Chapter 3
August
"He's here." Elvin poked his head in through the office door.
"Who?" Franklin hadn't meant to snarl, but it was his standard thing these days. He blew out a breath, rubbed his forehead, and forced his voice into a more pleasant tone. "Sorry. Who?"
Elvin studied him for a second too long. "Your man."
Heat erupted in his chest, but he kept his face blank. "Who?"
"Christmas sweater guy."
Franklin stumbled out of his chair, his wolf whining with eagerness. "When did he arrive?"
"Now. If you hurry, you can be the one who serves him."
Franklin wasn't proud of how fast he left the office, but it didn't matter. Chann was already mixing a drink when he arrived. A White Russian by the looks of it.
Axar turned and looked directly at Franklin, a smile stretching his lips. Time stilled, heat erupted, and his breath shuddered.
Then Axar focused on the air right next to him and snorted a laugh. Beautiful but batshit crazy. Ice washed away the heat inside.
Today, he wore a midnight blue sweater with snowflakes and the text: Jingle My Balls. Near the bottom hem, there were two golden baubles.
If the group who followed him were his legal guardians, would they allow him a shirt like that? Maybe.
He accepted his drink from Chann and walked toward the same table he'd occupied the previous times. It was available, and Franklin watched as he pulled first one chair out as if to invite someone to sit, then sat on the one next to it.
He leaned in as if listening to what some invisible person was saying and smiled.
"Are you gonna go talk to him?" Elvin bumped his elbow.
"I don't know. Looks like he's already talking to someone." He looked like a kid who leaned close and whispered to his best friend, a giggle followed his words.
Elvin frowned. "Is he wearing earphones?"
"I don't think so."
"Go. Talk to him before his jailers show up. So far, he's never made it through an entire drink."
Jailers? Franklin stared at him. "You think they...eh..."
"Go before it's too late. He's managed to come every other month so far, right? It'll be at least a couple of months before you get to see him again. If you can last that long. I think two months is near the limit, to be honest."
Franklin frowned. He hadn't known Elvin had kept track.
"Go." Elvin nudged him.
Walking between the tables, Franklin neared Axar. His heart was beating too fast.
"Hello again."
Axar's head snapped up. "Oh, hi." And again, he had to rescue his drink before he spilled it over the table. Franklin sat--not on the chair Axar's invisible friend occupied, but across from him. "How are you today?"
His wolf tried to crawl over the table to be able to nuzzle Axar and inhale his scent without having it compete with those around them. He believed he managed to appear calm, but it was hard.
"I'm okay." Axar looked as if he expected Franklin to reprimand him. "I didn't mean to take your table."
Franklin shook his head. "Oh, no, this isn't my table. Or I guess it is. I own this bar, so all the tables are mine." Aaand he wanted to slap himself. A werewolf owning a sleazy bar wouldn't impress a guy like Axar.
"I'm of drinking age." He straightened his back and glared at the invisible friend.
"I never said you weren't old enough."
Some tension bled away. "Good paint job. The last color was nauseating in the mornings." He gestured at the walls, and Franklin swallowed. The walls used to be a hideous green, but he'd had them painted charcoal blue when he'd taken over eleven years ago.
Axar hadn't been here eleven years ago. Franklin would've known.
"You think?"
Axar glanced at the empty chair before nodding. "Green never suited this place." Then he frowned, as if he couldn't understand what he was saying. A chill went down Franklin's spine. What the fuck was going on?
"Are you enjoying your drink?"
Axar took a sip, and his eyes widened. "I do." He sipped again, and Franklin couldn't help but smile. Though, should he encourage him to drink? What if he wasn't allowed?
"What do you do, Axar? For work, I mean."
Axar scrunched his nose in the cutest way. "Data entry. So boring, but I can do it from home, so it's for the best."
If he had a data entry job, he had to be a functioning adult, right?
A shadow fell over him, and he almost expected Elvin to stand there, curious about what they were talking about, but one inhalation spoke of more psychics.
He looked up, and the three were looming next to the table.
The woman was glaring at him. Franklin raised an eyebrow at her because if she believed she could come into his place and try to intimidate him, she had another thing coming.
"Stay away from my son."
The command slid over him like an oily film. His wolf snarled. Axar was theirs, not hers. He shook off the imaginary grease and slowly got to his feet and gave her a toothy grin. "He came to me."
She gestured at the man who'd grabbed Axar the previous times, and he hurried over to his side and curled his hands around his elbow and upper arm.
"No, I want to stay." And yet Axar got to his feet without any sign of struggle.
"I want to finish my drink. I've paid for it.
" But he kept walking toward the door. The second man followed, but Franklin caught a grimace before he turned his head away.
The woman kept glaring at Franklin as if she was the alpha of the pack--she most likely was of her pack, but she had no say here.
Franklin shifted his teeth and showed them to her. Psychics didn't have an enhanced sense of smell, unless it was their skill, he guessed, so she might not know what kind of place she'd walked into. He watched in satisfaction as the color drained from her face.
"Filthy animal." Her snarl was almost as impressive as a wolf's would've been, and when he looked toward the door, Axar was watching him with wide eyes. His wolf preened--it was good for him to see they could stand up to his leader. His human brain wasn't as pleased.
Axar didn't look afraid or disgusted, though, and he held Franklin's gaze until the man holding him led him out through the door.
The woman harrumphed when Franklin didn't look at her and hurried after them. With sorrow and longing blooming in his chest, he grabbed Axar's drink and sipped it.
Elvin walked over, his gaze jumping between Franklin and the door. "Boss, you can't flash teeth among humans." His voice was no more than a whisper.
"They're not humans."
Elvin gestured around the room. It was a slow afternoon, but there were a few human patrons. Franklin hadn't spared them a thought.
"It's cool. I don't think anyone saw." Elvin shrugged. "So what did she say to make you do it?" Curiosity was burning in his eyes.
"She told me to stay away from her son."
First, Elvin stared, then he laughed.
"What?" A low growl followed his voice.
Elvin shook his head but kept on laughing. "Nothing. Nothing."
"It's something." Franklin crossed his arms over his chest and waited. Anyone else in the pack would've been squirming by now, but his glares had never had the same effect on Elvin.
"At first, I didn't get it. How could my best friend for most of my life turn into a major dick overnight?
Then the second time he showed up, you were all smiles and soft looks until he left, then you went back to threatening everyone within an inch of their lives if they so much as breathed the same air as you.
And now he came back, and you're ready to rip his mother's throat out.
I'm enjoying this. Or I'm not because you've been such a dick lately, I want to strangle you, but you know. " He grinned again.
Denial rested on Franklin's tongue, but what was the point? No one knew him as well as Elvin did. "Something isn't right. Apart from Axar talking to thin air, I mean."
Elvin straightened, gone was the grin and the teasing. "Not right how?"
"When the man touches him, he follows. He protested, said he wanted to stay, wanted to finish his drink, but his body moved as if out of his control. Not jerky or anything, all motions were smooth, but it was if his mouth and eyes said one thing and his body another."
Elvin's eyes shifted, and Franklin cast a look around. No one was watching them.
"Like...mind control?" He shuddered.
Did Franklin believe in mind control? He wasn't sure. You could never be sure when it came to psychics, though. "Not sure. He seems to have control over his mind, but not his body."
"Creepy."
"Yeah." Talking to empty air was creepy too. "And he liked the color on the walls; said the previous one made him nauseous in the morning."
Elvin's eyes were wider than Franklin believed he'd ever seen them. "But...It's been a decade since we repainted. There is no way he could've seen the previous one in the morning."
"I know." Franklin rubbed his neck. "Let me know if he comes back." Though since the visits had been about two months apart, the odds of him coming back tonight were minimal.
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