They return to find men at the Bennett house. Osmond is among them. He is appalled to realize that Joe and Ox are courting and protests that Ox is human. Thomas tells him there is no room for speciesism in Green Creek and to mind his own business. They wait for Gordo to arrive with Ox’s mother. Thomas tells him that tethers will pull during difficult times and that he has to hold on very tightly. Osmond tells them that Richard Collins has escaped his magical prison. Gordo realizes that his own father must have helped Richard escape. When Gordo walks out, Ox follows him. Gordo tries to leave, but Ox insists that he stay and that they work together.

Joe admits that there’s more about the pack that Ox doesn’t know. He explains that Thomas was the highest-ranking Alpha among all the wolves, the leader of all packs. He’d stepped down when Joe was taken, but the position is a birthright, and it’s meant to be Joe’s.

The pack trains and prepares, but Ox’s mother is captured by Richard Collins. Richard makes Ox choose: He will release Maggie if Ox lures Thomas and Joe to their house. It’s an impossible choice and, in the end, it’s not Ox who makes it. Maggie fights back and dies in the process.

Ox runs outside the magic-dampened house and howls, but the wolves get there too late. Ox is shattered and says that he wants to go after Richard Collins and kill him. The group thinks Richard is probably heading to the clearing where their families had once spent time together. Thomas tries to get Ox to stay behind, but he refuses.

The pack meets Richard and his Omegas in the clearing. Richard taunts them, but it isn’t until he speaks to Joe that Ox, Kelly, and Carter attack. A violent fight ensues and does not go the pack’s way. There are many Omegas in the trees and they come out to attack. Then they are betrayed by Osmond, who hits Joe so hard that he flies into a tree, his back snapping.

Ox sees that the Omegas have forced Thomas to kneel before Richard Collins. Richard tells Thomas that he blames him for the deaths of his family. Ox musters the strength to move, and he stabs Richard with the silver-laced crowbar. Before Richard can kill Ox, Gordo uses magic to move the earth.

Thomas takes Ox into the woods and starts talking to him about how the pack will need him and how heavy the weight of the Alpha is. He wants Ox to become a wolf and take the Alpha from him because he is dying. Before Ox can respond, Richard Collins finds them again—and they fight. Before Richard can kill Ox, Joe appears in wolf form. Then Gordo arrives and uses his magic.

Joe kneels over his father and implores him to get up. Richard, trapped by magic, tells Joe that he can save Thomas. Joe is tempted, but Ox talks him down. Joe accepts that his father is dying and takes the Alpha from him by puncturing his chest with his claws. Thomas dies.

Richard, Osmond, and the Omegas run away, but the pack is occupied with grieving their fallen Alpha. Elizabeth, in wolf form, brings Ox to Thomas’s body with the rest of the pack. Ox takes his place by Joe’s side as the mate of the Alpha. Ox howls his sorrow, and the wolves join him, singing their pain and loss.

The next few days move quickly. They concoct a cover story about a burglary gone wrong to explain Maggie’s death and claim that Thomas is away on business. They bury Maggie and burn Thomas’s body. After Thomas’s pyre, Ox tells Joe that they have to find and kill Richard Collins, that they can’t let this happen to anyone else.

The wolves have secret meetings without Ox, and he is too full of grief and despair to care. He’s busy trying to keep the pack together, providing comfort and company to everyone and making sure that Elizabeth eats. Joe hardly speaks to Ox but whispers with others and stops talking when Ox is in earshot. Angry, Ox goes to the shop, Where the men—Rico, Tanner, and Chris—love and comfort him.

Ox walks home, but Joe isn’t waiting for him on the dirt road. It hurts. He goes to his own house instead of to the Bennetts. Some of the other wolves had cleaned the house, but Maggie’s blood soaked into the living room floor and could not be removed. Ox finds himself outside in the grass, on his knees, vomiting. Joe comes to him quickly, talking once again, telling Ox that it’s all overwhelming and he doesn’t know what to do. He tells Ox that he’s made a decision and that they have to talk.

Joe, Carter, Kelly, and Gordo are going to leave and find and kill Richard Collins. He lets it slip that he had told all of them days ago, leaving only Ox in the dark. They argue. Ox asks for how long they’ll be gone; Joe says for as long as it takes. Ox argues more, insisting that he go, too, but Joe holds firm. He says that he’s lost so much but that losing Ox would kill him. Ox tells him to live with the consequences of his decision and leaves.

Ox goes into the woods, but Gordo finds him and says that he agrees with Joe that Richard Collins needs to be caught. Like Joe, he wants Ox to stay home where he will be safer. Ox tells him that he should talk to Mark before leaving because there’s a chance he won’t come back, and important things will be left unsaid. Gordo tells Ox that he should also talk to Joe. Carter and Kelly approach as wolves, wanting forgiveness and reassurance from Ox. Mark and Elizabeth follow; Elizabeth is in wolf form, and Mark says he thinks she’ll stay that way for a while so that she can process the loss.

Ox finds Joe and tells him he wants the bite. He wants to become a wolf. Joe says no—a newly turned wolf would need its Alpha close, but he’ll be gone. They argue more and Joe breaks down crying, telling Ox that even after all the things that had happened to him in his life, he had never been as afraid as when he thought Richard Collins was going to hurt Ox. Ox holds him, and they lie in bed together. He tries not to fall asleep because he knows that when he wakes, Joe will be gone. They kiss once, sweetly.

Ox wakes in the morning. For a moment he is disoriented, and he thinks everything is the way it used to be, but then he remembers. He tries to feel Joe, Kelly, Carter, and Gordo through the bonds, but they’re gone. The loss is overwhelming. He realizes there is an object in his hand—it’s Joe’s wolf.

Joe texts every few days upon Ox’s request. These exchanges are brief, only a few words at a time. Tanner, Chris, and Rico from the shop are distressed to find out that Gordo will be gone indefinitely. Ox tells them the truth about werewolves and witches, and the men start coming to the Bennett house more and more often. Elizabeth does not shift out of wolf form. A young man, close to Ox’s age, arrives to replace Osmond and support the pack. His name is Robbie. He has heard a lot about Ox—the werewolf world is abuzz with speculation about him. Ox is wary and doesn’t give his trust easily. The guys from the shop feel the alarm over the bonds and rush to the house to help fight. Everyone is unsure of how those bonds are forming because Ox is neither a wolf nor has been given the Alpha.

During Joe’s absence, his texts become less and less regular. Robbie stays at “the old house”—Ox and Maggie’s former home (259). Ox has nightmares about his mother’s death and misses Joe. When Joe finally texts after two weeks of silence, Ox calls him until he picks up. Ox rants at him, but Joe says nothing. They stay on the phone for an hour, listening to each other breathe.

Six months after Joe and the others left, Ox realizes they can’t keep going on as though the rest of the pack will return soon. Elizabeth still hasn’t shifted back. Mark is quiet. The humans don’t know what to do. Ox faces his grief and enters his mother’s bedroom. His courage inspires Elizabeth to shift to her human form. They resume Sunday dinners. They find out that Robbie hasn’t had a pack in a long time and that the bonds he forms are usually temporary. Elizabeth tells Ox that Robbie fits with them. At dinner, Elizabeth directs Ox to her old seat at the foot of the table. They leave Thomas’s former seat open for Joe. At the end of the first year, Joe texts Ox that he’s sorry—and then stops texting all together.