’t follow The Oath, killing other Uratha is perfectly fine in their eyes. In fact, they consider each one of us killed an achievement.”

David held fast to the passenger side’s grab handle as Dixie screeched further down the US93 towards Caliente. He looked back at the three in the back seats and noticed that Colin looked absolutely terrified, his eyes clenched shut and the bundle of fur he brought with him clutched tightly to his chest. His chest heaved with panicked breaths.

David looked at the speedometer and saw it clear one hundred miles per hour. He clutched the grab handle even tighter and focused on breathing exercises to stay calm.

Despite the insane speed she was going in the pickup truck, Dixie smoothly weaved through traffic, who blared their horns at her, and drifted around corners as she flew through the small city of Caliente. She only took her foot off the accelerator and slowed to a more reasonable, and more legal, speed once she left the city limits.

“Huh,” Dixie said with a shrug, “Guess they didn’t notice or respond to us in time.”

“How could they?” asked David, still gripping the grab handle for dear life, “You damn near broke the fucking sound barrier in this piece of shit.”

Dixie took great offence at David’s comment and growled at him, “My truck isn’t a piece of shit. It’s THE shit.”

David noticed that Colin never chastised him for his language and turned to see the redhead still absolutely terrified. Far paler than usual, trembling like a leaf and looked to be on the verge of tears.

“You okay?” David and Lucas asked in unison, making David growl at Lucas. Lucas’ lips twitched in snarl.

“Stop it, you two,” Colin said in a soft, trembling voice.

“I’ll be fine,” Colin then said in a firmer, but still slightly trembling, voice to the two, and seemingly, to himself. “I’ll be fine.”

Dixie approached an exit from the US93, and after she passed it by, spoke up, “Over back that way is Panaca. Small town and unclaimed territory. So you lot will want to expand your territory and claim it for yourselves eventually.”

“As for your current territory,” she said as she finally turned off the US93 and Pioche came into view. The entire town was built on the edge of a hill. She turned off onto another road, which was practically a dirt road.

She slowed down to a crawl, passed by a baby blue coloured house built on the edge of the hill they were driving next to, and pulled forward to three small cabins Each cabin had their own mailbox.

Dixie parked in front of a cabin that had a Lincoln County SUV, and a pickup truck parked next to it. David noticed that Dixie left her truck idling.

“End of the road,” said Dixie.

She gave David a sealed envelope and told him, “Tell Morrison I said hi.”

He and the others then piled out of the truck. Tsu’mara shifted back to her human Hishu form and handed everyone their duffle bags before she jumped out of the pickup’s cargo bay. Except for David, who only had his small backpack that he kept with him for the entire drive to Pioche.

They walked up to the cabin with the two cars parked outside it and rang its doorbell. After a moment the door swung open and the pack was greeted by a grumpy man who looked to be in his sixties, with grey hair wearing jeans and a blue flannel. He had a large, ropey scar crawling up his neck.

The old man looked at the pack, made eye contact with them and frowned. He looked at the idling truck in front of his cabin. His frown turned into a scowl and he let out a very deep, animalistic growl.

He slammed the door and Dixie’s truck tires screeched and kicked up dust as she tore off down the road.

The old man burst out the cabin brandishing a pump action shotgun and unloaded it on the fleeing Dixie, riddling the pickup truck with buckshot, as he screamed the First Tongue, “I won’t be the one to skin your hide but I’ll make you wish I was the one once I’m through with you!”

“Get back here, coward!” he yelled in English before racking the shotgun again and firing. But there was only a click as the hammer slammed on an empty chamber.

He threw the empty shotgun back inside his cabin, snatched the letter David was holding out of his hands, and jabbed a finger towards the house next to the cabins, “That’s your den.”

Despite the show of extreme violence, Colin stood between the cabin and the old man with a huge grin. He extended a hand and said, “Elder Morrison. It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

“Leave me the fuck alone,” said The Old Man as he put a hand on Colin’s face and shoved Colin aside. He slammed the cabin door behind him and locked it.

The pack stood outside of the locked cabin not sure how to proceed. Lucas looked shocked at the display of violence towards Dixie, and Colin looked crestfallen.

“GO!” roared the Old Man from inside his cabin.

The pack scrambled for their duffle bags, grabbing random ones. Lucas grabbed one of Jesse’s two bags and grunted, “What do you have in this thing? Rocks?”

“My streaming setup and computers,” said Jesse as he grabbed his other duffle bag.

“Of course it is,” said Lucas as he heaved the duffle bag over his shoulder. “Maybe we can set it up in the garage or something so you can have some privacy.”

The pack walked up to the house. Its outside walls were freshly painted a baby blue, the window trims a bright white that was blinding in the sunlight. They stood in front of the red painted front door when David realised something.

“The Old Man never gave us the key,” he said to which Lucas simply walked forward and opened the front door.

“Why lock it?” asked Lucas. “The sheriff’s deputy lives right next door. You have to be fucking stupid to break into anywhere here.”

Colin slapped Lucas on the arm, which made David smirk, and he walked into the holding his half zipped duffle bag and bundle of tawny fur. David followed closely after, shoulder checking Lucas who scowled at him.

Most of the main living space is tile, there was a wood burning stove in the corner by the master bedroom door and space for a large sofa along the back wall opposite the front door the pack was standing in. The interior walls were painted in a fresh coat of linen coloured paint. A very fresh coat of paint.

Everyone covered their noses to block the smell except for Colin and David. David didn’t because he liked the smell of paint, and he assumed Colin didn’t cover his because, as a wolf-blood, his senses weren’t as sensitive as the rest of others' noses were.

The dining area had a large, solid oak table set up in the center, with six matching chairs around it. Each chair had dense, thick legs and all the impression of still being a firmly rooted tree. The high backs of each chair notably have a cut-out at the small of the back and no armrests.

David walked up to the dining table and noticed ornate carvings of wolves hunting and prancing in a sea of trees on it and the chairs. He lightly ran his hand over the carvings, admiring the artistry of such fine details. The wolves seemed to almost leap out of the oak; they were so detailed.

The others were speaking but David was so entranced by the carvings he couldn’t make out what they were saying, and he didn’t care. Gazing into the carved forest, he couldn’t help but wish that he could climb into the carvings and join the wolves in their revelry forever.

A loud knock on the wood and a whistle startled him out of his longing.

“Damn,” said Tsu’mara as she admired the table in her own way. “I could throw one of you at this thing and not even leave a scratch.”

Lucas walked past them to a sliding glass door that was opposite the front door. The door was locked into an insert panel that added an extra partial pane of glass between the sliding door and the doorjam. Below the partial pane was a dog door sized for large breeds.

Lucas laughed, “I think I saw ads for addons like this. But I don’t think Petco suspected that Werewolves would use them.”

He grabbed a sheet of paper that was taped to the pane and his smile fell as he read it. He recited, “Don’t laugh, these doors are way more useful than you think. A good hunter uses every advantage they can get, don’t ignore potential entrances and exits. It can literally save your life.”

Jesse familiarised himself with the kitchen that was to the right of the sliding door. Which was a small, but functional galley kitchen. The appliances were all brand new, still covered with protective plastic wraps to keep the chrome finish from scuffing. The refrigerator was a very large double door model. Next to the fridge, there was a missing cabinet underneath the counter, in its place was a secondary deep freezer seated on a slide out rail.

Jesse seemed delighted when he saw the freezer. “Looks like we’re gonna have plenty of room for meat. Though it limits the already limited cabinet space.”

“There still room for my espresso machine?” asked Lucas.

“Doesn’t matter. You didn’t bring it,” said Jesse as he started peeling off the plastic wrap from the appliances. “You never used it so I took it out of your bag.”

“No, I did,” said Lucas. “I found where you hid it and put it back.”

“Under the kitchen sink?” asked Jesse.

“Yes,” answered Lucas.

“In the ceiling crawl space?” asked Jesse.

“Yes,” answered Lucas with a cocky smirk.

“On the roof while you were throwing hands with David?” asked Jesse.

Lucas’ smirk disappeared. “My mom got me that for joining a pack.”

“You should’ve used it then. Was in its box for like a year,” said Jesse as he took a note that was on the countertop.

Jesse read the nose out loud. “I don’t know when you’ll be reading this, so I can’t stock the kitchen in advance. It’s all move-in ready. If you don’t know by now, you’re going to love the extra freezer space. If I get around to it, one of the cabins might have another big freezer out there too. I don’t know, maybe I’ll be dead before I get around to that cabin.”

That note caught David’s attention. It seemed that the Old Man only expected them to arrive long after he was dead and gone.

Tsu’mara didn’t seem to pick up on it and she left the table to investigate a room opposite the kitchen. It was a small bathroom with a toilet, and a shower bathtub combo. The bathroom was fully stocked with generic brand soaps, conditioners, toothpaste and brushes still in the packaging. She picked and looked inside a Walmart bag full of assorted feminine hygiene products.

She scoffed at its contents, “You can tell a man bought all this.”

She dumped the bag in the bin and grabbed a note that was under a bottle of dog shampoo, “I got the basics for toiletries, but any fancy shit is on you to get. This is the only brand of dog shampoo that I’ve found that actually feels good on fur, all these fuckin Chinese garbage import shit brands are practically animal abuse.”

She grabbed the bottle and looked it over. She gave it an approving nod, “We can agree on that one.”

“Hey, Lucas! I found where you’re gonna be spending all your time,” Colin called out from a room off to the side from the living area. A small bedroom with two windows that was set up as a library and office. Every wall that wasn’t a door or window was lined with a bookshelf, already crammed with a menagerie of leatherbound tomes, spiral notebooks and even the odd scroll tube here and there. Under one of the windows was a small loveseat made of worn leather. Jutting from the wall into the center of the room is an Ikea desk in a sleek, modern finish.

Colin was sitting on top of the desk with another note in his hand, “This library is worth more than the house, the land, and half the town combined. It’s certainly worth more than you are. Don’t muck it up. My last pack had a professional librarian, he got me organized like this and I’ve kept it up in his memory. Respect that, pup. Everything is sorted by shelf, the book next to this note is a card catalog of the contents and lists the shelf where each book is kept. Do try to keep the place somewhat organized, will you? There’s a second copy of the catalog in the closet, as well as a catalog for the closet itself. There’s a shoebox with receipts tucked in there too, might be useful if the IRS shows up. Don’t try to kill Feds, it’s too much hassle.”

Everyone raised an eyebrow as Colin recited from the note. It seemed they all had a feeling that he was censoring some of what was really said in it.

Colin continued, either unaware of the Pack’s questioning gazes or didn’t care, “The door in the closet leads outside, hidden behind a bush and covered behind some compromised side paneling that’s on a hinge. It’s practically invisible from the outside, you’re welcome. Took me a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it. The Council will give you the gun safe combo as well as make sure the paperwork transfers over for the boring guns. The fun stuff is hidden all around the house and property, the Council will have a map of all the locations on a blueprint I’ll send to them just before I get my blaze of glory. If they don’t get the marked map, have fun with the treasure hunt on your own. Watch out for the landmines in the yard, they have silver loads.”

“Landmines?!” David asked from the dining table. He dashed into the library and snatched the note from Colin.

“Hey!” said Colin and slapped David’s shoulder.

David ignored him and read over the note and landmines were indeed mentioned, and Colin was definitely censoring what was written.

“Fun stuff?” asked Tsu’mara. “Like pre-ban?”

“More than pre-ban I think,” said Lucas. “Las Vegas does host Shot Show after all. So The Council probably not only has the modern fun stuff, but the experimental fun stuff.”

“Oh,” said Tsu’mara, realising something. “That Kentucky guy has to be a werewolf. No way you could survive a Serbu RN-50 blowing up in your face like that unless you could regenerate like we can.”

Jesse snapped his fingers, “Same with that dude that had an RPG blow up in his face. They have to be all together in a pack. They’re always in each other's videos.”

“Maybe that’s why Brandon’s making the AK-50,” said Lucas with a laugh. “He wants an AK he can fire in Gauru.”

David had no idea what the three were talking about. He turned to Colin for clarification but the redhead just shrugged, equally baffled.

David left the three to speculate about whoever those people they were talking about and went to check out the final room that was right from the front door.

“What the hell is all this?” David said as he entered the room..

Everyone piled into the room to see what David was referring to. It was the master bedroom. It was pleasantly warmed by the wood burning stove just outside its door. It was a spacious bedroom with an en suite bathroom. Up against the wall opposite the door to the ensuite bathroom was a curious pile of mattresses, still in their store plastic wraps. Stacked in a single pile was a pair of twins on top of a pair of queen-sized mattresses. A very long piece of 2x4 leaned against the pile of mattresses, easily long enough to run the width of the room. It was painted with a rich brown wood stain. All four mattresses were a nice memory foam brand and there’s a pile of shopping bags containing fitted sheets, a dozen pillows, pillowcases and other basic bedding for all the beds, everything the same shade of chocolate brown as the beam of wood. There were, however, no bed frames anywhere in the house.

On top of the pile of mattress was yet another note, David took it and read. Everyone craned their necks over his shoulder to read the note as well as he didn’t read it out loud, “Sheets go on first, then put the bed together. Put the twins in first so they’re on the back wall then the queens in front, then wedge the 2x4 into the gap in the molding to hold em all in place. It’s so much easier to wash the sheets when you can pull the whole bed apart. This is a century of the Peoples carpentry experience here pups, appreciate it. The rest of the bedding should be more than plenty. The color is to hide dirt and blood. Don’t worry about shedding, you’ll go crazy trying to clean that out of the furniture. Although for the bedroom, remember to get plug covers for the outlets. Don’t want to set yourselves on fire cause your fur gets stuck in the sockets while you’re sleeping, the mattress will be at the right height for that. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. Not a fun time.”

“A century of The Peoples’ carpentry experience is a plank on the floor?” asked David. They could make something like the dining table in the living room but this is what their beds were like?

“Finding the most efficient solution to something can take a while,” replied Colin.

David grunted and shucked his backpack from his back. He turned the pair of matching ‘his and hers’ dressers, also simple Ikea purchases, along the wall in front of the bathroom.

He saw Jesse already in front of them unpacking one of his duffle bags in one of the drawers. He’d unpack his stuff later and dropped his bag in front of the master closet and went outside. He sat down on the concrete porch underneath the library window and tucked his knees to his chest to mope. He didn’t want to go any further than the porch because he didn’t want to find out if the Old Man was serious about the landmines.

He heard laughing from inside the house. From his fated pack. David scoffed at the notion. The council dictated that he should join them because one of them supposedly had a vision about him. He got no say in it. He got to choose his tribe at least.

The laughing got louder and Jesse, Tsu’mara, and Colin walked out the front door.

“Oh, there you are, David,” said Colin, still laughing at whatever the three were laughing about. “Us three are gonna go into town to get some groceries. You go inside and help Lucas get the beds together and the appliances plugged in.”

He then bent down and quietly scowled into David’s ear, “Behave.”

David’s heart twisted at Colin’s chastising warning. He still wasn’t happy with how David introduced himself.

The three then walked off up the road, with Jesse yelling out, “Try not to kill each other while we’re gone.”

David picked himself back up from where he was sitting on the porch and went back inside. He found Lucas in the bedroom, glaring at him as he was pulling mattresses down and started pulling the wrapping off. David watched from the doorway.

Lucas spoke up as he looked around in the shopping bags for the twin mattress sheets, “It looks like this place was set up with the expectation of Elder Morrison being dead.”

So Lucas noticed that in the notes too, realised David. Lucas continued, “Dixie’s keeping something a secret. Because he definitely didn’t know we were coming.”

David shrugged and said, “The Old Man was rambling something about not being the one to skin her?”

“Elder Morrison’s a Cahalith. He probably saw her fate or something.” replied Lucas.

So Cahalith was the auspice that Colin told David was all about reading fate.

“So what do you like doing in your free time?” asked Lucas. “I like reading.”

“Paint,” David replied curtly. Why was he asking that?

“You’re a painter?” asked Lucas, intrigued. He pulled a brown twin mattress bed sheet from a shopping bag. “Maybe you can paint some murals on the walls. We could get you some painting supplies.”

“Already have some,” snapped David. Why did he insist on getting to know him? He painted with watercolours anyways. That wasn’t good for painting on a wall.

“Look,” snapped Lucas as he shoved one of the twin mattresses against the wall. “It was just a fucking needle. Get the fuck over it. And stop standing there and help me put the bed together.”

David growled but, remembering what Colin told him before he left, did as he was told and started pulling mattresses and making them. By the time it was done, and the large plank of brown stained wood was slotted into the notches into the molding, the ‘bed’ took up most of the master bedroom.

“Looks like it belongs in a porno,” said Lucas. He then added under his breath, “Jesse’s gonna love this.”

“Why were all the mattresses shoved together?” asked David. “Where are we all supposed to sleep?”

“You don’t know why the bed is like this?” asked Lucas, surprised.

David shook his head. Why would he know that?

“Elder Morrison seems to be a bit more traditionally minded,” Lucas said, gesturing at the bed.

David threw his hands up. That didn’t answer anything.

Lucas rolled his eyes, “God, they really didn’t have enough time to teach you. He expects us all to sleep in the same bed in Urhan.”

David was horrified at the idea of doing any of that. “I am not sleeping in the same bed with you lot.”

He spun on his heel and stormed out of the bedroom. He set about plugging in the appliances as Lucas gathered all the rubbish and threw it all out. As Lucas was out David packed away in a spare drawer what little clothes the Elders had given him. Just plain, simple t-shirts and shorts. He had so little clothes that when all packed away it barely took up a quarter of the drawer.

He peaked at the contents of other drawers. They were all almost full, and two of them were completely full of pink, girly clothing. Clearly Jesse’s given what Jesse was wearing currently and David assumed that Tus'mara wasn’t the kind of woman who would wear stuff like that. He looked at his own, largely vacant drawer and slammed it close.

He only had his painting supplies to pack away now. The library seemed the best spot to put it but, with his sensitive hearing, heard a book slide off one of the shelves. Lucas was in there. Probably having the time of his life in there, if what he told David was anything to go by.

He looked at the painting supplies in his small backpack, and he remembered what Colin told David before he left with Jesse and Tsu’mara.

He sighed reluctantly and took the supplies out of the bag. He should apologize.

He made his way into the library sheepishly and saw Lucas lounging on the leather loveseat reading one of the many leather bound tomes.

He looked up from the yellowed pages of the tome and saw David awkwardly standing by the desk. He snapped at David, “If you’re gonna follow me around like a lost puppy, don’t be so fucking angry about it.”

David slammed his supplies on the desk and stormed out of the library and house, and slammed the front door behind him.

He angrily paced outside on the porch, growling to himself. He tried to apologize to Lucas and he just snapped at him. David ignored the fact that all he did was stand there without saying anything.

He grabbed a rock from the ground just off the patio and pegged it at the garage, which was detached from the house. His stomach dropped as the stone rebounded from the garage’s wall and hit the ground.

When there was no explosion David slumped against the wall let out a shaky breath. He calmed his racing heart and left the porch, he kept to the footpath as he didn’t want to set off the landmines.

The path led straight to the detached two car garage. A side door on the out-building allowed easy entry into the garage, a basic interior with exposed framing. A rack of shelves lined the far wall and an interior wall divided a small storage closet off from the main garage. In that closet was a corrugated metal hatch, padlocked shut. On top of the sealed trapdoor was a shovel standing upright against the wall and another note; “This is a Work in Progress. Details are in the folder on the dining table, key to the lock will be on the ring you get from the Council. This project is last on my list so likely won’t get done. Up to you to finish if you even want to bother with it”.

So they were supposed to get a key to the house. David also didn’t remember seeing a folder on the dining table. Perhaps it was something Morrison hadn’t written yet? It also definitely seemed like the Old Man planned on being dead.

Maybe David should swallow his pride and talk to Lucas about it.

As he turned to leave, he saw a large group of large tin cans. About the diameter of a small plate. They couldn’t be food tins, the Old Man did write that he hadn’t stocked any after all. He popped one open and saw it full of a stack of dark green tin discs. The centre of each disc had a small black blob in the rough shape of a flower that had a pin through the centre.

His mouth dried and his hands started to tremble. Landmines. He slowly put them back in the tin and the tin back onto the shelf. He cautiously checked the rest of the tins. They were all full with none of the mines missing.

“Oh, thank god,” David said as he carefully put the last tin back. The Old Man hadn’t laid any of the mines in the yard yet.

He returned to the house. That was enough exploring for now. He would’ve liked to see what the cabins looked like, but he didn’t want to risk pissing off The Old Man. He spent the rest of the day sketching. He didn’t plan on painting anything, he just wanted to waste time and did so by practicing varying poses and expressions.

The sun was starting to set when Colin, Jesse, and Tsu’mara returned with groceries. Tsu’mara was carrying most of it. Colin and Jesse only had a single bag in each hand.

“There’s a game meat store here,” said Jesse excitedly. “They got stuff like venison, bear, turkey. If we knew that it existed we wouldn’t have gotten as much meat as we did from another store.”

The trio put away the groceries, and Jesse left out several t-bone steaks and a packet of hamburger meat and started to make dinner.

Colin seemed to disagree with Jesse making dinner as he kept trying to shoo him out of the kitchen, saying, “It’s my duty as a wolf-blood to tend to the den. I should be making dinner.”

“Then go make the potatoes and green beans,” Jesse told Colin, easily slipping out of each of Colin’s attempts to get him out of the kitchen. “I’ll cook the meat.”

“But you don’t know what food Elder Morrison needs,” Colin said.

“I’ll just assume he’ll like it rare,” said Jesse.

“No,” insisted Colin. “It needs to be raw meat.”

“He likes it blue?” asked Jesse.

“No, it has to be completely raw,” insisted Colin. “When an Uratha gets old enough, they can only get sustenance from raw meat. Older still they only get sustenance from predator meat.”

“Huh,” replied Jesse. He then shrugged and set a raw t-bone steak and a pile of hamburger meat aside on a plate., “Good thing we found that game meat store then. Now go get the potatoes and beans started.”

“Colin, David,” Jesse called out. “How do you two like your steaks?”

Colin answered rare, and it was only then that David realised. He’d never had steak before. As a kid his mother made plenty of beef dinners. Stews, casseroles, meatloafs. But never steaks. Steaks were always too expensive. And in asylums, whenever he had beef for dinner it was just well done slabs of slightly oversalted cheap beef that felt like chewing shoe leather.

“Medium rare,” he mumbled meekly.

“Medium rare it is,” Jesse said, having heard David’s mumbling with his own sensitive hearing.

The table was soon set up and dinner was ready. Jesse took the plate with raw steak and hamburger meat, put a serving of mashed potato and green beans on it, and took it outside of the house to Morrison’s cabin.

He knocked on the cabin door and waited for several minutes with no reply from inside.

A growl came from inside of the cabin before Morrison finally replied, “Leave it on the porch.”

“Yes, Elder,” said Jesse before doing so and walked back to the house. He smiled when he heard the cabin door open.

Everyone was getting their plates of food when Jesse returned.

David was sitting at the dining table staring at his plate of steak, hamburger meat, mashed potatoes, and green beans. He noticed small specks of black in the potato, pepper, and it was sprinkled with chives. He licked his lips. It looked and smelt really good.

He was just about to dig in when Tsu’mara grabbed his plate and gave him hers instead. Her plate had much larger servings and a larger steak.

“You need more meat on your bones,” she said as she sat down at the table and dug into David’s original plate.

David was made painfully aware just how skinnier he was than everyone else. He rubbed his side and felt his ribs sticking out and had almost no muscle to speak of. He sheepishly dug into what was supposed to be Tsu’mara’s food. The steak was rare and David found that it tasted amazing. He saw why Tsu’mara had it cooked that way.

He stiffened when Lucas sat down in the vacant chair next to him. He then immediately felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and he looked up from his dinner and saw Colin glaring at him.

David shrunk into his chair under Colin’s gaze and mumbled to Lucas, “Sorry.”

He cringed when he heard Lucas pause and look at him in slight shock.

Lucas resumed eating his food and started idle chatter with the others. He said to Jesse, “I’ll help you set up your normal computer setup here in the living room after dinner, and I’ll see if Elder Morrison can help get your streaming setup set up in the garage.”

David didn’t participate in any of the conversations and ignored any of Lucas’ attempts to bring him into them. He only paid attention to his dinner.

“Baby steps,” he heard Colin say to Lucas.

Once he finished his dinner he took his plate and utensils to the kitchen.

“Rinse your plate off and put it in the dishwasher,” Jesse called out to him as David walked away.

David went to the library and settled down on the leather loveseat as the rest finished dinner and got ready for bed. His legs dangled off the far armrest and his head was cranked uncomfortably forward by the other armrest. He had one of his arms draped over his eyes and the other hung off the edge of the edge. Despite how uncomfortable the leather seat was, he started to drift off.

He was snapped out of it when he heard Jesse cry out, “Cuddle puddle!”

“It’s a traditional Uratha bed. We’re just-” Lucas said before Jesse interrupted him.

“Cuddle puddle!”

David then heard Jesse groan as he, assumedly, shifted to Urhan. David sat up on the coach when he heard strange animal vocalisations in the bedroom. All he could think of how to describe it was a baby goat.

Curious, he got up and made his way to the bedroom. He poked his head through the door and saw, rolling around on the bed making those weird sounds, was an orange furred canine with a thick ruff of fur around its neck, and freakishly long black socked legs. A maned wolf.

Jesse saw David peeking his head into the room. He flopped onto his belly, legs splayed out, and said to David in the First Tongue, “Cuddle Puddle!”

“He doesn’t want to, Jesse,” said Lucas.

Jesse gave a small, sad whine and Tsu’mara, who was already in her African wild dog Urhan form, gave David a disapproving look.

“You sure you don’t want to?” Colin asked softly.

David looked at Colin and quickly averted his eyes when he saw the redhead was shirtless. His face flushed and he shook his head.

Lucas shifted to Urhan and joined the other two Urhan on the bed. He looked a lot like David did in Urhan with black fur and golden eyes. Only he had more sleeker fur with no ruff around the neck, and he also held himself with more confidence than David. With no slouch in sight.

David clenched his fists and stormed off back to the library and tried to settle into the uncomfortable leather loveseat to sleep by himself.

***

David groaned as he got up the next morning. His neck was stiff and had large bags under his eyes. He barely got any sleep and what sleep he did get was riddled with strange and terrifying dreams. He couldn’t remember any of the details upon waking up, just a lingering feeling of crippling loneliness. Like a part of him was missing and that it was his own fault.

The library was also cold. Too cold. He wished the woodburning stove was closer to the library instead of the bedroom.

He heard a clattering from the kitchen as Colin was arguing with Jesse again about who got to work the kitchen.

“It’s my duty to do these things,” said Colin.

“You don’t know Tsu’mara’s brew. I do,” countered Jesse.

David shuffled out of the library as he rubbed his neck. He slumped into one of the dining chairs.

“How do you like your coffee,” asked Colin.

“I don’t like coffee,” David said groggily. He didn’t like hot drinks. He looked at Lucas who was sitting across from him drinking a cup of iced tea.

“What?” snapped Lucas and David looked away.

When he looked away he noticed a note slipped underneath the front door. David got up and picked it up. He saw the others look at him expectantly as he read it to himself. He didn’t like them looking at him like that, so he read it out. Not word for word, just what the contents of the note were.

“The Old Man says that when we go into town we’re to say we’re his grandkids. Says that everyone knew he was fixing the house up and assumed he was either gonna sell it or give it to family. That it’ll be a believable lie for the locals,” said David. “We don’t exactly look alike. So I don’t see how it’s that believable.”

“I don’t know,” said Jesse as he handed Tsu’mara a cup of coffee and sipped his own. “You could probably pull it off. You have the same attitude problems.”

David growled at the comment before returning to explain the note. This part he did read word for word, “It will give a bit more credibility among locals. Family of a town native and sheriff deputy is going to be more respected than just any city-folk looking to play cowboy in small town Nevada. You Pups will get more genuine smiles and actual consideration for job applications once it’s known you’re not some out-of-towners, or worse, Californians.”

He looked up from the note, “We have to get jobs?!”

“The Uratha Shall Cleave to the Human,” said Colin in the First Tongue, reminding David of that specific vow in the Oath of the Moon.

It wasn’t the Oath that David was hung up on though. He had been homeless since he was eighteen, and in and out of asylums even before that, he had zero work experience at all. He didn’t even pass Middle School. He had no hireability whatsoever.

Lucas’ attention diverted to something he saw out the window. A Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department SUV pulled up in front of the house. A modestly good looking man in his early forties wearing a county officer uniform and a cowboy hat with the department seal on it got out of the car. The Sheriff. He walked towards the house.

Jesse opened the door before the Sheriff could knock. David looked between Jesse and the kitchen, confused at how the cross dressing werewolf was able to cross the distance without David noticing.

Before Jesse could greet the Sheriff though, The Old Man’s cabin door flew open and The Old Man quickly jogged over to the Sheriff.

“Ah, Ben,” said the Sheriff. “There you are. Was just dropping by because of reports of gunfire here yesterday.”

“We can discuss this inside if you’d like, sir,” offered Jesse. “Rest your feet. We just made coffee.”

“We’d love to have you!” Colin said as he butted in.

Morrison shoved them both back inside and slammed the front door closed. They just moved to the window right next to the door and pressed up against it, joined by Tsu’mara, David, and Lucas. All curious about what the Sheriff wanted to talk about.

The Old Man took the Sheriff to the road in front of the house and by the Sheriff’s car to try and keep the conversation somewhat private. But the pack’s supernaturally keen senses allowed them to hear the conversation anyways. With Jesse telling Colin what they were talking about since he didn’t share in their keen senses.

“Sorry about that,” said Morrison. “My niece dropped my grandkids on me without warning yesterday.”

“Those are your grandkids?” asked the Sheriff, looking back at the house and the pack, with Colin and Jesse waving, watched the conversation from the window. The sheriff tipped his hat to them and looked back at Morrison. “I didn’t even know you had kids.”

“Yeah,” lied Morrison, rubbing the back of his neck. “I never talked about him cause I’m not really proud of him.”

“Oh?” asked the Sheriff before prying Morrison for more information.

David was surprised. He wasn’t used to cops being so lax when it came to gunfire and being more interested in gossip. But he also wasn’t from a small town and grew up in the actual city of Las Vegas. So he guessed rural cops were far more lax when it came to smaller communities. Being the Sheriff’s Deputy probably helped too.

The Sheriff smiled and said, “I’ll leave you to it then. And don’t worry about reporting in today. Take the week off to spend time with the grandkids.”

Morrison smiled and thanked him, waving the Sheriff goodbye as he drove off. He turned to the house and scowled at the pack still watching from the window. They scattered out of sight.

They all separated to do their own things for the rest of the day. Tsu’mara worked out in the garage, Jesse disappeared for several hours before reappearing on his computer that was set up in the living room, and Lucas was talking on his phone.

David sat in a corner sketching the framework of his latest painting and eavesdropped on Lucas’ call with his keen senses.

“Yeah, we finished settling in last night,” said Lucas.

“Oh, that’s good,” said a female’s voice. “Your new packmate behaving himself? I heard from Dixie that he’s a bit of a handful.”

Lucas looked at David who pretended to be engrossed in his sketchbook and sighed, “Yeah, he didn’t make a good impression.”

“Well,” the woman on the other end paused to think about something, “You said he spent a lot of time in asylums. He’s probably just troubled and can’t express his emotions properly. You could have him pay me a visit and see if I could help. The Council’s gotten me a house just around the corner from your den. So it wouldn’t be too much of a trip after I move in.”

David scowled. Because that’s what he needed. Another psychologist poking around his head.

“I don’t know,” said Lucas. “He really doesn’t like me. He’d ignore me on principle.”

“What about Colin?” asked the woman. “He’s pretty good at convincing people, and he’s in your pack now.”

David grumbled to himself, they better not drag Colin into it.

“He does listen to Colin,” admitted Lucas. “Far more than I expected he would. But I don’t think Colin would want to risk any progress he’s made with him.”

Lucas changed the topic, “You mentioned Dixie. How’s she taking the damage to her truck?”

The woman hissed before answering, “Oh, not well. I can tell you that much.”

Lucas cringed at that. It seemed Dixie’s precious truck getting damaged by The Old Man’s assault wasn’t received well and that there was an entire story behind how she took it that Lucas was able to know without being told.

“Anyways, Mom. I should get going. I never got to scope the town out yesterday,” said Lucas.

David’s eyebrows shot up, the woman was Lucas’ mother? He quickly paid attention to his sketchbook so that Lucas wouldn’t notice.

“Bye, Lucas,” said his mother. “It’ll be nice to retire somewhere where I can see snow.”

“Love you, Mom. Bye” said Lucas before he hung up.

David stopped paying attention to Lucas and paid actual attention to what he was drawing in his sketchbook.

He peaked over his sketchbook as he sketched the base of his subject. His technique wasn’t the best, he struggled slightly when it came to humans rather than spirits. The more logical and realistic nature of The Mundane required more detail and when the details weren’t up to snuff, the final product suffered. But it was more than enough to know who it was, and far better than the average person could do. The fluffy hair, the beaming smile, eyes so creased by the smile they were squinting.

He put his pencil down and looked at his watercolours, deciding what colours to use. Warm colours would be best, he thought.

“Whatcha painting?” asked Colin from behind David as he tried to peer over his shoulder.

David quickly slapped his sketchbook against his chest to hide it from the inquisitive redhead, “None of your business.”

“Aw,” pouted Colin. “Can’t I see?”

He then gave David puppy dog eyes. David almost caved, his stomach fluttering as he was about to let Colin see his sketch. But he stopped himself when he caught the corner of Colin’s mouth twitch into a smirk. It was there for only a fraction of a second but it was enough.

“No,” David said firmly.

“Aw, okay then,” Colin said, disappointed.

“Oh, hey, Lucas,” said Colin as Lucas approached holding a cup of iced tea.

David stiffened.

Lucas offered David the cup of iced tea, and when David didn’t take it, set it down on the floor next to him.

“I’m gonna head into town to check out the local library. Jesse also told me that there’s a museum,” said Lucas. “Wanna tag along?”

David slowly raised his sketchbook up and ignored Lucas. Why wouldn’t he just leave him alone?

“Oh, I’ll come,” said Colin, excited. “That sounds fun.”

And so the two left, but just before they did, Colin called out from the front door, “Oh, David. I'm gonna start your lessons first thing tomorrow morning.”

The pair then shut the door, and once David was alone, he looked up at Jesse to make sure he was too engrossed with being on the computer. When he confirmed that he was, he took the iced tea that was placed next to him and took a drink from it.