The road out of Des Moines stretched wide and quiet under a sky smeared in watercolor blues and fading gold. The pack was tired—not exhausted, just that good kind of worn out that comes after doing something unforgettable. The sun had dipped below the horizon an hour ago. The bus interior glowed with warm amber lights, humming gently with the familiar lull of tires on pavement and the occasional off-key humming from Jonah, who was half-asleep with his head tilted against a bundle of stage flags.
Emily sat curled up on the floor near the kitchenette, legs pulled into her hoodie, laptop propped on her knees. Her hair was loose tonight, a little messy, strands falling across her cheeks as she sifted through the fairground photos she’d taken hours earlier.
She paused on one shot—Cassie on the speaker riser, arms wide, eyes wild, with firework trails behind her. It didn’t even look real. Emily smiled softly and leaned her head against the bench seat.
“You still working?” Thane’s voice drifted down from where he sat sideways in the booth, sipping something hot.
Emily looked up and smiled. “Kinda. Just… editing a few shots before I forget how they felt.”
Gabriel padded over from the back lounge and flopped onto the floor beside her with a groan, tail thudding once. He rested his chin on her shoulder dramatically.
“You’re the only human I know who works harder than we do,” he said. “It’s terrifying. I’m scared of you.”
Emily giggled. “You should be.”
Mark appeared from the bunk hallway and gave Gabriel a pointed look. “Leave her space.”
Gabriel raised both clawed hands in mock surrender. “What? I’m being affectionate. It’s like having a tiny baby wolf.”
Emily looked up at Mark, smiling. “He’s fine.”
Thane chuckled from the table. “You say that now. Wait until he starts howling to get snacks.”
“I do not—” Gabriel paused. “Okay, but when I do, it works.”
Mark sat on the other bench and handed Emily a folded blanket. “Here.”
She took it with a quiet “thank you,” pulling it around her shoulders. The warmth wasn’t just from the fleece—it was from the way they looked at her. Not as staff. Not as a tag-along. But as something much more real.
“I was thinking,” she said after a moment, “I don’t really remember what my life felt like before this.”
Thane tilted his head. “That a good thing?”
“I think so,” she said. “Before, everything felt like I was waiting for something to start. And now I feel like I’m already in the middle of the story.”
Gabriel nudged her shoulder with his. “You are. You’re one of us now.”
“Officially part of the chaos,” Thane added, smiling.
Mark nodded once, firm and certain. “Pack.”
Emily’s eyes shimmered a little, but she didn’t let them fall. She just curled deeper into the blanket and leaned against Gabriel, who pretended to be shocked but didn’t move away.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
They sat like that for a long while—Emily, cocooned in blanket and wolves, laptop humming softly in her lap, while the bus rumbled on through the night.
She was right where she was meant to be.