“I know you’re scared,” Matt starts.
“I already went through that part,” Oliver interrupts him.
Matt nods. “Okay, so yeah. The Bureau won’t harm you, you can be sur—”
“I didn’t go that far. We were in apublic place, Matt.”
I smile at them. This would be so much more entertaining if I didn’t know what’s waiting for me back at my place. Wait—
“This is not the way to my place,” I point out.
“Oh yeah,” Oliver hesitates. “Your house is a crime scene right now. And it’s pretty unlivable at the moment, anyway. You can stay with us for as long as you want. Or Nick’s, whatever you feel like,” he offers.
I sigh. At least it doesn’t sound like they’re planning to arrest me anytime soon unless all of this is an elaborate trap. “Can you still take me to my place so I can pick up my car?”
“I really don’t think you want to see your place right now. It’ll be traumatic. You can use my car for now,” he says easily.
Fuck.
“Okay, so I’m gonna try this again,” Matt starts. “What you saw in there was a werewolf. But he didn’t want to hurt you because he was a werewolf. He was just a horrible person. And it was our fault that we didn’t catch him earlier. We, as inthe Werewolf Regulation Bureau,” he says.
“The what now?”
“The Bureau’s primary task is to keep our secret hidden and deal with werewolf-related crimes. Both committed by and against them. All our friends that you’ve met are Bureau agents. We work in emergency services to take hands-on action for the Bureau's objectives.”
“They all literally havetwofull-time jobs while I can’t be bothered to leave my place on the weekends after working five days a week in mydeskjob,” Oliver says, mesmerized.
Matt shoots him a broad smile.
“Typically, Meena, our supervisor, handles these conversations, but we’re perpetually understaffed. So here I am,” he explains. “Even when it has been well established, I’m horrible at Bureau tasks other than my job description.”
Oliver snorts.
“Wait, so you all have a secret agency here in LA to deal with werewolf crimes?”
“We’re aninternationalagency. Nick, Cami, Bree, Sloan, Marcus, and I are on-field agents posted here. Off-field agents typically get rotated, but there are several who have permanent assignments too,” he explains. “You’re taking thiswaybetter than Oliver did, by the way,” he sounds impressed.
“It’s thetrauma,” Oliver whispers loudly.
I roll my eyes.
Matt laughs. “So listen, the only way the Bureau can keep the secret is through minor threats to you and your life,” he says.
Oliver huffs. “Oh my god,ignorehim. Elliot, unless you make a big splash of the secret, like collect evidence and reveal it to the world somehow, no one will do anything to you or your family.”
Whoa, this is someserious shitthen. So this agency is going to arrest me, then? And Matt is an agent, as he proclaimed. Why the fuck isn’t he getting to it already?
When we reach Matt and Oliver’s, Oliver shoves a mug of coffee into my hand and a plate of warm pasta into the other. Hestares at me until I sit down and eat, like I’m going to fall over withall the trauma.
I eat, somewhat to appease him but mostly because I’m hungry and the pasta smells heavenly. What they served me at the hospital last night could be best described as flavorless goo.
They act completely normal, other than the concern and the staring. No hostility, though.
“Can I borrow your car right now? I just need to go check on the clinic,” I lie. Oliver starts to interrupt. “No, I will not work. Calm down, Oliver. Just need to update Ashley, or she’ll worry. I don’t even have my phone on me,” I tack on.
“I can drive you,” Oliver offers.
“No,” I say quickly. “I don’t know how long it’ll take. We’ll need to reschedule the appointments so that I can rest up for a few days. To deal with the trauma, you know?” I lay it on thick.
