“Yeah?Right, no dragging, no enchanting, but he’s cute, right?I heard sirens like cute guys.”
“How about you keep your thoughts to yourself, John.”
He sounded as if he were on the verge of getting really angry, and Will didn’t want to risk that.
“Sorry, man.I was just curious.You know, to each their own.”
“That’s better.Behave.”
Will was going to.Keeping his thoughts to himself wasn’t going to be that hard.
Meeting Corvin, the human half of the couple, had been easy.He was the other head from Peter’s collection.Will decided it was weird, but also, he had no idea how vampires’ minds worked after all that time drinking only blood.
Instead of dwelling on that, Will fully embraced the character that was John.John had never gone into Peter’s basement.John was sitting next to the siren, who was possessively holding on to his human, who had selected a werewolf action movie, and John justlovedthat.
“I think all the werewolves in this are way hotter than the hunters are,” John commented.He’d finished the last of the sandwiches the siren had made.Mike was a bit territorial about his objectively cute human, but John had to concede that he was an amazing food wizard.John was a bit jealous of Corvin himself for having snagged such a culinarily skilled siren lover.
“What?”Corvin looked shocked.“Are you even seeing the abs on that hunter?”
“Oh, c’mon.You saw that scene where the wolf shifts and they get the full view of his back.And ass.”
Corvin considered this while Mike seemed to be simmering like a pressure cooker.
“I see what you mean.That was a nice ass.”
“Exactly my point,” John said.
The banter came so easily.It was…Will didn’t really have the words.He’d never been able to step out of the situation he’d been put in, not for a second, and he’d been afraid even in Peter’s house.Being John was different.It was turning all of Will’s problems on silent, if only just for the duration of a corny werewolf movie.
Corvin helped too.He was easy to talk to, just nice, and when Will helped load the dishwasher at the end of the night, he almost felt like himself.Like the person he had been before his grandfather had handed him over as payment to Ed and the others.
With each plate he lined up, it was like he was getting a glimpse of what he might have been—someone who had friends, someone who hung out with people, someone who could be funny and appreciated for it.Someone who hadn’t been hurt and used until he wasn’t himself anymore.
Will went to his bedroom somewhat reluctantly, but he really was tired.He wasn’t sure why, because he hadn’t done much that day.
Sleep didn’t come for Will, and he lay awake in yet another strange house that smelled of warm food and two people in love and lust.He heard them go up the stairs, heard them get it on.He’d made a stupid-ass joke about kinky porn and walking around naked earlier, but the truth was, he was happy for them.
I’m not really sure why I’m here though.Those two just…they have no worries, only love.
Will’s thoughts turned darker.It was jealously, but a strange version of it where he hated that he’d never been allowed to experience what those two had—willing intimacy.First times.It had been different for Will, and remembering that day, the blood, the pain, made him curl up in a ball.
Will knew he had to push those memories away.He wanted to be John for just a little bit longer.
While he listened to Corvin and Mike together in the bedroom they shared, he closed his eyes and let himself become another person.
He made a story for himself.For John.John was a werewolf, of course.His pack respected him.His parents were still alive.John would go to college…or maybe work somewhere close to the campus.Will wasn’t really sure learning was his thing.
At any rate, he’d meet a human.Why it had to be a human, Will wasn’t sure, but that seemed safe.He imagined the two of them kissing in a bedroom that belonged to him, one that was safe and had lots of soft pillows and blankets in it.It smelled of sandalwood and sage in that bedroom, and of lavender.
Will imagined himself in bed with the human who had fallen for him.He wasn’t sure what the man looked like, wasn’t sure what he would smell like.I might actually be okay with a woman too.I wouldn’t mind that at all, so long as they’re kind.
With most of the lights dimmed, Will—as John—would look into his human’s eyes.I have something to tell you,he’d say.
The human would be surprised.They’d want to kiss John, but John wouldn’t let them, would insist on telling them.
I’m a werewolf.I can change into a wolf whenever I want, and when the full moon is out, I have to.
They’d look into John’s eyes, giggle nervously, and tell him to stop wasting time with jokes when they could be kissing.
