Chapter Twenty-Three #3
“It… Weston’s given me shit for years and I’ve put up with it.
You cannot seriously point fingers at me for being uncompliant.
And it was literally a bit of fun… for me.
Not Weston.” I hesitate before shaking my head as I realize how angry I am that he’s again pointing at what I did and claiming it to be wrong.
I jab a finger at him as I continue. “You know what? Fuck this. Fuck working with you. Maybe I’ll fucking fight you instead and make this my pack and help them see some goddamn reason because you just constantly fight me every step of the way.
You’re supposed to be my dad . You know what’s funny?
I used to be unsure if you even cared about me.
I was positive you only cared about the fact that I wasn’t one of your pack members until I nearly died.
And seeing you sob over the top of me, forgetting this stupid war you have raging in your head and begging Casimir for help made me realize that no…
he really does love me. And then you say shit like this, and I just go back to wondering again. ”
Dad looks down and I’m surprised he appears a bit ashamed of himself.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. But I’m trying.
I really am. I might not be the best at this shit, but I’ve gone to the meetings you two have been setting up, and I just went to Casimir’s house this morning.
And before you guys even showed up, Benny, Olive, Keats, and I all sat down and went through every incident in the past ten years, and we’ve come up with nothing.
I’m not saying that means no one from my pack was involved.
I’m saying that… if it was caused by someone in my pack, it was done with malicious intent and hidden because all of my members know that if something accidentally happened, we work together to fix it. ”
“Even if they killed a person?” Casimir asks.
“Yes. We all understand the complete lack of control we have on the full moon. It’s…
it sounds awful, but it’s hard to condemn a werewolf who kills on a full moon.
We have absolutely no memory of it. What isn’t acceptable is if it could have been avoided.
But we take that information, and we learn from it.
We make sure the younger ones are locked up first before locking ourselves up. ”
“What if they killed them outside of the full moon?” Casimir asks.
“That… I mean that’s possible… anyone can kill someone,” Dad says.
I rub my head, wishing this all made sense. “Yorick… might be lying, but he said he smelled something rotting in these woods… it could be an ambush, but he could be telling the truth that the body we’re looking for might be right out here.”
“Doesn’t your pack run the woods frequently? Wouldn’t they notice something?” Casimir asks.
Dad shrugs. “Yeah, but the area is butted up to the national forest. I have no idea where the vampires entered on the day they attacked us, but he could be talking about somewhere outside the area we run. We don’t stray into the national forest too much because of the trail cameras and the number of hikers.
We try to keep to this area. If there is a body miles out that way, we’d never come across it on our runs. ”
Casimir turns to me. “Did you happen to get Yorick to tell you where this possible body is? It’s probably a dead deer.”
“He ‘couldn’t remember.’”
Casimir growls. “Of course he couldn’t. I’ll go.”
Why would he run off alone when he has countless other people who can help? “What if it’s a setup?”
That doesn’t seem to deter him. “I don’t care, I’ll kill them. Stay back here with the pack.”
“Umm, no?” I say. “You’re not going alone.”
“Ezio can go with me.”
Why is he acting like this? Is he still mad about the Yorick thing? “No, the whole pack can go. We can track much faster as a group than you can alone.”
“Unless there are pack members who are involved,” Casimir says, sounding stubborn.
Dad’s at least willing to work with me as he offers, “I will pair them up in threes… with people they don’t generally work with.”
“You could call your vampire friends too?” I suggest to Casimir.
“I have no friends,” he says, but after I stare at him for a long moment, he puts out a call.
As Dad explains what’s going on to the pack, Casimir orders some vampires to come. After they arrive, Ezio makes his way over to me. We watch as my father breaks people into groups of three and Casimir pairs each group with a vampire whether they want it or not.
I’m not surprised that Genevieve, Baldin, and Dan—the guy who paid for all the candy bars—have shown up, but I am surprised that Steve does, and another woman who looks vaguely familiar.
“Who’s that lady?”
Ezio glances at her. “Shandy. She wants in Casimir’s pants.”
“Oh, I’m… that’s quite the introduction.”
“And so do you,” Ezio says as he hooks me around the waist and pulls me back out of hearing distance. “So all of this is a ruse, eh?”
Shit. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He pats my head, which is just weird. “Don’t you? I am a detective, after all!”
“You… weirdly only seem to be one when it conveniences you.”
“Well, I don’t actually get paid,” he says. “So I only tend to remember that I’m a detective when something piques my interest.”
“Oh… makes sense.”
“Right? Now I think this is adorable. You two decided to try to merge the two sides together with a lovely fiery romance to show them that if you two can do it, anyone can. And along the way, the little wolf fell head over heels in love with the handsome vampire.”
“The words you’re saying sound weirdly condescending,” I grumble.
Ezio’s all smiles. “Nah, it’s adorable. When are you going to tell him?”
“Never.”
“Why? What’s the worst he can do besides crush your fragile heart, deny you, and tell you to fuck off so you will forever be scarred and terrified to admit your feelings to another human being ever again? But that’s what Cyrus does to me every day, and still, my heart thunders on for him.”
Why does all of this make me feel worse? “You’re not convincing me in the slightest.”
“Come on now, just tell him.”
“You literally just got done telling me in the car about how he loves no one. Will never date anyone?—”
“Very true, but he’s never looked at anyone like he looks at you,” he says. “Trust me, little wolf, our friend is nowhere near that good of an actor.”
“Ezio, get your ass over here,” Casimir growls, and Ezio gives me two thumbs-up like he thinks any part of his talk was actually encouraging before trotting off.
I walk over to Olive who is currently being petted by Genevieve, even though she’s still in her human form.
“You are just the cutest. And there are two of you!” Genevieve reaches over to pet Willow who is staring at me like she thinks I’ll fix this situation. “You know, I tried to pull cute Julian into my harem, but he refused. But I’ve never had twins .”
“NOPE,” Willow says as she hurries off. “I love ya, Olive, but not that much.”
Genevieve tsks.
“This is both odd and pleasing all at once,” Olive murmurs as she continues to be petted.
“It’s definitely odd,” Benny says as he walks up to her. “I guess I’m with your group now. I was with Weston’s group until I nearly punched him in the face, and now here I am. Who’s the third wolf?”
“Keats,” Olive responds with a grimace. I look over at Keats, but he’s standing alone, likely not coming over until I’m gone. While he doesn’t hate me as much as Weston does, he’s generally not shy when it comes to being a dick.
“Julian, you’re with me,” Casimir says, so I join Genevieve in petting Olive’s head, which makes her laugh, before hurrying over to Casimir. “Let’s go.”
“Okay,” I say before holding out a clean pair of underwear. “Carry these.”
“Everyone’s just leaving their clothes here,” he protests.
“Yes, but every time I shift with you, I end up somewhere naked wearing napkins! My naked ass has probably been recorded by the police! So I made a plan to carry a spare pair of underwear with me at all times, and when I shift, you’re going to carry them. Hang them around your neck if you have to.”
“Funny,” he says as he stuffs as much of them as he can into his pocket. “I need to get you one of those backpacks like Gustov has.”
“You mean to go with his cheerleader outfit you made me wear earlier today?” I tease.
Steve, who’d been walking by, freezes and looks at Casimir. Casimir refuses to meet his gaze.
“We don’t mention that,” Casimir says before taking off without me. I have to quickly shift and run after him to catch up.
As I trot after him, I find my mind wound up in what I’d talked to Ezio about as my eyes stare at the man’s back.
I mean… there are so many complications that come with this.
He’s a super awesome ultra badass vampire, and I’m some art professor who occasionally becomes fluffy.
While werewolves do have longer life spans and are more resilient, he would outlive me…
I mean, that’s if we actually like each other that long.
Hell, he might decide after a week he’d rather be with someone like Genevieve.
I glance over at the giggling vampire who is pampering Olive. While Olive enjoys this, I very much don’t see Casimir enjoying something like that, so maybe he wouldn’t wander off to Genevieve and I’m just trying to find excuses for why this won’t work.
“Why are you trailing behind me?” Casimir asks.
“ Because I like looking at your ass ,” I say before catching up to him. The groups split off and then it’s just Casimir and me alone.
This would be a good chance to tell him… now that we’re alone… although maybe while looking for a dead body isn’t the most romantic.
Oh my god, I was going to confess my feelings while we’re looking for a dead body! What is wrong with me?
That’s when I realize that Casimir is being quieter than normal. He’d generally harass me a bit, but he’s being absolutely silent.
“ What’s wrong? ” I ask, glad the other wolves can’t hear me from this distance.