Chapter 3
chapter
three
Alexander didn’t let go of his knife until he was seated on Tobias’s couch with a hot mug of cocoa in his face.
“It’s not poisoned,” Tobias said, with that wry smile that Alexander refused to find attractive now that he knew Tobias was a werewolf. Monsters were unequivocally off-limits, no matter how charming. Or funny. Or deceptively sweet.
His soul is dust, Alexander reminded himself. He is doing this for his own gain, no question about it. You can’t betray your family again.
He took the mug reluctantly. Their pinkies brushed, and Tobias gave an exaggerated shiver.
“Man. Your hands really are freezing. I’d forgotten.”
Alexander determinedly didn’t think of the first time Tobias brought that up, shooting that rakish smile at him over a bag of fries. He’d spent the rest of the day rubbing his hand where Tobias had touched him.
Alexander said nothing and raising the mug to his mouth, pretending to take a sip.
Tobias sat down next to him on the couch.
It was just as ratty as Alexander would have expected from his shabby hoodie and sweatpants, even before they got torn up by the transformation.
But there had obviously been attempts at cleanliness: the carpet, although worn, was passably clean.
There was minimal mess around the living room, though the windowsills were dusty and the curtains had the faintest spots of mold at the bottom.
“How’s your shoulder?” Tobias asked.
“What? It’s fine.” Alexander touched the corner of the bandage, feeling the stitches underneath. For a werewolf, Tobias had a surprisingly well-stocked first aid kit.
“Thanks,” he added grudgingly. If they were pretending to be nice, Alexander could play along. Until the fangs came back out, anyway.
Tobias laughed. “Anybody ever tell you customer service isn’t your calling? You can’t fake-smile for shit, man.”
“I can fake-smile,” Alexander said, stung. “I do it all day. It’s perfectly passable.”
“Nope! You suck at it.” Tobias took a sip of his own cocoa, making a sound of appreciation at his own concoction.
Alexander eyed it suspiciously. If Tobias was trying to coax Alexander into drinking his own cup, he would be disappointed. He only came back to his place to scope out the enemy and see if he had anything worth saying about taking down the alpha.
“You don’t live with your pack,” Alexander said. “In the barracks.”
“Nnnnope.” Tobias slurped his cocoa again and leaned back into the couch with a sigh so satisfied it made Alexander’s palms sweat.
You are not allowed to find the wolf hot, he told himself sternly. Interestingly, the voice sounded a lot like his mother.
“I work construction four days a week to afford this shithole,” Tobias continued. “Muzzle wasn’t happy about it, but like hell I was living there. With the pack.”
He said it so derisively that Alexander’s interest was piqued. He’d never heard such disgust from a monster about their own kind. Some of them even had a sick pride about their monstrosity, snarling and defiant until the end.
“Anyway. For all intents and purposes, I’m a lone wolf.” Tobias twisted his head toward him, the barest trace of cocoa gleaming in his stubble. “Like you.”
Alexander tore his gaze away from Tobias’s stubble.
“I’m not a lone wolf,” he insisted, refusing to think about his empty apartment only a few blocks from here, and all the times his calls to his family went to voicemail, and his utter lack of friends.
The last time he had anything even resembling a friend was three years ago, when—
He gritted his teeth. He didn’t let himself think about the vampires who ruined his life in North Carolina. Even to get mad at them. But he couldn’t get over how they had really made him believe they were friends, for a day or two.
He wouldn’t make that mistake again. Back to the business at hand. “That boy who didn’t tell you there was a hunter sneaking around,” he said. “Will he tell the alpha?”
“Who, Josh?” Tobias laughed and took a noisy slurp of cocoa. “No way. He’s covering his ass for a reason. I assume it involves you. Wanna tell me why he showed up tonight with a broken arm and couldn’t look anyone in the eye?”
Alexander considered lying. But only for a second. “He gave me the password to get downstairs,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Come on, you broke Josh’s arm for that?” Tobias gave him a sad look that almost made Alexander feel guilty. “Yeah, he definitely won’t tell. He won’t want to let anyone know he told you the password.”
“He was stubbornly loyal,” Alexander said. “Why is that? He’s not a wolf.”
“Not yet. He’s been gunning for this gig for years.”
Alexander couldn’t help it: he laughed. “He wants to be a werewolf?”
“Right?” Tobias rolled his eyes like he found it just as ridiculous as Alexander.
“Can’t blame him. He’s a street kid. If he gets into Muzzle’s pack, he has somewhere to belong.
Plus he gets so strong nobody will screw with him.
Muzzle tried to kick him out at first, but it turned out the kid’s good with explosives, so he kept him on.
I keep trying to talk him out of it, but he’s determined. Even with what Muzzle can do to us.”
“What can he do to you?” Alexander paused, thinking back to that golden amulet Muzzle had twisted. “He can make you pass out?”
“I wish that was all he could do,” Tobias muttered.
His phone rang. Tobias sighed and dragged it out of his pocket. Then he smiled wearily and showed Alexander the glowing screen.
Incoming call: Alpha Bitch.
“Speak of the devil,” Tobias said, and held the phone to his ear. “Hey, boss man…Yeah, I was tired after ripping that guy’s throat out, crazy how that works…Sure. Yeah, see you tomorrow. Peace.”
He shoved his phone back into his pocket. His grin sagged, his shoulders sagging with it. For a moment he looked lost and defeated, a shell of the charismatic man he was before. Then the smile returned. He threw his shoulders back out as he turned to Alexander.
“Alpha says heel,” he said. “I come.”
Alexander sat up so fast he almost sloshed cocoa down the sides of his cup. “Did Josh say anything? Does he know you helped me get out?”
“If he knew about you we’d both be in that arena right now fighting to the death,” Tobias deadpanned.
“Josh hasn’t said anything. Muzzle just checks in sometimes.
Keeps a watchful eye on his pack. And if one of them steps out of line…
” He reached up to his neck, twisting a nonexistent circle on his collarbones. “He activates that fucking amulet.”
Alexander nodded, remembering the unnatural glow of Tobias’s eyes in wolf form. “Your eyes were glowing the same shade of gold as the amulet. I thought they only went yellow during transformations.”
“Supposed to.” Tobias took a hungry mouthful of cocoa, another drip landing in his stubble and making Alexander itch with the urge to clean it up. Especially when Tobias wiped at his chin, smearing it ineffectually.
“I want Muzzle dead, but I need that fucking amulet gone. It makes us transform against our will. Usually I can keep a part of myself even on a full moon, but when he turns us…” Tobias winced through a smile.
“We’re just gone. All wolf, no Tobias. I don’t even remember…
” He trailed off, thumbing the rim of his mostly empty mug.
“Killing that man,” Alexander supplied.
Tobias’s smile faded, and he frowned into his cup. “Did I do it quick?”
Alexander thought back to the man’s claw wounds. He was bleeding out from the bite to the neck, but he had obviously been toyed with first.
“Quick enough,” he found himself saying.
Some of the strain left Tobias’s expression. “Good.”
Alexander frowned at himself. What was he doing, trying to spare this wolf’s feelings? This was just what got him in trouble last time. It wasn’t as if Tobias had a soul to offend, even if he put up a good show of it.
Alexander straightened, pretending to take another sip of cocoa. “You said he has weaknesses.”
“I was joking. Our best bet is to get him alone and”—Tobias mimed a gunshot—“do him in with a silver bullet. Just gotta come up with a plan on how to do that and not get caught.”
“You could run away,” Alexander suggested. “If you’re not attached to the pack, there’s no reason for you to stay. You could work construction anywhere.”
Tobias cocked his head. Scrutinizing him, Alexander realized with a completely unnecessary rush of self-consciousness. Tobias was no longer Hot Scar Guy who Alexander needed to mind his manners over. He was a monster, and nothing more.
That didn’t stop Alexander from wondering if his own hair was untidy from their incursions.
“What?” he demanded, patting his hair.
Tobias grinned. “Want to run away with me?”
Alexander spluttered. “That’s…I’m not…I’ll be leaving anyway! But not with you.”
“Aw,” Tobias said. “Got my hopes up.” He drained the rest of his mug and pushed himself off the couch. “More?” He waved his empty mug. He reached for Alexander’s before seeing it was full. “Oookay, never mind. More for me.”
Alexander watched him head into the tiny kitchen. There was no hallway, just a cramped living room connected to the other rooms: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, a singular cupboard.
“Gotta say,” Tobias called as he stirred cocoa powder into hot milk. “I didn’t get hunter vibes from you when I was flirting with you at Burgers N’ Beats.”
Alexander’s pulse quickened. Obviously his body hadn’t gotten the message that the wolf was off-limits.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alexander asked. “What vibes do hunters give off?”
“Oh, you know. Isolated. Righteous. So lost in their own seething little world they don’t take the time to look up and notice the rest of it sitting there waiting.”
Alexander didn’t dignify that with a response. His family were nothing like that. They were a close-knit, effective machine. They knew about the world. They were simply content with their own.
Tobias’s family, however…