Every time we fought, Winifred did the same thing, then waited for me to grovel my way through every trick in the book to win her back.
But this time.
I suddenly didn't want to. I couldn't shake the feeling that in Winifred's family's eyes, I ranked far below Christian.
*Guess who I saw today?*
The alpha wolf's voice cut into my thoughts.
*Don't tell me it was that Christian guy?*
*Bingo. Only he came alone today. Didn't bring his little sweetheart.*
*That woman's called Winnie-something. The two of them are always kissing and pawing at each other under the tree, snapping selfies too. No shame at all.*
*Got a little too wild once and dropped some card thing they kept talking about! Right near the gold.*
The pack went back and forth, howling nonstop, exactly like the old women gossiping down by the village gate.
My eyelids twitched like mad, and I locked onto that one word: "Winnie."
Could it be Winifred?
The next second, I threw the idea out.
If it were Winifred, she could have cut me off completely a long time ago. No reason to drag it out until now.
That night.
I took a flashlight up the hills behind the zoo, finally found the marked spot, and started digging.
Two hours later, nothing.
All I'd done was wear myself out.
Had the alpha remembered the spot wrong?
Had I just been played by a pack of wolves?
While I was still puzzling over it, my phone buzzed. My father.
"You're a grown man. What's it going to cost you to swallow your pride? Go make things right with Winifred, now."
"If your bride walks out on you, it'll be too late to be sorry."
He laid into me.
"Dad, it wasn't my fault."
I'd barely started to explain before he cut me off.
"Enough. Who's right and who's wrong doesn't matter. You two agreed to marry by year's end. Don't you go pulling any stunts."
"You're thirty. If this really falls apart, where are you going to find another wife?"
"Buy a gift tomorrow and go apologize."
His voice was cold.
"Dad, I'm not a kid. I know what I'm doing——"
"You don't know a damn thing. Do as I say!"
The line went dead.
I rubbed my temples, shouldered the shovel, and headed home to sleep. I'd come back tomorrow night.
The next day.
I took the alpha up the hills behind the zoo again.
When our walk brought us to the marked spot.
The alpha stared at the big pit, froze, then turned its head to look at me.
*New guy. Don't tell me you dug this?*
I kept my face calm.
Pretended I knew nothing.
The alpha marked its spot as it kept muttering away in its head: *Whoever dug this had no patience at all. Just a little deeper and they'd have hit the gold.*
*Back when I was still a pup, I saw the old geezer bury it with my own eyes.*
My heart was pounding. I pulled out two big drumsticks and tossed them to the alpha.
It howled and pounced, gnawing like crazy, then stopped short and glanced at the dirt turned up to one side.
*Huh? Isn't that the card thing? Never mind, forget it. Chowing down comes first!*
I followed its gaze and saw it: a camera memory card!
Yesterday the pack had said there were selfie videos of Christian and his sweetheart on it.
Maybe it could be the leverage I needed on Christian. See how he kept playing the good guy after that, kept bragging.
So I snatched it up, took it back to the zoo, wiped it clean, and slotted it into the computer.
It actually opened!
More than three hundred videos!
I clicked one at random, and the moment I saw what was on it, my eyes went wide.
