The next night, I got a phone call from the Skokomish language teacher.
"Sam Uley?"
"This is Sam."
"This is Buck White." He didn't sound as calm as he was the last time I spoke to him. "Listen, you know that Quileute book you've been translating?"
"Of course."
"The owner wants to speak to you."
"Ok," I said readily. I was interested in who he was. "You can give him my number."
"No, he's here with me now."
"Put him on."
"Sam?" A new voice spoke over the phone.
"This is Sam."
"My name is Thomas Willka. Sarah Uley was my grandmother."
"Oh, hi, wow." That made him a distant cousin of sorts.
"Listen, I've got some boys here with a bit of a problem. I was hoping you could help me."
"Ok, I'm not the translator. I asked an elder in my tribe to do that for us." I was trying to remember Old Quil's number off the top of my head.
"I'm not looking for a translator. Listen, Buck here hasn't translated the whole story yet but he's read it and we think, well, we think our problem is related to these books."
"What's the problem, sir?"
"This is going to sound crazy, but I think my son and nephew have turned into wolves, like in the books."
"Why do you think that?" I asked. This was not how I was expecting my evening to go.
"My nephew disappeared a week ago, my son two nights ago. I've since spotted huge wolves just inside the tree line. They behave tame, never aggressive. It never would have occurred to me that it could be them but Buck gave me a summary of the whole book and I got this weird feeling, you know?"
"Are they both descendants of Sarah Uley?" I asked.
"Yes, my son and my sister's son."
"Have you told anyone else?"
"No." He spoke solemnly. "I've just told Buck and now you."
"How old are the boys?"
"Eighteen and fifteen."
I was trying to think fast but my head spinning. "Can we come down there this weekend, my wife and I? We can help them."
"That would be great."
"And if you see them before then, tell them help is coming."
He gave me the address.
~O~
On Saturday morning, I told Paul he was in charge of the pack for the weekend. Leah and I ran through the woods in a nearly straight line to the Skokomish reservation. Leah had a backpack in her mouth with shoes, clothes, cell phones and some money. I led the way in case we ran into trouble.
When we got to the address, I could smell the wolves. They were definitely shifters. They were not around, though.
Leah and I both phased and got dressed. We went in to meet Thomas Willka, his wife, Ann and their two daughters. They were lovely people and they had refreshments waiting for us.
After a cordial chat, we brought Thomas to the woods and I phased. He started to fall backwards but Leah caught him.
"And you do this too?" he asked Leah.
"The books were not fables, as you guessed," Leah said. "Sam is going to go a little further into the woods and howl. The boys should recognize it as a shifter's howl, not a wolf howl."
"Are you werewolves?"
Leah smiled. "No. We're shape shifters who take the shape of wolves." She turned to me. "Go on, Sam, I'll take care of your cousin here."
I ran about a mile away and howled. Then I waited. I heard them yipping and running but they weren't in the pack mind with me. I yipped at them. Two wolves stood before me. One was dark gray, the other a pale brown, like Seth.
I phased to human. "Colin? Brady?"
They both nodded.
"I'm going to explain to you how to phase to human." I explained in agonizing detail how I did it and how other members of my pack did it. Colin phased first. A few minutes later, Brady was also standing in human form.
"Brady, your dad is waiting for us. Let's run and then we'll explain everything."
We ran back toward the house as humans. Leah had my shorts and Thomas had gotten shorts for the boys.
As we approached, Colin and Leah locked eyes. They were staring at each other for about a minute. It reminded me of Jared and Kim. I looked back and forth between them. Brady and Thomas looked pretty confused. I held up my finger, telling them to wait.
She turned to me. "I imprinted."
"I saw." I smiled down at her.
"What's that mean? What was that?" Colin asked.
"You two are going to be good friends," I said. "We'll get into all that. First, let's go over the basics." We all sat on lawn chairs and I started to tell them our legends, about Taha Aki and the cold ones.
"We smelled them," Brady said. " We smelled the cold ones. We never saw them though."
"Your legends say that descendents only phase on Quileute land. This is not Quileute land. I've never been to La Push," Colin said.
"I don't know how you phased so far away," I said honestly, "but we are facing a threat from the cold ones. Maybe you brushed up against the same threat we faced. Maybe that was enough to trigger the phase. Will you join our pack?"
"Yes," Colin said firmly with no hesitation. I respected his bravery.
"Uh, dad, can I?" Brady asked.
"I think you have to," Thomas answered. "Does that mean they have to live on your reservation?"
"For now, I think so," I said. I didn't see how this would work any other way.
"So what's imprinting?" Colin asked, looking at Leah. He wasn't looking at her lustfully, but he respected her. I liked him already.
I explained imprinting and my relationship with Leah.
"I'm gay anyway," Colin said. "You're very beautiful, Leah, probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I already know we'll be good friends, but I'm gay."
"Perfect." I said, my arm around Leah possessively.
Colin winked at me. He might have been flirting. Leah made snake eyes at him. They both laughed for a solid minute.
"Where would we live?" Brady asked.
"We could take one and my mom could take one," Leah suggested.
"You want Colin to live with us?" I asked. I did not see how that was going to work.
She nodded.
"Maybe my mom could take him," I suggested. At least she had room. We had none.
"But she needs her exercise room!" Leah protested.
"But we don't have a room!"
"You can build one," Leah said, stroking my forearm. Fuck. She was convincing. "We're going to need additions anyway if you want five kids."
"Mom, Dad," Colin addressed us cheekily, "no need to fight over me. I can sleep on the couch."
I sighed. "Maybe it's time I start drawing up plans to expand."
"What about school?" Thomas asked.
"I'll get them into the rez school," I said. "I still have a little bit of sway with the chief. Leah, why don't you call your mom and see if she can take Brady. Leah's got a brother, Seth, who's fourteen. He's a great kid. Leah's dad passed away shortly after we were married so I think the house is quieter than either of them like. It would be a good fit for you, Brady."
Leah took a short walk to call her mom.
"What year are you guys in?" I asked
"Senior and sophomore," Colin answered. "And you two have graduated, I assume?"
"I graduated and Leah's a senior."
"A married senior?! When's her due date?" Colin asked. That boy had some balls.
"She's not pregnant. It's a long story and I'm sure she'll tell you all about it."
"You bet I will," Leah said, returning to her seat. She reached out to hold my hand. "My mom's excited to meet you both. Now, we need to figure out the moving logistics."
"I just need my clothes." Colin said.
Brady laughed. "He has a lot of clothes."
"You're going to want to try them on now," Leah wisely suggested. "I had to replace most of my wardrobe after phasing."
Colin looked down at his body. "I don't mind tight," he said. This guy was going to be a handful.
"Sam doesn't either," Leah added.
"What do you mean?" I asked, giving her a little side eye.
"I mean, when you wear a shirt, it's always very tight. I don't mind though." She grinned. She was also a handful.
"So, packing and moving?" I changed the subject.
"You didn't bring a vehicle, huh?" Thomas asked.
"No, it was quicker to run, and we didn't really know how this would all go," I explained.
"Well, I've got a minivan," Thomas volunteered. "If they run back with you, I could drive their stuff over."