Chapter Eighteen #2
I leave him to it and turn my attention back to Julian who is still staring at me. I’m not sure if this is some kind of werewolf ritual I’m not privy to, or maybe he’s just sizing me up to figure out the best way to devour me. Either way, he’s quiet and I’ll take it.
“Do you want to go back to your house?” I ask as I slowly try to stand again. He growls, prepared to strike again, so there I am, sitting in the middle of some field with a wolf fixated on me.
“How the hell did you end up in my life?” I ask as I reach out to his face. He growls, showing me some pretty impressive fangs, but I persist, sliding my fingers into the fur on the side of his face and tugging his ear.
Julian slowly stops growling and leans into my touch.
“If you knew who I was, you wouldn’t be so kind to me,” I say.
He’s back to watching me closely, his head tilted into my hand.
“I’ve hurt and killed so many people that I don’t deserve this kindness. I don’t deserve someone like you trying to make me a better person.”
Fuck.
I dig my fingers into his fur as I lean back, squeezing him to me. It’s odd being able to sit here and tell him anything, knowing he isn’t going to remember it. Because how the fuck do I tell him that? How the fuck do I tell him what a monster I am and expect him not to despise me?
He’s still watching me, blue eyes fixated on everything I do. Pulling him up higher, I squeeze him to me. He closes his eyes and sinks down onto me, no longer fighting against me. Is it his half-human nature that’s made him easy to calm down?
Honestly, I don’t know what it is, but even now that he’s calmed down, I find myself not wanting to pick him up. All I want to do is sit here and hold him as the night stretches on because I like pretending I deserve a person like him.
I can run my fingers over his fur and listen to the noise nature makes as I keep him close.
As morning nears, he shifts back into his human form, but he doesn’t wake up, even when I pick him up and carry him back to his house.
I set him down on his bed and lift his hands where I see the tips of his fingers are bloody.
I can’t tell if he hit the ground and scuffed them or what happened, but they’re not too severe and once he wakes up, we can clean them.
I pull a blanket over him before covering the window and pushing his dresser in front of it to guarantee the light is blocked for the most part.
I’m old enough I wouldn’t immediately die from some light creeping in, but I still have no interest in testing it.
I text Ezio to bring Gustov since I won’t be able to get to him in the morning.
And while I finish blocking the windows to keep the sun out once it rises, Ezio knocks on the door.
I walk over to it and find him waiting with an excited Gustov.
There’s no car in the driveway, so he either ran the whole way here carrying Gustov or paid for a ride.
“Hey, I finally found his mother, no thanks to you,” he says.
“Was she sitting in a car in the driveway?” I ask.
Ezio refuses to look at me as Gustov prances around. I notice his hair is in pigtails for some reason and scowl at Ezio. “Did you treat him with cruelty?”
“What? He pulled it out and I fixed it. I made it even cuter.”
“No.”
“You’re so fussy. Do you want me to stay with Julian?”
“Absolutely not.”
“So touchy. Here.” He hands me Gustov’s leash and a bag with dog food as he smiles. “There you go. Have fun curling up with the floofs.”
I grunt at him.
“I told that prick as he ran off that he’s picked a fight with the wrong guy. I also left a present in his pocket.”
“I’m scared to ask what that is.”
“My car keys.”
“Why?”
“You ask why?” Ezio flashes me his phone. “My key ring has a tracker on it since I kept… forgetting them at random houses.”
I grab his phone and look at the map with a little red dot. Have I wrongfully accused Ezio of being useless this entire time?
“I’ll need you to watch Julian during the evening,” I decide.
“Or maybe I could help you?”
“Watch Julian.”
“Fine, fine. I suppose it is the more important job. I will pamper both the puppers.”
“I see. Thank you for being useful.”
“You say that like I’m not always useful,” Ezio says as he dramatically leans against the doorframe like he’s going to pose for me.
When I ignore him, his stance falters a bit. “You’re so evil at heart. Be safe here. You don’t want to burn into a crisp. That would not be super fun.”
“I like how you imply that it could just be regular fun.”
“Right?” He gives me a happy smile as he stuffs his hand into my pants pocket, grabs my keys, gives my face a soft pat, Gustov a pet, and proceeds to get into my car and drive off.
With him gone, I head back to Julian’s room.
He’s dead to the world, even when Gustov leaps into his bed and flops down on top of him.
Since the sun will be up soon, I don’t worry about him shifting and running off on another rampage, so I jump into the shower before grabbing some of his clothes which I pull on before climbing into the bed with Gustov between us.
And I question again… what the hell I’m doing.