We walked outside. I noticed Sean was looking at the bandage on the back of my neck. I caught his gaze with my own.

"How's he treating you?" he asked.

I tried to think of words to appease both my brother and the magic. "H-he's giving me space. I barely see h-him."

He frowned. "I have one more thing for you," he said.

I tried to keep myself steady in spite of the trembling that wracked me at the idea that I was going to have even more things than the ridiculous pile of trespass already sitting in my room.

If Sean noticed he did not say anything, but instead he walked toward the pickup truck. Dave was sitting in the front seat and Terrence was already in the backseat of the extended cab.

As Sean made his way around the vehicle, I felt a less concentrated prickling, like the one that informed me that my false leader or Karen or Dan was nearby, but it felt a little bit different.

Sean opened the door and leaned into the truck.

Someone I had not yet met came up beside me and I felt familiar terror at the presence of a member of my new false pack. I could tell she was female from the lightness of her steps and I could tell she was another werewolf by the faint scent of magic just barely detectable with my human nose.

As usual, I could not look at her face, but I could see from my peripheral vision that she was shorter than me, which was quite a feat since I was not particularly tall myself. I managed to get my eyes up from her heeled boots to the bottom of her black skirt before my eyes skittered away.

She either did not notice or politely ignored my discomfort. "Hi, you must be Elise."

I managed a nod.

"I heard what happened," she told me with that note of sympathy everyone seemed to have when they spoke to me now.

I did not know what to say.

"I just happened to spot you when I came by to see Serge," she explained.

At the sound of his name I felt the magic flare up. I made myself nod again as if I did not feel like dissolving to the ground in terror.

She seemed about to say something else, when Sean started walking back towards the spot where I stood rooted like a tree with this unknown pack member next to me.

"Hey, who's your friend?" Sean asked as he walked towards me.

"U-um," I began hesitantly.

"Jodi," the girl beside me supplied. Of course, I could not see her face, but I did see a revoltingly appreciative expression cross Sean's. I supposed my stupid brother liked what he saw. Gross.

I wondered if she was one of the people in my unknown pile of photos. Perhaps I would ask Karen later. The curse's shivers disagreed anxiously, warning me my thoughts were getting out of line.

"I'm Sean, Elise's brother. Nice to meet you," my brother said.

"You, too," she said. "Are you leaving so soon?"

"Well, my friends and I brought my sister's stuff for her, but we've got to head back soon. Dave's on patrol tonight and Terrence and I have training."

"I'll bet you train a lot," she commented.

"As much as anyone. We've got to be ready for the next attack. What about you?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. Sean never cared about details like that normally.

"I do mandatory training, of course, but mostly I work in pack management," she explained. "I just dropped some documents off for Serge and I was on my way back when I noticed your sister and decided to introduce myself."

I felt the same shivers I usually felt at the sound of his name and barely heard the rest of what she said.

"Well, I know from my own pack that those jobs are very important to keep everything running smoothly," Sean said.

He was definitely going over the top with his attempt at flattering her. Sean disliked the paperwork part of leadership immensely. He had often opined that we would be better off without all those meddlesome administrators.

I wanted to interrupt them, but I could not make words come out of my mouth. Instead, I kicked Sean with the side of my leg, although I paid for it with the ice that shot down my back and through my errant limb as if running along my nerves.

It apparently brought him back to reality. "Well, I wish I had more time, but I've got to talk to Elise before I head back."

"It was really nice meeting you," she said sweetly.

"You too," he agreed.

Jodi walked away. I saw Sean glance after her and I rolled my eyes. Was it not enough I was cursed; did I really have to watch my brother pathetically flirt with a member of my false pack?

Sean in concert with the chill of the curse interrupted my internal bemoaning.

"Dad got you this," Sean said, handing me a box.

I could not help but remember the box still on the coffee table inside and I felt fear shoot through me.

"Open it," he prompted. I did, although it was difficult. I saw what looked a lot like a smart phone, which would be fairly pointless since there were no cell towers for probably more than a hundred kilometres.

I glanced at him questioningly, keeping my gaze studiously from the departing pack member as I did.

Then I realized what this might be and I felt a glimmer of pleasure. "Is it...?"

He nodded. "A satellite phone."

"I've wanted a phone for years and all I had to do was get cursed for dad to get me one?" I asked with a trace of real humour, turning the shiny piece of tech over in my hand.

"I know, right? I wonder if Serge would bite me too, if I asked him," Sean joked as he passed me a case.

"Ugh, you're terrible. You shouldn't make light of my s-suffering," I complained, but I felt good, almost normal for one beautiful moment.

"I just think it's more likely that we'll find a cure for the curse than for dad to give me a sweet piece of tech like this," he said with exaggerated wide eyes and a humorously serious face.

I laughed a bit. It was funny because it was almost true. "You just have to hold out until you're the leader one day."

"Yeah, but then I won't be fun anymore. I've seen what leading does. Meetings and budgets and defence twenty-four seven."

I smiled with false sweetness. "Maybe I'll just have to remind you then. Or maybe you'll be so jealous of my awesome new phone that you'll never be able to get it out of your head."

"You're cruel, sis."

I grinned at him and I almost felt it.

"Anyways, dad wanted me to give you a bunch of directions. First of all, be careful with it, it's expensive. Don't use it for unimportant things. Dad said it's like three bucks a text or something or per minute on a call or whatever. Point is he'll be pissed if you rack up the bill too much. No one should be able to trace you. You've got satellite internet VPN; you've got a signal scrambler, too. Keep the case on, it's waterproof and will protect the phone from getting broken. Obviously it's the same rules for the internet as ever and only if it's important."

He concluded, "Common sense stuff, really, but I had to listen to him go on for twenty long minutes that I will never get back."

I nodded sweetly at him. He would either see it as thanks or be annoyed with me, either of which was fine as far as I was concerned.

"Thanks for taking one for the team, bro," I said. I felt something I had not felt in a while, bantering with my brother over something stupid. It felt like a spark of good, a piece of sweet normalcy in a dark life that now that stretched out before me as frighteningly alien.

"You owe me. You may have asked him for one, but I mounted an informational campaign on him. Most of the stuff he told me to tell you he probably got from me in the first place," he grumbled.

"Tell him thanks for me," I said.

"Tell him yourself. He got himself one, too. Number's already in the contacts. I'm the only one without, because he'll let Moramay use his," he complained.

I ignored his whining and hugged him impulsively. He hugged me back, twice in one day. He was never a hugger, but apparently I could get away with stuff like that right now. "I love you, big brudder," I said, just to push my luck.

I did not have to see his face to know he rolled his eyes at me.

I suddenly realized I really missed him. I suppose I had not properly appreciated him when I had lived in the same house as his smelly socks and his filthy habits and his voracious eating of everything I liked before I could get to it. None of that seemed important now.

He set me backwards. "How are you doing, really?" he asked.

"Not great," I admitted.

He frowned.

"But they're trying," I said before the magic could completely attack me for stating forbidden truths.

"They better be," he said darkly. I swallowed at his tone.

"Maybe, you could..." I began, but then the magical submission began to seize me; apparently I had gone too far. I felt my body begin to shake again. I crouched and set the phone down on the ground quickly so that I would not drop it.

"Maybe I could what?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I can't, the magic," I gasped. I had thought maybe he could come stay for longer than a few hours some day, but it was clear that daring to make the suggestion was too much for the curse to allow.

"Elise." He sounded concerned.

I shook my head again and tried to ignore the cold shivers and waves of fear winding down my bones. "It's getting a bit better, Sean. Don't worry about me. Focus on what you need to do to keep us safe."

He nodded although he did not look happy. "Dad called Doctor Alexi and asked her to come back the territory. We're going to find a way out of this mess."

"I know," I lied.

"Bye, Elise."

"Bye, Sean," I responded and I managed to give him a little wave as he walked away and got into the driver's side of dad's truck.

I watched until the truck wound out of sight. I felt sad, but at least it was my own sadness for once and not the magic's constant manipulations of my mind.

* * * * * * * * *