The ferry back to the island was almost empty, the Humvee parked down below in the belly of the ship. Gabriel and I had claimed a bench on the top deck, letting the wind slap at our hair and the salt sting our faces. He hadn\u2019t stopped grinning since we left school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve gotta teach me that,\u201d he said for the fifth time, turning so I could see the gleam in his eyes. \u201cThe stare thing. The\u2026 amber wolf eye of doom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I chuckled. \u201cIt\u2019s not that dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre you kidding? That guy almost had a religious experience. And I\u2019m pretty<\/em> sure part of it involved needing new underwear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leaned back, watching the waves peel away from the ferry\u2019s wake. \u201cAlright. I\u2019ll teach you. But it\u2019s not just a party trick\u2014you have to control it. You can\u2019t just go flashing it at random people every time they annoy you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He lifted both hands in mock innocence. \u201cScout\u2019s honor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe trick,\u201d I said, \u201cis finding that thin line between shift and no-shift. You don\u2019t call the whole wolf up\u2014you just let a piece of it surface. Focus it behind the eyes. It\u2019s all in your head and in your breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel frowned in concentration. \u201cSo\u2026 like flexing one muscle at a time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExactly,\u201d I said, tapping my temple. \u201cIt\u2019s like lifting a single claw without moving the rest of your hand. Takes practice. And you have to want<\/em> it\u2014really feel that predator edge in your chest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He tried right there, face scrunching in effort. His irises didn\u2019t change, but something in his posture did\u2014shoulders squaring, gaze sharpening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot bad for a first try,\u201d I said. \u201cWe\u2019ll work on it later tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We docked just as the sun hit the horizon, painting the water in fire. The Humvee\u2019s engine rumbled awake beneath us, low and steady. We rolled off the ferry like we owned the road, the beast\u2019s tires crunching over the dock planks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel leaned back in the passenger seat, still buzzing. \u201cTomorrow\u2019s gonna be amazing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I grinned, downshifting as we hit the causeway. \u201cOh, tomorrow\u2019s just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ferry back to the island was almost empty, the Humvee parked down below in the belly of the ship. Gabriel and I had claimed a bench on the top deck, letting the wind slap at our hair and the salt sting our faces. He hadn\u2019t stopped grinning since we left school. \u201cYou\u2019ve gotta teach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}