I packed everything back into the bag before making my way over to the dresser. “You’re damn right it won’t happen again.” After shuffling through the drawer for a minute, the glint of a large opal caught my eye. “Here,” I said, tossing the stone to Roscoe.
He sat up and caught it with one hand. “Sure is pretty.”
“They didn’t speak at all when they gave it to me.”
“That’s just ‘cause you can’t understand ‘em.”
“And you can?”
He gave me an uneasy look. “With the right drugs, yeah.”
“Roscoe!” I yelled, slipping back into my clothes. “Did you learn anything last night?Thatwas Mosavi letting us off easy. I don’t even want to think about what he’d do if you’re caught using drugs.”
“It’s natural. That’s how they talk to people who ain’t in their pack.”
“He was very clear about us not going back into the woods.” I picked up the gold lighter that had been sitting on the dresser. “He’ll know the moment I go out there. He knows where I am at all times because of this stupid thing.”
“Just throw it away.”
“You honestly think that wasn’t the first thing I did? Every time I throw it away, it ends up back in my pocket.”
Roscoe hummed contemplatively as he got out of bed and toweled off.
“Take a damn shower,” I said, snatching the towel away.
Roscoe gave himself a few sniffs. “I’m fine. I had one yesterday, remember? Got myself all prettied up fer you, and you left me hangin’.”
I pointed to the cock cage. “Take a shower, or I’m putting that back on you.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
I folded my arms. “You have to sleep sometime.”
The werewolf stood quiet for a moment.
“I’m throwin’ that thing away,” he said, rushing for the cage, but I snatched it before he reached it.
“I don’t think so.”
“Yer not strong enough, you little half-turn twerp,” he mocked, easily prying my hand open with his large, clawed fingers, but as he touched the metal on the cage, a blinding bolt sent him flying across the room and into the wall. There was a slight indentation where he impacted.
I ran over to him. “Whoa! Are you okay?”
Roscoe rubbed his head. “See what I mean? Throw it away, Cody.”
“After what you just did? I don’t think so.”
“I was just joking.”
“You were challenging me.” The room started to turn a familiar silver, the tone of my voice growing deeper. “Don’t challenge me again.”
“Cody!” Roscoe’s irises lightened to blue, but he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.
The intense emotions taking over my body only grew, and I grabbed the scruff of Roscoe’s neck, forcing him to look at me.
“Tell me who your leader is,” I said with a snarl, and his eyes snapped wide open. “Tell me.”
“It’s you,” he whispered, his countenance now distant. “What do you want me to do?”
