Will gingerly got under the covers.Sage was almost back to sleep already.The bed was soft, really soft.Maybe it just felt that way because Sage had warmed the sheets with his body and breath, but as he settled in, all the things around him told Will that he could relax.Sage’s smell was all around him, and that, more than anything, made falling asleep easy.
That night, Will didn’t have another nightmare, and he slept soundly.The next day, he woke to morning wood for the first time in ages, and seeing Sage put that yoga mat to use by doing actual yoga on it—the kind that explained his toned body—only made Will wish for things that weren’t his to wish for.
9
Sage
Sagewantedhisrubbergloves.Truth be told, he wanted a warm body, but the gloves made for a good alternative.Who am I kidding?They’re just magicked rubber, not a person.Fuck me.
After Will had ended up in Sage’s bed just for sleep, Sage couldn’t see himself bringing some random warm body over either.That would’ve felt…inappropriate?Will was supposed to be Sage’s apprentice.Plus, the wolf had issues, and thinking of Will as a potential warm body felt ethically questionable.
Inappropriate.I’m thinking inappropriate thoughts.Should I ask myself “What would Peter do?”Because if I do anything untoward with Will, I know what Peter will do.I am so very fucked.
Sage considered all this in the morning, after he had woken next to Will.Will had still been asleep when he woke up, huddled under the blankets, his bangs looking wild and soft at the same time.
Once they went downstairs, Will settled in on the couch, keeping one of the handsy cushions pinned with his knee and scribbling in the notebook Sage had given him for practicing spells.Sage, meanwhile, was trying to concentrate on writing invoices on his laptop at the dining room table.
But concentration would not come, and Sage kept messing up adding the services he had performed for people, which meant he had to do things over and over again.
It didn’t help that Sage couldfeelWill stealing glances at him.Annoyed with himself, Sage went to the kitchen to refill his coffee mug.He sat back down and tapped the old family silverware sugar spoon on a silver platter in the center of the dining table next to the sugar bowl.
“Two, please,” Sage instructed the spoon.
The decorations along its handle promptly unfolded into tiny silver arms and legs, and it went about tossing two heaping spoonfuls of sugar into Sage’s mug.
Sage stirred his coffee then took a long sip, sighing when the flavor hit his taste buds.Without Will, I’d still be having jam-flavored coffee.I’m glad he’s here.
Will moved around on the couch while Sage was trying to get the invoicing done again.He then got up and paced for a minute, before carefully pulling out a chair at the other end of the dining table.He did all of it slowly and quietly, almost as if he were waiting for Sage to tell him to stop.
Sage redoubled his attempts at being a professional adult who knew how to do adult things, like invoicing other adults for minor acts of magic.
Will looked up, this time for longer than he normally did.Sage couldn’t help himself.He looked back.
“What’s up?”
Sage hoped it wasn’t about last night.I hope he doesn’t have questions about the box of rubber gloves under my bed.
Will twirled his pen.“The full moon is coming up.”
Sage nodded.“I guess.”Then he remembered why that mattered.“Oh, right.You have to shift on the full moon.”
Will nodded, fumbling with his notebook as if he needed something to do with his fingers.
“I can’t change back all night.”
“Right.Do you want to head out to the woods or something?I can drive you and pick you up after if you want?”
Is that what I’m supposed to do for my werewolf apprentice?I’d guess I’d have a clue if I’d made the time to read that shifter book instead of writing invoices.
Will blinked up from under his dark lashes.He looked so much better now than the day Peter had dropped him here, cheeks less hollow and eyes brighter.Sage liked Will’s golden eyes.They were unusual, and they made Will look like the mythical creature he truly was.
Will cleared his throat.“Do you think maybe I could stay here?”
“Here in the house?Or in the garden?”
The garden was wild, with generations of witches having imbued the very soil with magic.It tended to overgrow to the point where you needed a machete to get to the strawberry patch and blackberry bushes.Sage didn’t see how a wolf would be able to run there.
“Inside?Maybe downstairs.I don’t get destructive or anything.I’ll be quiet.”
