Page 44 of Wolves Always Bite

“Andwhat are you,PawingtontheThird?”

Thecat ignored the question, lifting his paw to clean his face.

“Noone knows and he won’t say.”Ashshrugged. “Andno one calls himPawington.Justcall himPaws.”

Givenhow relaxed the mage and the hellhound were around the cat or whatever it was,Idecided to trust their judgment.Islowly relaxed in my seat untilJeremyreached for the cat-like creature.Igrabbed his hand before he touched it.Hepouted but didn’t try to pet the cat again.Thenhe snickered.

“What?”

“Ijust thought about something.ThisisPawsand my cat isClaws, althoughIcall himClawie.Theyrhyme.PawsandClaws.That’sawesome.”

Pawsstopped licking himself long enough to skewerJeremywith a glare.

“Jeremy, let’s go and get those drinks beforePawsshows youhisclaws.”

“Sowhat’s the deal withWillowLake?”IaskedDillon, asAshdraggedJeremyaway from the table.

Thehellhound’s face brightened. “Itgets under your skin, in a good way.AndI’mnot just saying that becauseImet my mate here.WillowLakeis special.”

Inodded.Iwas starting to see that. “Youbeen here long?”

“Nah.Imoved here at the beginning of summer during that big heatwave, so not long at all.Butas soon asIcame into town,Idon’t know...Somethingcame over me andIknew this was whereIbelonged.NowIcan’t imagine living anywhere else.”

“Ithelped that you found your fated mate here.”Iwanted to ask more about fated mates.Itwas so rare to meet someone who’d found their fated mate.ButIdidn’t knowDillonwell enough to ask for more details about something so personal.

“Yeah.”Dillongot a goofy smile on his face as his gaze immediately shot over toAsh, who was leaning against the bar talking to the bartender.Thebartender appeared to be aboutAshandJeremy’sage, although with supes it was sometimes difficult to tell how old someone was.

“Isthat him?Theguy who owns the place but doesn’t know about supes?”

Dillonfrowned and studied the bartender like he was a puzzle he couldn’t figure out. “Itis.Hisname isJake, andIswear there is something messed up with him.Idon’t know if you know much about hellhounds, but we can see magic in supes.Thatguy has magic, but there’s something wrong with it.Ican’t figure it out.”

IstudiedJake. “Whatkind of magic?Ihave a friend who might be able to help him.”

Gage’smagic was a little different from the rest of ours.Ifhe hadn’t found me and helped me,Iprobably would be fully feral now, lost completely to my wolf.Idon’t know what he did, but there had been magic involved.Gagehated when magic was messed up, to useDillon’swords.Ifhe could help the guy,Ididn’t doubt that he would.Ididn’t know what he’d ask for in return, butIdidn’t think it’d be much.Hepreferred things orderly and balanced.

“He’san oracle.”

Mygaze darted over toDillonto see if he was pulling my leg, thenIremembered hellhounds couldn’t lie.Myeyes snapped back to the bartender. “Wow.Idid not expect you to say that.”

“Iknow it sounds crazy, but the guy’s had a couple of visions so far that have come true.Theweird thing is he doesn’t seem to know he’s doing it.Thelocals have been betting about when he’ll see beneath theEternalMagic’snatural glamour.”

NowIknewGagewould definitely want to meet him.Ishould shoot him a text right now, butIwanted to see his face whenItold him about there being a freaking oracle inWillowLake.Thisplace just kept getting crazier by the minute.

ShortlyafterAshandJeremyreturned with the drinks, the security guy we’d seen at the motel earlier slipped into the pub.Hisgaze swung from side to side as he slunk through the people to a quiet table in the corner.Jeremysaw him too and nudgedAsh.

“What’sup with him?”Jeremyasked. “Ithought he was going to piss himself earlier when we saw him at the motel.”

“That’sSimon,”Ashsaid. “He’stimid.Acat shifter,Ithink.”

“Beinga security guard isn’t a great career choice for him, is it?”

“Idon’t think there is much to do.Noone is going to mess with a minotaur’s property.”

“Isuppose…”ThenJeremysmiled. “Holyshit.Didyou say cat shifter?It’slike cat central here.IwishClawiewas here too.He’dfit right in!”

“Clawieis just a regular cat,”Ashreminded him.

“Areyou sure?”