Harlan sighed. This was it, the real reason why MacKinnon picked on him. It was because he could. MacKinnon had figured out that no matter what he did, no matter how much he berated Harlan, taunted him, or insulted him, Harlan would never fight back. Not only that, no one would stick up for Harlan, either. Why should they? As long as MacKinnon picked on Harlan, then he wouldn’t be picking on any of them. If anyone stood up for Harlan, they might become Jake’s next target and no one wanted that. High school was difficult enough to get through without the likes of Jake MacKinnon on your case every day. Better to sacrifice one—in this case Harlan—for the greater good. It was a lousy thing to do, but it worked in its own perverse way.

“I’m not going to fight you,” Harlan said.

“Not? Won’t? Or can’t?” MacKinnon spat. Then, just because he could, he added, “Dogface!”

Harlan shook his head and said, “Not.” He could feel talons of rage tear at his insides. If he’d allowed himself, he could have changed form, torn apart this sack of fat standing in front of him, and chewed on his bones. But he couldn’t because of a promise he’d made to Ranger Brock—a man to whom he and the other members of the pack owed their lives.

Just then MacKinnon lunged forward. The first time he’d done it, Harlan had jumped back and put his hands up to defend himself, which MacKinnon took to be a sign of fear. The second time, and every other time after that, Harlan remained still, doing his best to look bored while he wrestled against his emotions to keep himself from killing the stupid human in front of him. This time though, instead of lunging forward all the way, MacKinnon stopped, looked up, and retreated.

Harlan wondered if some breakthrough had been made. Perhaps the worst was over.

MacKinnon hitched the waistband of his pants slightly. “Need your big brother to fight your battles for ya?”

“What?” Harlan said. He turned around and saw that Argus had moved in behind him.

“Did I interrupt something?” Argus asked.

“Just Dogface, here, being chicken!”

Argus took a step forward.

“All right, all right,” said another voice. Harlan glanced past his brother and saw Principal Terashita coming down the hall. “I hope you two weren’t fighting.”

MacKinnon smiled. “No, Sir. Fighting’s against the rules. We were just talking.”

Principal Terashita looked unconvinced. “Well, if you insist on more ‘talking’ I’m going to start taking people to my office.”

Everyone knew it was a toothless threat, but it did the trick, sending MacKinnon on his way, and convincing the onlookers that the show was over. In moments the crowd was all but gone, leaving Harlan and Argus standing alone.

“You okay?” Argus asked, his voice edged with concern.

“Don’t ever do that again!”