Cooper snorted. “I think not.” One afternoon seemed far too little time to decide parenthood wasn’t for you. On the other hand, it had been a long afternoon. He liked Cayla a hell of a lot, but awkward Uncle Cooper was about as much energy as he could currently imagine putting into all of that.
“You never know,” Dean said teasingly. “Two years ago I wouldn’t have predicted you’d be getting married, but here we are, big day just around the corner.”
“Corner? What corner?” Cooper protested. “We haven’t even set a date yet. There’s no game plan. No decisions made. No reservations booked. No guests invited. And definitely no corners, approaching or otherwise.”
“But at least you’re handling it well,” Dean said brightly. Cooper shot him a look and Dean patted his shoulder sympathetically. “Listen, you’ve just got to start with the easy stuff. Figure out who you want there first. When you know how big an event it is, you’ll know what sort of space you’ll need, and that’ll tell you what date to pick. Bam. Wedding planned. My fee’s in the mail.”
Cooper groaned. “Who’s coming is the hardest part.”
“Well, there’s us, of course. What about Oliver’s family? You’re going to invite them, right?”
“I see you’ve been speaking with the voice I hear in my head at three a.m. while paralyzed with anxiety. Good, good.”
Dean frowned. “Does his family suck? Is that why you’re not up there visiting with him?” He leaned closer to Cooper. “Do you want me to fight someone for you?”
Cooper rolled his eyes. “They’re...fine. I like most of them fine. His siblings have been really nice to me these last few months. Their partners too.”
Well, they’d been cordial, anyway. Ever since he and Park had compromised and bought their weird little house on the woodsy property outside of DC, the Park pack had taken it as some kind of signal and accepted Cooper was here to stay. Even Park’s grandmother Helena had called him out of the blue to extend only mildly reserved well wishes on their recent purchase of “a sweet little territory.” Cooper still wasn’t sure what the appropriate response to that was supposed to be, but his nervous guffaws of laugher probably hadn’t warmed the matriarch’s heart toward him much.
Of course, what Helena hadn’t known then was that in a month or so, that “sweet little territory” was going to dramatically expand. Cooper and Park were currently in the process of finalizing the purchase of the Maudit Falls mountain retreat. By the end of November, the retreat would be protected from territory-hungry neighbors and could remain a sanctuary for rebel pack runaways. This was a good thing.
What Cooper hadn’t expected, but should have, was just how much politics was involved. After years of keeping his head down and leaving his past as the Shepherd behind, Park was essentially putting himself back on the board in a big way by claiming territory directly between two powerful packs, one of which happened to be his own family and the most powerful pack on the eastern seaboard. Park wasn’t just “visiting his family.” He was on a diplomatic mission of goodwill. It was an extremely sensitive matter.
Considering that Cooper was responsible for at least two family members’ arrests, both he and Park agreed he could sit this visit out. Goodwill and sensitivity were, alas, not his strong suits.
“It’s not that I’m opposed to inviting them,” Cooper finally said to Dean with relative honesty. “I just don’t even think they’d come. Weddings aren’t...really a thing for people like them. I don’t know if it’s really a thing for people like me either. Sometimes I think it would be simpler to just not do it at all and pretend we did.”
Dean whistled. “Don’t tell Dad that. He’s been working on his speech practically since the day you told us.”
Cooper stopped in his tracks, horrified. “Speech? No. Absolutely not. If you care about me at all, you won’t let that happen. God.”
Dean shrugged easily. “If that’s what you want, I’ve got your back. And god knows Sophe is always down for some covert sabotage.” He hesitated.
“But...” Cooper prompted.
“But I don’t see what the big deal is,” Dean said. “He’s proud of you. Happy you’re happy. Obsessed with Oliver, which is yeah, annoying, but we’re working on it, honest. What’s the harm in letting him do his little speech? Hell, let him say he loves you and knock the grand sum total of that rare event up to four per lifetime.” He smiled sheepishly. “Mmmm, ignore any projecting at the end there. But you’re getting married, Coop. Aren’t you—well, I mean, aren’t you excited?”
Cooper looked away from Dean and studied his own feet as they approached the next exhibit. They’d lagged farther and farther behind as they’d spoken, and the others were already disappearing down the American Trail with some speed, Cayla eager to see the sea lions’ feeding.
He wasn’t sure he could explain how he felt. Not even to himself, never mind to his brother, for whom life had always been fairly, well, straightforward. But Dean was looking at him with such genuine curiosity and patience, his dark eyes so like those of their mother’s, that Cooper had to give it a try.
“I’m excited to be married. I’m not excited to get married,” he said finally, then shook his head. “I don’t know. Every time I think about it and try to settle on some kind of plan, I feel...guilty.”
Dean looked confused.
“Guilty that we’re doing it all for me,” Cooper explained. “That if it was Oliver and another—and someone else like him, they wouldn’t be doing any of this at all.”
“Because werewolves don’t get married,” Dean said.
“Keep your voice down,” Cooper said, glancing around, a tad uncomfortable, but the only person around was a lone woman with a peroxide blond buzz cut standing a good thirty feet away at the next exhibit. Even as he eyed her, she turned her back to them and walked swiftly away.
“I was aiming for a little more discretion,” Cooper murmured, watching her disappear down the trail. “But yeah, that. I know Oliver wants to be helpful, but he just keeps looking at me like ‘this was your idea, this is your kind’s ritual, what do we do now?’ And I don’t have a clue, because before I met him, I never once thought about it. I never once imagined this would be my life. But now this guy who doesn’t give a shit about marriage has agreed to marry me because he loves me, so I better think of something good. I keep researching weddings, but most of the blogs and articles and goddamn mood boards aren’t made for me either. No brides here. Groom’s party? I don’t have two friends to rub together. Choose a location significant to your relationship? Most of ours are crime scenes.”
Cooper realized his voice had steadily gotten louder and more panicked. He took a deep, steadying breath. Then another.
“Everyone wants their wedding to be perfect,” Dean said gently. “But they never are. And that’s okay. Just make a couple of romantic gestures and keep the alcohol flowing and it will be fine.”
Cooper shook his head. Maybe that was true for Dean and lots of other people, too. But Cooper didn’t have that luxury. Whether he wanted it to or not, Park agreeing to marry him was making a statement. This is what Park was choosing instead of another wolf. A human ritual tying him to a human. People were going to notice. People were already starting to take notice.
The thought of trying to explain that to Dean was exhausting, though, so Cooper let it go. “I’m just not cut out to be the center of attention like that,” he said instead.
Dean snorted, a loud, disbelieving sort of sound. “One of these days you’re going to have to accept you’re really not the shrinking wallflower you claim to be,” he said mysteriously as they walked up to the next animal exhibit.
Cooper frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dean didn’t answer, just buried his hands in his pockets and shook his head as if chastising himself for speaking.
“Seriously,” Cooper added. “I’m not
trying to fight—what do you mean by that?”
“Seems like a lot of people spend a lot of time bending over backward to make you happy, Coop.” Dean shrugged. “Maybe sometimes it’d be kinder to let them.”
Stunned, Cooper opened his mouth to protest, but Dean cut him off. “Look, forget I said anything. You’ve obviously got a lot going on and I wasn’t trying to make light of that. If there’s something I can do to help, just let me know, okay?”
Then, to Cooper’s shock, Dean reached out, pulled him into a half hug and ruffled his hair. “But for now, try not to worry quite so much, huh?”
Cooper nodded, still processing, and Dean moved toward the next animal exhibit. “Speak of the devil.”
Letting him change the subject, Cooper glanced at the informational placard and realized they had made their way to the zoo’s wolf enclosure. A low metal railing indicated the end of the pavement and a few feet past that, an extremely tall chain-link fence cordoned off the habitat itself—nothing more than a smallish dirt hill that curved out of sight behind strategic greenery. Probably disguising where the zookeepers came in and out. There were a couple of trees on the hill and some artfully placed rocks, but that was it. Honestly, it looked more than a little depressing for an animal whose natural territory could be more than a thousand square miles in the wild. But the morality of zoos was complicated, and frankly, Cooper didn’t know nearly enough about the subject as a whole, this zoo in particular, or what had brought this specific wolf into captivity to voice an opinion one way or another.
They spotted the animal of the hour quickly enough. It was hard to miss, sat somewhat daintily under the tree, watching them. It certainly looked healthy, anyway. Its pitch-black fur was almost absurdly shiny, and it looked sturdy in size and exponentially more alert than the beavers had. In fact, Cooper felt pretty confident it was studying them, making note of every small movement.
“It says here there should be a single female gray wolf,” Dean said, reading out loud.
“Doesn’t look gray to me,” Cooper said, comparing the wolf to the illustration on the placard.
“No, I think she’s that one.” Dean pointed to a second wolf that Cooper hadn’t seen. It was a good deal smaller, had dirty, whitish fur, and seemed super tense. Crouched down in the very back of the exhibit, practically curled up to the fence, all of her attention was focused on the black wolf.
“It says gray wolves can be any color. Typical scientific tomfoolery,” Dean went on. “But it doesn’t mention the big guy. He must be new.”
Cooper hummed an acknowledgment, but couldn’t tear his eyes from the black wolf. Admittedly, he couldn’t say the last time he saw a wolf that was an actual animal and not a werewolf in fur, but he didn’t remember them looking this...aware. Knowing.
“What’s wolf language for come closer and introduce yourself, please?”
“Don’t be a dick,” Cooper said.
“What? Doesn’t Oliver ever get furry around you?”
“Sure. And miraculously he doesn’t lose the ability to understand English.”
“I didn’t say he did!” Dean protested. “But doesn’t he, you know, communicate as a wolf, too? I mean, he’s not just a human who happens to turn into a wolf a la Lon Chaney Jr., is he? He’s a fully different species—oh, forget it. Never mind.” He clicked his tongue and pitched his voice a little higher. “Come here, cutie. Come here.”
The black wolf stood up and walked purposefully toward them, not stopping until it was directly at the fence. It sat again with an annoyed little sniff.
“Holy fucking shit,” Dean breathed. “Did I—did I do that? Is this my Dr. Dolittle moment? I can’t believe Sophie’s missing my Dr. Dolittle moment.”
“Shhh, how about some Dr. Do-less,” Cooper said tensely. He stared at the wolf and the wolf stared back. Up close its eyes were a light silvery-blue.
Suddenly, it winked.
Beside Cooper, Dean choked.
“Hello,” Cooper said tentatively.
The wolf jerked its head to the side as if gesturing them over. Then it stood and walked along the fence to the corner behind the brush where the employee access presumably was, and disappeared.
Cooper exchanged looks with Dean.
“I can’t believe you were giving me shit about not speaking wolf,” Dean whispered. “You literally just booked a date with one.”
Ignoring his brother, Cooper glanced around to make sure they were still alone and hopped over the short railing.
“Wait! You shouldn’t—” Dean protested.
Cooper hurried along the fence in the same direction the wolf had disappeared. He scrambled through the brush, hearing Dean curse and follow behind him. About a hundred feet later, the carefully placed foliage cleared and he found the access point to the habitat: a double door system in the fence, where one door needed to be closed before the next opened, in order to prevent escape. Cooper only noticed that in periphery, distracted as he was by the pile of concrete slabs outside the fencing, on top of which sat a very naked man.
A very naked man Cooper had met before.
Chapter Two
“Eli,” Cooper said as Dean crashed to an astonished stop beside him.
“In the flesh.” Eli flourished his hand and crossed his legs, as prim and elegant as a tea party. “And the fur.”
“And not much else,” Cooper noted.
Eli dipped his long, dark eyelashes in a come-hither look Cooper would not have dared try himself even if he wasn’t lounging around stark-naked at a zoo, but somehow it worked on him. Cooper had forgotten how depressingly good looking Eli was with his blue-black hair and scruff kept just long enough to look like a rakish pirate without dipping into bunker-man territory, and his body’s muscles and fat combined to look powerfully sensual.
His eyes were as mischievous as Cooper remembered them when they’d met back at the Park pack’s estate after the death of Park’s grandfather, but under the careful air of amusement, they flickered with exhaustion and were adorned with dark circles and crow’s lines that hadn’t been there before. There was a slight tremble in Eli’s arms too, and as Cooper followed them down, he noticed his fists were clenched in his lap...
“Undress me with your eyes any further and you’re going to hit bone,” Eli said wryly. “Er. So to speak.”
Cooper looked away and hoped the flush he felt in his cheeks wasn’t too noticeable.
“You know each other?” Dean demanded.
The thought of introducing Eli as Park’s ex-lover and current, active and honored member of his family’s pack was laughably unappealing. “Yes, we’ve met,” Cooper answered shortly.
“A technically true statement, if characteristically lacking in flair,” Eli said archly. “Antony and Cleopatra met. Romeo and Juliet met. It’s what happened after that’s become the stuff of legends.”
“This day is certainly shaping up to be a tragedy,” Cooper said. “So maybe you’re onto something.”
Dean was looking between the two of the curiously. “Do you...work together?”
“Well, we’ve both dedicated long, long hours to the betterment of man. One man in particular. So yes, I think you could say we’ve collaborated on a project.”
“No, you could not say that,” Cooper protested quickly. “We’re definitely not saying that. Eli, my brother. Dean, this is Eli. He’s...a friend of Oliver’s.” Eli twitched an eyebrow, but for once kept his mouth shut. Not that it mattered. From the expression on Dean’s face, he could add one to one and get a couple just fine.
“So that was you back there, right?” Dean asked. “I mean, you were the”—he gestured in the direction of the fence—”you know.”
Eli leaned back on his hands provocatively. “What’s the matter, don’t you recognize me...cutie?”
“Ah ha ha.” Dean’s voice was a little higher pitched tha
n usual and a blush spread up his neck. Eli’s smile widened.
“The more pressing question,” Cooper said meaningfully, “is what the hell are you doing here?”
“Just dropped into town to see an old friend.”
“Hotels all full?” Cooper asked sarcastically. “I was more wondering what you were doing here as in here in the zoo undercov-fur.”
Eli gave him a vaguely disappointed look, which Cooper figured he deserved. “Yes, I see how you might be confused,” he said briskly. “And I’m endlessly empathetic to it—ask anyone and they’ll say Eli is empathy personified—but this really isn’t a good time, so I don’t suppose you’d be a couple of dolls and tootle off back down the mountain to play with the pandas and forget this ever happened?”
“Funny,” Cooper said flatly. “Now, what’s going on?” He hesitated. “Are you okay? Did... No one forced you into this, did they?”
Eli’s expression softened slightly. “No. Not like that.” He shifted a bit awkwardly on the concrete slab and Dean stepped forward, taking off the long green cape that was his Halloween costume.
“Can I—” Dean hesitated, then took another cautious step forward, holding it out in offering. Eli stared blankly at the cape, looking uncharacteristically lost for words.
“I’m a pupae,” Dean said, then stuttered. “From the metamorphosis, life cycle, butterflies.”
“That’s always been my favorite stage,” Eli purred, accepting the fabric.
Cooper momentarily yearned for the end of his own life cycle. “Anyway,” he prompted.
“You’re really not entitled to the private ins and outs of my life, you know,” Eli said evasively, taking his time to drape the pupae costume into a sort of toga, somehow managing to look even more pretty and ethereal when he was done, like a fae they’d stumbled across who was about to ruin their lives.
“Entitled, no,” Cooper said. “But consider me curious.”
“You know what that does to cats.”
Cry Wolf Page 2