Page 25 of Witchwolf

I took the elevator, and it still wasn’t fast enough for my liking, but in just a couple minutes, I was back with a paper bag stuffed with burgers and fries, a tray of sodas in the other hand.

I pressed the bag into his hands before sitting beside him on the couch. One leg, I bent so I could twist all the way around to face him. He was only picking at fries, too nervous to dive in, but I’d never been hungrier in my life. I went for the container with my burger and balanced it in my lap.

“Give me tonight,” I said, setting it down on my thighs.

“What for?” Finally, he looked at me.

He didn’t glare. He should’ve been glaring.

I’d have been angry, in his shoes.

“I’ll... figure this out,” I promised. “I can’t help you control magic. Mine doesn’t work like that, and I don’t know shit all about spells or anything, but I know more than nothing. Newly Awakened mages will usually have a guardian, often an older member of their family, to help them. I’ll make some calls, see if anyone can help.”

Dakota sucked in his cheeks and stared at his lap. “You don’t have to do that.”

I flinched, looking down. “It’s not ahave tothing.” That burger was calling me when I flipped back the cardboard lid. It was wrapped in paper, translucent with grease, and right then, I wanted nothing more than to shove the whole thing in my mouth. Glutting myself on a chargrilled patty would be less devastating than what I had to say next.

“You wouldn’t be in this position if not for me,” I admitted with a sigh. “I let my ego get the better of me last night. I thought—I don’t know. I thought you knew what you were doing. Maybe you were feeling rebellious, or your family had set their sights on someone old and unappealing for your Awakening.”

“My what?”

Despite the mess I’d made, I smiled at the dissatisfied wrinkle on his nose. “When a mage loses their virginity, it awakens their magic. So, it’s your Awakening.”

“Ew?”

I shrugged. “Mages aren’t always as clever as they think.”

“You can say that again.” Dakota was back to turning over an especially soggy fry in his fingers.

“Listen”—I scooted closer and bumped his knee with mine—“if I’d realized you were in the dark, I wouldn’t have—well, I’d have done a lot of things differently. You should’ve been well informed about your Awakening before it happened, been able to make clear decisions about it and who you wanted there.”

Dakota huffed. “Iwantedyou.”

In that moment, glaring at me, he was petulant and perfect. I wanted to believe him, but it wasn’t that simple and he couldn’t let me off the hook so easily.

“And I want you, Dakota. But what I’m trying to say is—I’ve never been with a mage, much less Awakened one of you. I was flattered and got ahead of myself, but just because I’m not the best prepared to help you now doesn’t mean I’ll leave you to navigate it on your own. We’ll figure it out.”

He let out a heavy sigh. “Okay.”

Good. At least he’d let me try and make amends for being so fucking dense when it mattered. Of course a mage hadn’t knowingly picked me for his Awakening, and worrying about how I’d pressed advantages I didn’t even realize I’d had was going to keep me up late into the night.

Once I finished my burger, Dakota folded his bag without ever taking his out. “I’m not actually hungry right now. I’ll, uh, take this home.”

“How about I have Charles drive you?”

He arched a brow. “Why?”

“To avoid any magical mishaps on public transportation.”

“And what if I have a magical mishap and flip your car?”

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you tried not to flip my car, but if you do, it’s okay. Charles is pretty hardy. He’s a fae. They’re difficult to pin down.” In fact, I was pretty sure that, in the event of an accident, we’d find Charles mysteriously safe, standing on the sidewalk nearby, not a scratch on him. Fae were strange, and their rules didn’t work within the strict confines of what most of us considered reality.

“Fuck me,” Dakota breathed. “A fae? He looks...”

“Human? Most of us do.”

Dakota sighed, sinking into the couch and throwing his head back. He looked young like that—young and overwhelmed—but when I held my hand out to help him up, he took it.

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