Page 86 of Campfires & Canines
He spins, anger flashing in his eyes. "Do you have any idea what they would do to you, given the chance?" Breathing heavily, he narrows his stormy blue eyes. "I should check your wrist." His voice is dull.
At the little kitchen table, he unwraps and examines my wrist. The swelling is gone but an angry bruise wraps around the circumference. He gently rewraps it. Once he finishes, he cradles my wrist and meets my eyes.
"Would it be so bad if it was me?" His soft voice pleads with me. He is alone here. It breaks my heart, but I can’t save him by sacrificing myself.
I sigh. "But it's not. Honestly, it never could have been you. Slate and I were drawn together from the first day. I've never felt that with anyone else," I try to explain.
He rests his forehead in his hand, slumping in his seat.
"Why don't you leave?"
He looks tortured. "I'm the heir. Next in line to be Alpha."
"So?" I press.
"Where would I go? No other pack would have me. I'm too dominant. I would be a threat to their heirs, whether I wanted to be or not."
I have no words. I don’t understand their world.
"I can't be a wolf without a pack. Hazel, you have to understand that for us, our pack is everything."
“Wouldn’t it be better to be alone and free than endure the abuse here?” I whisper. I want to take the words back, but I still believe them.
Before my eyes, he shuts down. “Let’s just watch some TV and wait for tonight.”
He has one of those projectors and a white screen that unravels from the ceiling. While he looks through options, I microwave a bag of popcorn from his snack cabinet.
“How’s this look?” He’s selected a superhero movie.
“No, thank you.”
“Okay, what do you want to watch?
"We could find a true crime doc since your family is so murder-y," I quip.
"Or a comedy," he says, ignoring my bitter jab.
"I've got an idea." A few moments later, I've queued up a ridiculous old horror movie - featuring werewolves.
Jasper laughs. "Fair."
As we eat and he laughs at the movie, I find myself slowly relaxing. Everything is going to be okay. But as the sun sets, my nerves surge.
He turns the volume down while the credits roll. "Doing okay?"
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I lie. There are so many ways this could go sideways.
“I’m going to get you a dress to wear and see about that wine.”
Jasper disappears into his bedroom and reappears holding a mason jar with translucent pink liquid inside.
“Is that-”
“Concentrated rowanberry juice,” he supplies. “It’ll block our shifter abilities for an hour or two. No wolves to worry about.”
“You’ve just got that lying around?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“Yep. Usually, I use only a little at a time to dose people I’m pissed at. But I think it’ll take the whole batch this time. To be safe.”
