Levi hobbled over to pull the door to the auto shop open. The sound of the bell was drowned out by Michael’s yell. Sighing, Levi quickly entered the auto shop. Levi didn’t want to know what they were doing. He really didn’t want to know. Levi looked up and made eye contact with the young man behind the front desk. He glanced around the waiting room before hobbling over to the desk.

Levi paused when blue and amber eyes looked back at him. Had he seen…? Levi shook his head and leaned against the counter. “I’m here to pick up my vehicle.”

“Name?” He sounded bored as he pulled the keyboard closer and looked up at Levi.

“It should be under Sharpe. With an ‘e’ at the end.”

The young man behind the desk hummed. “Hate to break it to you, but you and your mom are the only Sharpes in the whole county. Probably in the tri-area.”

Levi raised a brow in question, “And you know this how?”

“Spent every summer here since I was five and lived the last three years here.” He pulled out a clipboard and papers. “Here, fill these out.” The bell over the door rang, and the young man behind the desk called out. “Allyssa.” There was a loud crash and a shout.

Levi watched as a dark-haired female appeared in a doorway leading out to the garage. “What, Laik?”

The young man behind the desk tossed a set of keys at the older teen. “Old red in the back.” Levi turned to look at the young man. Laik turned back to the computer. “Allyssa will be out in a moment. It’s parked out back.”

“Laik?” Levi jumped when Michael leaned against the high counter. “It is you! You’re looking more put together than the last time I saw you.”

Laik leveled a glare at Michael before he glanced at Levi and back to Michael. “And you're just as loud.”

Michael gave a laugh, “No, seriously, I’m glad you’re better.”

“You guys know each other?” Laik and Michael looked at him, and after a minute, it dawned on Levi. “Right, I forgot. So was it before or after we started living with Dad.”

Michael frowned, “Really, Levi? And yes, it was after. We can talk about it more when we get home.”

Levi grabbed the clipboard and shot a sneer at Michael as he turned away on his crutches. “Cause talking is your strong point.”

Michael groaned as he leaned against the counter and pressed his fingers against his temples. “I need to talk to Kevin. We might have to hold off on explanations.”

Laik hummed before asking. “Where’s the guard dog?”

“I don’t have-” Michael closed his eyes and sighed. “He’s outside. For the better, he’s got opinions about what Andrew decided on doing the last time we saw you.”

Laik paused in his typing to look at Michael. “I don’t regret my action near the end.” He started typing again. “I regret the choices that led up to that point.”

Levi flopped down on one of the chairs to start filling out the papers. He was in the middle of writing when an older man with graying hair walked in. “Michael! It’s been years.”

Michael gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry about the yelling, Kevin.”

“Where’s the other one?”

“Out front. He’s… stalling.”

Levi turned in his seat to see Cain near the corner of the building on a phone and smoking. He hadn’t pegged Cain as a smoker seeing as he didn’t smell like the awful smell of nicotine. When he turned back, he caught sight of a magazine on the small table next to his seat. He pushed one of the magazines to the side to get a better look at the image. When he caught sight of the wolf looking back from the cover, he slapped the magazine in his hand back down, grabbing Michael’s and Kevin’s attention.

When Levi found them looking at him, he gave a shaky grin. “Uh… sorry, thought I saw a bug.”

Kevin narrowed his eyes while Michael hummed. “I think I should have Cain take you home. You have homework, right?”

Levi rolled his eyes. “I’m not a child, Michael. I’m fine.”

“Yes, but you should be resting, and Grey still wants to ask questions about the attack.”

“I’m fine!” Levi looked back at the pile of magazines. “Besides, I wasn’t attacked; I was chased.” The sound of Levi’s truck pulling up in front of the building had Levi standing up and he handed the clipboard to Kevin. “I’ll be waiting in my truck. If you need me, I’ll be there.”

Cain was walking into the building when Levi shoved past him. “Woah.” he looked after Levi before looking at Michael. “You're really good at pissing him off.”

“It's not like I try!”

Kevin held his hands up. “Hold on.” He could see Allyssa getting out of the truck and approaching Levi. “Allyssa.” Allyssa reached up to tuck her long brown hair behind her ear. “Find out about what chased him.”

Cain rolled his eyes. “This, this is why I don’t work with weres.”

Michael groaned loudly, “Cain, I will burn your whole collection if you don’t stop.”

Laik let out a snort from where he was sitting and watching as everything happened. Cain noticed him and his eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”

“I work here. At least I don’t smell like I rolled around with a bear.”

Cain bristled. He went to lunge at Laik, but Michael cut him off just as Kevin smacked Laik on the back of his head. Laik hissed in pain and looked away. Kevin sighed and motioned to his office. “We can talk in my office. You said you had information for me.”

Michael shoved Cain towards the office. He grumbled but headed for the door with Michael following and Kevin right behind them. “Yes, it might tie in with what happened to Levi.”

Kevin paused in the doorway to look at Laik, who was doing his very best to glare a hole in the computer screen. “That was uncalled for. We’ll talk later.”

Laik whipped around to argue, but one angry look from his grandfather had him looking away and gritting his teeth. He reached over to flip the small mirror over, hiding the grinning shadow. Not today.

Levi walked to the front of his truck as Allyssa pulled her long brown hair up and went to pop the hood. “So we may have to figure out what happened.” The hood released, and she moved to stand next to him. She hoisted her shorter frame up onto the truck’s bumper and pointed out the plugs with a tanned hand that was stained with car fluids. “It looks like one of the spark plugs was loose.”

“But what caused the smoke?”

“That had me looking everywhere. But, honestly, your truck is well taken care of for its age and model. Kevin had me go over the whole truck with a fine tooth comb. Mostly for the officer reports. But I couldn’t find anything amiss, just your spark plug. It looks like it wiggled loose.”

Levi leaned against the truck, leaning his crutches next to him. “I don’t get it. Sometimes she’s moody and won’t turn on but she doesn’t shut off completely like she did. It was odd. And the smoke, where did that come from?”

Allyssa gave a shrug drawing Levi’s eyes to the knotted scar that stretched along her shoulder under her tank top strap. She sat down on the front of the truck and let her legs hang. “It’s quite simple. Someone could have poured something on the engine, and once it started heating up. Smoke.” Her gray-green eyes watched as Levi sighed and rested his head against the warm metal of the truck.

“I was afraid of that.” Levi looked up to find a curious look on her face. “What?”

“Well, I’m just wondering how you ended up in my foster family’s backyard.”

“Foster?”

“Yeah, the Hemmings. They took me in when I ran away from my last home.” She leaned closer to him. Levi leaned back, getting a little flustered as Allyssa smiled at him. “I’m curious. I wasn’t in the house when they found you, and my girlfriend said the school is buzzing with gossip.”

“Girl-”

“Yes, girlfriend. She said you were bi. At least it was obvious to her. So, what happened out there?”

Levi blinked and turned away. He fiddled with his crutches as his brain wrapped around the new information that he was told. “The school knows... I didn’t hear...”

“Mostly cause you hang out with Brian. He doesn’t like gossip, and he’s good at avoiding the gossiping crowds.” She nudged his side with her foot. “So, what really happened?”

“I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know.”

Levi frowned. “Yeah.” He looked at the scuffed boots Allyssa was wearing. “You’d probably think I was crazy or something.”

“Try me. I used to be a runway and lived on the streets. Nothing surprises me at this point.”

Levi looked up at Allyssa, “I think it was a large wolf?”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I was tired, so I don’t want to say for sure.” Levi eagerly added. “I could have been seeing things.”

“But were you?”

Levi slumped against his bumper. “I don’t know.”

Allyssa spoke up. “Sometimes talking to an outsider helps.”

Levi let out a puff of air. “I took a summer internship at an animal preserve in the last city I lived in. Hell, I visited one on a school field trip. I’ve seen wolves. They’re large, but they are not as big as a fucking bear.” He waved his hands in front of him. “And the second one was just as big if not bigger.”

Allyssa stood up and reached over her head to grab the hood. Levi moved away from the truck. She yanked down the hood as she jumped down. Then, turning to Levi, she looked up at him from her shorter height. “Well, I believe you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I believe you.” Allyssa handed him his keys. “There are some weird things in this world that live in the shadows.” She smiled at him as she tucked her hands into her pockets. “You’re lucky you outran whatever you think it was.” Allyssa turned to leave, only to stop and look at Levi. “We should hang out sometime.”

Levi grabbed his crutches to lean on them. “I… yeah, sure.”

“So a wolf?”

Levi jumped and hissed in pain. He turned around to find Cain leaning against the wall of the building. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Cain shrugged and shoved off the wall. “Keys. I’m driving you home.”

“And here I thought Michael would be annoying about it.”

“Kevin wanted to talk to him about family things.”

Levi frowned, “Family things?”

Cain shrugged as he held his hand out. “Not my business. Keys.”

Levi rolled his eyes and slapped his keys against Cain’s hand. “Don’t you hurt her, or I’ll punch you.”

Cain watched as Levi hobbled over to the passenger’s side. He quickly shot a look over his shoulder at the surrounding area. “Enya. I might need you to watch him.” Walking over to the driver’s side of the red truck, he watched as Levi clambered into the passenger seat. Levi was unable to protect himself. He wouldn't let anything happen to Levi.