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CHAPTER THREE: COLD MOON - PART THREE
Dawn knocked on Russ’s door. Again. Biting her lip, she wondered if he was even home. But, if he wasn’t, where was he? It’d been more than a week and she hadn’t seen him in the garden. Or around the apartment. Or around town. Or anywhere. Russ had to be somewhere, right? Had he left?
She hoped not. Her week had been hard enough as it was. Despite all her efforts, her students were still fighting, the other adults were offering no help, and Tucker was being almost more pushy than he had been before. No matter where she went, home or work, she felt stuck. Trapped.
Even the garden felt different now. She didn’t know exactly when it’d happened, but she’d gotten used to her new life having a certain rhythm. And, somewhere along the line, Russ had become a part of that quiet, peaceful, steady rhythm. And, that lack, even in the middle of the tranquility of the garden, made her feel nervous and sad. Like a vital piece was missing and nothing would feel right until it was back. Until he was back.
So, she’d come to him. Only to find him still missing.
With a disappointed sigh, she turned to head back, when his door opened a crack. Immediately, she turned. “Russ?”
The door stilled. There was a long pause. “Dawn.”
She bit her lip, suddenly not sure what to say. She wanted to ask him where he’d been. But that sounded like he owed her some kind of explanation, as if she had some claim on his time or attention. Which she didn’t. She knew that. Just because she’d missed him, it didn’t mean he felt the same. It was silly of her to think so.
Still.
She took a deep breath. “I, uh, was hoping I could ask you something.”
The door swung open into his home.
Cautiously, Dawn peeked inside, but she didn’t see him, just the empty hallway that led to his living room. But she knew he was there. Somewhere. So she stepped inside, shutting the door behind herself.
She saw him standing in front of his patio, the glass and screen doors wide open as he stared out into the far edge of the garden. She hadn’t really thought about how his apartment was essentially connected to the garden. It made sense and felt completely right, like a revelation that you didn’t know you already knew.
Without turning toward her, just continuing to stare out at the wild greenery, he asked, “What do you need?”
She licked her lips. “Uh, so I don’t know if you remember, but I’m a teacher.”
“I remember.”
Of course he did. He always remembered what she told him. Maybe that should have made her feel weird, nervous, like she ought to watch what she said to him. But, instead, it made her feel special. She bit her lip to hide an irrational smile, trying to remind herself why she’d come, and nodded. “Well, a few of the children I have in my class are from the local werewolf pack and they’ve been getting into fights with some of the other children. The human children.”
He grunted. “Did you talk to the parents? To Garrett?”
Dawn nodded. “Yes, I did. And they all say that they’ll take care of it, whatever that means.”
He grunted, like he knew exactly what that meant. “Then what do you need from me?”
She sighed and walked closer to stand next to him in front of the window. She shrugged. “I think a lot of the fights are happening because the human children don’t know enough about the werewolf children. They transferred into the class a few months ago, I guess, and the transition has been… rough. You know how kids are with things they don’t understand. All they know is the stuff in comic books and movies. But, when I suggested maybe having some of the werewolf parents come in to talk to the class…”
Russ let out a humorless laugh. “We don’t talk to humans.” He peeked at her slightly. “Not about being werewolves.”
“Yeah.” She sighed and looked out the large glass pane. “I got that.” When she’d suggested it, all the werewolves had clammed up immediately. She shrugged and looked at him, only to find him looking back outside. “But, I figured maybe you…” She shook her head. “I mean, you don’t live with the pack, you live with humans, so I thought maybe you might…”
He scoffed a little and raised an eyebrow at her reflection in the glass in front of her. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not much of a talker.”
She smiled and nodded. “I know it’s asking a lot, but I don’t know what else to do. I can’t let these fights continue;” she frowned and said, “someone is going to get seriously hurt one of these days.”
He shook his head. “You mean one of the human kids is going to get hurt.”
She shook her head and nodded to his hand, the one he’d cut. “We both know that werewolves, while tougher than humans, aren’t invincible. And they’re just kids, vulnerable and not nearly as in control as adult werewolves.” She shrugged. “They’re all my students, so I worry about all of them. Part of the job.” And, while she wasn’t a predator, she’d grown up nonhuman in a very human-dominated world. She knew what it was like to feel inherently different, to be made to feel like you, by just being you, didn’t fit in. She sighed. “And, honestly, I hate the idea of them leaving my classroom still thinking that way.”
Russ turned his head to look at her. “What way?”
She met his gaze. “That we can’t get along. That our differences somehow have to divide us, instead of our similarities uniting us enough to appreciate those differences.”
He stared at her silently for a long moment before looking away again. “That’s a nice thought,” he said gruffly.
“But you doubt it works like that for werewolves,” she said, remembering his words from before.
He just smiled and shrugged.
She did too. “Maybe not. But, from my experience, kids are amazing. They’re still figuring out the world. They know they don’t know everything and are more open to learning than adults, even things most adults take for granted as just the way things are.” She took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air blowing in through the open door, bringing the scent of the pond and the fresh flowers. “It’s why I wanted to teach. At the farm, I would see all these families come in and the adults would all have this very set idea of who and what we, as hinds, are.” She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “They’d paid for a certain experience and that’s what they wanted; it didn’t matter that none of it was real.” Then she smiled a bit. “But most of the kids just came to see, you know. To explore without many expectations or demands. They just wanted to have a good time.” Her grin widened. “With them, it doesn’t matter so much how the world is; for them, it’s easier to imagine how the world could be.”
Russ scoffed, but a small smile teased his lips. “And you want to imagine a world where human and non-human kids can all get along?”
She touched his arm, making him turn to stare at the connection. She sucked in a breath, feeling the air around them shift. She looked up into his eyes and shivered warmly at the heat burning in his amber eyes. “Don’t you?”
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