Werewolves: The Gravediggers pt. 5

This story features Jolon's father, Delsin, and takes place several years before the events of 'Werewolves: Haven Rising.' 

[If you haven't yet read parts 1-4, click on the Collections tab and select 'Werewolves' to find the previous installments of this story.]

"He's so beautiful," Tama said. She was standing in the open doorframe to Jolon's room. The boy was lying on his side, half-lit by the light of the moon peeking in through the window. "Sometimes I sit here and watch him sleep. I wonder what he dreams about."

 "He's practically a teenager," Delsin said. "It's not healthy to baby the boy."

 "He's asleep. He can't hear us."

 Delsin laughed under his breath. "You never give him credit for how sneaky he is." He raised his voice. "I know you're awake."

 Jolon rolled over and glared at his father across the room. "You ruined it, Dad! I totally had her!"

 Delsin stepped in and sat down on the bed beside him. "You really did. Were you practicing that breathing technique I taught you?"

 "Yup," the boy replied with a grin. "Concentrate on my heartbeat, slow it down, calm my body. Lie still."

 "Good boy," Delsin said, ruffling his pup's hair. "You'd have made a great hunter."

 "I am a great hunter!"

 "Hunting rats isn't the same as hunting deer."

 Jolon rolled his eyes. "Rats have to be harder than deer. You said they're a lot bigger. Rats can hide places I can't get to. Deer can't run into a hole."

 Delsin sighed. "What I wouldn't give to take you on a real hunt. Maybe someday."

 Tama put her hand on Delsin's shoulder. "That's enough for right now. Your son needs his sleep. It's a work day tomorrow."

 "Mooom," Jolon wailed. "That's child exploitation!"

 "Where did you hear such a thing?"

 The boy pointed at the window. "Up north in the movie theater. Dena figured out how to make the old projector work!"

 Tama eyed Delsin. "Jaci's passing his big brain down to the next generation."

 Delsin grunted. "Yeah. And his way of attracting trouble." He got off the bed and joined Tama at the door. "Get to bed, Jolon. We'll see you in the morning."

*****

"He gets it from you, you know," Tama said. She sat down tenderly on the front porch chair and exhaled a pained hiss of breath. "He shouldn't be here. He deserves to be out in the wild."

 "Something's in the air tonight," Delsin said as he stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders. He knew what she needed even if she didn't outright ask for it. They'd been married long enough that they could read each other's cues without even thinking. "Everyone's unhappy. It's like they've forgotten that we're the only werewolves left alive. We should be thankful that Jolon's even here—we'd never have met our son if it weren't for this place. He'd have died before he could even be born. I couldn't let that happen. Neither could you."

 "It was worth it, wasn't it?" Tama said. "I have to believe that."

 "Every time I start to question our decision to surrender, I think of him," Delsin replied. "Watching him grow into the hunter he was born to be. I've never felt proud of anything like that in my life, and all he was doing was chasing fucking rats."

 "Language!"

 Delsin barked a quick laugh. "He's asleep for real this time. It's not like words can really hurt him, anyway. There are scarier things out there." He pressed down on her back with both palms, scouring the tension away. She was feeling better now, he could tell. She'd been so worried when he finally arrived home, but he'd put things right within moments. Tama was always the forgiving sort, and she didn't ask him questions about his work this time. He was grateful for that. He hated lying to her, hated it almost as much as putting Sahale in the ground.

 "Gods, that's nice," she said with a soft moan.

 "You're still in pain?" Delsin asked as he worked out a particularly tenacious knot above her left shoulder blade.

 "The doctors did a number on me the other day," she replied. "There was a new one; he didn't know how to treat a wolf properly."

 "None of them know how to treat wolves properly."

 "You know what I mean."

 "Yeah," Delsin said. "I do." He slipped around her and leaned against the railing, looking out over the abandoned train yard as he slipped a cigarette from his shirt pocket. He was just about to light it when something hit him in the back of his head. Tama had thrown a slipper at him.

 "Don't you do it," she said. "Bad enough you smoke those filthy things when you're out gallivanting around human territory with Jaci and Sahale." He flinched at the mention of his dead friend's name. "What?" she asked. "What is it?"

 He shook his head and put the cigarette away. "Nothing. I'm just tired."

 "They're working you to the bone over there. It's not fair."

 "We all do what we have to do to keep ourselves alive." He leaned down and kissed her, trying desperately not to think of Sahale's dead eyes staring up at him. Would it be her next? Jaci? He needed to make sure they didn't ask the wrong questions. Knock on the wrong doors. Gods, he was glad that Sahale had never settled down with another wolf. No one would start asking questions for a few days—long enough for him to think up a convincing cover story.

 Tama wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into the chair with her. It groaned under their combined weight. "You carry so much on those shoulders of yours." She ran the tips of her fingers over his neck and all the way down his arm, causing his skin to prick up into gooseflesh, tiny hairs on-end. "What can I do to help?"

 "Just…" Delsin paused for a moment, considering what to say. "Just trust me. As long as we keep our heads down, we'll be fine. But if we make trouble it's going to get worse before it gets better."

 "I don't like the sound of that."

 "You shouldn't," he said. "The military's not kidding around over there. The guy in charge now is a sadistic prick, and I've caught his eye, somehow."

 "He's new?"

 "New-ish. His name's Williams—had something to do with the Haven project before he came here, but now he's managing it hands-on. As long as things go smoothly, he mostly keeps to himself. That's why I wanted you to take those meds I got from Nurse Shaw. We keep everything calm and eventually he'll go away."

 Tama looked him in the eyes. "You really want me to take those things, don't you?"

 "Only until that bastard is out of here and we're back to normal."

 "They're not addictive?"

 He shook his head. "Nurse says they aren't. They just calm the beast."

 She kept quiet for almost a minute, looking in the direction of the bridge that led to the military base. They couldn't see it from this far away, but its presence was felt in every corner of the refuge. "I'll take them," she said finally, so low that he could barely hear her. "Just promise me it won't be forever."

 He leaned in and nuzzled her cheek. "I promise," he lied. "Someday this will all be behind us."