Skins & Needles (COMPLETE)

Crumbling Walls Part 3

Arsen

"So, were you ever planning on telling me you're a werewolf?"

I would have fallen out of my chair if it wasn't for the needles penetrating my skin and pinning me to my seat. What the fuck had she just said? It took me a second to speak.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice casual bordering on hysterical.

"You heard me," she said, turning in her chair to pick up more ink. "Were you gonna tell me? Or was that the big ole 'I can't tell you' everyone likes to throw around?"

"I have no idea where you got the idea that werewolves were real," I tried, forcing a chuckle. "You think I'm a werewolf? Just me?"

"No," she shrugged, and started on a new line. "I think you and your family are werewolves, and the other circles are were-other-things."

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. How the fuck did she get this idea?

"Charlotte, I'm not a werewolf." I'm totally a werewolf. Well, shifter, but semantics.

"Hmmm, I think you are," she countered. She continued tattooing steadily, but there was the smallest of smirks on her face that made me ridiculously nervous that she might have figured something out.

"And why would you think that?" Subtly, while she was turning toward her ink, I hit record in the voice memo app on my phone in case she ended up having some sort of proof. So I couldn't be killed for telling her. I was panicking on the inside, but trying to remain calm externally. Although, my heart was probably beating hard enough she could feel it.

"Oh, you know," she dismissed. "A lot of things."

"Charlotte," I warned. "This is a pretty wild idea. You could at least tell me why you think I'm something out of a young adult romance novel."

At this she laughed, and patted my chest twice, sending another shock through me even with her gloves between us.

"You're way too old for that," she teased, before shrugging and focusing again. "And like I said, a lot of things. I mean, if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, it's pretty obvious. The circles are shit at hiding it with all the nicknames. Calling each other dogs, snakes... telling people not to get hissy. I mean, it could have to do with all your obviously themed last names, but nah. There's a lot more than that."

"Oh?" By then, I was really freaking out. People didn't just figure it out. You either knew, or you didn't. Charlotte was beginning to scare me.

"Yep," she said confidently. Fuck. "Like how you all seem to gross each other out. Making faces before you even see someone like you can smell them from across a crowded room. And Kase, mentioning my scent. I mean, that was pretty weird. Oh, and you not owning a dog, but having a vacuum full of dog hair. You also left some in my bed the other night."

"Hair?" I asked.

"Yes, but not," she motioned to my head, "that hair. Trust me. I've felt it. This was coarse. Like, well..."

"A dog's."

"Yep. Not to mention the random fucking mountain lion. Was that Ryanne?"

"Charlotte—"

"I mean, I'd just broken my phone, and she gets worried when I don't text for like, an hour so... Anyway."

"Anything else?" My argument was becoming futile. She had a lot put together, and I wasn't sure how the hell to rebuke any of it.

"Mmm... Oh!" Please no. "The night your family was over was the first night I remember hearing a pack of wolves. Not long after you left on your run. I have a few more pieces of 'evidence,' like when the Nathairs were questioning me and then backed off when they found out I didn't know, but I think I have a pretty solid case here."

"Charlotte, the circles are not a bunch of shapeshifters," I tried, but flinched when she snapped her head up to look at me.

"So that's what you call yourselves?"

I stared at her for a long time, and her at me, and, without looking away, I ended the recording on my phone.

"You... are..."

"Right?"

"You are not supposed to know... anything."

At this, she grinned, a goofy wide grin, and pumped her right fist into the air.

"Ha!" she cried. "Knew it! Well, I didn't until the other morning, when you kept saying, 'I can't tell you,' and I decided, fine, I'll figure it out myself! And there were the hairs, and ohmygod, this is... is... damn. Cool as shit. Woo!"

"Dammit, Charlotte," I scolded, but something was happening in my brain. Something completely unintentional, but the only thing that made sense. I started thinking hard. If I could prove she figured this out on her own, that there was no single person at fault, and that she was innocent in the matter, then there was a chance we could... we could...

"So?" she asked, swirling her tattoo gun in the air while shimmying her shoulders.

"I... Yeah." I fucking hope I don't regret this. "We're shifters. All of the circles. Shit."