The road out of Des Moines stretched wide and quiet under a sky smeared in watercolor blues and fading gold. The pack was tired\u2014not 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She paused on one shot\u2014Cassie on the speaker riser, arms wide, eyes wild, with firework trails behind her. It didn\u2019t even look real. Emily smiled softly and leaned her head against the bench seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou still working?\u201d Thane\u2019s voice drifted down from where he sat sideways in the booth, sipping something hot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily looked up and smiled. \u201cKinda. Just… editing a few shots before I forget how they felt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the only human I know who works harder than we do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s terrifying. I\u2019m scared of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily giggled. \u201cYou should be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark appeared from the bunk hallway and gave Gabriel a pointed look. \u201cLeave her space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel raised both clawed hands in mock surrender. \u201cWhat? I\u2019m being affectionate. It\u2019s like having a tiny baby wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emily looked up at Mark, smiling. \u201cHe\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thane chuckled from the table. \u201cYou say that now. Wait until he starts howling to get snacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do not<\/em>\u2014\u201d Gabriel paused. \u201cOkay, but when I do, it works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark sat on the other bench and handed Emily a folded blanket. \u201cHere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She took it with a quiet \u201cthank you,\u201d pulling it around her shoulders. The warmth wasn\u2019t just from the fleece\u2014it was from the way they looked at her. Not as staff. Not as a tag-along. But as something much more real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was thinking,\u201d she said after a moment, \u201cI don\u2019t really remember what my life felt like before this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane tilted his head. \u201cThat a good thing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think so,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore, everything felt like I was waiting for something to start. And now I feel like I\u2019m already in the middle of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel nudged her shoulder with his. \u201cYou are. You\u2019re one of us now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOfficially part of the chaos,\u201d Thane added, smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark nodded once, firm and certain. \u201cPack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emily\u2019s eyes shimmered a little, but she didn\u2019t let them fall. She just curled deeper into the blanket and leaned against Gabriel, who pretended to be shocked but didn\u2019t move away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThanks,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They sat like that for a long while\u2014Emily, cocooned in blanket and wolves, laptop humming softly in her lap, while the bus rumbled on through the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was right where she was meant to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The road out of Des Moines stretched wide and quiet under a sky smeared in watercolor blues and fading gold. The pack was tired\u2014not 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 […]<\/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-1996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996","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=1996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2957,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions\/2957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}