Page 58 of Wolves Always Bite

“YouthoughtI’dskip you, didn’t you?”Jeremyshook his head, likeDillonwas naïve for thinking such a thing. “AsIunderstand it, you have fire on your body when you go into beasty grr mode, so can you be burned by fire that isn’t your own?”

“No.”Dillondidn’t elaborate.

“Firedoesn’t hurt him,”Ashexplained when it was clearDillonwouldn’t.

Jeremynodded, like his suspicions had been confirmed. “Okay, so,Ihave to know.Haveyou ever thought about joining the circus?Imean can you imagine?Aflaming dog jumping through flaming hoops would be spectacular.Whatabout going toHollywoodand being a stunt dog?Ibet you’d make a lot of money.”

“Astunt dog,”Dillonrepeated flatly.Hesounded offended.

Ashsnickered.

“So, that’s a no.”Jeremypursed his lips like he was disappointed byDillon’slack of adventure. “Okay.Well, that’s unfortunate.Andwhat about your other heads?”

“Myother what?”Dillon’seyes widened.

“Youknow…”Jeremywaved atDillon’shead and shoulders. “Whathappens to them when you are all human-like?”

Dillonblinked.

“You’rea hellhound, aren’t you?LikeCerberus?Hehas three heads.”

Dillonblinked some more.

“Heonly has one head.Itdoesn’t matter what form he’s in,”Ashanswered for his hellhound.

Jeremyfrowned and jotted down more notes.Thenhe set his gaze back on me.

Theentire trip to the city was spent with us answering his many questions.HeaskedAshabout grimoires and cauldrons, and he seemed happily surprisedAsh’sfamily had both, but he was disappointed to discover sayinghocus pocusorabracadabrawasn’t necessary.ForDillonand me, he kept things more generic, quizzing us about what types of supes were real versus myths and things like that.Forthe record, zombies and aliens were not real, at least not to the best of our knowledge.

Jeremydidn’t tuck his notebook into his backpack until we were only a few blocks from his apartment.Nowthat he was no longer balancing his book on his lap to write down answers, his leg started bouncing.Itgot faster the closer we got to our destination.AsAshpulled up to the apartment complex,Islipped my hand in his and squeezed gently.Jeremyglanced at me with glossy eyes.

“Whatif she hurtClawie?Whatif…?”

“Doyou want me to go inside first?”Itried to be soothing, butIdidn’t have much hope of the cat coming out of this unscathed.AndthenI’dhave to hurt the goblin.

Heswallowed hard and shook his head. “Ineed to see.”

Thedoor toJeremy’sapartment was closed, but the lock was broken.Dillonlifted his hand to stop us from entering.Henudged the door open slowly and crept inside.Iwas torn between following him and staying to protectJeremy.Ichose to protect my human, particularly when it became clear my grip onJeremy’shand was all that stopped him from following the hellhound.Dillonreturned a moment later.

“Noone is here.”

Weall trudged into the apartment.Sureenough, the cat was gone.Jeremy’spersonal effects, what little he had, had been tossed around the room.Hemade a wounded sound as he picked up a scruffy toy mouse from the floor.Iwanted to soothe him, butIhadn’t had to do that for anyone in a long, long time.Ididn’t know what to do.

“Oh,Jer,”Ashmurmured, as he pulledJeremyinto an embrace, easily doing whatIdidn’t know how to. “We’llget him back.”

“Damnright we will,”Jeremysaid through clenched teeth, his pain already turning to anger.

“That’sthe spirit.”Ashpatted him on the back.

“You’llset her on fire for me, won’t you?”

“Ofcourse,”Ashpromised.

“Ash…Youcan’t say shit like that,”Dillonmuttered. “I’mgoing to be a police officer soon.Youcan’t talk about things like that.”

Ashignored his mate. “Okay,Jeremyhoney, let’s grab what you absolutely want to keep.Wecan come back for the rest later.”

Jeremynodded sharply.