front desk clerk was still talking, her voice tinny and far away, as

said. "Tell him the

l had stopped. The door was closed and the light above it was steady, and I stood outside with

ng able to point at the sky and say there. I had known it every time I hung an IV bag and felt my wolf turn away from the smell of it, every time I walked past the door and ca

ed the

e darker, closer to brown, like a lamp turned down low. His dark gold hair was a mess against the pillow, and the hospital gown hung

e back,"

e ques

ckly. My brother i

et the door close behi

know

ep looking at my wrist. "I know that every bag that has hung on that pole for seven years was pre

why I cannot walk out of this room and ha

l me what

is the hollows east of here, the ridge and the old mine road and the stretch of fore

the b

e. It will not move until the curse is broken, and the curse will not

said it to someone on the phone in a low voice, and when I asked him about it the next morning he had told me it was

the curse d

strange amber light in them again, and I could feel it

a wolf in a man's body for seven years, and every time I try to move the silver pushe

the IV pump click, one two three four,

he had not come home. The police had found his truck on the old mine road and nothing else. I had buried an empty coffin and told my son that his father was in the grou

lying,"

am

cks and he came home smelling of grease

est of us, and on the night I fell he pulled me out of the rain and put a hand on my chest and

d said my name sometimes, as if he were checking that I was still in the room. I thought of the last morning, when he had kissed Eli on the top of the

eyes open toni

while. Then he said, "

ight. I take your pu

nd you left it there for a moment longer than you meant to, and I smelled you through the wolfsbane for the first time in seven years." He tilted

ull warmth that spread up my arm and into m

wrist," I said. "It was

d them again, the amber had gone bri

the moon has chosen you for me, and it means my b

thing to do with your bond or your brother

he boy with the champagne hair who leaves the drawi

oor handle, and the whole corri

now about my

or, and his face had changed, the way a man's face cha

ver heard before said, "Well. Look at this. The slee

and he was smiling, and he was wearing a coat that cost more

Silas said. "I bro

d in the vase were seven white flowers