“It’s hard to think of it that way,” Declan said. “I mostly rehash my choice, try to figure out why I didn’t get us out sooner, things like that.”

“I think that’s a very human reaction.” I grabbed one of the carrots. “What about the last one? When you went to the phone booth?”

Declan didn’t answer me at first. He fished a mug out of the bag, pouring the split pea soup into it for me. “No ham, promise. I should have opened this before you finished your sandwich.”

“I could have also opened it,” I said, waggling my hands at him. “I have these.”

That earned me a ghost of a smile as he poured himself the rest of the soup. “The phone call.” He stared at his soup. “That was the scariest day of my life. I’d had to wait for days until they were both so occupied they weren’t watching me every second. I waited until their full moon ceremony.”

“Full moon ceremony?”

He shrugged. “A lot of wolves celebrate the full moon. It doesn’t affect us or anything, those are old human myths. It’s more…symbolic. I don’t know. My father’s pack mostly used it as an excuse to party. A big social event. Lot of wolves changing, lots of magic in the air. Eva would make use of it, you know. Experimented with her spells.”

He smiled sadly at his mug. “Zoey got ahold of a sleep draught for me and spiked Eva’s drink. It broke her hold on me just enough.” He sipped the soup carefully. “Things had been getting worse. She was keeping me wolf longer and longer. Angus was becoming more erratic.”

Declan turned to me, his usually warm brown eyes stark. “He mostly ignored the twins—they weren’t wolf, you know? He didn’t care about them as long as no one bothered him. But Zoey? I was worried about Zoey. Angus had plans for us—a pack that he wanted to pair us with when we got older. Cement some ties or some nonsense. He had a nice strapping lad picked out for Zoey.” He grimaced at his soup, tipping it back and finishing it. “Time was running out. So, she dosed Eva, I changed, and made a run for it. Everyone was used to me being wolf and under Eva’s control, so they weren’t watching me as closely as they were Zoey.”

“Who did you call?” I’d followed the case a little, but couldn’t remember any of this part. “How did you get away?”

Declan grinned at me then, and it was the wolf’s grin. “I called 911.” He held up a finger. “One phone call. That’s all it took, in the end, to topple my father’s empire, such as it was.” He scratched his chin. His beard was growing out. He’d trim it soon. He always kept it closely cropped to his face. “I suspected they were investigating my father—it would explain his increasing paranoia and evasiveness. How locked down we were in the end.”