Chapter 40
I shoot to my feet, panic causing my mind to empty of any coherent thought.
“I– What– You are–” I am stuttering like a damn idiot.
“Well that answers the question of why you’re freaking out,” Jason says knowingly. His eyes meet Adam’s and they exchange a loaded glance. “Reed told you about the Guardians.”
*Jason… knows about the Guardians? No. No, no, no, no, no. Not Jason, too. This seriously cannot be happening*.
My eyes widen, and the remaining air rushes out of my lungs. “You have got to be fucking kidding me right now,” I say, pressing my hands into my eyes, as if I can block out reality if I can’t see it.
Jason approaches me, placing his hands on my shoulders. Trying to be… comforting? “I have been where you are right now, Bree. It is… really damn hard to come to terms with everything. Why don’t you come sit down. Maybe we can help you make some sense of everything that is going through your mind.”
“Yeah,” I scoff, “I seriously doubt that.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Jason says, keeping his tone light and playful, “Come on, slugger, sit down. We have been friends long enough that you can at least hear me out, right? After that, if you want to leave, you can walk right out that door. I promise that neither of us will try to stop you.” He shoots Adam a look, as if daring him to argue.
“Good luck explaining that to Caleb, man,” Adam mutters, rolling his eyes, and making his way into the kitchen where he begins rummaging around. Probably looking for a knife to stab me with.
I slide my hands down my face, squinting a bit as the light hits my eyes again.
I drop down onto the squishy gray couch, and Jason lowers himself gingerly to sit next to me, as if he is afraid that he will startle me if he moves too quickly. Which, to be honest, he probably would. I feel like I am wound so tightly that I could just snap at any second. Yesterday I was on a boat with the hottest man that I have ever laid eyes on with his head between my thighs, and today… Well, today is definitely worse than yesterday.
“Listen, Bree,” Jason begins slowly, “I was in your position a few years ago. I remember thinking that the guy who brought me in was stark raving mad.” I risk lifting my eyes to look at him, and I can see my inner turmoil reflected on his face, and I wonder if he really does understand what I am going through. “I know it’s hard to believe, impossible to wrap your head around–” he continues.
Adam’s voice interrupts from the kitchen, “It shouldn’t be *that* hard for her to believe, considering she watched her ex shift into a damn wolf.”
Jason’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks at me for confirmation.
“I mean, I didn’t see him physically change,” I argue, as if that is any less crazy than blinking and seeing Andrew replaced by a wolf, but–
“Come on, Bree,” Adam gives an exasperated sigh, and his eyes roll back so far into his head that I’m not sure they’ll ever be able to go back to normal, “Caleb hasn’t shut up about you for fucking weeks. I really expected you to be smarter than this.”
Anger floods my veins, and I run my fingers along the suede material of the couch in an attempt to ground myself and I give a huff of annoyance. “Smart enough to believe in werewolves?”
“Alright,” his tone is harsh, “What other, more rational explanation do you have for a whole-ass man being replaced by a whole-ass wolf?”
“I–” I hesitate, before sinking back against the couch in defeat, “I don’t know. None of this makes any sense.”
“Why don’t you stop being a dick and let her breath for a second,” Jason said, cutting Adam a look that has me glad I have never gotten on his bad side before. “Not all of us grew up being taught this shit, and having your entire world view yanked out from under you takes longer than ten minutes to process.”
Adam throws his hands up in surrender from across the room before settling down at the kitchen table and burying himself in his phone.
Jason sits quietly for a long moment before letting out a long breath of air and sinking into the couch beside me. “Do you remember when you were still on orientation at work,” he begins, “And you had that patient– the young woman with the bite– who said she had been attacked by a werewolf?”
“Of course. She was so terrified, I felt so awful for her,” I replied.
“That was real. She was right about what happened to her. Reed– Dr. Reed, Caleb, whatever you call him these days– looked into it. He found a werewolf from a local pack that had recently gone rogue. When questioned, he admitted to having attacked the girl. She was never crazy.”
I think back to her bite marks, how much bigger they were than the bite marks of a dog. I remember how terrified she was; terrified, yes, but not delusional. I also remember that she was gone the day after Caleb was assigned to her care. Not only that, but I had tried to look up her chart and it was just... gone. Like she had never been a patient there at all. What he is saying *does* line up, and I hate that it makes sense.
And I *did* see a wolf exactly where Andrew had been standing a split second later. I can’t believe I am even entertaining this insanity, but…
“Okay,” I relent, “Let’s say that everything you are saying is true. That werewolves, and vampires, and other things that go bump in the night really do exist. That Andrew is one of them. How could I possibly have lived with him for years without ever noticing anything was off? I mean, I might not be the most observant person in the world, but I don’t think I could miss something *that* big.”
“He was a cop, right?” Jason’s voice is gentle, with no hint of judgment. “I assume that means he worked odd hours, different every week, and did overnights on the regular? Not that hard to hide anything, really, when there’s no ‘normal’ for him to stray from to tip you off.”
I don’t have a response. There isn’t one. He’s right.
Adam finally pipes up from his self-imposed station across the room, and says, “You could always just ask the asshole all of this yourself.”
He’s right, too.
“Maybe I should,” I agree.