Page 82 of Bound

“You don’t think I’d look hot with a scar?”

He smirked, tossing dirty gauze pads in the trash. “Totally. Too bad wolfsbane itches like hell. Plus, I’m pretty sure you’d have a tough time explaining your new roguish Wolverine look in class.”

“Think the wolf’s out of the bag on that one.”

After kissing the tip of my nose, Topher pulled out his phone, checking for messages for what had to be the tenth time since we’d arrived home. Sighing, he dropped it on the counter. “I know River said he’d text me as soon as he had an update. I just wish I could have gone with them.”

Vlad and his people had taken custody of the vampires we’d recovered. The shapeshifters, including Kieran and my dad, were being transported to the Tracer medical facilities up in Dallas.

“I was there when Brody made the call. Uncle Guillermo completely lost his shit. Threatened to yank Brody’s status as acting pack Alpha if he didn’t voluntarily resign. He’s pissed as hell at River for his part in it, too. Maybe even more so, since River went behind his back and used Tracer resources for the op.”

“Can he do that, force Brody out? I mean, we were all behind his decision to go in.”

“That’s where things get dicey. If there isn’t someone from within the pack willing to step up, like how Maddox Blake took over when they forced London out, Guillermo will send someone from his own pack in Dallas to take over and bring the rogue pack to heel.”

“Yeah. So how does that work when the rogue pack is your nephews who you have a standing round of laser tag with every month, and your sister who will definitely stab you with a carving knife over Thanksgiving dinner?”

“Didn’t say it was a good plan.”

“Uh huh.”

“Guillermo’s pissed we defied him. We did it for the right reasons, but it was an open challenge to his power and he can’t let it go unaddressed. I’m glad at least Mom’s going up there with River. She’s maybe the one person alive who scares the shit out of him.”

“Looks like the government is trying to classify all information relating to the site.” Topher leaned back against the sink. “You heard anything else from your principal since Cal’s public statement?”

“I’m to report to his office first period. Someone else will be covering my classes. Pretty sure the news coverage this morning isn’t going to help make my case.”

“You bringing a lawyer?”

“Oh yeah. Ximena’s hard core. Pretty sure I won’t be allowed to utter anything but name, rank and serial number.” I chewed my lip. “On some level I always knew this day would come, that we were fooling ourselves thinking we could hide amongst humans forever. If I need to be their sacrificial werewolf—”

“Don’t start thinking that way.” He caught my pinky finger in his, tugging me lightly towards the kitchen, where the smell of coffee and pastries beckoned. “I’ve been thinking about this and maybe we made a mistake hiding this long. We didn’t have a choice right after Vlad outed us to the world. It was too fresh and everyone was calling for our blood. But would it make a difference if people could see werewolves were high school teachers and EMTs, that we were baristas and engineers?”

I slid onto the closest barstool. Topher opened the white paper sack on the counter, extracting two chocolate croissants to go with the caramel macchiatos we’d picked up from Dark on our way back into town. Setting a plate in front of me, he reached underneath the bar and whipped out a flat cardboard Burger Kingcrown.

I rolled my eyes. “Really. You shouldn’t have.”

“Someone’s no fun.” But he set the crown aside, sliding onto the stool beside me and pulling a flaky bite off his croissant.

“Seriously though, how are you doing?”

He shrugged, sipping his macchiato. “Relieved. Grateful. Angry, too? I still don’t know what memories are really mine and which ones Phoenix implanted. River says there’s no way to know, not for sure. Phoenix would have to voluntarily remove the memory block and no way do I trust him getting anywhere near my head again.”

“I should have listened to you sooner.”

“You couldn’t have known. He was very skilled at blocking. Even River didn’t pick up on it. If you hadn’t given him that fake target at the last minute—”

I rubbed my temples. I’d convinced Vlad to give me a second target, a major coven house that Phoenix and Maddox Blake believed was the real raid site up until the last second when vampires showed up at the fake meeting point to jump the strike team members from the North Austin pack to the real site with the rest of us.

“You hear from Brody?”

“Simon’s stitching up his arm. My brother says London owes him a month’s worth of doughnuts.” I scrolled through the group chat. “Pretty sure she’s going to kidnap Major instead and dye his fur pink.”

I fiddled with the paper crown.

“You should put it on.”

“If this is some sort of TikTok challenge I haven’t heard of, could it wait until morning? You seriously don’t want to see me on less than three hours of sleep—"