Page 49 of Witchwolf

She shivered, looking away like, right then, she couldn’t quite bear to see Dakota’s smile, or the haunted look that hollowed his cheeks and parted his lips.

After a tense, quiet moment, Igarashi shook herself. “He was meant to take over the company from our grandfather, but it didn’t work out for him. Not for my father, either. He died shortly after, but we’re—we’re lucky Jiro was ready to step into such a significant role. And so young.”

The tightness in her smile set my teeth on edge. Every werewolf in the room had heard this strangely heavy conversation, and no one wanted to belt out pop anthems while grief had wrapped around Igarashi like a veil. For too long no one seemed to know what to say.

And then, there was a knock on the door.

The waiter entered, and Seth clapped his hands. “Pizza’s here!”

If melted cheese couldn’t help us recover from the tension, we were doomed.

23

Dakota

Something about Minori’s story set my teeth on edge. I looked like a dead man. Unless I was mistaken about the subtlety laced between the lines of her words, a dead man she had once worried her father had murdered.

Fucking yikes.

That wasn’t just something you went around telling people. It was like saying you looked like their asshole ex or a famous murderer. Why would you do that, even if it were true?

Still, when Jax set a plate laden with pizza in front of me, it was eminently distracting. I never would have thought the pizza at a random karaoke bar would be amazing, but there it was. It was great. The crust was chewy and crusty, the cheese hot and gooey, and the tomato sauce that perfect level of acidity that a good pizza needed to counteract all the fat in the cheese.

I wished for a moment that Prudence were there, and that was... odd. I’d known Prudence for such a short time. If I were missing someone, shouldn’t it be my family or best friend? Except frankly I didn’t want them there. My parents were the worst buzzkill ever, such boring bland people, they reminded me of overcooked pasta. No flavor, no interest, no backbone, nothing at all to recommend them.

And Donnie?

I blinked repeatedly, because that was... it wasn’t possible to summon someone just by thinking of them, was it? It couldn’t be magic. I hadn’t even been thinking that I wanted him there, but the opposite. The realization gave me a stab of shame, but also, Ididn’t want him there.

Yes, we were having fun, but I was with my coworkers. This wasn’t a club. It wasn’t time for Donnie to flirt with everyone in sight and go home with the hottest guy in the room.

He wasn’t allowed to have Jax.

Jax was fucking mine.

But it was Donnie. Donnie was standing there in the doorway, smiling at the woman who’d been bringing our drinks with his flirtiest smile. He slipped her something, I assumed a tip, and then turned to the room at large, grinning that bright grin that always drew everyone in.

The smile that always got all attention on him, and even the guys who’d been flirting with me before his arrival always turned right to him.

I turned sharply to look at Jax, but his eyes weren’t on Donnie. They were on me, and filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

What did he mean was I okay? Did I stink of jealousy or something? It wouldn’t have been surprising, since Donnie was there. Donnie, who slept with every guy I’d ever been remotely attracted to in every club we went to together.

I was clutching Jax’s arm so tight that his jacket was wrinkling under my grip. Shit.

I loosed my hold, but instead of pulling away with relief, Jax reached over and covered my hand, keeping me from withdrawing. “Who’s that?”

My jaw hurt, I was clenching it so hard, and I had to pull it open through sheer force of will. “Donnie,” I finally croaked out. “He’s my... my roommate. I didn’t invite him here. I didn’t even tell him where I was going. But he’s been obsessing over how I’m working too much and I’m going to burn out.”

Jax raised that one perfect, smooth eyebrow that made him look like a model for Armani, and he sort of half-glanced at Donnie. “Want me to have him removed? Seth will do it.”

Across from us, the very large security man was slightly tensed as though prepared to stand up, watching me and Jax, head cocked in my direction. Like it was all up to me, and he was prepared to either accept or eject Donnie based on my word.

Mine.

And neither of them were even looking at scruffy, model-perfect Donnie.

“Hey Kody,” Donnie said, grinning at me as he skirted his way around the table toward me. “You should have told me it wasn’t real work. I wouldn’t have worried so much.”

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