“Going to promise not to let me down either?” Orson asked with a sarcastic smile.
“Accept me as the leader,” Nemo said. Orson was caught off guard.
“What?” He asked in confusion.
“This,” Nemo said, waving between the three of us, “isn’t going to work unless there’s real leadership. There isn’t a chance in Hell we’ll save Baz unless you stop fighting me.”
“As if I’m the only one fighting,” Orson said. “You despise me.”
Nemo sighed. “I’ve struggled to warm up to you.”
Orson gave Nemo a devious look and then leaned back in the chair. “Go on, tell me how you feel,” Orson said, sounding every ounce the therapist he was.
Nemo ground his teeth. “What else is there to say?”
“Whyhave you struggled to warm up to me?” He asked. Nemo darted a look at me, but I didn’t help him at all.
“Because you’re a vampire. It’s unnatural,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “A walking corpse. No heartbeat. Cold. You smell.”
“Maybe that makes you a little uncomfortable, but you need to be fully honest.” Orson flicked lint off his knee.
“Is this what therapy is like with you?” Nemo asked in dismay.
“Want me to accept your leadership? Then tell me how I make you feel.”
“Worried,” Nemo grumbled. “You were close to both my mates before I was. They …likeyou.” Nemo made a face.
“Go on.”
“I am,” Nemo growled. “They’ve relied on you more than me. Baz rejected me, and the only person he was ever close to in all those years was you. And Bree was obsessed with you for years before I met her. She still is.”
“The big bad wolf was scared his mates would pick me over him.” Orson was clearly eating this up. His shit-eating grin was wider than I’d ever seen it.
“Plus, you’re just a fucking asshole,” Nemo snapped. “And a vampire.”
“You already mentioned the vampire part,” Orson laughed.
“Didn’t you like murdering werewolves?” I asked Orson.
“Unimportant,” he dismissed.
“You dislike Nemo, and he can tell,” I said. “So don’t act like it’s all his fault.”
“Fine,” Orson sighed.
“And maybe Baz had a point,” I said.
“Hmm?” Orson asked, and Nemo looked at me curiously.
“Hate-flirting. You two want to fuck,” I said with a wide smile, leaning over the table towards them. Watching them fuck would certainly help my mood right now. They both recoiled like I’d snapped my fangs at them. “Right, okay. Well, I hope you two know that we’re a team. I don’t care what that means for the two of you, but work it out. Whether that’s friends, lovers, brothers—whatever. Work it out.”
Orson rolled his eyes and started to get up. “You don’t want to be the leader?” He asked me.
“Nemo is the best fit. I’m not.”
“And what about me? I’ve been alive a hell of a lot longer than him.”
“And you’ve always been a loner, not a leader,” I said. Orson looked over at Nemo, sizing him up.
