The sun over Amarillo was already beating down like a hammer when the Feral Eclipse tour bus rolled off I-40, the skyline giving way to low industrial buildings and wide, open skies that stretched until they disappeared. Dust kicked up behind them as Diesel turned onto a cracked service road with the casual ease of a man who could drive by smell alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He didn\u2019t say much. He never did. But Thane noticed the way his grip shifted on the wheel as the turnoff came into view\u2014subtle, reverent, like crossing an invisible threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shop appeared like something conjured from an oil-stained memory: \u201cBuckner & Sons Custom Auto\u201d<\/strong> painted in peeling red letters on the front of a cinderblock garage. The gravel lot was packed with pickups, welders, half-built dune buggies, and what might have once been a helicopter blade mounted like a weather vane. A battered smoker sat belching fragrant wood smoke out the side bay. Someone inside was blasting Stevie Ray Vaughan through old speakers so loud the bus windows vibrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel stood at the stairwell, nose twitching. \u201cThis smells like heaven. Grease, mesquite, and<\/em> bad decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel slowed the bus and dropped it into park with a sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie stepped up behind him. \u201cYou okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He nodded once. \u201cBeen a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The garage door rattled up with a scream of metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out stepped a mountain of a man<\/strong>\u2014barrel-chested, long gray ponytail, grease-streaked work shirt, and the grin of someone who could rebuild a V8 and<\/em> win a bar fight before lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou finally brought the circus home!<\/strong>\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel stepped down off the bus and immediately disappeared into a bear hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s my brother Jake,\u201d Diesel muttered to the crew once he could breathe again. \u201cOldest. And loudest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jake turned to the pack with wide eyes. \u201cSo these are the wolves, huh? Damn, y\u2019all are taller than on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark gave a nod. \u201cWe get that a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within five minutes, the garage had transformed from a working auto shop into a full-blown BBQ party. Tables were dragged out, folding chairs unfolded, a cooler the size of a coffin was stocked with soda and local beer. Diesel\u2019s nieces and nephews\u2014some actual, some honorary\u2014swarmed Gabriel like sugar-hyped velociraptors. Jonah was already holding two hot dogs and a wrench. Maya was arguing with someone\u2019s aunt over cornbread technique. Cassie had somehow been roped into DJ duties on an aux cord plugged into a stereo older than her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Diesel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stood near the back of the lot, flipping ribs on the grill with tongs in one hand and a koozie-wrapped soda in the other, watching it all unfold like a man witnessing a dream he\u2019d never dared speak out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane stepped up beside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNice spot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel shrugged. \u201cIt\u2019s not much. But it\u2019s where I learned to fix things. To drive. To listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He flipped a rack of ribs with practiced grace. \u201cAfter the fire took Mom and Dad, Jake kept the shop going. Took care of me. Kept me outta trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane didn\u2019t speak. Just let the moment breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel added, \u201cThought about coming back here after y\u2019all got famous. But I figured\u2026 maybe my road had more miles left in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re not done driving,\u201d Thane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel smiled. \u201cNot by a long shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later that evening, as the sun dipped and cicadas started tuning up for their nightly set, the pack gathered around the smoker, swapping stories and talking nonsense while Diesel\u2019s people laughed and passed around paper plates stacked too high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the kids asked if Gabriel was a real<\/em> werewolf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel looked dead serious and said, \u201cOnly during full moons, Fridays, and lunch rush.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The kid screamed. Everyone howled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jake raised a can and toasted. \u201cTo my little brother\u2014still big as a truck, still can\u2019t dance worth a damn, and somehow driving rockstars across the country like it\u2019s normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel tipped his soda in reply. \u201cTo home. And the roads that brought us back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pack clinked cans and bottles, fur and hands crossing over ribs and laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That night, under a string of garage lights and stars too big for the city, Thane found Diesel sitting alone on the back steps, drink in hand, watching the fireflies drift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToo quiet?\u201d Thane asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel shook his head. \u201cJust… real.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He looked back at the lit-up garage full of joy and family and wolves and said, \u201cNever thought I\u2019d bring a band of misfit werewolves here and have it feel like this.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane sat beside him. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing about found family. It tends to sneak up on you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They sat in silence for a while\u2014two men shaped by different kinds of work, different kinds of weight\u2014just watching the sky change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then, from inside the garage, came the distinct sound of Gabriel attempting karaoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diesel sighed. \u201c…That\u2019s gonna break a speaker, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane stood, already heading for the door. \u201cOnly if we\u2019re lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sun over Amarillo was already beating down like a hammer when the Feral Eclipse tour bus rolled off I-40, the skyline giving way to low industrial buildings and wide, open skies that stretched until they disappeared. Dust kicked up behind them as Diesel turned onto a cracked service road with the casual ease of […]<\/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-2004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004","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=2004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2953,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004\/revisions\/2953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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