The stage had barely cooled down. The house still thrummed with the ghosts of echoing bass and crowd roars. Outside the venue, a long line curled through the parking lot\u2014fans buzzing, makeup smudged, voices hoarse, hearts wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meet and greet<\/strong> was already in full swing, held inside a small conference hall at the side of the venue. Cassie was signing setlists, Jonah was showing off his drumsticks, and Gabriel had a pile of gifted bracelets draped around one furry wrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane, as always, stood half a step behind the table, arms folded, ice-blue eyes sweeping the room like a silent bouncer with very visible claws.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The vibe was joyful. Loud. Healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three people in the back of the line\u2014two older women and a man with a heavy scowl and a sign shoved under his arm\u2014started muttering loud enough to be heard. Something about sin<\/em> and false idols<\/em> and wolves in human clothing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone tried to shush them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They just got louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie blinked and leaned sideways toward Thane. \u201cUh-oh. Do we still have law enforcement on site?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because he didn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chief Ron Callister<\/strong>, in full casual dad mode \u2014 standing proudly next to his grinning son in a patched-up Feral Eclipse hoodie \u2014 raised his handheld police radio to his mouth like he was ordering fast food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnit three, five, and seven \u2014 remove the three loudmouths disrupting this line. And if they resist, I want \u2018em helping sanitation detail until sun-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201c10-4, Chief,\u201d came the reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seconds later, three uniformed officers swept in, calm but firm, and escorted the protestors out to the roaring approval of the crowd. The chief just winked at his son and said, \u201cTold ya we were staying for the whole<\/em> show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, during load-out:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The adrenaline had mostly worn off. Gear cases thumped down ramps. Emily cataloged damage with a clipboard and a tired smile. Diesel leaned against the bus door, sipping a well-earned root beer like it was holy water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane coiled cables with practiced precision. Mark stacked lighting crates. Gabriel was halfway into his bunk when he heard soft knocking on the side of the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He blinked. Opened the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There, in full Feral Eclipse merch from head to toe \u2014 hat, hoodie, even wristbands \u2014 stood a young boy<\/strong>, maybe 11, his arm in a bright blue cast already covered in sharpied lyrics and paw prints from earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHi,\u201d the kid whispered. \u201cCan you\u2026 sign this? You\u2019re my favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel grinned and crouched low, claws careful. \u201cOf course, little wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As he signed the cast with slow, careful strokes, the boy\u2019s eyes went wide with awe. \u201cI got all your songs on my phone,\u201d he said quickly. \u201cEven the ones not on Spotify. I found the B-sides on a forum. I burned a CD.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel chuckled. \u201cOld school. I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He paused. Then reached up and tugged off his venue all-access lanyard<\/strong> and slipped it over the kid\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The boy gasped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when Gabriel heard the shouting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The boy\u2019s parents<\/strong> \u2014 standing at the edge of the parking lot with the same protest signs<\/em> from earlier \u2014 were barreling toward the bus, panic on their faces like he was about to devour their son whole.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n They stopped short as the boy turned and ran back to them, beaming. \u201cLOOK WHAT HE GAVE ME!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They just stood there \u2014 speechless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dad\u2019s jaw worked silently. The mom dropped her sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel simply gave them a lazy, bright smile, one long fang showing like a badge of honor \u2014 and waved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This wasn\u2019t about them. It was about the kid. The moment. The music. The love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that was enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back inside the bus, Thane watched through the window, arms folded, saying nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel climbed in, flopped onto the couch, tail flopping over the edge, grinning from ear to pointed ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTotally worth the cast-cramp,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie passed with her tea in hand, smiling softly. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a real gift, you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The stage had barely cooled down. The house still thrummed with the ghosts of echoing bass and crowd roars. Outside the venue, a long line curled through the parking lot\u2014fans buzzing, makeup smudged, voices hoarse, hearts wide open. The meet and greet was already in full swing, held inside a small conference hall at the […]<\/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-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","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=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3078,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/3078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n\n\n\n\n
It was never<\/em> about them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n