Page 27 of Witchwolf

“Hey Kody,” he said, smiling up at me. Then he scrunched his nose. “You look like death warmed over. What’s up?”

I almost laughed. Or maybe cried.

Of all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, what was I supposed to bring up? Losing my virginity, the fact that he’d turned out to be my boss, the fact that I worked for a bunch of werewolves, or worst of all, that apparently, I was a mage. A mage who had no idea how to magic. Frankly, I wanted to collapse and maybe cry some.

But Donnie was wearing his club clothes, so clearly he was planning on going out. Again.

I didn’t know where he got the stamina for it, other than the fact that he didn’t have a job, so he didn’t have to do anything other than dance all night and sleep the day away. I was a little envious, but also... I wasn’t. Dancing was fine, but I’d never enjoyed it all that much. I liked things that engaged my mind, not just my body.

“Started the new job today,” I reminded him, plopping down at the table and pulling out the bag with my burger in it. It was one of those ridiculously huge burgers, this one with caramelized onions and blue cheese, my favorite. I just hadn’t been able to think about it while sitting across from Jax. A real live werewolf.

I took a bite, and once I’d done that, I realized I was ravenous, scarfing the whole damn thing down in no time flat.

When I was licking the juice off my fingers, I looked up to see Donnie giving me a mildly horrified look.

“I forgot to eat lunch,” I lied. I’d had a perfectly respectable lunch. But I was still hungry, now, and I doubted the fries had traveled as well as the burger.

He shook his head. “Well don’t let them overwork you. You’re entitled to a lunch break and all that jazz.”

The fries were indeed mushy and cold and gross. So I got up and went to the fridge. Mostly empty, of course. Donnie only ever ordered in, so the most I could expect from him was leftover takeout containers. Well, and some cocktail onions for his disgusting not-martini drink I’d only made the mistake of trying once. For myself I had half a jar of olives, some pickles, and a bunch of sauces and condiments. Somehow, I didn’t think a nice bowl of gochujang and green olives was going to hit the spot. I sighed and sat down, pulling out my phone. I was too tired to order groceries and then cook. I didn’t have money for a lot of delivery meals until I got my first paycheck from Crescent, but for tonight, it would have to be enough.

I could order tacos from the place on the corner. That wasn’t too expensive. Normally, I’d even go down and pick them up myself, but tonight, that sounded like far too much effort. I was exhausted and starving and... just entirely drained of all things. Energy, emotion, the will to stand up again... whatever.

Donnie heaved a sigh. “Well, I’m headed out. I’d invite you along, but you’re a total downer tonight. Can’t have you rubbing that off on the whole club.”

I mumbled something about him having a good time as he dropped his empty containers in the trash and headed out, locking the door behind him. Next thing I knew, someone was knocking on the door, and my tacos were there. I’d over-ordered, easily dinner for two, but somehow, I ate every single bite and still found myself disappointed when I reached into the bag and found it empty.

I wanted to pull the papers out of my case and get back to work, because it had been seriously interesting, going over the nuance of the language and... well hell, now I realized that some of it was becausemagic fucking existed, and I was going to have to go back over all I’d done that afternoon to figure out if I’d missed anything in my ignorance. Heck, maybe I should wait until I knew more about magic and werewolves and... mages.

The Igarashi were mages.

That was why they had been assholes and Jax had been so willing to accept it. Probably also why the woman who had seemed to be second-in-command had given me a few confused looks during the meeting. Because I was a super special mage, and I was supposed to think myself better than Jax and his people.

Ridiculous. Jillian and Maia and Jax and... they had all been amazing, and I’d rather work for Crescent for free than deal with the Igarashi douchebags for a million dollars.

I just hoped they still wanted me back when they realized I was the worst mage ever, who didn’t even know what the hell he was.

12

Jax

Icould’ve gone home with Dakota. Probably should have.

Hell, the wolf in my head was snarling that I hadn’t tossed him over my shoulder and dragged him back to my place so I could keep an eye on him. If it’djustbeen to keep him safe, that would’ve been one thing, and maybe it wasn’t even the worst impulse, but I’d gotten in over my head, and I wasn’t sure I trusted my instincts anymore. Maybe I just wanted to pin him down in my bed again, and that wasn’t going to solve anything.

Well, nothing magical.

He’d be all right for a few hours.

Wouldn’t he?

I thought about nabbing his phone number out of the company directory and calling him, even picked up my phone to do it, but this was—fucking crazy, wasn’t it?

I was losing my fucking mind.

So instead of searching the directory for a personal number that he hadn’t given me, I called my sister.

“What’s up?” she answered, sounding curt, like she was on her way somewhere.

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