“Not so fast.” He caught me by the wrist when I tried to open my door and frowned at the small yard inside the circle of our trailers. “Looks like Mom has decided to inflict family night on us. We have to at least swing by and make our excuses.” If he heard my groan, he ignored it and hauled me into the backyard. “It’s your own fault her nesting instincts kicked in. You showed up with Dell, who was half-dead, then locked Mom up with the locals while your wolfman hunted you down. That’s a lot for her to handle. You know she’s pure momma bear when it comes to her kids.” I warmed to be included in her brood, at least until Isaac added, “Huh. Now that I think about it, you got attacked by the wolfman and still somehow you ended up in bed together?” Any higher and his eyebrows would wing right off his forehead. “That’s messed up, coz.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” I muttered.

He turned me loose, plugged his ears, and said in a loud voice, “And I don’t want to either.”

Aunt Dot had arranged a snacker’s paradise on the compact folding table near her home. Four chairs huddled around it, though only three people ever filled them. The normality of the scene, of her smile when she spotted me and her scent when she reeled me in for a hug, was exactly what I needed. Not the gloom of my trailer’s blacked-out interior or another night spent in the company of a wolf, but this. Warm arms, genuine smiles. Simple. Easy. Uncomplicated.

“There’s a meteor shower tonight.” Aunt Dot shoved me down in my chair and slapped an icy can of soda in my hand then did the same for Isaac. “The person who counts the most wins. Winner gets breakfast in bed for a month.”

“A month?” Isaac perked, winking at me. “It’s on.” Behind her back, he held up two fingers and mouthed, “Two minutes.”

Sitting with Aunt Dot for a couple of minutes wouldn’t kink our timeline. Giving him a thumbs-up, I popped the cap and took a long sip. “You two have upped the ante while I’ve been away.”

Once assured she held our full attention, Aunt Dot launched into a recitation of how we, as Geminis, should have some interest in the skies because of our namesake constellation. Nodding along with the familiar lecture, I soaked up the normal before ruining Aunt Dot’s family night with the ominous news I was, in all likelihood, being hunted by a serial killer and his new avatar.

Not five minutes later a bellow shook the trees and silenced the night birds, crickets and frogs.

“What on earth?” Aunt Dot’s hand lifted to her throat. “What was that? Pumpkin?”