Chapter 12
The Mayor
“Maybe we should have sex,” Adam said, breaking the silence. He stared blankly at the ceiling while lying next to me, the faint glow of the hall night light slicing into the room. “Fuck me, Cody. Call me your pretty little princess.”
“Tempting,” I said, looking over at him. Though he was trying to lighten the mood, his expression remained concerned.
“What do you think they’re doing in there? It’s been two hours.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I sat up and fluffed the pillow behind me before lying down again. “Has Austin always been like that? I mean, you said he was fucked in the head when you first met, but like that?”
“Not this bad. There’s a sweet side to him, but I haven’t seen that person in a while. He’s always moody, and no one likes to be around him. I don’t even think he likes to be around himself.”
“This is really upsetting.”
“I’m not good with this stuff. I didn’t even know what was wrong with him for the longest time. It’s not like I can just break up with him and leave, either. I’m literally stuck in a position I can’t get out of without some awful, lifelong consequence.”
“Suppose the kuu didn’t exist. Could you really leave him like this?”
Adam didn’t respond.
“I’m not saying you should stay in an abusive relationship, but if there’s a chance we can help him, it might be worth sticking around. Especially since you’re not dealing with this alone anymore.” I rolled out of bed and stumbled over Adam’s pants.
“Where are you going?”
“This is about to drive me crazy. I’m going to see what they’re doing.”
“I’m coming with.” Adam threw off the covers and followed close.
We crept toward the other bedroom, the loose floorboards in the hallway giving us away.
I pressed my ear to the door but didn’t hear anything.
When I opened it a crack, I could see Roscoe sitting up against the headboard, sound asleep.
Austin’s head was in his lap while the rest of his body was in the fetal position, his huge, clawed feet dangling over the mattress.
Adam pushed the door all the way open so he could see before backing away. I followed, turning off the light and shutting the door carefully behind me.
“I didn’t expect that,” I said, walking back into the bedroom, relieved Roscoe had successfully defused what could have been a terrible situation. I climbed back into bed. “We should get some sleep. It’s almost twelve.”
Adam stood in the middle of the room, staring pensively at the floor before walking over to the bed.
“You okay?”
“I never did that. He’s so big that I probably wouldn’t have been able to, anyway.” He pulled down the covers and shuffled next to me. “He was so calm, and he wasn’t crying in his sleep.”
“Roscoe told me werewolves should have a pack. He said we do better when we’re in families, just like wolves. Austin’s been isolating himself for a while, and you’re the only one he’s been around.”
“Well gee, that makes me feel better.”
“That’s not what I meant. You’re a half-turn. He hasn’t been around other werewolves since the military, right?”
Adam nodded. “He said he didn’t want any more friends. I just thought he liked being alone.”
“Think about it. He lost the people closest to him with no warning. One day, he had a family and the next, he was alone. I think he’s closing himself off because he doesn’t want to experience something like that again.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
I shook my head. “Not really, but I can think about how I’d feel if something like that happened to me, and I know what it feels like to be abandoned and alone. Human or werewolf, we’re social creatures. If we’re alone for too long, it fucks us up. I’d imagine it’s probably worse for him.”
Adam nodded, his watery eyes shimmering in the dim glow. “It was nice to see him like that.”
“Maybe tomorrow he’ll be easier to talk to. You should try.”
“Maybe,” Adam said before turning away. “I guess Roscoe’s pretty amazing.”
“Hands off my werewolf,” I said jokingly, but Adam didn’t react.
The scent of bacon wafting into my nostrils woke me up, but my eyes didn’t fully open until I felt another presence in the room. Austin was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, leering at Adam and I. He wore his torn army fatigue pants, which he never seemed to take off.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Waiting,” he grunted. “I’m horny.”
“You’ve got a hand. You can either use it or wait longer. Adam’s asleep.”
He unzipped his pants, letting his huge cock land with a thud between his thighs. Werewolf dicks were always a mystery. They either stayed neatly behind a patch of fur on the rare occasions they weren’t being used, or they’d hang limp and exposed before getting hard. “You do it.”
I was too groggy to register what was happening at first, but I snapped out of it, irritation setting in.
“Austin,” I said, my voice throaty. “It’s seven in the morning. I just woke up, and I haven’t had coffee. You don’t want me anywhere near your dick right now.”
He stepped closer. “You smell like you need it.”
“I can get it from Roscoe,” I replied, baring my teeth. The instinctual aggression surprised us both.
“God dammit, what are you doing?” Adam asked, his voice slurred as he rubbed his eyes.
“You’ve got a duty to perform, soldier.”
“I don’t feel like role playing right now,” Adam responded.
“I’m not playing,” he growled, stuffing his half-hard dick back into his pants before leaving the room.
Adam rubbed his forehead.
“Well, looks like he’s back to his shitty old self,” I muttered, letting out a yawn before throwing off the covers.
Adam stood and removed his tight underwear and folded them neatly on my nightstand.
“What are you doing?”
“These are the only pair Austin hasn’t destroyed, and he doesn’t look like he wants to gently slide them off of me.”
“Roscoe does that with his teeth sometimes.”
Adam clicked his tongue. “Roscoe’s a sex god. I get it.” He scrutinized my face for a moment. “I think you’re lying to me. You’re just trying to make me jealous over nothing.”
I pointed to the door. “I believe you have duties to perform, soldier,” I said, struggling to keep a straight face.
This was petty, but the way he ragged on Roscoe’s age irritated me.
For human guys, questioning their virility made sense, but for werewolves?
They aged like wine. Even Darryl was incredibly hot for being sixty-years old.
“Maybe when you’re done, he might be willing to talk a little. ”
“Doubt it,” Adam muttered, sliding his feet apprehensively.
“Just humor me. Try to strike up a conversation and see where it leads.”
We both stepped out into the hall, and I went straight while he turned off toward their bedroom, taking a deep breath before stepping inside. Guilt soon set in. The look he gave made me wonder what the hell Austin did to make sex so terrible.
After stumbling exhausted through the living room, I stood at the entrance of the kitchen, watching Roscoe flip pancakes while humming to a pop song playing through my phone.
“Made you coffee,” he said without looking back. He knew I wasn’t the most cheerful being on the planet this early, so he would graciously give me time to caffeinate before the relentless teasing. This morning, however, I was in a different mood.
“Good morning,” I said, wrapping my arms around him from behind.
His tail wagged, tickling my abdomen.
“Uh oh. What did I do?”
I let out a soft laugh as I buried my face in his back fur. “You didn’t take a shower yet.”
“I was gonna last night, but you know.” He gave the frying pan a toss, flipping another pancake. “You hungry?”
“That depends. Are you going to sing all of Katy Perry’s greatest hits while I eat?” I let him go and backed toward the coffee pot. “How did you calm him down?”
Roscoe slid a spatula under the pancake and stacked it on top of the others before pulling the frying pan off the flame.
“In the mood for a little story?”
“Sure, why not?”
“I was a full werewolf when the second world war started, and in those days, humans didn’t take too well to us—for good reason.
I didn’t have that many werewolf friends either, but I got to know a lot of human veterans while on the streets.
These were the badasses that ran into a hail of bullets, explosions, and almost four million Nazi landmines on the beaches of Normandy.
They also had to deal with the werewolves ol’ Hitler had.
It’s a big reason why they don’t use us in the military anymore.
The shit they saw and what they experienced that day, I couldn’t even imagine.
You hear stories and see the movies, but it’s like trying to take the perfect picture of a mountain.
The photo don’t look nothing like the real thing when yer standing at the foot of it. ”
I hopped up on the counter like I normally did and continued listening.
“The guys that were the unlucky ones couldn’t cope, and they had a lot in common with our grumpy friend in there.
Austin didn’t go into battle, but he experienced shit that I don’t think I’d have been able to handle very well, either.
When yer own country does those things to you, it’s more than just betrayal.
You lose yer self-worth, yer security, and yer trust. When I was out on the streets, I wanted to help these guys, and I’d end up calling some of them my best friends.
I learned what shell shock was; we call it PTSD now.
I asked if there was anything I could do, and nine times out of ten, they just wanted someone who would listen.
They needed to talk to someone, even if they didn’t admit it at first.