Page 20 of Bewitching the Wolf

My wolf backs right down with a sheepish whine and I bounce off her, so fast I almost levitate.

As I stride away, my cock subsiding with shame, I want to strangle my wolf.

“You really should apologize to Tippy,” Clem says as she passes me a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

It’s the end of the evening, and we’re sitting in the cozy living room of the Sherriff’s house while Otis drives Tippy home.

I give her the stink eye. “Why? I fucking saved her.”

“She wouldn’t have slapped you unless you did something wrong.”

I cringe internally as I recall the incident.

After Tippy slapped me, I shot off her faster than a bullet from a gun and she scrabbled up, pulling her skirt down over her knees.

As I rubbed my stinging cheek, Larry bounded over, shouting, “What the fuck did you do to her?”

“What did you do, more fucking like.” I glared at him. “You almost trampled her to death.”

We literally had a stand-off in the middle of the room, Larry’s nostrils flaring and our eyes blazing. My wolf was ready for a fight. Only my sister’s hand on my arm stopped me. “Enough. Both of you. Cut it out!” Clem commanded, then she helped Tippy to her feet and gave her a big hug.

Tippy flashed me a look of withering contempt. She was about to stalk off when Larry went down on his knees and groveled.

Tippy accepted his apology, told Larry it was okay, she knew he meant no harm, and ignored me completely.

Which hurt even more than her slap.

Then Otis drove her home.

And now I’m getting a good chewing-out from Clem.

All round, a complete fuck-up.

I glower into my mug. I desperately want to vape, but I know that would incur even more wrath from my sister. She hates me vaping just as much as Tippy does.

Gods, women! Who needs them?

I hear the front door open, then heavy footsteps in the passage. A moment later, in walks Otis. He looks tired; his red eyes have dark rings under them. I feel a stab of remorse.

As sheriff of the Labyrinth, Otis is in charge of getting this whole spying mission up and running. He’s programmed the bugging devices I’ll be taking up to Sparkle City, and synched them with his weird computer systems. I stare at the metal boxes on his desk, the tangle of cords and the books on coding.

It’s taken months to get to this stage. The hardware and volumes of coding were originally found as the monsters were digging out the Labyrinth, along with hundreds of other artefacts from the days when humans ruled Earth. They sat in our museum, the Vault, for hundreds of years, useless.

But with his phenomenal mathematical brain, Otis has somehow managed to get them working again, combining his skills with the sparse magic we have at our disposal.

From here, it all rests on me placing those bugging devices correctly.

And right now, I’m just making things harder for everyone.

I should apologize to Otis as well as Tippy, I decide glumly. Except I really hate admitting fault, so I sit and scowl instead.

Otis slumps down with a sigh and ruffles his hair. To add salt to the wound, Clem goes and sits on his lap, strokes his hair and they cuddle and whisper sweet nothings.

“Cut it out, you two,” I mutter, unable to resist fumbling for my vape now.

Otis quirks a brow. “Jealous?”

“Nah, why would I be?”