“Midnight.” The mayor’s stare turned to ice, and Austin cleared his throat before giving Blake a concerned look.
“That’s a little late, but okay.”
“Well,” Roscoe said loudly, shattering the suffocating aura as he stood again, the ripping growing louder. “Dinner’s not gonna serve itself.”
Mosavi looked at the pants Roscoe had selected, his eyes glowing silver. “Why did you wear those?”
“Ya told me to put wear yer pants.”
“And you chose my two-thousand-dollar Giorgio Armani dress pants instead of the sweatpants I told you to wear!”
“Damn, two thousand dollars? I think you got—” The pants made one more tearing sound. “Ripped off.”
“Dear, how about some Christmas music?” Willa said, pulling Mosavi’s dangerously razor-sharp focus away from Roscoe. “It’s a little too quiet.”
“Yes. Yes, some music,” Darius said shakily. It was odd seeing him hold back so much, but I was kind of proud of him. He handled the situation a lot better than I would have.
Later that night
Everyone was drunk, filing out of the mansion and leaving behind what looked like the aftermath of a frat party. An expensive one. Even though Mosavi had tried to pull the brakes, no amount of vironoct persuasion was enough to stop what had started once the werewolves found the liquor cabinet. To be fair, Mosavi had already been three sheets to the wind before everything went tits up.
“Looks like Roscoe’s got his work cut out for him tomorrow,” I said, slowly entering an unlit study with an exhausted Mosavi lying on one of the tufted sofas. “You look like shit.”
“I apologize for everything,” he said, his tone taking on an airy quality as he lapped at the whiskey in his glass. “I had no idea what you were putting up with until now.”
I stepped all the way into the room, pulling the beaded cord on one of the desk lamps before sitting across from him. I didn’t say anything; instead, I picked up a glass and poured some whiskey.
“How do you handle such chaos without losing your mind?”
“You know what’s funny? Willa told me we had a lot in common, and I told her she was full of shit. But after tonight?” I held up the glass. “I guess I kind of see it.”
“A month ago, I’d have had them all thrown in jail if they pulled then what they pulled tonight.”
I took a sip and leaned back. “What’s changed?”
He lapped at his whiskey again. “I feel sick when I think about my behavior in the woods. Part of me wanted to stay with my brother—a very small part, but not insignificant. That frightens me.”
“It shouldn’t,” I said, studying Mosavi’s face. Even with his short temper and pompous attitude, I’d noticed something softer about him after Thanksgiving, when Austin was reunited with his lost pack. “You never did answer your brother’s question.”
He didn’t respond, and I knew it wasn’t because he didn’t want to. It was because he couldn’t.
“You didn’t expect me to see who you really are, did you?”
“Not exactly,” he said with a sigh. “Willa is too close. We have been through hell and back together, but I have closed us off from others for her protection. Losing her scares me more than anything in this world. In all that time I thought I was protecting her by pushing away my baser instincts, but all I was doing was making us both miserable.”
“Did you have a vision?”
“A painful one.” He took another drink. “I can’t save the world, Cody. I want to, but saving the world for our kind means destroying it for others. If I could close off my conscience and do what I feel needs to be done, I would hate what I would become.”
“Well, you’re not God.” I slid off the couch before sitting next to the distraught elder. “Your motives are good, Darius, but what good is saving the world if you destroy it for yourself? What good is living this lavish lifestyle when you’re miserable?” He went to object, but I cut him off. “Don’t try to deny it. I’ve been living with you for a month, and you’ve never really smiled.”
Mosavi placed his empty glass on the table. “I don’t want you to become me,” he said, this time with a real smile. “You seem to understand things I have long since forgotten.”
“Not really. We’ve all gone through some terrible things. My pack. You. Willa. I wasn’t happy until I met Roscoe and the rest. I could have easily been bitter and ruthless like you if I was in that state of mind when you met me.”
“This was the first holiday we’ve spent with others in decades. Willa enjoyed every moment, even the chaos.” He let out a laugh. “I think she may have encouraged the chaos. She’ll always have the witch in her, after all.”
“Didyouenjoy it?”
