Chapter 13 #2
“Whoah, you sure had energy to burn,” Arlo remarked as we strolled out of the gym. “I’m impressed you could bench press those 125-pound bars.”
“Yeah, so am I. Guess I got some newfound strength along with my shifting.”
I wish I could talk to him about what’s going on with me and Tippy, but it just seems like too much is happening inside my head.
Arlo leaves me at the end of our street. “How about we take you guys out tonight? There’s a new restaurant in town, Fangs Fine Dining, we’ve been wanting to try. And what better time than now, with you and Tippy?”
I said I’d have to check with her, but that I guessed she’d be rapt.
Then we parted ways and I jogged back toward our den, rehearsing my lines and striding in before I could get cold feet or my wolf could sabotage my plan.
But now that I’m here, Tippy is staring at me all flustered and red in the face, like she wishes I was a million miles away.
She doesn’t say a word after I’ve burst out with my request to talk.
I pause, frowning. “What’s the matter?”
“N-nothing.”
“You’re all red in the face.”
“Oh, um, potions, on the stove, um…” She flaps a little hand at the empty stove.
I frown. “The stove’s not on.”
She huffs something under her breath and slams the book on the table shut. “What are you reading?” I ask, trying to tone down the weird energy.
“Just spells.” She pushes it aside, then stands in front of the table. I take a step closer and she folds her arms.
My nostrils flare. She smells exquisite, as always, but much more so right now. My senses reel and my wolf stirs dangerously in my groin.
Hell! I’m here to apologize, not get turned on.
She juts her little jaw and stares at me. “What do you want to talk about?”
“The reason why you’re pissed as hell with me.”
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. Is it… about what happened at Bait and Tackle?”
She huffs, shrugs. There’s a long moment of silence before she says, “Yeah, that was out of order. You’re not the same since you shifted.” She sniffs, little nose tilted up in that snotty way she has.
I really want this to stop. I want her to look at me like she used to. Which means getting it all out in the open, like lancing a wound.
I inhale a deep breath. “Okay, tell me all the shitty things I’ve done. Get it all out of your system.”
She looks taken aback. And then her eyes spark.
I see her breasts rise sharply as she takes a deep breath. “Okay, if you really want to know… I’m pissed at you for not telling me you were a wolf for three years. Three whole years. All that time you kept me in the dark.”
“I had no choice.”
“You did Jax, it’s called telling the truth.”
“And then what?” I feel my lip curl. “You’d just have huffed off, saying you don’t associate with wolves. Besides, it was highly sensitive information, I didn’t even share it with Clem.”
She grunts. “And that tattoo on your arm. You lied about that, said you got it to cover your scars. When really, it’s the Trojan pack coat of arms.”
“Not identical. I didn’t get the wolf head in the center of the flames. That’s only for pack leaders.”
“Oh duhh,” she huffs. She flounces over to the kitchen, opens the fridge, grabs a cucumber and a sharp knife and starts fiercely dicing and chopping.
I’m clearly getting this all wrong. Defending myself won’t work. I need to do better.
I move over to her side, standing as close as I dare.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the tattoo.
But it was part of an initiation ceremony, and I was sworn to keep it quiet.
It was only after I shifted to rescue Clem that I was free to talk about being wolfen.
Even now I have to be cautious. Word can’t get to Sparkle…
their head honcho knows who I am from way back. ”
She frowns. “How come?”
I shake my head. “It’s too hard to explain.”
“There you go again, not telling me things.”
“If I told you how I feel about you, would that help?”
Her eyes fly to mine. “I dunno.” She shrugs and goes back to her chopping, even more fiercely. “You’re wolfen now, so it’s kind of ruined everything.”
“Ruined what?” I edge closer.
Her breathing gets more irregular. I see the rise and fall of her chest, her nipples pressing against the material of her tee. She’s aroused. That’s what her scent is.
“What did my wolf ruin, Tip?”
“Nothing, I mean—I don’t know… Maybe. If you’d been honest… Or stayed human.”
“Which means I’d still be a peripheral. With no free will… to date who I choose…”
She stops and turns to me, her eyes bright. “Did you date? When you were a peripheral?”
“Yeah, I dated.”
She’s blushing furiously now. “Did you… Did you…”
“Fuck, you mean?” I sense her bristling. And because she’s being so stubborn and difficult, I want to dig in my own metaphorical knife and give it a little twist.
“Yeah, I fucked,” I drawl.
“Great, I’m so happy for you,” she snaps. “Frankly, that was too much information.”
“You asked.”
“You didn’t need to tell the truth.”
At which my wolf and I both howl in unison. “That’s irrational. You just attacked me for not telling you the truth. You can’t cherry pick what version of the truth you want.”
She snorts and resumes chopping. Bits of cucumber fly everywhere.
I remind myself that I’m not here to wind her up. I’m here to tell her she means the fucking world to me. And I’m totally messing it up, yet again.
I watch her clutch the knife tighter. It’s a risk to take it from her, but one I’m prepared to take.
“None of it meant anything,” I say softly, easing the knife out of her hand, placing it down and taking her by the shoulders. I turn her toward me. “When you have a chip in your neck you can’t do relationships.”
“You can’t do them without a chip either,” she mutters, but she doesn’t move away.
“You really think that?”
“I dunno. Yeah, probably.”
“Tell me why.”
She shrugs, not meeting my gaze. “Because you’re emotionally stunted, maybe. But I guess you can blame your wolf now, not the chip in your neck.”
I let out another growl. “Fuck, that’s hitting below the belt.”
She hesitates, glancing up at me, and her eyes cloud. Just for a moment, long enough to show me she regrets that comment. “I-I—,” she stammers.
That gives me the opening I need.
I take a deep breath. Now or never. “So, I guess asking if you’ll date me is out of the question then?”
She blinks. Once, twice. “I’m a wixen, the only one of my generation. I can’t be seen to, you know… date a wolf. I think we should end this conversation right now, Jax.”
But still she doesn’t move away from me.
I lock eyes with her and for a moment it feels like she might lean closer. But then, with an expletive, she pushes past me and flounces over to the table. “I’m going to take my spell book and go study in my room.”
She makes to grab the book and my wolf rears up inside of me. You’re going to let her leave, are you? After all the groveling you just did?
Maybe it’s my wolf or maybe it’s me who that acts fast, but as she makes to walk off, I stride over, grab her arm and swing her around to face me. The book goes flying, pages spilling out everywhere.
“Oh goddess.” She lets out a broken little cry and bends down to gather up the pages. I bend down to help her.
And what I see makes me freeze.
Old yellowed drawings, inscribed by a pen, finely etched.
Scenes of monsters in cages, and weapons firing, and…
A wolfman, in coitus with a woman. I bend my head, looking closer, my heart racing.
Not a woman. Not quite. I see her thick, soft tail, curling around his thigh as he is about to penetrate her.
“Don’t look at that,” Tippy screams hysterically. She pulls my head around with urgent fingers.
“Jax. STOP IT.” And now she’s on all fours and so am I. We’re panting hard, facing each other, so, so close. “Just STOP!!!!”
Our gazes lock.
Her tail is flicking from side to side above her arched back. Her eyes flash and her nostrils flare. For a second, she shifts into full vixen. And I see the tip of her black nose, her whiskers, her tongue tip and her tiny sharp incisors.
And then she grabs my chin in her sharp little claws and bites me hard on the lower lip.