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I shook my head, swallowing my pride as hunger churned in my gut. “Of course not, Aunt Suzy.” I was starving like King Kong, but I managed to tolerate it by relaxing my shoulders and forcing a smile on the outside before joining everyone at the table.
“So, Keith, how was school?” Aunt Suzy asked. “Your dad said you’re doing really well.”
“What?” Keith laughed awkwardly. “That’s so not true. I’m still failing.”
“You’refailing?” Aunt Suzy gasped before shifting her worried gaze toward Cole. “You are not failing too, are you, baby?”
Cole responded with a shrug of his shoulders. “A little?”
I swallowed a piece of my steak, shaking my head in disbelief.
“A little, huh?” Aunt Suzy’s voice quivered, but she tried to keep a straight face. “Alright then, I need a drink. Excuse me,” she said, on her way to mope in the kitchen.
Underneath the table, I bounced my knee impatiently as I took a long gulp of water. I hoped she wouldn’t realize I had once again tapped into her alcohol. Even though werewolves couldn’t get drunk, Aunt Suzy liked to treat me like a normal teenager. She made us promise not to drink until we turned eighteen. Sadly,soju—my favorite Korean alcohol—tasted so much like delicious sweet potatoes, I couldn’t say no to it.
“Do you want to stay until your dad gets home?” Cole asked Keith out of nowhere.
I coughed, literally choking and continued to chug my glass of water, stifling a laugh. Cole glanced at Keith, who chewed on his lips and tapped his fingers next to his empty plate, appearing quite tense.
Keith pointed at himself. “Me?”
“Who else would I be talking to?” Cole scoffed. He always sounded stern, whether or not he liked the person in front of him, but it was a bit more extreme than usual, especially toward Keith.
Since it took a while for Keith to respond to Cole’s cold invitation, I pitched an idea. “Why don’t you just walk him home, Coley?” I questioned my stone-cold cousin, who abruptly shot me a powerful glare. “I’m pretty confident you’re aware of what he hunts. They’re very dangerous,” I said, careful with my words, or so I assumed. “You could either help him do what he does best or get accidentally killed by him. Your choice.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Keith glanced up at me. “Why would I do that?”
Shrugging, I licked the remnants of the steak juices from my fork.
The awkward silence made me laugh. Cole didn’t seem to enjoy my teasing one bit. He was so distracted through the rest of dinner that he couldn’t even cut his steak properly. When he finished, he pushed his chair back and got up from the table with a huff, resigned to walking Keith home.
Later that night, after getting back from Keith’s house, Cole confronted me in my room.
“What was that about?” he hissed.
“What waswhatabout?” I played innocent. It usually worked.
“What if you made him doubt me? You know I could get kicked out of—”
“You’re worried about that but not about how you were acting? Bro, if you like someone, why be rude to him in the first place?”
“Because …” He fumbled with his words. “I d-don’t want him to fucking know how I feel, okay? And the more time we spend together, the more I-I like him.” He clenched his fists, glaring back at me. “Why did you have to ruin such a perfectly good moment?”
“Cole, I’m truly proud of you for finally realizing that you sway both ways and for trusting me enough to come out to me,” I said very carefully, maintaining good eye contact, “but what happened earlier was an uncomfortable moment.” Admittedly, my teasing had a sharp edge to it, and now I felt bad.
He gave me a dismissive eye roll. “I’m awerewolf. He’s awerewolf hunter.”
Like I didn’t know that already.
Cole never liked calling himself a werewolf unless he had no choice. Even though being a half-were was considered unique by most werewolf communities, being a murderer’s son wasn’t something he was proud of. It wasn’t somethinganyonewould be proud of. As a result, Cole chose to be a literal lone wolf. He didn’t know others like us, except for his absent father and little ol’ me.
We were the same species as the wild gray wolves of Southern California, only larger in size and gifted with supernatural powers such as our enhanced sense of smell, hearing, strength, and our ability to shift into human form. Since Cole was only half a werewolf, his powers were not as intense as mine. Even so, being born part werewolf was still an advantage. Most werewolves still in existence were turned from a bite, but they usually went crazy after hearing voices or accidentally killing someone they loved. There were a few exceptions, but still, being born as one made controlling those matters easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
Not to mention how easily we blended in with humans.
Most of the time.
I took a deep breath. “No, you’re Tarzan, and he’s Jane. Point is, you can’t just pretend to be like him when he clearly hates our kind. I don’t care if you two are in love, you should be protecting yourself from him.”
