But the footsteps stopped. Reversed and then came back.
Tommy held his breath.
The dresser scraped. Something heavy, very heavy, shifted off the top of the toy box with a sound like stone grinding against stone. The latch clicked. Light flooded in, blinding and golden, and Tommy blinked up at the silhouette that filled the doorway like a wall of dark scales and patient, amber eyes.
Voss looked down at him. The wolf’s massive frame blocked the light, casting Tommy in shadow, and for a moment neither of them moved. Then Voss’s mouth curved just slightly, just at the corner, and he reached into the box with both hands.
"Up."
Tommy reached for him. The wolf pulled, and Tommy came out of the box in a cascade of stuffed animals, wooden blocks, and approximately three litres of accumulated water that splashed across the hardwood floor.
He landed on his knees, then his hands, then sat back on his heels, dripping and breathing hard. The clipboard clattered to the floor beside him. His radio lay somewhere in the wreckage of plush toys, still dead, still useless.
Voss looked at the puddle spreading across the floor. Looked at Tommy. Looked back at the puddle.
Tommy wiped his face with both hands. "Indoor pool! fel will love it."
Voss’s frown deepened.
"Stay there," Voss said, and his voice was low, rough, the kind of gravel that meant he was calculating something unpleasant. He turned from Tommy and walked to the doorway, and Tommy heard the soft pad of his bare feet stop, then the low growl that vibrated through the floorboards.
Tommy looked up.
Luna stood in the hall with her white curls sticking out in every direction, one of her stuffed toys clutched to her chest. Her pointed ears swivelled forward, then back, then forward again. Behind her, Frost stood very still with his back pressed flat against the wall, his pale blue-grey eyes wide and watchful, frost crystals already gathering at his fingertips.
"Inside," Voss said.
Luna walked in. Frost followed. Neither of them looked at Tommy.
Voss shut the door behind them. The click of the latch made Tommy’s stomach drop in a way that had nothing to do with the toy box.
The wolf stood with his back against the door, arms crossed, and Tommy watched those amber eyes move from Luna to Frost to the puddle on the floor to the wreckage of toys. The silence stretched. Tommy could hear water dripping from his own clothes onto the hardwood.
"Explain," Voss said.
Luna lifted her chin. "He was being loud."
"He was doing his job."
"He wouldn’t let us have popcorn."
"Because your mother said after dinner."
"Mummy said after dinner," Frost repeated quietly, and the frost at his fingers thickened. "Not Tommy, Tommy said no."
Voss’s jaw tightened. Tommy could see the muscle working under the scarred skin, and he recognised that look, the one that meant the wolf was holding something back, something complicated.
"You locked him in a box," Voss said.
"I made a shield," Frost said, and there was something almost proud in the way he straightened his small shoulders. "A real shield, like the other dads."
Tommy watched Voss’s expression shift. Something moved behind his eyes, not quite hardening, but pride, maybe. The kind of pride that made a man’s chest ache and his temper worse.
"It was a good shield," Voss said, and Tommy blinked. "Strong. Thick." He glanced at Tommy. "How long?"
"Feels like three days," Tommy said. "Could’ve been forty-five minutes. Hard to tell when you’re drowning in stuffed animals."
"Thirty minutes," Voss corrected. He looked back at Frost. "Thirty minutes, cub. That’s a shield that holds. That’s a wall that would stop a grown man."
Frost’s chest puffed out. The frost spread to his wrists.
"And you," Voss said, turning to Luna. "You moved the dresser. By yourself."
Luna’s ears perked forward. "It wasn’t heavy."
"It weighs two hundred kilos."
"I just thought it."
Voss was quiet for a long moment. Tommy watched the wolf’s ears angle toward the children, then flatten slightly, then angle again. Calculating. Weighing pride against discipline, the way another man might weigh rations.
"You disobeyed," Voss said finally. "Your mother told you to listen to Tommy. I told you to listen to Tommy. You did not listen to Tommy."
Luna’s lower lip pushed out. Frost’s knuckles flexed.
"You used your magic against someone who was watching you. Someone who cares about you." Voss’s voice dropped lower. "You could have hurt him."
"I wouldn’t hurt Tommy," Luna said, and her voice cracked just slightly. "He’s one of ours."
"Then act like it."
The room went quiet. Tommy sat in his puddle and tried very hard to look like he wasn’t enjoying this.
Voss pushed off the door. He crossed the room in three strides and crouched in front of the cubs, bringing himself down to their level. From this angle, Tommy could see the way the wolf’s massive shoulders blocked out the light, the way the children leaned into him instinctively despite everything.
"You’re strong," Voss said. Quiet. Certain. "Both of you. Stronger than you should be. Stronger than most cubs twice your age." He looked at Frost. "Your shield is real. It’s not a toy." He looked at Luna. "Your mind can move things that should break your bones; that’s not a game."
Frost’s eyes were shining. Luna’s ears trembled.
"But strength without discipline gets people killed." Voss held their gaze. "It gets you killed. It gets Tommy killed. It gets your mother killed. You understand?"
Frost nodded. Luna nodded harder.
"Good." Voss stood. "Snacks, now, hand them over."
Luna’s face crumpled. "But!"
"Now."
She reached into the pocket of her dress and produced a crumpled packet of popcorn. Frost pulled a half-eaten granola bar from somewhere behind his back. Voss took both without ceremony and set them on the windowsill, well out of reach.
"Clean this room," he said. "Every toy. every drop of water. The floor is dry when I come back."
"But it’s water," Luna protested.
"Then you’ll be cleaning for a while."