Being(s) In Love 03 - A Beginner’s Guide to Wooing Your Mate (13 page)

“He could make a living at it, but that’s not why he does it.” Again the sheriff’s comment did not seem to be made for the sake of talking.

“I know,” Zeki answered quickly, and the sheriff glanced up. He was faster than the springs in an animal trap. The sheriff might have suspected what Theo was doing all along. Zeki scowled at him. “He was Rejected.” Zeki used the capital R. “Now he bakes.” What he didn’t know was what rejection meant, exactly. “Is that normal for weres? Burying their feelings like that? I thought you guys were all about feelings.”

So he was interested in Theo. So was a good portion of the town. Zeki refused to be subtle around someone who could hear elevated heartbeats.

“Rejection isn’t very common.” The sheriff used the capital R as well. He went back to drawing. “But coping mechanisms are probably the same in any group.”

He’d been drawing for a while. Littlewolf must wear a lot of charms. Zeki settled in to wait, but the sheriff stopped and tapped the pen against the paper. Zeki came around to look without getting too close.

“I’m not an artist.” Sheriff Neri was surprisingly apologetic about his lack of skill.

Zeki waved him off, more interested in the sketches themselves. “It’ll do.” He narrowed his focus to the shapes and symbols in front of him. “These are all over the map. Different cultures, different styles, but there is a definite theme.” Avoidance was the theme. But during his internships, Zeki had learned to use tact when dealing with customers. People generally consulted witches and wizards when other options were not available, and a little tact could go a long way in easing their tension, which in turn made figuring out their problem and helping them easier. “Some are positive. There’s a few for good fortune. The others aren’t harmful, which is good. He’s not wishing ill on anyone. He’s more… trying to be invisible.”

Zeki squinted at a tough-to-interpret squiggle. “That’s a tricky one. I don’t doubt your memory, but the quality of the charm.” He glanced at the sheriff. “Let me guess, these are the kinds of charms you could buy from any street vendor, in almost any town in the country.” That would make it difficult to try to guess where Littlewolf had been. Zeki didn’t wait for an answer. “Well, the symbols are consistent with someone on the run. A rune, a hieroglyph, a few words in ogham… they’re all for protection. It doesn’t indicate from what.” He took the notepad and held it up to point. “This is one European witches used to hide from detection during the Hunts. This one is a saint or possibly an orixa. It’s hard to say from the drawing—no offense. He’s looking for sanctuary. But these charms aren’t especially powerful. I mean, if these are the cheap kinds of charms I’m thinking of, then very little force, or magic, was put into them. He might know that. It might be why he has so many. With those charms a witch or a priest might not even have made them, probably some street vendor looking to make money.”

The sheriff clenched his jaw, then took the notepad back to add another drawing.

Zeki came closer. “How many does your Littlewolf wear?” The sheriff seemed to flinch at Zeki’s choice of words, but he added two more charms. Zeki indicated them over Sheriff Neri’s shoulder. “One to ward off the Evil Eye. Very old school. Old-fashioned, actually. It’s like he’s taking guidance from out-of-date library books. But he
really
doesn’t want to be found. Are these his only protection?”

After he said it, it occurred to him the sheriff might find that rude. “Aside from you, obviously. You are formidable, don’t doubt that.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he’d amused the sheriff in some small way. Zeki was supposed to be helping him, and hopefully impressing him enough to enhance his wizarding reputation, not making him laugh. “I mean it,” Zeki informed him sternly. “In addition to… all that you are, you are formidable. People comment on the power of love because it has some truth beyond the platitudes. Love has as much power as you give it.” The sheriff looked less amused now. “If you love him, that is,” Zeki added. “If mating is some other kind of instinctual bond, then I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“I don’t love him. Not yet.” The last thing Zeki had expected was for the sheriff to answer him. Yet, like Theo, he seemed willing to explain the ways of weres when Zeki asked, despite how he stiffened as if the subject was uncomfortable. “Finding your mate is discovering a place where love could be, the person who could know you when you are ninety-five and still want you.” He smoothed the rumble out of his voice while Zeki was thinking about what it meant for the person who was supposed to love you at ninety-five to tell you they didn’t want you at all. The sheriff handed Zeki the pen and pad. “That’s all I could see. I don’t know if he has other charms or spells at work. But if he’s wearing all these, he’s probably comfortable with other forms of magic.”

“Wow.” Zeki didn’t hide his disbelief. “That many and he doesn’t complain about the itchy scent?”

On cue, the sheriff rubbed his nose. But he chose not to comment on Zeki’s slightly bitter tone. “There’s nothing more particular you can tell about the charms?”

Zeki shouldn’t be dealing with his old hurt feelings while the sheriff was worrying over his mate’s safety. He offered a reassuring smile, no teeth. “You have some cause for concern. Most of these are simple, the kind to muddle a search, throw off someone else’s good fortune, grant a fairy’s luck to the wearer. Helpful charms. Except for this one.” He indicated the one he meant. “This one is to help with dreams, bad dreams,” he added, although he thought the sheriff understood his meaning. “And this one is for strength. They say he’s little?”

The sheriff nodded, but his look of pride caught Zeki off guard. The sheriff’s expression was oddly adorable, as if his mate’s littleness and resourcefulness about killed him with admiration.

It wasn’t just adorable; it was breathtaking. Zeki’s chest felt tight. That was what a mated wolf looked like. It seemed something to want, something to strive to get, if that was even possible. He grasped why so many people would come to Wolf’s Paw’s festivals now. They were searching for
that
. They got confused and thought it was a sex thing, but it was so much more.

“Thank you.” The sheriff nodded with the same formality from earlier, and without concealing any of his warmer emotions at the mention of his mate. Zeki stared at him, trying to think of what to say, but Sheriff Neri had more business to discuss. “I would very much like to ask you about what you could do to protect him without knowing what he’s afraid of. But he hasn’t asked for my help, and I won’t without his permission. But I wanted you to know I might, in the future.”

Zeki closed his mouth with a snap. “I wasn’t expecting that.” He’d had some half-formed notions about bossy alpha werewolves, which he abruptly realized were mostly based on Jason and Kevin’s teenage posturing and old, terrible, black-and-white human movies with werewolf villains. “Even to benefit him, you won’t?” Zeki always had questions, but his classmates and harried teachers hadn’t seemed inclined to answer.

The sheriff lifted his chin. “Mates means equals. Equals means respecting his wishes, even when I don’t want to.”

Zeki had a feeling he was blushing, his lack of knowledge on werewolves shameful. “I don’t know anything about mates, not that it’s your job to educate me.”

“You thought it was that notion in the books?” The sheriff leaned in, flashing an unexpected grin. “The romantic movies? I’m partial to the movies, myself, as inaccurate as they are. Everyone longs for a partner.” He held up a finger over his mouth to indicate this was a secret. “Don’t tell the tourists. I wouldn’t want to spoil their image of me.”

Zeki should not have focused solely on his studies. Clearly there were movies he should have been watching. “It isn’t like they offered classes on mating in Sex Ed. There was lots of sex in Sex Ed, but nothing on mating. I didn’t think anything about it until recently. In fact, I think the humans were taken out of class that day, made to watch a video on human childbirth.” He hadn’t seen a happily ever after in that until after all the screaming was over.

“Didn’t you grow up here?” Sheriff Neri listened to gossip too, evidently.

“Only from age thirteen.” Zeki shrugged, more uncomfortable with the memories. “And the weres my age wanted nothing to do with me, big magical nerd that I am.”

Sheriff Neri gave him a blank stare. “Weres can be big nerds. Weres can be okay with magic.”

Between Theo baking and the sheriff as a secret fan of human romances, Zeki was learning all kinds of things about weres tonight. “Well, not the ones in my high school,” he answered awkwardly.

The sheriff paused. Sheriff Neri seemed like an expert in strategic pauses. “But Theo Greenleaf was?”

Zeki swallowed, cocoa and cinnamon still on his tongue, in his nose. “Yes.” Theo had come closer to Zeki despite the aura of magic. He’d asked him out while Zeki had nearly been sparking with the energy. “Theo was different. In fact….” Zeki almost didn’t go on, then had to, because he had to say it to
someone
. “In fact, Theo was amazing, even then.” He used to go to The Meadows with the weres his age. It must have been one of them. Some older were who thought Theo was too young; it was the only explanation for anyone rejecting him, if Zeki ignored his own moment of stupidity his senior year.

As if that made some decision for him, the sheriff met Zeki’s eyes. “The awareness is the realest thing I’ve ever experienced.” He seemed to grow fiercer as he said it, like his true form was revealed in that moment, a man but also a wolf. The same pride colored his voice, made him straighten. His eyes glowed. “Instinct. In that moment I knew. In one moment.” He blinked and seemed to remember Zeki. “But it’s not random. It doesn’t happen to children… and as far as I know, usually not to teenagers. The person, the persons involved, have to be at heart who they truly are, who they will be as they grow. People change over time, settle, learn, but at heart they must already be who they are to be recognized by their mate. Some people never grow into themselves. Maybe that’s why they don’t find their mates.”

Zeki had no idea what expression was on his face, but Sheriff Neri snorted. “Yes, even humans will feel it, although it takes you longer to notice. The trouble with weres is that the instinct tells us where to look, but it doesn’t tell us anything else about the person who will suit us so completely. Their culture could be different. Their language. The instinct tells us almost nothing at all except ‘this one.’ It’s—” He mused for a moment. “—terrifying, if you were wondering. But anything worth doing usually is. Like flying across the country by yourself to go to school.”

Zeki swallowed again. “I didn’t ask.”

The sheriff touched his nose. “You smelled curious.”

Zeki didn’t deny it. “You probably even know why I’m curious.” He crossed his arms. “I need to know what kind of person could possibly say no. Were they older?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I know, I said no, and I know you probably know that. But that was different. That was a misunderstanding. No way would I have said no to asking Theo out otherwise. Who does that? It’s so dumb that for a second….” His mouth felt dry, and he watched the sheriff carefully. “For a second I thought maybe it
was
me, that I was Theo’s….” He trailed off for a moment. “But that’s clearly ridiculous.” He slid his gaze away from the sheriff’s blank expression. “No one ever talks about that part, though. All their other gossip, but they never mention who it was.” Zeki couldn’t explain why he wanted to know. It wasn’t likely to affect whatever he had with Theo. Theo’s mate was long gone.

“Wow,” Zeki summed up when the sheriff was suspiciously silent. “So, I’m obvious. Of course the weres in town have been talking.” His dad might have heard by now. He was going to think Zeki was reliving his crush.

“This town is rather protective of Theo Greenleaf,” Sheriff Neri cut into Zeki’s thoughts. “Sixteen was too young. It should never have happened.”

“Yet it did.” Zeki snapped his head up, suddenly furious. “What kind of asshole meets Theo Greenleaf and says no? I was confused back then, but I always saw how special Theo was. Now he’s special for the wrong reasons. Poor young Theo rejected for the whole town to witness and tut over.” Zeki wished he could snarl. “Look, I know you run this town, and I respect that. Thank you for trying to explain, but I don’t have to talk to you about this, even if I don’t understand any of it. Theo’s been gossiped about enough.”

The sheriff didn’t seem alarmed or offended, but Zeki readied himself for… something. At least a growl, a reminder of the sheriff’s superior strength. He got that single arched eyebrow. “You don’t understand, do you? You truly don’t.” He tilted his head to one side. “If you want to, I’d be the best one to ask, aside from Theo himself.”

And that was the crux of the matter—Zeki’s next move. Zeki let out a sigh of his own. “Theo deserves… he volunteers. He bakes. He fights fires. Look at him. And he’s a part of Wolf’s Paw. Hecate’s Fingers, his family are
founders
. I’m the human wizard he barely remembers from high school, and I’m leaving town soon.” His thoughts were drifting, and he viciously reeled them in before he got any more maudlin. “But, this mating thing. Humans get their hearts broken, and they move on. Theo
will
recover, right?”

“It’s not getting your heart broken.” Sheriff Neri’s full-on growl sent Zeki stepping away until he hit the fridge. Zeki brought his hands up, prepared to fend off whatever was next, but the growl trailed off, and then the sheriff continued. “Even if the bond isn’t there yet, there’s a strong sense of loss. If the bond is there, it’s worse. If you knew each other at all. If you could see where the love would form.” An alpha wolf was admitting to a feeling that laid him low. Zeki stayed quiet, shamed by his ignorance. “There have been rejected wolves who have disappeared, never to be seen again. Others who were never quite the same, after.”

Whatever the people in town thought, the sheriff was well aware of his probable fate when his Littlewolf left town.

“And werewolves can’t take antidepressants,” Zeki concluded for him. For a few minutes, they were both quiet, and Zeki had a strange urge to offer the sheriff some brownies. He didn’t, because he also had a need to keep them to himself for as long as he could. But chocolate of some kind seemed appropriate, and maybe one of those cheesy romantic movies the sheriff had mentioned. He kind of doubted the sheriff had many close friends, not with everyone in town, lupine or human, chasing after him. “So you won’t ever date again?” he wondered, as gently as he could.