The ceremony was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The crowd was still buzzing in the plaza, but most of the pack had already been whisked back toward the tour bus by the city liaison and a few extremely starstruck officers. Even Gabriel had gotten pulled aside by a fan trying to show him a bass riff tattooed on her forearm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thane needed a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He slipped away behind city hall, down a quiet access ramp shaded by brick walls and metal piping. His claws clicked softly on the concrete as he walked, the weight of the oversized ceremonial key still cradled in one paw. It was shiny. A little ridiculous. It felt like holding an award for surviving a fever dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He leaned against the cool brick wall, exhaled slowly, and let the noise of the city dull behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExcuse me\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A small voice piped up from the shadows near the ramp’s edge. Thane turned, claws twitching slightly on instinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A kid \u2014 maybe eleven or twelve \u2014 stood there with wide brown eyes and a too-big Feral Eclipse hoodie hanging off their shoulders. Their dad stood just a few steps behind, holding a phone awkwardly like he hadn\u2019t meant to interrupt anything. The kid stepped forward, hands behind their back, voice barely above a whisper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2026 I just wanted to say you\u2019re my favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thane blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kid swallowed. \u201cNot just \u2018cause of the music. I mean\u2026 yeah, your shows are awesome, but it\u2019s more like\u2026 I\u2019m different too. And seeing you up there\u2014being all big and loud and proud of it\u2014I don\u2019t know, it makes me feel like maybe I can be proud too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thane’s chest tightened a little. He knelt down slowly, bringing himself to the kid\u2019s height, careful not to loom too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJavi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thane offered a paw, trying to avoid being intimidating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Javi shook it like it was a sacred ritual. \u201cYour paws are huge.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI get that a lot,\u201d Thane said softly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a quiet pause before Javi pulled something from behind his back\u2014a drawing. Crayon on folded notebook paper. It showed Thane mid-leap, claws out, fangs bared\u2014but with a huge grin. Little stick-figure fans below were all howling with hearts above their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI drew this after I saw you online last night,\u201d Javi explained. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d actually get to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane took it carefully, looking at the wild colors, the joy in the lines, the way his own gray streaks had been drawn in with silver Sharpie. His throat caught for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re a good artist, Javi,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got guts. And heart. Don\u2019t ever hide those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Javi beamed, shy and thrilled all at once. His dad stepped forward with the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan I\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane nodded. He crouched a little lower and let Javi throw both arms around his thick furred neck. The photo snapped \u2014 one werewolf, one kid, one perfect moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Javi waved goodbye and the pair disappeared around the corner, Thane looked down at the crayon drawing again. Then at the oversized key in his other hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He tucked the key under his arm and carefully folded the drawing, slipping it into his chest pocket like it was treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind him, Gabriel peeked around the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere you are,\u201d he said, tail swaying gently. \u201cWe were starting to think you ran off with your shiny new key.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane stood, still smiling faintly. \u201cHad a better moment than any ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel grinned. \u201cLet me guess. Small human. Big heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They walked back to the bus together, side by side, as the sun started sinking into the west.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ceremony was over. The crowd was still buzzing in the plaza, but most of the pack had already been whisked back toward the tour bus by the city liaison and a few extremely starstruck officers. Even Gabriel had gotten pulled aside by a fan trying to show him a bass riff tattooed on her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3101,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}