Was he…outsmartassing me? Narrowing my eyes, I stuffed the frosting into my mouth and chewed.
He turned back to the game menu. “I checked the news again. Still no missing persons report.”
It took me a second to realize he meant my parents. I swallowed, the chocolate suddenly tasteless on my tongue. I’dspent the last twenty-four hours so thoroughly entrenched in Jesse’s world that I’d forgotten about the problems waiting in mine. I’d forgotten I evenhadparents, let alone that they might be looking for me.
“That’s good,” I said, digging chocolate from my molar with my tongue. “Guess I’m in the clear.”
Jesse nodded. But the easy warmth drained from his expression, replaced by something somber—almost troubled.
And I was an idiot for not anticipating it. He’d killed Ulfrik and then burned his body. Sure, Jesse had lived a long time, but few people could shrug off decapitating another living being with theirteeth.
The memory of Ulfrik’s long blond hair and sightless green eyes swam in my head. “What was Ulfrik’s gift?” I asked.
Jesse looked at me. “What?”
“You said werewolves inherit their gift from the wolf who turns them.” I shifted on the sofa so I faced him. “So what was Ulfrik’s gift? What did he pass on to me?”
For a few seconds, Jesse’s stare was blank. Then he stood and gathered the gaming controllers. “I’m not sure, actually.” He went to the TV cabinet and crouched, his T-shirt stretching across his broad shoulders as he tucked the controllers into bins. “I didn’t know Ulfrik that well.”
Disappointment settled over me. “You said he was a thousand years old. You never heard anyone talk about his gift?”
Jesse straightened the bins, and his voice was brisk as he said, “I think I heard someone mention telekinesis once.”
Telekinesis.I looked at the half-eaten brownie in my hand. Back in Dean Welch’s office, Jesse had shut the door without touching it. He’d sat behind Welch’s desk and locked us in from across the room.
I looked at Jesse, who still crouched in front of the cabinet. “Can a werewolf have more than one gift?” I asked.
“No.”
Confusion swirled through me, and I frowned at his back. “Butyouhave two.”
He stilled. A curious kind of tension snapped into existence. Not the hot, twisting kind that shivered between us when we were trying to get on each other’s dicks. No, this was different. It was cold and brittle, like glass ready to give.
He turned his head a little, giving me a hint of his profile. “What do you mean?”
My nape prickled, some quiet, inner voice warning me to be careful. But careful about what? Asking questions? Ulfrik had turned me into awerewolf. He’d created me. Wasn’t it normal to want to know more?
Plastic crinkled, and I looked down to discover I’d squeezed the brownie into a lumpy cylinder. I leaned forward and set it on the coffee table.
“You said your gift is teaching,” I told Jesse, “but you shut Dean Welch’s door without touching it. Isn’t that telekinesis?”
He stood and faced me. He ran a hand through his dark hair, which was wavier than usual after our shower. “It’s not really a gift. Sometimes, we gain extra abilities as we age.”
Oh. “You didn’t tell me that before.”
“I’m sorry. I should have.”
But he didn’t sound sorry. He sounded…irritated.
Why was he irritated?
I couldn’t sit anymore. Standing, I shoved my hands in my pockets. “So I’ll get telekinesis like Ulfrik?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Gifts can take time to manifest.”
