Jules’s eyes were on stalks when I set him down. “Holy shit,” he said, reaching up and ruffling my hair. “What’s the weather like up there, big boy?”

The pack helped the Blaines get their things out of the minivan and into their house. Jules’s parents pulled out bottles of booze and trays of peaches and the like and handed them out to Dalton and The Brothers and then to the rest of the pack.

“It’s all from Auggie,” they said over and over. “He sends his best.”

Dalton twisted open his bottle and took a big swig. One or two of the Brothers tilted their heads back and let out long, exaggerated howls. Dalton took Jules’s dad, Teddy, under his wing and raised his bottle to the pack. “To the return of the Blaines!”

“To the Blaines,” we all chorused back.

“Come on, everyone to the packhouse. We’re going to celebrate like it’s our last night tonight.”

My chest felt full and tight. Everyone was happy. Dalton, my parents, Jules’s family—all happy. The whole pack was together again. Everything was right with the world.

The food was always amazing at the pack house and that night was no exception. I was stuffed by the end of the meal. Everyone was trying to get a piece of the Blaines and I spent most of the time tagging along behind Jules, trying to piece together bits of what he was telling everyone about his vacation. The adults were becoming rowdy, and it wasn’t long before Dalton came over to us and said, “Why don’t you boys head into town for a spell? See if you can get yourselves into some trouble.”

He pulled out a twenty and handed it to Jules. We knew it meant the pack was going to shift, and Dalton wanted us to make ourselves scarce. Usually, it bummed us out in a big way that we were excluded from that side of pack life. We knew we’d get to participate once we shifted, and we’d been told a hundred times that the mystery would make it a million times sweeter, but still, it was upsetting. That night we didn’t mind. Neither of us did. We walked down the narrow foot path, passed the wild jasmine hedge, and headed to the creek, where we sat on the grass under the willow tree. Jules kept looking up at me, smiling and shaking his head now and again.

“What?” I said.

“You must have spent the whole damn summer outdoors.”

“Huh?”

He nudged me with his shoulder. “You know what happens when wolves play outside.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but my shoulders started shaking. I was laughing. For the first time in months, I was really laughing. It wasn’t even as if it had been a good joke. It was just that Jules was the one who’d made it.