Chapter 9
chapter
nine
Tobias showed up to the stakeout with chips and popcorn.
“The noisiest snacks you could possibly think of,” Alexander said flatly as he set up his sniper rifle on the roof. “Good work.”
“I try,” Tobias said, muffled through the popcorn. He dug the last handful out of the bag and held it out expectantly.
Alexander’s mouth watered as he imagined licking grease and salt off Tobias’s warm, scarred palm. He swallowed and looked away. “Did anyone see you come up?”
“Nope.” Tobias shoved the handful of popcorn into his mouth, chewing loudly. “Lotta abandoned offices above Burgers N’ Beats.”
Alexander had a fuzzy memory of Donna telling him about the businesses that used to be there. At the time he had been mentally cataloging the likelihood of being able to pick a lock with every single item he could see in the break room, so he couldn’t remember any of the business names.
Alexander took the silver bullets out of his pocket and held them up in the evening light. Donna had done an admirable job. Better than his single silversmithing effort, which ended in an apartment fire and his property manager fining him so heavily he faked his death and left town.
“Full moon tonight,” Alexander said, eyeing the late afternoon sky. “Are you going into the arena?”
“Not tonight,” Tobias said. He crumpled up the empty food bags and stuffed them in his pockets. “He doesn’t like me when I’m naturally transformed. Says I’m not dangerous enough. I’ll fight, but it’s nothing compared to what I’m like when I’m feral. Apparently I try to lick the other wolves.”
Alexander laughed, then tried to hide it as a cough.
“Heard that.” Tobias sat down beside him, crossing his legs with a wince.
Alexander eyed his pained expression, wondering how bad the nerve damage on Tobias’s legs was. The scars he’d glimpsed through his torn sweatpants looked less extensive than the ones on his torso, but he didn’t know how that translated into pain levels.
Alexander turned back to the sniper rifle and peered through the scope at the balcony wrapping around the top of The Alpha Club. “Have you been drinking the coconut water I left at your place?”
Tobias didn’t reply.
“It will go to waste otherwise,” Alexander said hastily. “You really should start taking vitamins. I saw your fridge, there’s no way you’re eating enough nutrients. Healthy bones and muscle won’t cure your chronic pain, but it can help.”
He barely held back a gasp as Tobias brushed his nose against his ear and snuffled into his hair. His scarred lips brushed Alexander’s scalp, sending a horrifyingly pleasurable shiver down his spine.
He sat up and shoved Tobias away. “What are you doing?”
Tobias rocked back, barely budging despite all the force Alexander put behind that shove. He looked dazed. Then he blinked hard, and his focus came back.
“Shit,” he said, pulling away. “Sorry. Full moon crap.”
Alexander tidied his hair where Tobias had nuzzled him, trying not to think about how good it felt. “I thought you had a few hours!”
“I’m not shifting,” Tobias said, strained. “It’s just…it’s nothing. Ignore me.”
“I’m trying,” Alexander said, still smoothing his hair down.
He shot a look at Tobias, hoping he looked wary instead of flustered, though his traitorous heart was racing.
He hated how easily Tobias affected him: his proximity, of course, but also his easy smile and his deceptively generous heart.
The more time Alexander spent around Tobias, the more he had to remind himself that his soul was dust. On the rare occasion a monster had good intentions, it couldn’t help what it was: an aberration that needed to be removed.
That was difficult to remember when Tobias told him stories about trying to lick the other wolves in the arena.
Alexander took aim once more through the scope. “What are the odds he comes out to the balcony tonight?”
“On an arena night? Better than usual. He smokes more when he has something on.”
A flash of movement at Muzzle’s apartment window made them both startle.
“Speak of the devil,” Tobias whispered.
Alexander shushed him, and shifted the scope until he could see Muzzle walking through the apartment, rolling the amulet between his fingers. It was the first time Alexander had seen him take it off.
Tobias leaned over his shoulder. “Come on…”
Alexander shushed him a second time, concentrating on the scope.
He couldn’t get a clear shot through the window, there was too much furniture in the way.
He watched silently, holding his breath as Muzzle fastened the amulet around his neck.
He gathered his dark hair into a ponytail and slid on his jacket.
He reached into the front pocket and brought out a cigar, twirling it around his finger much like Alexander often did with his knife.
Come on, Alexander said, echoing Tobias’s earlier plea. Step out onto the balcony. Let me open your skull. Give Tobias his freedom and me my rightful home.
Muzzle rolled the cigar slowly between his fingers, considering. Then he inserted it into his jacket pocket and walked into the hallway, vanishing from view.
Tobias and Alexander breathed out in one.
“Goddammit,” Tobias sighed. “He’ll be in the arena all night.”
“No visibility after dark.” Alexander glanced up at the darkening sky and sat up, dismantling the sniper rifle with practiced movements. “You should go home. Lock yourself in. The usual precautions.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Tobias caught his arm. “We have a few hours. You don’t want to hang out?”
Alexander pulled his arm away and emptied the silver bullets from the gun chamber. “Why aren’t you taking this seriously? If you shift in public, your best-case scenario is that you’ll maim innocents.”
“I won’t be dangerous like I was in the arena,” Tobias protested, rolling his eyes. “Not during a natural transformation.”
“Are you sure? Because I have an aunt with a missing limb because of ‘naturally transformed’ werewolves.”
“I won’t be a danger to you.” Tobias smiled, oddly shy. “I’m me, man. Just…honed into my basic parts. All nerves and instinct.”
Alexander closed the sniper rifle into a suitcase and fought down another shiver. Tobias’s eyes were so dark, but not the kind of dark he expected. It was a comforting darkness. The darkness of a bedroom after a long, tiring day. The darkness of blankets. An invitation to rest.
Alexander lifted his chin defiantly. “Yes? What are you going to do, all honed down?”
“Stick with me and find out.” Tobias winked, any temporary shyness covered by a rakish smile.
Alexander turned toward the door.
Tobias followed him, taking his shoulder.
“Come on,” he said. “Help me buy vitamins. I don’t know what to get.”
Alexander stopped. His hand flexed around the suitcase.
“You could make sure I get home in time,” Tobias continued. “Otherwise, who knows? I could just forget how late it is.”
“You wouldn’t,” Alexander said flatly.
He turned back. Tobias was rocking back and forth on his heels, those dark eyes gleaming softer than ever.
Alexander sighed. “Vitamins.”
“Vitamins,” Tobias echoed, and the grin that bloomed on his face was so huge it drowned out every hissing voice that told Alexander he was making a mistake.
They dropped off the sniper rifle suitcase at Alexander‘s apartment and walked to LIV-MART, the superstore next to Tobias’s apartment.
Tobias dropped his litter in a trash can outside. As Alexander watched him pull the popcorn and chip bags out of his pocket, he told himself it was ridiculous to feel this much fondness over a man’s lack of littering.
“I applied here,” Tobias said amid the brightly lit aisles. “They didn’t even send a rejection email. Better qualified people to stock hair dye, I guess.”
Alexander glanced behind them where a pimply teenager was stocking boxes of hair dye in haphazard lines. “I applied here too,” he admitted.
Tobias lifted a hand from the cart handle. Alexander considered his life choices then high-fived it grudgingly.
Tobias’s mouth twitched. He scratched it, slouching over the cart as they headed into the next aisle. “Donna’s cool. You guys should hang out more.”
“I won’t have time,” Alexander reminded him. “I’ll be leaving after we’re done.”
Tobias hummed. He slouched deeper over the cart, his cheek brushing the handle in a way that made him look younger than he was.
He was watching Alexander again, making Alexander feel uncomfortably seen under the fluorescent lights.
Like Tobias could see through his careful facade into the anxious, controlling mess underneath.
“I can see it, y’know,” Tobias said, making Alexander’s heartbeat ratchet to dangerous proportions. “Under all that honor, loyalty, family crap. You want to be more than what they made you.”
Alexander scoffed and veered away.
Tobias pushed the cart in front of him, blocking his path. “Dude! You’re nineteen. You think you want to know what you wanna do for the rest of your life?”
“It’s my calling! I have a purpose. It’s my life. This?” Alexander gestured at the cart, Tobias, the LIV-MART around them. “This is nothing. A temporary detour before I get back to real life.”
Tobias laughed loudly enough for Alexander to glance around the empty aisle, expecting others to come looking.
“No,” Tobias said, grabbing his shoulders. “This is your life. Right here, babe.”
Alexander ignored the flutter in his stomach that rose whenever Tobias used that stupid pet name.
“This is terrible,” he said.
“Only because you’re treating it like a detour!” Tobias’s grip tightened on his shoulders, hard enough that Alexander hissed. Tobias’s grip immediately lessened, a strange expression moving across his face before that determined desperation came back.