Chapter 18 Sage
Sage
There was banging coming from the front door, which was unfair for two reasons. One, it was too early for that kind of thing, and two, there was a very naked werewolf in Sage’s bed who had decided to use him as a pillow despite the many alternative pillow options. It made Sage feel special.
“Coming.” Sage groaned and rolled out of bed, or tried to. Will wasn’t at all sold on letting Sage go. “Coming!” Sage said, louder, and Will eased his hold. “I should go see who it is.”
To Sage’s chagrin, Will got to his feet fast, considering there wasn’t any coffee yet. He even stole one of Sage’s tees on the way to the stairs. The young wolf really was much too active in the mornings. It made Sage smile.
I certainly didn’t mind the activities earlier.
Sage located pants and went down the stairs. He picked up his step when he heard an inordinate amount of growling.
As soon as he got to the hallway, he could see the reason for that: Carl, dressed in a suit and tie, facing off against Will, who was blocking the door, wearing nothing but a T-shirt that just about covered his pretty behind.
Will was about half a head shorter than Carl, but that didn’t hold him back much.
“Can we not?” Sage asked. “Will, move aside and let Carl come in here, please.”
Carl gave Will a triumphant look, but Will ignored him in a passive-aggressive, bitey dog way.
“Good morning.” Carl held out a cupholder with three paper cups. “I brought coffee.” He gave Sage a long look before dropping his gaze to the very tip of the raven wing that hugged Sage’s torso.
Sage cleared his throat. “Thanks. Let me just go grab a shirt before I join you.”
Sage headed to the laundry room, which was closer than going back upstairs, but he’d forgotten it was a bloody mess—with some of that being Will’s blood. It turned Sage’s stomach, even if Will had helped heal himself faster than Sage’s sub-par skills could’ve managed.
What would’ve happened if he hadn’t been able to do that?
The hamper Will had been tossed into was still mostly intact though, and Sage dug out a semi-clean shirt before heading back to the hallway, where both werewolves still stood, just as he’d left them. Only now, they were having a staring contest.
Sage ran a hand through his messy hair. “How about we head to the kitchen?”
Will moved to glue himself to Sage’s side as Carl followed them to the kitchen. Once they got to the table, Will dragged his chair close to Sage so he could touch him while Carl sat across from them.
The book said werewolves can get territorial even if it isn’t the full moon, but mostly with those they consider pack mates.
Maybe he should invest this energy in making friends with Carl rather than posturing.
Sage snuck a glance at Will. Not that I have any idea how to get him to do that, most certainly not before coffee.
Carl pushed two of the cups toward them.
“Two sugars in yours, Sage.” Carl gave him a bright smile.
“You have a fucking nose, so why don’t you use it?” Will said. “This isn’t going to happen for you.”
Okay, that mouthiness is all new. Why is it sexy though? Sage glanced at the coffee. Maybe this’ll help.
He reached for the cup.
“There’s more to it than putting your smell on a man, little wolf,” Carl said.
Sage stopped with the coffee halfway to his mouth.
“Carl, if you hadn’t brought the coffee and hadn’t saved Will last night, I’d kick you out for belittling him like that.” He interlaced his fingers with Will’s. “We’re together, okay?”
Carl gave them a look. “He your witch bride or what?”
Sage felt himself go purple. “No one does that anymore. So how come you showed up here last night to chase off the loup-garou? Oh, and who was that with you?”
Carl shrugged. “Kira. She’s my sister. She did a perimeter check yesterday after you left—before we headed out for the moon. Her nose is better than mine, and she picked up loup-garou.”
“But not before?” Sage asked.
Carl shook his head. “I didn’t smell it. Which leads me to believe the ass-clown was using magic to hide what he is. That human-looking not-quite human you made run off with his bowels giving out on him.”
Will leaned forward. “That guy? He didn’t—” Will’s eyes grew distant.
Sage turned to him. “What?”
Will trembled, then shook himself as if to make it stop. “I had that feeling all last night after we got home. Unease.”
“Why’d a loup-garou want to hurt you?” Carl asked Sage, and Will visibly deflated, which Carl noticed. “Wait, you have a loup-garou after you? Got a mouth on you. You piss off the wrong canine or something?”
“My old pack sold me to loups-garous.” Will didn’t look at Carl as he said the words.
Carl’s eyes went wide. “Well, shit. That’s… I don’t even know. You’re a lucky bastard, I’ll give you that.”
“Lucky?” Will’s head snapped up. He looked furious.
Carl kept his calm. “To be alive. Was this guy one of them?”
Will shook his head, and Sage jumped in. “They all met Peter.”
“Ah.” Carl nodded. “That’s good to hear. So this is…just some random loup-garou trying to get into the Boudoir without anyone finding out what he is, and then when that didn’t work, he follows you two? Does that make sense to either of you?”
Sage shook his head, but Will was frowning. “Will?” Sage put a hand on his back.
Will took a deep breath. “He talked on the phone sometimes. Ed did. To someone he was close with. I think it was his brother, but he never really said.” Will’s jaw ticked. “And I might have—they beat me. I might have forgotten things. Faces.”
“Loups-garous don’t come in families. They usually don’t even come in packs.” The hard look left Carl’s eyes, and he seemed to reassess Will.
“The pack knew each other from before they were turned,” Will said. “He might’ve turned his brother. Ed might have, I mean. They were…Ted used to say stuff about how the person on the phone had to be careful of other people, and—” Will’s head swiveled to Sage. “Oh, fuck. I think I did a bad thing.”
“What do you mean?”
Carl leaned in.
Will swallowed, and Sage saw his Adam’s apple bob. “I… They made me do magic? For hiding. I put it into those key charms, you know, into those little metal containers that could hold my spices and herbs. And they made me make more than three.”
Sage slapped his forehead. “If that was your magic, it explains why absolutely nothing in the house reacted. I thought it was a particularly strong illusion spell or something, but if it was you—”
Carl took a sip from his own coffee. “Will also did blast you into your garden pond, right? I’ve never seen anything like that, and I’ve got to say, when you do magic, Sage, it looks more elegant than that.”
Will briefly glowered at Carl, then looked up at Sage. “I didn’t do that. I’ve never been able to do magic in my wolf form.”
Sage shrugged. “You did though. Twice, actually. The first time you whammied me right out of the house, the second, you helped heal your own wounds.”
Will’s jaw dropped.
Carl leaned back in his chair, making it creak slightly. “If you can do magic in your wolf form and you don’t have to say spells, that’s powerful.” He looked at Sage. “Not as powerful as your magic, obviously. But it’s sneaky. You can always tell when a witch is casting.”
Will leaned closer to Sage. “I wasn’t even aware that I did anything.”
Carl lifted his chin. “Are you sure you’re actually trying to learn magic and aren’t just here to get into Sage’s pants?”
Will growled.
“Can we stop with that posturing bit already?” Sage pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “I’ll go call Peter. Carl, did you get a license plate or anything from the loups-garous?”
Carl shook his head. “He didn’t park in the Boudoir’s garage, just walked in that way. I’ll be happy to help out, and Kira too. She doesn’t like it when the bad guys get away.”
Will growled. “I can protect my mat—my magic teacher. I don’t need you.”
Carl snorted. “Pup, you were brave last night, no doubt about that, but you are not a fighter.”
Sage tuned the two of them out while he called Peter from the living room.
“Did you find your cat?” the vampire asked.
“I am not dignifying that with an answer. Guess what happened last night.” He paced in front of the couch and fluffed a few of the cushions as he went.
“You had a vision that finally made you understand the benefits of a nice suit and a proper shave, and now you will throw out all those board shorts, invest in nice shirts, and get a haircut?”
Sage rolled his eyes. “Stop fucking around, Peter. We had a loup-garou in the house last night.”
“Are you and William all right?”
“Yeah, fine. Will attacked like a badass motherfucker and got hurt, but he healed himself. It was the full moon last night.”
“I’m aware, Sage.” Peter sounded annoyed. “The pup attacked, you say?”
“Yeah, but he’s fine, I promise. Carl dropped by and helped.”
“And who in the fuck is Carl?”
Elsbet was trying to jump out of a cushion pile on the armchair, so Sage caught her and walked her over to the dining table, where he put her on one of the chairs. “One of the security people at the Boudoir. I thought you knew them all.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t know all of them by their first names. Could you please organize your thoughts and give me the condensed version without all the irrelevant details?”
So Sage did.
“The bother of an extended family.” Peter spoke like an only child. “I’ll have to call Pryce again when we are done with this. Although, he’s dating, so perhaps it’ll be appreciated.”
Sage knew Pryce, the friendly neighborhood ghoul, because said ghoul had made it his mission to teach the ghoul version of stranger danger whenever Sage found himself at Peter’s place to get babysat.
It was just another reason Sage had cited to his grandmother in his plea to be allowed to attend Wiccan nakedness, but it had done nothing for him at all.
“Do you need me to react to Pryce’s relationship status?” Sage asked.
Peter tsked. “I thought you would be happy for Pryce. He always gave you candy.”
“He held out a fucking lollipop to me, and when I so much as showed interest, he scared the shit out of me by dropping his teeth and claws and chasing me!”
“He made sure you got some exercise with your candy too, which was very thoughtful of him. I will look into that loup-garou family situation, and I will keep you apprised. I need a good distraction from all the paperwork at the office right about now.”
Sage thought Peter actually needed blood, but telling him that was wasn’t going to help either of them. “Fine. We’ll be here.”
Sage hung up, and when he got back to the kitchen, he was treated to the sight of Will and Carl sniffing each other and not being subtle about it.
“I guess I should be grateful you aren’t smelling each other’s butts.”
“I’d smell your butt,” Will said, and Carl looked as if he’d smell Sage’s butt too but was too house-trained to say so out loud.
“The joys of living with a werewolf.” Sage dropped back into his chair and finally gave the coffee his full attention. Unfortunately, it was lukewarm, but it was still both bitter and sweet. Other than waking up with Will in his arms, it was the best thing that had happened all morning.