Chapter 22 #2
He said it to piss her off. But Meredith didn’t look annoyed.
Just fascinated, cocking her head like Tobias was a bloody smear under a microscope.
He hated how much it affected him. He was twice her body weight.
Sure, he could break her neck with barely a twitch.
But he didn’t want to. He talked big, but if he had one door marked VIOLENCE and one marked LITERALLY ANY OTHER OPTION, he would always pick the latter.
She wanted to hurt him. He could see it.
She wanted to hurt him so much it made his skin crawl.
There was a violence that was never present in Alexander’s gaze, a ferociousness that Tobias had only seen in transformed wolves.
And to top it off, it was all hidden under that unassuming expression.
Like this was a normal conversation. Like she’d never lined up monster skulls in the living room for her son to polish on Saturday mornings.
“You’re very attentive with my son,” she said. “You keep watching him. At first I thought you were wary, like any wolf would be with a hunter. But that fight we interrupted, the way you stood next to him after…”
She shook her head, that cold gaze boring into him. “You’re not scared of him. You’re scared for him.”
Tobias laughed, trying to calm his racing heart. “I don’t know about that.”
“You held the door open for him,” she pointed out. “You looked delighted when he laughed at that terrible dumpling joke you made. Honestly, I was disappointed in him for it.”
“That was an unrelated smile,” he said.
“You’re very…attuned to him. Tell me: where is he now?”
Tobias laughed nervously. But he couldn’t help himself. He tuned into Alexander until he could sense his presence: he was still at his own apartment a few blocks away.
Tobias gave her a tight smile. “How would I know that?”
She didn’t respond. She stared at him, her lip curling into disgust that, for whatever reason, she tried to cover. But not well.
“I didn’t actually think…” She scoffed quietly. “He’s your mate.”
Tobias thought about denying it. It seemed useless. She’d ferreted him out just by watching him, the creepy bitch.
He shrugged, leaning against the wall in a way he hoped was cocky. “Would that disgust you?”
“Not as much as it could. I know he’d never disgrace himself with your touch.”
Tobias giggled. He meant it to be a cool, menacing chuckle, but it was a full-on giggle that he decided to lean into when her eyebrows twitched in surprise.
“You really don’t know your son very well,” he declared, grinning. “Let me tell you, lady. Your son’s a surprisingly sweet guy. Very giving.”
He flicked his tongue at her.
It had the effect he wanted: her curled lip turned into a snarl. She stood, and only the slowness of her walk stopped him from looking around for a weapon.
You are a weapon, he reminded himself. Stop freaking out over this human who’s five three and uses fabric softener.
She stopped, so close he could feel her breath on his neck.
“If you think,” she started. Then she paused, staring at something on his chest.
He followed her gaze. His stomach dropped.
She was staring at the ring hanging on the end of his necklace. His sister’s ring.
“We’ve met before,” she said slowly.
He smiled. At least, he showed his teeth. “Once,” he admitted.
She hummed. “How did that go?”
He tried to laugh. It came out dry and broken.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the first time he’d seen her, back before he knew what hunting families even were.
He only remembered glimpses, but in every memory, she was death incarnate, blood dripping from her eyelashes as she steeled herself for the next target.
“I really wish you’d killed Muzzle,” he whispered.
“We’ll get to it, mutt. We’re good at what we do.” She headed to the door, pausing in the doorway. “You’ll stay away from him.”
Tobias wet his lips. “Yeah? Or what?”
“You can always find out.” With that, the door closed.
Tobias sagged against the wall, breath flooding out of him. He was shaking. When did that happen?
“Goddammit,” he said, and laughed. He clutched the ring around his neck, feeling it press into his skin. Then he wiped his stinging eyes and went to find Alexander.
The apartment smelled wrong.
Tobias inhaled deeply, nose wrinkling. His parents had been here. He could smell them both on the couch, the dad’s scent drifting into the kitchen like he’d gotten himself a snack while he was here.
Alexander stormed into the living room, crossbow drawn. Then he let the crossbow sag. “Tobias! I almost shot you!”
Tobias wanted to say something funny, like thanks for the restraint. But he knew that if he opened his mouth right now, his voice would crack. And for all his berating Alexander about avoiding things, he didn’t want to deal with that right now.
He wanted to know he had someone on his side.
He wanted that hope back that he’d had this morning, Alexander dozing on his shoulder in the passenger seat.
He wanted to believe they had a future. Hell, even if they didn’t have a future, he wanted to believe Alexander would have one, someday.
That he’d pry his family’s claws out of him and live a life where he could dye his hair and wear eyeliner and love who he wanted.
He needed to know that Alexander could be happy. Even if he had to make it happen himself.
And, if he was being honest, he wanted to stick it to Alexander’s fuckhead mom. But mostly it was the happiness thing.
“Tobias?” Alexander frowned. “Did something happen?”
Tobias surged forward and kissed him.
Alexander grunted against his mouth. His hands found Tobias’s shirt, seemingly stuck between tugging him in and pushing him away. Then Tobias licked into his mouth, and Alexander’s hesitant clench became a determined pull.
They stumbled into Alexander’s room. Tobias had never been inside before, and he couldn’t help looking around even as he fumbled with Alexander’s clothes: the bedsheets were pulled tight, military-style.
There was a dehumidifier going in the corner and a calendar on the wall filled with neat crosses.
A stack of worn library books sat on a polished bookshelf, a series that Tobias remembered seeing in middle school about a kid who had to juggle normal life and fighting demons in another dimension.
He couldn’t remember if it had a happy ending.
He pushed Alexander onto the bed, messing up those pristine bedsheets. Alexander arched up into his touch, his pupils swelling as Tobias held him down. Then Tobias trailed his hand lower to brush against the bulge in his jeans, and Alexander sagged back into the mattress with a shudder.
“God,” Alexander gasped. “Tobias. Fuck.”
Tobias nuzzled his neck, inhaling that heady scent, light and crisp and clean. Like his mother, but with none of that horrible sting.
He’d never disgrace himself with your touch, she had said.
Tobias huffed a laugh into Alexander’s skin, which was already damp with sweat. He pulled back to look Alexander in those glazed blue eyes.
“Tell me how good it feels.”