“What? I was just thanking the universe for giving me such a wonderful brother. That’s it,” I say.
Matt sighs again. He does that a lot, doesn’t he? “You’re going to do something crazy again, aren’t you?”
“What?Me?No.”
“You’re going to do something crazy,” Matt decides. What adrama queen. “What is it? Wait, no, don’t tell me. With your history, I’m going to want to be able to claim plausible deniability.”
I laugh. “You’re learning,” I say with approval. “See you Saturday, Matt.”
“Wha—”
I hang up before he can argue. He had to know where this was going, and now he wouldn't be in danger of getting his neck wrung for showing interest in Elliot’s life. A win-win for everybody.
***
“We’re not giving him back,” Bree announces as soon as she opens the door.
Then she crouches in front of Mickey and gives him scratches. “No, we won’t, we absolutely won’t,” she coos at him. Mickey is so invested in the attention that he doesn’t even acknowledge my presence other than a cursory look that basically says, ‘you really should have bought that fifty-seventh toy I picked out, sucker.’
See, people appreciated more time with Mickey, Matt.
But I still need my giant goofball back. Despite all my hesitation and worries about the added responsibility, Mickey has proven to be just what my life needed. My morning runs have become more regular. I’ve been taking more breaks from work and my side projects. And I’ve been feeling lighter. It’s been easier to breathe since he came into my life.
All in all, I’ve finally embraced the concept of work-life balance, which had been unequivocally missing from my life.
But first, I’ll need to convince my friends to let us leave this place unharmed. Maybe I can convince them Mickey’s cuddles and smiles are not worth the effort it’ll take to raise him to be a nice and polite dog.
Mickey chooses this time to play dead, a trick I taught him last week, and Bree claps.
Yeah, that’s not going to work. Maybe I’ll tell them how much I spend just on his food. That’ll definitely raise some doubt. But then they’ll realize how much of it is not a necessity. I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of judgment yet.
I sidestep them and walk inside the house to find Cami, who’s the only person capable of talking sense into Bree. You’d think things like ‘you can’t steal someone’s dog’ and ‘you shouldn’t threaten a law enforcement officer’ wouldn’trequire a formal lecture from your wife on appropriate behavior. You’d be wrong. And it’s kind of concerning that I’m well aware of it.
I sniff, and my nose carries me to the kitchen, where I can smell something delicious. I find Camilla ladling something on the stove. She turns and sighs. “I’ll talk to her, don’t worry,” she assures.
I smile and look at the food longingly.
She rolls her eyes. “I made extra for you.”
My smile widens.
When we sit down for dinner, Mickey finally relents, pads over, and settles under my chair, fixing me with those puppy-dog eyes. I sneak some bread down to him that he happily finishes off.
“Do you have anything on Nate yet?” Cami asks after a while.
“I wish. We’re mostly focusing on finding a connection between the first victim and him, but there’s still nothing,” I tell her.
She nods. “Izzy is so devastated. I hate seeing her like this. I keep thinking maybe knowing more will get her some closure.”
“We’ll find something soon, Cami. I promise you,” I say, knowing full well I can’t promise shit and that Cami already knows it.
Bree sighs. “This is so horrible. What is happening to this city? As if werewolves dying left and right wasn’t enough, now the humans around them are dying too.”
Wait. That constant nudge in my brain that’s been bugging me for so long suddenly snaps into focus. I could have kissed Bree if she hadn’t been planning to kidnap my dog, and it wouldn’t be objectively gross. “Did Nate know about us?” I ask Cami, hurriedly.
“No, Izzy didn’t tell him yet.” Cami tilts her head, thinking it over. “Yeah, the last time we talked about him, she was confused about it. But she had her doubts about how he would react.”
Makes sense because we're all well aware how badly humans can react to the werewolf thing. Matt’s foster parents are the perfect example of how unpredictable their reactions can be.
