Behind him, Ed landed with a heavy thud and growled at the small terrier, who was now barking at the loup-garou.
Stay away from him, dog.He’ll go out of his way to hurt you.Keep clear.
Will hoped the dog was sensible, but he didn’t stop and wait to find out.
The next garden was abandoned and more unkempt than the last.Will’s left foot caught on a stone on the side of another flower bed, and he faceplanted onto the mossy ground.
Back in the other garden, the woman was screaming still, but no longer as if she were scared.In fact, Will heard her yell, “Leave my fucking dog alone, you fucker!”
That might slow Ed down.Maybe he’ll make a scene.
Will picked himself up off the ground and made for the next fence, his muscles pushing but aching now.He barely cleared this one, his arms burning and trembling, and the moment he had his center of gravity over the top, he let himself drop.
Bushes broke his fall, and branches raked through his hair, effectively negating how clean he’d been after that shower last night, but he didn’t give a fuck about that right now.He needed to get away, he needed to get back to Peter’s house—
Ed grabbed his arm.
The panic broke out of him in a keening scream, and he fought against the hold with everything he had, scratching, kicking, and biting at whatever he could reach.
Will heard a hiss, and a second later, his entire body was pinned so tightly to the ground that he couldn’t move an inch.
“It’s me.Peter.Calm yourself.”
Oh, fuck.
Will whined and buried his face in the dirt.He’d gotten it all wrong.Ed was still arguing with the dog mom.He’d made it back to the house.
Before he could so much as form an apology, he was half lifted to his feet and dragged along.The whole thing couldn’t have taken longer than a few seconds, but it felt like much longer.
Will trembled, and Peter only let go of him once he had led him back into the foyer through a conservatory at the back of the house.The basement door was to Will’s right, and it was open now.Will knew for a fact he had closed it.His chin started trembling.
Peter stopped and let go of him.
“Are you all right?”
Will nodded.“Y-yeah.”
“Good.Why were you outside, William?”
Will didn’t dare lift his gaze to look at Peter, so there was no telling whether he looked pissed, but he sounded pissed—just not the kind of aggressive pissed that usually came before the fists hit.
Annoyed, yes.Peter sounds annoyed.My sister used to sound that way when I told her she was off-key even though she wasn’t.
“I wanted to get—” But when Will looked down, he saw his hands were empty.He’d dropped the bag with the granola bars, so it had all been for fucking nothing.A lot like me, a lot like everything I’ve ever done.“I…needed some air.”
“And you were also looking for air in the basement?”Peter sounded decidedly unimpressed.
Will shrugged.
“Why is the dog lady screaming her head off, William?”Peter went on, the annoyance gone.
Will’s throat was dry, and swallowing hurt.“Ed.”
“Well, isn’t that just wonderful timing,” Peter said.His tone of voice had changed.He sounded…he sounded like a werewolf elder telling the pack children stories about the moon.“Now, pup, we are going to take a trip to my office.”
Will wasn’t sure what that meant, but he was too scared to ask.
4
