Chapter 21 #2
“Please,” Taylor said, emptying the pockets of his combat trousers and throwing the multitude of chocolate wrappers and sweet packets on top of his stab vest. “I know I’m dumb as shit, but please just trust me on this.”
Sighing, Amil scrubbed at the back of his head. “I didn’t mean that. You aren’t that dumb.”
Taylor held up a hand. “Please, Amil?”
Amil shook his head. “Take your radio. Remember to update us when you find him, otherwise I’ll be dragging you back to the nick by your ears.”
Taylor cocked the omega a weary two-finger salute. “You got it, boss.”
Taylor padded through the vast, quiet woods, weaving between the trees and sniffing the ground. He’d picked up William’s scent as soon as he cut off from the main path, the smell of cigarettes and adrenaline coating the undergrowth.
Kids were nothing if not predictable, and before long Taylor found himself back in the clearing where he’d first found William all those weeks ago.
“Stay,” Taylor said, trying not to throw too much force behind his alpha voice. A twig snapped behind him, the ferns rustling in an arc around the treeline. “Stay, pup,” he said again, and that time William paused.
A few seconds later he emerged from behind a log in Taylor’s periphery, panting and swishing his tail.
Skittering to the left, he kicked up dirt as though trying to provoke Taylor into getting angry.
He didn’t, of course, but it was probably what the poor kid was used to.
William circled him for a long time, stopping and starting, getting closer before pulling away.
Taylor just sat on his haunches, ears turning at all the different cracks and creaks of the trees. The summer pollen was fucking intense, and the cabbagey stench was already thick in his nostrils.
Eventually, William blew out hard from his muzzle before turning and stalking towards the thickest part of the woods. Taylor followed, reaching him within ten or so of his longer strides.
They padded side by side, William sneezing as they passed a web of pollen that clung to a cluster of purple bell heather.
Taylor had no idea where William was leading him, but after a while they came across a brook with a makeshift tyre swing looped around the high branch of an oak tree.
It was quiet—serene, actually—but something in the air fucking stank.
William bumped his hindquarters against Taylor’s leg, shoulders hunched in sombre resignation.
Taylor followed him down to the brook, the unnatural stench getting stronger the closer they got to the water.
Taylor stared at himself in the reflection, the milky, greasy sheen making it look like someone had dumped a gallon of cream into it.
The rancid stench of chemicals was almost unbearable, and Taylor pulled William away by his scruff.
William squirmed, his gangly wolf legs flailing around. When Taylor plopped him onto the ground again, William tilted his head upstream and said, ”Follow.”
Taylor made a rumbling sound in his chest, licking William hard between the eyes. His fur was matted with dirt, but he still had the softness of a pup.
“Home.”
William growled, his wolf lips peeling back over his tiny, pointed teeth. “Follow.”
Taylor planted himself in the brush between William and the brook. He straightened, making himself at least three heads taller than William. “Home.”
“No home!” William said, shaking his whole body, frustration pouring through his scent. He thudded his front paws over the ground, kicking shingle stones over Taylor’s feet.
Taylor only sighed and licked him again, the sour taste of dirty fur sticking to his tongue. “Come.”
To Taylor’s surprise, William did follow with his tail literally between his hind legs, although Taylor could feel the uncertainty and anger thrumming between them.
They found William’s clothes at the base of a yew tree, its twisting branches making it look like a set piece from Goosebumps.
He dressed quickly into the same dirty clothes Taylor had seen him in before, and anger flared through Taylor’s chest as he wondered why the hell the foster parents hadn’t given him new ones.
“I didn’t want to wear their stupid clothes,” William snapped, as though reading Taylor’s mind.
William’s small hand clung to Taylor’s shoulders as they made their way back through the woods, his fingers shaking as they tightened and twisted in his fur. It was like he was testing the feel of him, trying to decide whether Taylor was someone he could trust.
Taylor had done the same to Johnny when they were kids, and it had taken him a long, long time to shift in Johnny’s presence—to let his forebrain go dormant whilst the hindbrain took over.
William followed him all the way back to the car, even waited whilst he changed in the rickety shifter hut. When Taylor emerged, he found William picking nervously at his fingers.
“I want to go home,” he said, spitting out a shard of nail. “To my house, with my dad.”
Taylor sighed. “Your dad’s in custody, dude. Although I’m sure you already knew.”
William let out a soft whine as he pressed his palms into his eyes. “Why do you keep doing that? To him? To me? Why can’t you just leave us alone? He’d be fine if it wasn’t for you.”
Taylor swallowed, perching on the bonnet of the car. “Do you want the nice answer? Or the honest one?”
William frowned. “The honest one.”
Taylor sucked his teeth. “Your dad’s a shitbag, Will. The drugs come first; always have, always will. Sure, he’s nice to you sometimes, but what about the really bad days?”
William’s bottom lip started to quiver. “He’s sick. Mum said so when she left. He can’t help that he’s so horrible.”
Taylor ran his hand through his hair and looked William in the eye. “She meant he’s sick in the head, Will. Not unwell. Do you… do you know how many times JP and I have had to peel your mum off the floor?”
“Of course I do.” He shuffled from foot to foot, running his tongue over his teeth. “But Dad loves me, you know? He might not say it, but he does.”
Taylor tipped his head. “Sure, maybe in his own way. But just because someone loves you doesn’t mean they’re good for you. What was so bad about the foster home, anyway?”
William shrugged, his eyebrows pulling in and out of a frown. “They stank. Like old people. And hamsters.”
Taylor grimaced. “That does sound pretty gross.”
“Right? And they made me watch Tipping Point, and Bargain Hunt. I couldn’t… I couldn’t take it.”
Chuckling, Taylor swiped a thumb under his nose. “Yeah, that does sound dire.”
“My mum’s coming back, you know? Today. She told me.”
Taylor cocked a brow. “Really? Where? When?”
“Soon. She said she’d meet me at the house. I want to see her, Tay. Even if it’s just for a bit, then I’ll go back to the Tipping Hunt Hamster House.”
Taylor pressed his lips together. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Promise?”
William nodded.
“Pinkie promise?” Taylor said, holding out his little finger.
William rolled his eyes and slapped it away. “I promised, didn’t I?”
The sun was blazing hot when they pulled up at the house, and it cast a shimmery haze over the shit-strewn lawn. He’d updated Isla about their detour, to which she’d made him promise not to let William out of his sight.
“Did you get a dog?” Taylor said, staring at the front door. It had dirty paw marks all over the white PVC that were too fat to be from wolf feet, and a huge hole punched through the bottom.
William shook his head. “Nah, one of Dad’s friends has an XL Bully. Dave’s his name.”
“The friend or the dog?”
William laughed. “Dad’s friend. The dog’s called Stan.”
“Stan the dog. Wow, that’s practically animal cruelty.”
The quiet contentment drained out of William’s face as he looked at the door, then at the collapsed swing set and crumbling wall between his house and the neighbour. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said, wrenching open the car door and lurching up the path.
Taylor unclipped his seat belt and followed.
“What’re you doing?” William said, speeding up as Taylor trailed him.
“I’m coming in with you,” he replied, falling in line with him. “I wanna see your mum after all this time.”
And ask why the hell she didn’t take her son with her.
“Please don’t,” William said, walking even faster. “You’ll just make it worse.”
Taylor hummed. “I won’t. I promise.”
William flung open the front door, which was already unlocked. “It’s fine!” he snapped, and Taylor caught the door with the tip of his boot as it bounced off the wall.
Which was when William’s whole demeanour changed. Gone was the aggressive, moody pre-teen and in its place was a boy who looked half his size. His head sank, shoulders hugging his ears as he carefully stepped into the house.
“M-Mum?” he called, not looking back at Taylor as he made his way through the hallway. “Mum?”
There was no answer, so Taylor hung back and watched as William rounded the corner out of sight. A moment later there came the frantic clang of pots and pans, and Taylor followed him into the living room.
He’d been inside William’s house half a dozen times with Johnny over the years, but something was off now.
There were no carpets on any of the floors, not even lino or wood, just bare concrete with grippers stuck around the edges.
There was shit everywhere—bedding, dirty clothes, bags full of rubbish spilling out—and Taylor had to step over at least three just to get into the kitchen.
The place smelled atrocious, like William, all musty and rotten like a rat had crawled into the central heating system and died.
For what Taylor’s own parents lacked, they at least kept a tidy house. Mostly. When his mum wasn’t drinking and smoking herself into a stupor and his dad wasn’t in some fuck buddy’s bed for the night.