Wolf's Bane

Friendships

Dinner wasn't nearly as tense as she had feared. Desiree had tried to spend the day reading, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she'd done something she shouldn't have. She was immensely relieved when Andrew behaved normally as they ate. He talked casually and she never would have guessed she'd upset him the day before.

However, she knew she couldn't just pretend nothing had happened. Eventually, she got up the nerve to ask, "Are you okay with what we talked about yesterday?"

"I'm not in control of your actions," he replied. "Our deal never included me telling you where you could go or who you could spend time with. As long as you attend your lessons and the functions I ask, there's no reason for me to complain."

That wasn't exactly an answer, but she didn't want to push it and wind up in another argument. "Alright, then."

"Speaking of which, we have a Halloween party to attend next month. It will be a big event and there will be dancing. Make sure you work hard during your lessons."

A month hardly seemed adequate time to learn dancing, but she did her best to smile. "I will. Is it going to be a costume party?"

"It will be a masquerade ball," he said. "We have one every year."

"Will it be here?"

"No. It's not my turn to host it."

"Whose turn is it?"

"Peter."

Desiree scowled at that. "We're going to his house, then."

"Yes."

She stabbed some food on her plate. "You two aren't friends, right?"

"We're not close," he agreed. "Even so, I'll be expected to attend. Refusing would be seen as an insult and I'm not trying to start anything with him."

Desiree wanted to start something with him, but she didn't care to say so. She'd already promised not to tell Andrew about the previous incident, anyway.

"I'm guessing you don't like him." His voice carried a hint of amusement.

"He's not my favorite person," she agreed. "Why do you have to hang out with him?"

"We don't hang out, per se," he argued. "He's an Elite, so I'm expected to get along with him. That's all."

"I guess that's more werewolf stuff I don't really get."

"It's not the kind of thing that's covered in the books," he admitted. "I understand you disliking him, but he wasn't always..." he paused, searching for the right word.

"A dick?" she suggested.

Andrew snorted. "I was hoping to come up with a more polite way to say it."

"Sometimes, the impolite words are most appropriate."

"I suppose that's fair."

"So he wasn't always a dick?"

"No," he replied. "We grew up together. We played as children and would often run together as pups."

"I'll bet you were a cute pup," she commented.

"I was adorable," he agreed. "Peter wasn't bad, either. He was always rambunctious and we got into trouble together, but he was never really malicious."

"But that changed at some point?"

"Yeah." He looked down at his food. "His parents were both killed by hunters about a hundred fifty years ago. He took over his family's estate at that point. He stopped talking to me for a while. At some point, he got Sebastian. I'd never seen Peter the way he was with him. To be honest, when I made the bet to get Sebastian, I was rather hoping Peter might go back to his old self. I guess that doesn't make much sense, but it seemed like he really was at his worst around him."