And There Were Wolves

thirty eight | can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland

Feeling offended, Eros/Ares took a step forward. "I didn't kill anyone," he said in a low voice, barely above whispering level. Even when he was pissed, he knew that it was best not to draw attention to us. "And I don't know about Eros either. I'm done listening to both of you." He jerked his hand off my hold and started crossing the road.

The pedestrian light had turned red and Eros/Ares received some horns from annoyed drivers. I watched his retreating back as he cut through the crowd and wondered if this was the right thing to let him go. I knew using magic in public was unfeasible, but I couldn't shake off the thought of using it to bring back Eros. There was no way Ares would kill Eros, right? Although Miles had said that there had been two cases, he himself had never witnessed it, so it was possible that this so-called rare disease wasn't even real.

"Hey, are you okay?" Miles placed his hand on my shoulder..

"No."

"It's possible that he's just another person who looks like your friend. Or maybe he's your friend, but he lost his memory." Miles moved to stand in front of me. His eyes were filled with genuine concern. "Hey, come on. We'll find your friend, okay?"

I let out a sigh and gave him a small nod. Miles led me back to my motorcycle, and on the way, he offered to take me home. He probably knew that I was in no condition to drive. Yet my stubborn mind refused to let someone take care of me, so I told him that I'd drive carefully.

"Or you could come to the party with me," said Miles once we stopped by my motorcycle.

"Seriously? You're very tenacious."

Miles laughed. "Well, I tried."

I weighed my options. It was either going home to a very quiet house where Dmitry was being too quiet that I wouldn't even know if he was in the room and Ryker would lock himself in his office and if by any chance I happened to catch him outside the comfort of his office, he would pretend I didn't exist. Gosh, I really missed Trish! Thank goodness she'd be back next week.

The more I thought about it, the more going to the college party with Miles sounded more appealing. There was no parental figure back at the pack house, so there was no one who would try to reinforce the curfew. Plus, Ryker was too busy ignoring me that I doubted he could even tell that I wasn't home. Even if by some miracle he could, he wasn't my dad, so he couldn't tell me what to do.

"Fine." I took a deep breath and put down the helmet I was about to use. "Let's go to this damn party."

Miles was grinning from ear to ear as he opened the car door for me. "You're gonna love it. My friend Ben always throws the best party."

Once I was in his car, he closed the door for me and then walked around the hood to get to his own seat. I put the seatbelt on as I watched him entering the car and settling in behind the wheels. My mind wondered if this was a good idea to come to this party with Miles. It probably wasn't the wisest, but after what had happened today with meeting amnesia Eros/Ares, I doubted anything weird would happen again.

***

It was easy to find the house where the party was being held, judging from the music blasting from it. There was a couple on the terrace, openly making out as if they were in their own place and not at a party. A guy and a girl openly drinking beer from plastic cups by the door seemed to recognize Miles.

"Miles, you came!" said the guy with dark hair and darker eyes. "I thought you're gonna bail on us for this chick you said has been driving you nut."

Under the light above us, I could see Miles' cheekbones reddened a little. "I was working."