My Best Friend's Werewolf

29 Meeting Him

Something hard and square slams into my head, jarring me awake. I pull off the pillow, light flooding into my eyes. I sit up, finding Eliza glaring at me on the other bed.

"Do you have ants crawling around in your clothes?"

"Huh?"

"You moved around all night."

I pick at my shirt. "Sorry."

"You're thinking about the potential love of your life down in the basement?"

"I want to talk to him."

She slides out of bed. "Why should I be supportive of this? You're not any bit of supportive toward Xavier and me."

"This isn't about falling in love. This is just meeting him. Finding out his name."

"He's a rogue. He won't be as respectful about not marking you like Xavier is to me. Do you want to become a werewolf, Addy?"

"No. But he's chained up, right?"

She nods.

"So what's the harm?"

"I'll talk to Xavier, but I better not hear any more complaints about us being together." She pivots on her heel and leaves our bedroom.

I fall back on the bed, my head sinking into the pillow. This could all go horribly horribly wrong.

Five minutes or so later, Xavier walks into the room and I sit up.

"Eliza said you still wanted to see the luprau."

"I'm just curious."
    Xavier turns away from me. "Very well. Keep up."

I quickly slip out of bed and follow him. The oversized t-shirt Eliza gave me hangs past the shorts she also gave me to sleep in. I try to discreetly comb my fingers through my hair, my part seeming to be off center by a lot. Oh goodness, my breath. If I back out of this, Xavier will probably never give me another chance.

My bare feet step onto the cold cement stairs leading down to the basement. Chains cover the walls and floors like some twisted horror movie. The lighting is a pale sickly yellow and to the left the wall corners off. How many full moons do they lock themselves up for? This is sickening.

"He's over there," Xavier says. He must mean around the corner. "Yell if you need help, otherwise knock on this door when you're ready. Do not unlock his chains. Understand?"

I assure him I do and after he leaves I walk the rest of the way down the few steps and make my way to the corner. "Hello?"

No response.

I step around the corner and there he is—the rogue—my. . . seeing him in person makes it too weird to think about that.

His haggard—naked— form is chained to the wall and floor. He stares at me, his eyelids drooping over his blue eyes. "It's you," his voice comes out hoarse.

"Hi." I don't move from where the wall corners off.

"You can come closer; I won't hurt. . ." The shameful expression that overcomes his face, makes me sure he sees the claw marks.

"Don't worry about it." I shuffle forward. "I'm Addy." My eyes land on his bruised and bloody shoulders. What does his back look like?

"I'm Jasper."

I crouch down on the floor close to him but still a safe distance away. I don't know how much ground he can cover in those chains.

"Is Addy short for something?"

"Addison."

He coughs. "You go by a nickname when you have a name like that?"

I hope I'm not blushing. "You can call me whatever you want, but it's kind of a mouthful."

"I like it."

I can't help but smile. "Okay then."

"You're a human."

"You're a luprau."

He shifts and I catch a horrifying glimpse of his back. "Why are you in a house full of werewolves, Addison?"

"You could say my best friend shoved me in a trunk and now I'm stuck here."

"We both don't want to be here then?"

I cross my arms. "I'm not setting you free."

He laughs but his voice cracks. "I'm not asking you to. I'm just pointing something out. Why are you here?"

"Because I wanted to get to know you a little bit, I guess."

He smiles sincerely. It's not a smirk but a true genuine smile. "Because we're perfect for each other?"

"Human here. The whole mate thing is still too weird."

"Fair enough. What do you want to know?"

I lace my fingers through each other, cupping my hands, and setting them in my lap. I could ask him why he's a rogue—probably too personal right now. Basic. Basic. Favorite color is too cliché. "What's your favorite music?" Immediately, I grimace. I don't know what lupraus' lives are actually like. Maybe they spend all their time in wolf form wandering around the woods and rolling in flowers. Or maybe they live in pent houses, refusing pack life and the woods. It's too early for this.

"I haven't spent much time being human since I was a lot younger. You listen to it on those speaker boxes right?"

"Usually on our phones nowadays."

"The only music I hear is from campers."

I scoot a little bit closer. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen. You? Or am I not supposed to ask that?"

I laugh. "No, you can. I'm seventeen." What's going to happen to him? Will they end up killing him still? "Have you eaten anything?"

"Nothing besides for the deer I brought down yesterday."

I'm going to try not thinking about that.

"Don't worry about me. I don't want you to get on the Alpha's bad side trying to help me out." He moves a few inches toward me, but his chains prevent him from going any farther. "You should probably go. I don't want them thinking I killed you."

"Right." I stand. "It was nice meeting you, Jasper."

"Like-wise, Addison."

After knocking on the door I don't have to wait more than a few seconds for the door to open, Xavier on the other side. He was probably trying to listen to our conversation.

He takes me to the dining room that's now back to order, though I think a few pictures are missing. Eliza pats the spot beside her, and I sink into the chair, the smell of eggs and bacon from the plate before me wafts up to my nose. The condensation on the glass of water, sends a water droplet trickling down to the placemat. I swallow, my throat parched and thinking how dry Jasper's must be.