“I have money.”
“Okay,” I mutter, deciding I really should remind him that I’m not sure how long I can stay here, that we have to play this thing by ear, but then he starts talking again.
“Ivy…” He pulls me against his body. “I have a lot of money. My uncle… he used me to help him gain wealth. He did some devious things. And had me help when I was very young as well as an adolescent. We have enough money for anything we might need. I don’t quite remember how much is there, but I counted it before he died and researched the costs of things. I can buy us things to make this house better. That’s the least that money can do.”
I tilt my head. This has my attention. He cocks his elbow and rests his jaw on his palm. I put my head to the pillow and listen.
“When I first began shifting, I was a small child, I don’t know how old, but I was quite young. He’d have me shift to attract attention, looking like a small, cute pup. He put a collar on me and a leash and left it dangling.”
My hand flies to my mouth.
“People would take me into their homes, into their shops, thinking I was a lost pet. He told me the things to look for like car keys, jewelry, money, wallets, and then I would take the opportunity to shift back when they went to bed or weren’t looking. I’d leave with their belongings. With wallets. With jewelry. Later, in my young teen years, after the period where I lost control of shifting and got it back, I ran into two banks and a few jewelry stores in two different towns near here in one week. It caused a commotion and people ran out, afraid of the wild animal. That wild animal changed to a man when no one looked and used a bag planted under a bench to dress in clothes, steal money, and hide in the bathroom or out of sight until it was safe to leave.”
“Oh God. I think I remember reading something in the newspaper about that. Holy shit. It was a feature about some old unsolved mysteries talking about people using a rabid dog or wolf to distract and do some smash and grabs.”
“That was us. There’s a lot of money in the floorboards of the garage. He had me fight in dog fights several times, too, for money, when I was young and my wolf wasn’t so large. Then when I was older, he used me in other ways for large sums of money. I don’t… I’m not proud of any of it.”
“Of course you’re not. He was treating you like a puppet. What a creep!”
“He didn’t have the means to provide for me otherwise, justified it as doing what he had to for provisions. Every year, he sold some of the things he took in different towns so he wouldn’t draw attention, often waiting a year or two after a crime before selling something. He said the money or things were insured and people wouldn’t lose out on their wealth. I didn’t think they deserved it, most of them, but Uncle said most times only greedy insurance companies would lose money. The man didn’t even have any senses to care for himself as a wolf but couldn’t tolerate being man for long periods of time. He rarely spent any of that money but couldn’t seem to stop looking for ways to collect more.”
“Oh my God, Ty.”
“He was deranged half the time he was a man, making no sense, but he had devious bones in his body, obviously. When he was wolf, he said he felt like he could live. But he couldn’t hunt or protect himself without me without the senses he needed. I know now he’d have been in the bottom of the pack. Considered helpless. He told me they treated him like a worthless slave because of his disability. He said it was their fault he had the disability, but he never did explain what that meant. When I asked questions he would change topics or not answer. I lived in quiet. I never learned to use my words very well because he rarely spoke to me. I read a lot of books. Books were helpful. Things are still coming back about books I read. I’d like more books. I have many in the garage.. Do you like books?”
“Who doesn’t? And you’re doing just fine with your words, Tyson.”
A big exhale comes from him. “I need you, Ivy. I need your body wrapped around me. I need inside you. Are you too ill for my cock? I need you but if you really need me to wait, I’ll wait.”
Gulp. I want to say I need him to wait. I should say that. I should slow this down a little, with how addicted he’s getting to this thing we have, but I don’t want to. I want him. I don’t know what the heck I’m doing here, but right now, I want him, too.