Page 19 of Poet & Protector

Nev shrugged. “Seemed like you didn’t have an answer.”

“I don’t have a favorite kind because I’ve never thought about it,” I told him. “And you gave me about two seconds before you assumed, yet again, that I’m an idiot.”

Nev shrugged again. The movement emphasized the way his muscles moved beneath his shirt. I wished I hadn’t noticed that.

“I know you’re not an idiot,” he said, grudgingly.

“Thanks,” I replied in a flat tone. “Very magnanimous of you.”

“See?” A switchblade of a smile flashed and disappeared. “You know big words.”

“Ugh.” I decided to turn the conversation around on him. “What’s your favorite form of poetry? We could start there.”

“Free verse.”

Of course he didn’t even have to think about it.

“So you’re A-verse to rhyming,” I quipped, then shook my head at my own bad joke. “Let’s forget I said that.”

“Happily.”

“Can you give me an example?” When he started to reply, I hurried to add, “I know what free verse is, I mean do you have favorite poems I could read to get ideas?”

He pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes, irked that I’d stopped him from snarking at me again.

“Well?” I asked.

Nev seemed to retract slightly, the way a wolf did when it was feeling cautious. Then he sighed.

“How about this? Since you’re obviously unprepared, why don’t we both find some poems we like and bring them along the next time we meet. We can go from there.”

I wanted to snarl at him for the ‘unprepared’ comment, but I let it go. We had to work together. If we ended up shifting into wolves and ripping each other apart, we would definitely fail the assignment. Fighting Nev had serious appeal, but it couldn’t happen for too many reasons.

“I can live with that,” I told him.

Five

Mason’s house

Thursday

MASON

Ansel and I sat on my bedroom floor, listening to the music that floated from my stereo’s speakers. I’d invited him over to hear some live sessions I’d discovered, but that wasn’t the only reason. I’d made up my mind to tell him the truth about me. Ever since learning Nev’s pack knew he was gay, I wanted my best friend to know who I was, too. In a weird way, it felt like Nev gave me permission to be honest with the packmate I was closest to. Even so, the thought of actually going through with it was scary as hell, and no matter how many scenarios I’d imagined for this moment, it never got less terrifying.

“This is a good playlist,” Ansel commented. “Can you share it with me?”

“Sure.” I dropped the link for him.

“I wish we could go to Montreal.” Ansel sighed, scrolling through his phone. “Or Austin. So many shows.”

“It would be cool,” I agreed, turning up the volume a little.

“Even if we could go to Denver it would be great,” Ansel said. “They get good bands.”

“The Keepers don’t want us in Denver,” I reminded him.

Ansel’s mind tended to run toward possibility and ignore reality.