“Can’t, or won’t?” I asked, glaring at him.
“Buttercup, we need to have another conversation, and then you’ll understand it’s probably can’t, even if he knows what they are. Come on back to the porch, and I’ll put my clothes back on.”
They’d both been a bloody mess, but when they’d shifted back to human, their skin was clean, and the flesh on their faces was no longer ripped to pieces.
Randall let Duke borrow some jeans and a t-shirt, and ten minutes later everyone was seated on the porch, though I could tell Brain would still prefer to beat Duke to a pulp rather than sit in the same room with him.
Brain explained the binding process, and how it would physically keep me from telling supernatural secrets. He brought out a pressure needle to get some blood from my finger, but I pulled my hand away and reached for the needle, telling him, “Sorry, you can’t poke holes in me. I’ll do it.”
“But I can sense where the blood is under the skin. I’ll know where to stick for the most blood.”
“Then tell me where to stick and I will.”
He nodded, pointed to a spot on the side of my finger, and I made the hole. Brain had already put some of his blood into a glass of wine, and he put a dozen drops of mine in a glass of water.
We drank each other’s blood, I repeated a few sentences about keeping their secrets, and I felt something snap inside me, as if the oath were a tangible thing.
They had Brain step inside, and Randall asked me to write out the things I’d learned. I soon figured out I wasn’t capable of doing so, and also learned Brain had been communicating to them when I started writing, even though he’d been inside and out of sight. He’d felt it when I tried to divulge the information.
Brain returned, put a tiny, silly little bandage on my finger, and kissed over the top of it. “If it ever becomes necessary to change your scent, we can discuss my turning you. You need to let the plastic surgery completely heal, so your body doesn’t try to go back to the way it was, and we’ll need to have a lot of really long discussions about the pros and cons, but just know it might be an option, at some future time.”
Randall leaned forward and told me, “Most werewolves are in a pack, with a hierarchy, and rules, and an Alpha over them. I’m the Alpha of the Chattanooga pack, but I’m also over every Alpha, and thus every pack wolf, in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and the mountains of North Carolina. Some don’t want an Alpha, or have another reason the pack doesn’t work for them, and become lone wolves. Sometimes, lone wolves band together to get the feeling of pack, the brotherhood around them, without an official Alpha. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, the RTMC is a band of wolves. They vote on things, it’s a democracy, where a Pack is basically a benevolent totalitarian government. I care about my wolves, and I want the best for them, but my word is law and isn’t often open to discussion. If they insist upon arguing, they can challenge me for the Alpha position, but those battles are almost always to the death, and not many want to challenge me.”
I looked to Duke, back to Randall. “So instead of having to choose whether to bow to you or fight you, your brother left the pack.”
“Again, Miss Harmony, you are quite perceptive and I can see why Brain likes you. He can answer questions about himself, but not about the rest of us, so you may want to focus your questions with that in mind, while you have us all in one place.”
“You’re all wolves?”
“You know about the status of everyone except Aaron. You’ll need to address your question to him.”
I looked at him, and he shook his head. “I’m a shapeshifter, but not a wolf.”
I assumed he didn’t intend to tell me what he shifted into, so I turned to Brain and asked, “Based on Detective Appian’s notes, I have a feeling you need to turn on one of the three nights of the full moon, but you were with me during the full moon, and you never left my side.”
“I went into the woods surrounding the house while you were asleep, spent about an hour as my wolf, and came back inside. I didn’t get to run for miles and miles, but it was enough to pacify the wolf until we can get to the forest for a proper run. Neither of us wanted to leave you alone, and we kept a close eye on the house from outside.”
“If you’ll still be in town tonight, you’re welcome to run here,” Randall offered. “Harmony can hang out in the kitchen area and talk to whoever’s here.”
Brain looked at me, then back to Randall. “Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it. Let me get back to you and let you know?”