“You’re lucky I’m good at what I do,” I replied, suggestively wiping the barbeque sauce from my lips.
Roscoe stopped chewing. “You sucked both of ‘em off at the same time?”
“Sure did. You owe me now.”
“Austin, eat your brisket,” Adam said, taking a bite of a burger. The werewolf did as instructed, tears still lingering in his eyes. It was strange behavior because he didn’t seem to be crying, butthe tears never stopped. “I’m having a hard time believing any of what you just said.”
“I’ll have you know, my oral skills are legendary.”
A black Mercedes pulled up along the curb, and Willa emerged from the back. Roscoe and I grew tense as we waited for Mosavi to join her, but the car pulled away instead. A gust of wind kicked up fallen leaves on the sidewalk, tousling her straightened hair while nearly lifting her surprisingly cheerful mauve dress.
“It’s my favorite half-turn,” she said, seeming genuinely surprised to see me, even though we’d been coming here more often lately. “It’s a gorgeous day.”
“Where is everybody?” I asked, noting the empty tables around the patio. Austin’s head hit his empty plate, and he began snoring.
“Still asleep. I’m surprised you werewolves have the strength to be out and about.”
“I feel fine,” Adam said, poking Austin, but the werewolf didn’t react.
“I’m exhausted,” Darryl muttered. “How long does this last? I don’t wanna feel like shit the entire trip back home tomorrow.”
“Barely a day.” Willa hiked her dress and climbed over the bench, sitting next to me. She eyed Roscoe, who was still furiously stuffing his face in between yawns. “What a healthy appetite.”
“Why’s everyone so exhausted?” Adam asked.
“The ward I used last night drains a bit of energy from each werewolf to keep the witches away. It merely feels like a mild hangover.”
Roscoe’s head drooped mid-chew before jerking back up again.
“Why don’t you make yourself somehair of the dog, Roscoe?” Darryl flicked a potato wedge at the older werewolf’s face. “It’ll wake ya right up,” he continued, mocking Roscoe’s accent.
Roscoe snatched the wedge and popped it into his mouth. “Don’t waste food.”
“Darius told me to stop off at the station and let Roscoe out, but he mysteriously vanished.” She turned to me. “No one knew he was even there to begin with.”
My face grew hot as I felt the others’ eyes on me.
“Legendary blowjobs. Right,” Adam said smugly, lifting Austin’s head before sliding the dinner plate out from under him.
“Okay fine. I did a little vironoct manipulation.” I punched Roscoe’s arm. “Stop antagonizing the mayor. Dumbass.”
“How is Austin?” Willa asked, her demeanor growing more serious.
“He’s still not able to go to the bathroom on his own,” Adam responded, petting his sleeping kuu mate’s head. “I’m such an awful person.”
I shook my head. “If you were, you would have left him like that instead of taking care of him.”
“But I don’t want to take care of him, and that’s why I feel terrible.” He folded his arms on the table and rested his head. “I’m a werewolf now, but I can’t even enjoy it.”
“He might be able to do basic tasks on his own as soon as the drain wears off,” Willa said. “But he’ll still not be able to do much more than that without you. Darius mentioned you were going to pursue a wilder alternative to curing Austin.”
“And I bet he sent you here to talk us out of it,” Darryl said.
“He did, but I don’t agree with my husband all the time. The truth is this magic isn’t binary. There are many ways to tap into it, and the one who knows everything about elder magic would be the very being responsible for it.” Willa paused. “But summoning a prince of hell to get those answers would be a rather bad idea.”
“What do you think about the ferals?” I asked. “We’ve had a few encounters, but we still don’t know much about them.”
“That’s outside of my knowledge as well, I’m afraid. Everything I do for Austin from here on out will only be temporary. The magic Adam used should have never had this effect, even with the corrupting influence of the coven. Magic was the catalyst but not the cause of all of it, nor will it be the solution. Austin has locked himself behind his own source of power, and he refuses to resurface, so no amount of therapy will work either.” She sighed and reached across the table to rub the sleeping werewolf’s ears. “This is beyond anything we know, but I’m not ruling out the ferals. There’s also the risk to think about.”
