3
Savannah
“Just because I’ve agreed to help you does not mean I forgive you,” Casey said as he popped open the back of the RAV4.
Heat crept along my neck. Why couldn’t he just say, Hi Savy, I’m sorry everything has gone to shit. I’m here to help.
I clenched my fists, and it was all I could do to stop my fangs from popping out. “Forgive me for what? For being a filthy werewolf? Or for attacking Aunt Laurel?”
He held up his hands. “Geez, Shaggy, no need to go to Defcon Two. Mom feels terrible about everything that’s happened. All of it, I swear.”
I hugged my arms around myself and dug my nails into my skin.
Aunt Laurel.
I wanted to hate her for helping my parents cast the spell that bound my wolf, and even worse, for hiding the truth of what I was. But after everything she’d done for me, all I felt was shame. I’d lost control and attacked her, and even if it was an accident, I’d hurt the woman who’d taught me magic and opened my eyes to the unlimited possibilities of this world.
I bit my lip and looked away.
Casey gently touched my arm. “I know she’s forgiven you, Savy. Hell, I think she feels like she deserved what happened.”
Nausea wound around my gut. That just made it worse. She didn’t deserve any bit of what I’d done.
I shrugged off his touch. “What about you? I saw the way you looked at me.”
My words were sharper than I expected—twisted and bitter, pushing him away. But the truth was, I was desperate for his forgiveness, even more so than hers.
Casey lowered his hands and hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. “Look, when I was a kid, Mom had beautiful straight hair. One time, she grounded me for stealing, and I got so mad, I lost control of my magic and burned off all her hair. It’s been curly ever since. I remember that every single time I look at her.”
I tried to imagine Aunt Laurel bald. It didn’t work.
“Magic is hard to control when it’s new. That’s the reality of our world. You were rightfully angry, and your magic went haywire. That’s happened to me and to every other kid in Magic Side.”
I looked away as shame flushed my face. “I’m not a kid.”
“Duh. Most kids have way more experience. You’ve been doing spells for what, almost a month? Cut yourself some slack. If my mom can forgive you, then you can forgive yourself.”
Shame flushed my neck. “Yeah, that’s not something I’m ready for.”
I moved toward the gravestone in the back of his ride, but he blocked my way. “Not so fast. Part of the bargain is that you get over your shit and tell me everything. Like everything, because I’ve got a feeling I don’t know half the crap that’s going on around here.”
He was right about that, but everything was going to be a long conversation.
I walked over and lowered the tailgate of Jaxson’s truck. “Fine. But first, help me move the damn tombstone over, okay?”
Casey rolled his eyes. “Why is Jaxson coming along? This was supposed to be cousin time.”
“Because he is,” I growled as I headed back to the RAV4. “He literally hunted me down. I don’t think he’s going away.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, Casey sighed. “Great. Fine. But let Jaxson put the tombstone in his own damn truck, then. It took a couple of huge dudes to load it up.”
I frowned at him. “I’m a werewolf. Just help steady it.”
I slipped my fingers under one end of the granite slab and gave Casey a steady glare. He shrugged and grabbed the other side. “Okay, but if I slip a disc, you’re paying the medical bills.”
We heaved the damn thing upward and staggered back from the car. “Oh, gods, this is heavy!” Casey grunted.
My arms strained, but we shuffled in tandem toward the bed of Jaxson’s truck.
Casey’s end got progressively lower until he was practically crab-walking. “We need to put it down, Savy! It’s got to be four hundred pounds!”
With an exasperated snarl, I scooped my body forward and heaved the gravestone up and out of his hands. “It’s two hundred, tops. Just help me lower the thing without scratching up the truck. It’s new.”
He jumped into the bed and helped me set the stone down gently. “Damn. I knew werewolves were strong, but this She-Hulk business is going to take some getting used to.”
“Yeah, well, frankly, I can’t believe that you’re remotely okay with me being a werewolf,” I muttered as I shut the bed.
Casey shoved his hands in his pockets but didn’t climb down. “Screw that. That’s on page two of the list of things I’m pissed about. Number one is the fact you didn’t tell me about it. I’m hurt, Savy. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to trust anyone ever again.”
Yup. He was going to milk this for all it was worth.
I rolled my eyes. “Can you honestly blame me? After all the werewolf hate you throw around?”
He shrugged. “Well, if I’d known my cousin was a werewolf, maybe I wouldn’t have said some of those things.”
I blinked, dumbfounded by his logic. “You realize that makes absolutely no sense, right? You need to start thinking about shit differently now. I’m a werewolf, and I’m part of the pack. If I’m going to trust you, I need you to let go of whatever hate you’ve got left.”
Casey sighed audibly. “I know. I get it. I’m here for you, fur and all.”