Chapter 17 #2
“O-kay,” I said, nervously clearing my throat, not wanting to anger him further by asking why.
He pointed to the lighter in my hand. “You are already familiar with the kuu. They are not just enchanted jewelry to bond werewolves. They can be much more than that.”
“You gave me a kuu?” I dropped the lighter onto the ground. “I have two of them now?”
“You only have one. The trinkets in your ears are powerless.”
“So I’m not bonded to Roscoe?”
Mosavi laughed. “I can’t even imagine.” He shook his head. “Your bond belongs to me. If you try to leave town, I will find you. If you try to throw the kuu away, it will come back.” The lighter suddenly appeared heavier in my hand. “You are mine until your full transformation.”
The room began to turn lighter as I grew angrier. “I just want to be—”
“There it is,” he interrupted, grabbing my lower jaw with his huge hand, holding my head in place as his eyes glowed.
Everything narrowed to a point. My body felt weightless, like I was dreaming.
In another flash, a fancy room with marble pillars and deep red and gold-patterned carpet appeared around me.
Lit candelabras stood tall in four far corners while flaming chandeliers hung from the ceiling.
Before me were two werewolves. As the flames flickered brighter, I saw their faces.
“Roscoe?” I asked as the werewolf stood there with blank, light blue eyes. Austin stood next to him, his own irises the same color. He gave an army salute.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I’m seizing an opportunity while it presents itself,” the mayor said from behind, slipping his clawed hands over my shoulders. “You’re in control now. I want to see what you do.”
Roscoe’s face looked familiar. It was the same expression he’d worn when Darryl brutalized him.
“Is this some kind of mind control?”
“No, not quite. You can give suggestions, but whether or not they listen depends on your strength of will. Werewolves will happily follow someone who takes the lead, but they will also just as easily run over one who does not. Train them to be obedient.”
“They’re not dogs. I don’t like this at all.”
He squeezed my shoulders until they hurt.
“You either train them, or they leave town. Your choice.”
Something warm buzzed in my pocket, and Mosavi was forced back by a white light. The strange room shattered into millions of pieces as the jail cell reappeared, but Roscoe and Austin were still standing, their eyes completely blank. The mayor grabbed me by the neck before pushing me to the floor.
“You went into the woods before, didn’t you?” His eyes burned like liquid metal as he pulled the other two werewolves out of whatever trance they were in. Roscoe stumbled back before falling on his ass, Austin remained in place, bewildered.
“I was going to tell you, but I—”
Mosavi shut the cell door, locking the werewolves on the other side again. “Get out before I do something I’ll regret.”
I swallowed hard, my hands shaking again. “What about them?”
“They stay.”
“For how long?”
He slammed his fist against the bars and snapped back, making me wince. “Days! Months! Years! However damn long I want to keep them for!”
“I’ll get the bail money.”
“No bail!”
“You can’t just decide—” I pulled back when he stepped closer, leaning in until his wet snout touched my face.
“I can do what I please in this town,” he whispered. “I will collect you later.”
My stomach sank as I realized there was no bargaining with him while he was like this. He seemed almost feral, his eyes wide and pupils constricted. This wasn’t the same calm and confident werewolf he’d been moments ago.
“I just went to get firewood. Why is this such a big deal?”
When he removed his suit jacket and his hackles stood straight, I didn’t wait. I ran as fast as I could down the hall.
The walk home was hazy, dim streetlamps casting strange shadows just outside of my vision, turning every small tree into Mosavi, waiting to snatch me up.
He’d almost come across as reasonable earlier, but I’d never seen or felt that kind of aggression in my life.
I was worried about Austin and Roscoe, as well as Adam, who was likely still sleeping off his poor choices.
If we lost our werewolves, and if Mosavi locked me up, too, what was Adam going to do?
I couldn’t blame them for this one. They weren’t the only ones that broke the law. Before meeting Roscoe, I had never even stepped foot in a jail before. Back in the city after changing, I was treated like a criminal, and it seemed nothing was all that different in Norwich.
As I approached the driveway, I looked out at the woods behind the house.
Part of me wanted to just run away and disappear, but the rest was terrified by what else might be out there.
Those werewolves seemed really friendly, but there was something wrong with them.
They were more wolf than man. Was Mosavi scared of them, or were they scared of Mosavi?
There was obviously a lot more to this than I was being told.
The door clicked open and I sauntered inside, my stomach still twisted. What made me sicker was not knowing when I’d be dragged away. Would he do it himself or would he send the deputies?
I stopped by Adam’s room to check on him, but his bed was empty.
“Adam?”
No answer. I looked over at the wall clock. Seven past three, so he couldn’t have gone back out to the bar. My steps quickened down the hall. I glanced into mine and Roscoe’s bedroom, but there was no one. However, I did see an orange glow behind the closed curtain coming from outside.
I pulled open the back door and stepped out into the yard as Adam poked at the fire in the pit.
“What are you doing?”
“Everyone was gone.” He quickly wiped his face with his shirt and looked away. “So I decided to make a fire.”
“Are you okay?” I sat on the chair next to him, but he didn’t look at me. “Were you crying?”
“No!” He pushed me away. “I don’t cry.”
It was obviously a lie, but I nodded anyway. “Okay. Should I get some marshmallows?”
“Roscoe ate them yesterday.”
“Of course he did.” I leaned back in the chair. A chilly breeze buffeted the flames before calming. “I had fun tonight.”
“No, you didn’t. You couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
“That’s not true.”
He finally looked back at me, his eyes watering.
“It wasn’t you, okay? I don’t like bars, and I was really just hoping we could talk. Alone.”
He sniffed once more before narrowing his eyes. “Why?”
“Because we don’t talk. At all. We just argue and ignore each other. I feel like I’m always in some weird competition with you, and I don’t even want to be.”
“Where’s Austin and Roscoe?”
“Jail.”
Adam jumped to his feet. “What did they do?”
“It seems Austin has a lot of secret skills. They got piss drunk and did some… stuff.”
“Did you get them out? Are they inside?”
“No. The mayor’s pretty pissed, so I can’t even steal Austin’s stash of cash to make bail.”
Adam sat back down. “How long do you think they’ll be in there?”
I looked over at Adam and shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything, really. I keep trying to hold us together, but you guys keep doing everything you can to pull us apart. I just wanted us all to live a quiet, normal life.”
“And be boring like you?” He smiled at me with his longer canines. “Why do you want to be boring like a human?”
“Because I don’t like feeling like this. I don’t like all the attention I’m getting. Maybe you do, but I don’t.”
He didn’t respond. We both stared at the fire, listening to the popping embers as leaves rustled in the breeze.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you something, but you get all pissy when I bring it up,” Adam said before tossing another small log on the flames.
“Ask about what?”
“Why are you such a neat freak?”
“Because unlike you and Roscoe, I don’t want to live like a pig.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’ve seen you wash a dish like five times, put it away, and wash it again. Sometimes you’ll sweep the floor, walk over it, and then grab the broom again and sweep the same place. You do it all the time when you think no one’s watching.”
Adam was probably the last person I wanted to talk to about this, but there wasn’t anyone else. “I don’t like feeling dirty.”
“Dude, you have no more natural oils in your skin because you take like four showers a day. You’re not dirty.”
“It’s different. When I came out as gay, I was told I was dirty. Now I’m half monster, and I’m going to end up smelling like Roscoe. So, I just keep cleaning so I don’t feel so dirty.”
“Cody…” Adam put his hand on my arm.
“It’s like a stain on my soul that I can’t clean. I hate that I need to have sex.”
“Sex is pretty nasty.” He shoved me. “That’s what makes it so fun. That’s what makes it feel good.” He paused and his expression turned more serious. “Do you ever feel good?”
“Sometimes, but it’s hard. Even when Roscoe and I are together, I always feel disappointed in myself after it’s over. Sorry. It’s been a night.”
“Nah. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to hang out with me. I did kinda ignore you and steal the spotlight.”
“And you ran up the tab.”
In a cocky show of defiance, Adam placed his hands behind his head and leaned back. “You can take it out of that huge chunk of money you withhold from me every month.”
“Why were you crying?”
“I wasn’t—”
“Cut the shit, Adam. I just spilled my guts to you.”
The cocky expression faded. “I woke up, and no one was in the house.”
“You could’ve called me.”
“I did. It kept going to voicemail.”
I pulled out my phone, which I had forgotten would automatically set to ‘do not disturb’ after two. “Oops.”
“I just figured you all went back out without me. Everyone likes you more.”
“Well, even if that was true—which it’s not—you don’t exactly make being around you a pleasant experience most of the time.”
He didn’t respond.
“I don’t mean that to be rude. You’re just such a grouch.”
“So are you! You’re always nagging like you’re this bitter old lady who runs the house.”
“I am not like a bitter old lady!”
Adam scrunched his nose. “‘Adam, stop eating on the couch. You’re getting crumbs everywhere. Roscoe, you didn’t wash your dick with bleach before fucking me. No, we can’t go out to eat because we have to save money for the impending apocalypse I’ve conjured up in my head!’”
“You know damn well we’re on thin ice when it comes to money!”
“No, we’re not! We don’t even pay rent! The biggest expense we have is Roscoe’s bottomless fucking appetite!”
“And that alone is all the more reason to save what we have.”
I was losing this argument.
“Why are you like this?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to calm down.
“We’ve got money. We’ve got a place to live. We’re getting laid every day by monsters that know how to fuck really good—well, one of them does. Still really annoyed with that, by the way.”
“Well, it’s not just wisdom that comes with age, I guess.”
“See? You’ve actually got a sense of humor. Why don’t you ever lighten the hell up?”
“I don’t know how to make you understand this. I’m used to always being a few dollars shy of being on the streets. There were some days I’d just have to go without food, or heat, or electricity. Poverty just follows me, you know? It’s just like when I was a kid, and my parents—never mind.”
“We’re fine, Cody.”
“You call this fine? We’ve got two werewolves in jail, and I’m probably next.”
Adam laughed. “What did you do? Clean someone’s house without permission?”
“Apparently walking in the woods is a punishable offense in Mosavi’s authoritarian regime.”
“Are you for real?”
“The guy doesn’t fuck around, and he’s threatening us. He knows about Austin. He knows everything.” I picked up a stick and tossed it onto the fire. “I wonder who his wife is and if I could talk to her.”
“Damn, he’s married to a woman?” Adam chewed on his lower lip. “I bet I can change him.”
I rolled my eyes.
“What? He’s really hot.”
“Did you hear what I said, or has the constant state of being a slut caused the last drop of blood to leave your brain?”
“Okay, so things are looking bleak, but if you guys are gone, I get the house and all the money to myself.”
“You’re forgetting something kind of important. See, you need to live with a werewolf to keep collecting that money, and Mosavi will likely report it and kick you out of the house.”
Adam let out a sharp gasp. “We can’t let him get away with this. I’ve got an idea!”
“Glad to see that strong sense of selfishness paying off. What’s this idea?”
“So, he’s married right?”
“We’ve established that.”
“You and I need to get him really drunk, and then I’ll have the nastiest, hottest sex with him, and you get his wife to walk in right as he’s about to blow his load in my ass.”
I stood and walked to the backdoor. “Good night, Adam. You’re a fucking idiot.”
“What? It’s foolproof! He’s a werewolf, and no one can resist this hot, nubile body.”
“You don’t even know what that word means.” I gave him one last groan before disappearing inside.