“I won’t mess anything up.Hello?”Will looked at the screen.Carl had already hung up.“Asshole.”
Music from the kitchen drew Will’s attention.Sage was getting ready to make lunch, and Will smiled.Watching Sage dance around the kitchen was the best way to relieve stress and get over wolves like Carl.
20
Sage
Carlshowedupatthe house in the early afternoon, and Sage couldn’t say he’d ever spent a more awkward time in his own home.
For one thing, there was the constant over-the-top touching Will was doing, which wasn’t in and of itself a nuisance, and of course Sage knew it was a werewolf thing.It was, however, frustrating, since Sage was still careful in how he behaved around Will, and he didn’t want to embarrass Will by accidentally triggering him.
For another thing, answering emails on the couch with Will half on his lap and Carl scowling at the display really wasn’t the most productive way to spend an afternoon.
Which was why Sage stopped answering client emails in favor of making some jam, or even some raspberry-flavored lube.Really, any distraction would do at that point.
“I can help,” Carl and Will said at the same time, which gave Sage a most evil idea.
“I could use both your help actually.”He headed to the kitchen to dig out two plastic bowls that were about as old as Sage himself.He walked back to the living room and handed one to each werewolf.“You could both go out to the garden and pick some berries.Raspberries are fine, but really anything that’s ripe can go in the jam.And don’t worry, the garden is warded against loup-garou now,” he added for Carl’s benefit.He was already taking off his work jacket and tie and rolling up his shirt sleeves.
“Good to know.This should be fun, shouldn’t it?”Carl said, basically throwing a challenge Will’s way.
Some growling followed, but very soon after, Sage had two werewolves headed toward the thorny berry bushes and eager to come back with lots of fresh produce.It was much easier than going berry picking himself.
Sage did give the wards a last check by planting his palm flat on the wall in the hallway leading to the back door, but everything was as it should be.Sage went to the still room and pulled his recipe book off the shelf.
His lube recipe was pretty decent by now, and he had a few regular customers, including Celeste, but he loved experimenting.He was just about to figure out what he wanted to do this time around when a knock on the front door pulled him out of his creative process entirely.
Sage closed his recipe book with a sigh.“Peter, if that’s you, you better have good news.”He walked to the door, but when he opened it, his gaze fell on…a little girl.It was one of the neighborhood kids, though Sage didn’t know her name.“Anything you need, young lady?”
The girl looked up at him, and Sage got the deepest, darkest sense of foreboding when her eyes met his.“The man says he’ll eat Miri, but he’ll let her go if you come out and talk to him.”
Fuck.“What’s your name?”
“Vicky,” she said.
Sage knelt so he was on eye level with her.“Where’d you see him?”
Vicky pointed.“We were playing over by the elm trees, you know?He wanted to ask something, and Miri went.She’s older.He wanted to know the way to somewhere.”
“Okay.Okay, you, erm, go back home.I’ve seen you around.You live here, right?”
She nodded.“Down the street.My mommy is home.”
“Great.You go to your mom, and I’ll go find Miri.Come on.”
Sage took her small hand in his and walked her to the front gate, though he had to slow down when her shorter legs wouldn’t quite move as fast.On the sidewalk, Sage faced the girl.
“Straight home, okay?”
She nodded.She was afraid, but kids processed things differently, Sage knew that, and the fact that she wasn’t crying and sobbing and instead was doing what Sage told her meant he could focus on finding the other girl.Vicky walked down the street, and Sage headed the other way.
“By the elm trees” referred to what had been an extremely modest playground, basically just a swing set, when Sage had moved in with his grandmother.Now, it was a newer swing set and some monkey bars, along with a seesaw and a slide.
“Show me where the girl is, show me where the wolf is,” Sage said, pushing his magic into the words.Visible only to him, bright touch memories appeared, like luminous paint highlighting where the girl had been.
The monkey bars stood out in bright blue, but in a darker, rusty orange, Sage saw a bigger spot, almost hidden by the shadows of the trees.That’s where the damn loup-garou is.Fucker.Sage ran that way.
The orange and blue mingled, but the bright splotches of color were easy to follow.Whenever they dulled, Sage repeated the spell and pushed more magic into it.
