Chapter 36 #2
The room darkened as I waited, then I felt something drape over the top of my head, leafy protrusions falling to the side.
“Okay,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me off the bed.
We walked over to the dresser mirror, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
He had picked azaleas from the bushes outside, which shouldn’t have even been in bloom, braiding them together in a floral crown.
I looked like a contradiction, but as I examined closer, my face seemed softer.
“Heh. This is pretty.”
“I got up early to make it. I was thinking about what I want to do here in Norwich, and since I’ve been tending to the plants outside in private to take my mind off things for a while, I actually started to like it.
Willa gave me some stuff to grow plants in the off-season, but they’ll die when the snow comes.
People like pretty floral arrangements, and they always make me happy. ”
I looked back at the mirror, adjusting the laurel of flowers on my head.
“I like it. It’s soft and pretty meets big and ugly.”
“More like big and handsome,” Adam corrected. “Listen, I wanted to say I’m sorry for everything. No one should have had to go through what you did.”
“Don’t apologize, especially since I was the one that treated you like crap. I can’t go back and fix that, and I don’t wanna be feral and forget who I am and who I loved. I also don’t wanna forget you.”
“We can start over, you know? We can get to know each other better now that there’s not this wall of animosity keeping us apart. We never talked about anything, and we should have done that. I’m just as much to blame because I saw you suffering, but I ignored it.”
I grabbed both of his hands, holding them to my lips. “You really wanna stay with me? After everything I did?”
“I never really wanted to leave to begin with,” he replied. “I like it here, and I really want to dominate your ass in bed now.”
With a sniff, I wiped away a fake tear. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“You should have told me what gets you off.”
I shook my head. “You were a half-turn, and I needed to be a werewolf. But I won’t object to you telling me what to do—” The look on Adam’s face went from flirtatious to worry. “In the bedroom, stupid.”
He put his hand over his furry chest and sighed with relief. “Yeah, that I can do.” He looked around and held out his arms. “Well, we’re in the bedroom. How about we start with a hug?”
I held out my arms, and he fell into my chest, wrapping himself around me, resting his head under my chin.
With my eyes closed, I took in his comforting scent as we stayed like that for…
I don’t know how long. It was easy to lose myself in this moment as I remembered him singing that song, only now I didn’t feel like crying.
The difference between my new pack and all the families from the past was—I actually felt safe now. Whatever happened in the future was out of my hands, but I’d hold onto what I had in the present with all my new strength.
Roscoe
Eggs and bacon sizzled in the skillet as I hummed to the music blasting through Cody’s phone.
I didn’t have an account of my own, so I used his.
He never said anything about all my different playlists taking over his account because I knew his little secret—he actually liked my music.
He’d deny it up and down if I confronted him, so I left it alone.
Cody wandered into the kitchen with a yawn as he fumbled his way through the cabinet.
“Where’s my favorite coffee cup?”
It was an involuntary reaction, but my ears fell off to the sides, catching his attention immediately.
“Roscoe!”
“I’m sorry. I was movin’ stuff around a couple weeks ago and it fell. Didn’t know it was yer favorite.”
“It was double insulated and expensive. That cup survived four moves, but somehow couldn’t survive you.”
Lookin’ at him so sad made me remember something I was savin’ something for just such an occasion.
“How would you like a new favorite cup?”
“I can’t just point to a cup and designate it my favorite. You know this about me. It has to pass a myriad of rigorous tests before I’d even consider it.”
I slid my metal spatula under the eggs and bacon and onto a plate before putting more in.
“Speakin’ of favorite things, I used to have a favorite frying pan and a favorite apron.” I glanced back at Cody who was now looking at the floor—ah, that cute look of guilt he could never hide. “You know I ain’t mad about silly things like that. Things don’t matter.”
“After everything we’ve been through, you’d think I’d be less of a stickler.” He crept up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Fuck it. I’ll drink coffee out of a bowl if it means I get my caffeine fix.”
I pointed to the cabinet under the sink. “Was gonna give it to you fer Christmas, but I hate waitin’.”
Cody pulled away and walked across the kitchen before reaching under the sink for a box I’d neatly wrapped in a paper grocery bag so it wouldn’t be too conspicuous. He slowly peeled the tape to keep everything intact.
“Jeez, Cody. I ain’t gonna use that paper again. Just rip it open.”
“Sorry, habit,” he said, tearing it the rest of the way, revealing a box with a picture of a double-insulated coffee mug, bigger than his other one. There was no way to put a price on his expression. “Whoa!”
“It gets better,” I said. “Take it out of the box.”
He impatiently ripped open the box to get at the mug before holding it to the light. Etched into the glass was his name. On the other side was that drawing I gave him a while ago to apologize with me holding up a heart.
“Roscoe, this…” He placed the cup on the counter and wiped tears from his eyes. “This is my new favorite cup.”
“But you ain’t tested it yet.”
“It passes,” he said, throwing his arms around me again. “How about we eat breakfast in bed?”
Hearing him say that made me gasp. He never let me eat in bed.
“You mean it? I can put on a movie, too?”
He rubbed my stomach before grabbing lower. “How about you eat, and I take care of something else.”
“Oh shit.” I hurried and scooped the rest of the food onto the plate before turning off the burner.
Two of my favorite things in life, and I’d get to have ‘em at the same time.
Had to rush in case Cody changed his mind, but he was all too eager to get me in that bedroom. “Yer really okay with this?”
“They’re just sheets.” He looked back at me, raising his eyebrows as we entered the bedroom. “I know I’m going to regret this, but maybe we can, I dunno… experiment with new things?”
“You know, I’ve always had this fantasy of fucking on the beach and bringin’ in a human third.”
His grin flipped almost instantly. I shoulda known that would get me in trouble.
“You’re this close to getting nothing.”
“Uh… yeah forget about that. Let’s eat!”
Cody
I lay on top of a sleeping Roscoe, his abdomen rising and falling as he snored, lulling me into and out shallow naps, but it was almost noon and there were chores that needed to be done.
I also had to pay Willa a visit to discuss what happened, as well as pass along the feral elder’s request. Mosavi had strong feelings about the werewolves living in the woods, but I now understood something we were all lacking.
If we were going to live better as something more than human, we would need to strike a balance between Midna and Whasha.
Feral life might not have been for most, but the life of a werewolf in a human city was a miserable existence.
The humans were misguided in their reasoning, but removing werewolves from cities was not the Kristallnacht I thought it was. It was an inevitable result.
This had me again pondering the reason the elders in charge came up with the kuu as a solution to the compounding misery. They were so secretive that all their actions did was further fuel the ideas of conspiracy Mosavi had hinted at.
It was then I had a horrifying thought. What if Willa wasn’t the only powerful witch that had broken free from her coven? The idea of a malevolent rogue sorceress cohorting with a cabal of enthralled elders was a nightmare scenario.
I climbed off Roscoe, giving him a gentle kiss on the nose before heading to the bathroom.
As expected, bacon grease ruined my sheets, but it no longer drove me crazy.
The old me would have rolled Roscoe out of bed and meticulously hand-washed those sheets until every drop of grease had vanished.
And if I couldn’t do that, I’d buy new ones and put the kibosh on food in bed.
It was so stupid to waste energy trying to keep everything the way I wanted when life itself was one big Roscoe-sized mess.
Like it or not, I was going to be a werewolf one day, and I’d have to abide all the smells and stains and dirt that would come along with it.
Even Mosavi, as clean and prim as he was, couldn’t hide his werewolf musk, nor could he hold back his primal urges. Under that custom-fitted blazer was a torn, dirty dress shirt, and behind that clean-shaven, handsome human face was the most deranged sex-addict I’d ever met.
I hated myself again for being turned on by that.
The more I thought about the dishes piled in the sink from breakfast, the less I cared. I ran the hot water and hopped into the shower.
“I’ll let someone else clean today,” I whispered to myself before grabbing the soap, knowing damn well the three werewolf slobs living here probably wouldn’t even notice the mess, let alone clean it. Maybe that would change later on.
Willa and Mosavi sat in the opposite booth, staring curiously at me. Mosavi was in his dressed-up human form, and Willa wore a black flowing gown that fluttered dramatically, even in the stillness of the restaurant.
“That’s really all there is,” I said, sipping on my water before digging into my pocket to pull out a small sack of herbs and the stone. I dropped them onto the table.