John shrugged. “Just that you’re not my type, personality wise. I mean, I like you as a friend, but I wouldn’t want to date you.”
Luke actually looked a little offended and John tilted his head questioningly.
“Did youwantme to have feelings for you?” he asked.
“No.” Luke’s answer sulky, and John laughed.
“So werewolvesneverdate humans?” John asked, keeping his voice casual but dying to know what Luke would say.
“Not really,” Luke replied. He looked uncomfortable.
“Never?” John pushed.
“Well, I guess there are some werewolves that are human lovers, but they’re not normal. It’s not something that’s tolerated in any of the packs.”
John frowned. “So what, if someone likes humans they’re out? That seems like a pretty bigoted attitude.”
“It’s not,” Luke said, shaking his head. “Being attracted to humans is unnatural. It’s like bestiality.”
“Aren’t you dating a witch? How is that different?” John asked. Luke’s attitude was making him angry. It was pure bigotry, and John was quite frankly shocked by it. He never would have pegged Luke as that particular breed of asshole.
“It’s completely different,” Luke said, offended. “Witches are supernatural creatures. It’s nothing like being with a human.”
“So humans aren’t good enough for werewolves?” John asked, anger leaking into his voice.
“That’s not it at all. It’s just not something that’s done.” Luke took an angry sip of his beer, slamming his can down on the table and crossing his arms over his chest. The game had started, but both he and John were ignoring it. “Werewolves don’t fuck humans. That’s the rule and only freaks of nature break it.”
“Wow,” John said, looking at Luke with abject disgust. “So basically you’re just a bigot.”
“No I’m not,” Luke said, looking outraged at being labeled such.
“You sound like a bigot. Everything you’re saying… that’s how humans used to talk about gay people or interracial marriage in the fucking fifties. It’s ugly.”
“It’s completely different,” Luke growled, glaring at John and clenching his teeth.
“How is it different?” John challenged. “What exactly makes anything you’re saying now less than pure bigoted bullshit?”
“There are a lot of things humans aren’t supposed to know about. If we startedmatingwith you guys we wouldn’t be able to keep those secrets. It would threaten everything.”
John wondered what exactly werewolves were doing that humans weren’t supposed to know about.
“Like what?”
“You’re not supposed to know.” Luke was staring right at John, and if John hadn’t been so angry he would have been incredibly intimidated by the way Luke’s neck was bulging with tension.
“Do you really believe that, or are you just saying that because you’re a bigot and you don’t want to examine that?”
“It’s the truth,” Carter said. He sounded absolutely convinced.
“And if I asked Owen what he thought, what would he say?”
Now that had Luke looking uncertain, all but confirming John’s suspicion that Luke’s excuses were shit.
“He’s not a werewolf, he wouldn’t understand.” Luke shifted, looking uncomfortable.
“But he has access to all these werewolf secrets, right? If treating werewolves who like humans the way humans used to treat gay people is really necessary, then surely he’d realize that too. Wouldn’t he?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Luke said, turning his face toward the TV. “We don’t have any werewolves like that in our pack, so there’s no point discussing it. And Owen hasn’t grown up in a pack. There are lots of things he doesn’t understand. It doesn’t mean that I’m not right.”
