Then Bing had pulled out a cheap bottle of mijiu—Chinese rice wine—and they’d both gotten so drunk, neither could function the next morning. It was one of the few times in his life that Bing hadn’t worked out at first light, but it had been worth it, and they’d sealed their friendship right then and there.
“You won’t believe the truth,” Bing said, even though hehadbeen turned into a werewolf. Red Wolf, to be exact. “I was kidnapped, changed, and imprisoned for a time as I was trained. I couldn’t call you. I didn’t have any way.”
“Kidnapped,” Walter echoed dully. “By whom? The big guy and the blond?”
“And others. It’s a whole organization. I’m risking your life by telling you this.”
Walter just stared at him. “So now you’re free, right? You can call the police on the assholes.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Dial 911.”
Bing didn’t touch the phone. “I can’t do that.”
“Because you weren’t kidnapped or imprisoned or any of that bullshit.” Walter shoved aside a stack of Monkey King books and sat down on top of the table. “Look, I get that you were hurt and upset. Grand Master Asshole fucked us both over. And I know you were trying to do the noble thing when you signed everything over to me. I do know that….” His voice trailed away.
“But?”
“But why did you disappear? Why didn’t you trust me enough—trustusenough—to believe we could find a way through it?”
“I did trust you. That’s why I gave you complete control. I knew you’d honor what we’d done.” It was the complete truth, but it was also a half lie. Under normal circumstances, he’d have returned the next day to find out what Walter was going to do… and he would never, ever have left his friend to manage the whole production alone. “I meant to come back,” he said softly.
“Then why didn’t you?”
The next words choked him, but he got them out. “Breakdown. Hospital.” He turned his face away as he lied. “I guess the stress finally got to me.”
Silence—one that stretched for long heartbeats. And that, too, was new, because never before had Walter let silence sit like an itchy blanket. For the first time in their relationship, Bing was the one to break.
“I’m sorry,” Bing said, fully expecting Walter to give in now. The man never liked confrontation, and this conversation was likely pushing his limits. But apparently he’d underestimated his friend.
“Sorry for lying to me? Or sorry for disappearing without an explanation?”
Bing met the man’s eyes and was startled to see a steady gaze. Walter wasn’t backing down from the confrontation. In fact, he looked like he was spoiling for a fight.
“Both,” Bing said. Then he leaned forward. “What has happened to you? You’ve changed and—”
His words were cut off as the trailer door flew open and an old woman rushed in. “Get out! This is a sacred space!”
Bing rocked backward and prepared to attack. It was an instinctive reaction made stronger since he’d become a werewolf. But as soon as he dropped into a fighting stance, he checked himself. He wasn’t going to fight an old lady, no matter how crazy she was.
“Auntie Sand!” Walter said, stepping forward. “This is my friend Bing. The one I was telling you about—”
“He is no friend!” she hissed. Then she launched herself at him, kicking aside a bag of oranges on the floor.
Walter tried to intervene, but Bing pressed him firmly back. Bing was a martial artist, and now he had a werewolf’s reflexes. He stepped quickly between the woman and his friend, but he couldn’t fully deflect the blow from her outstretched hand. Her nails raked across his forearm, scoring him enough to draw blood.
What the hell? No old lady had strength like that. Worse, she was still coming at him, her nails seeming to grow like magic.
Magic.
Oh hell. Walter’s favorite aunt was supernatural.
“Demon!” the woman screeched as she lunged again.
Bing backed up, forcing his friend into a tiny corner filled with plastic monkeys in dozens of fighting stances.
“No, Auntie! This is my friend!” Walter cried.
But his aunt wasn’t listening. She came at Bing with a ferocity that took all his skill to deflect. Blow after blow filled with supernatural power and speed. Bing had no breath and no room to maneuver. They were knocking over monkeys and plastic doodads left and right. It wasn’t a big deal, but it fouled up his footing and kept him within arm’s reach of a woman who really needed to calm down.
He only had one way of ending this before someone got seriously hurt. He had to hypnotize the woman. Unfortunately, that took concentration and focus, something he didn’t have while all his attention was spent keeping her nine-inch nails away from his face and vital organs.
