The Accords Triptych (Book 3): Heartlines

by Ian Thomas

  “Because that’s something I’d do?”

  “Well, no, but now, you know you could,” Mouth replied awkwardly. “Hair too? I see a man-bun in your not-too-distant.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “What’s with the whining? You love grooming. It’s what makes you such a great homosexual.”

  “Not the fact I like dick?”

  “Well, yeah there is that. But we weren’t talking about how insatiable your sex drive is about to become.”

  “You’ve been doing your research.”

  “I like to think I’m a good friend. I like to think you think I’m a good friend too.”

  “The best,” Jason laughed. “And I miss you. A lot.”

  “This isn’t the insatiable sex drive thing talking is it? We’ve had this conversation and neither of us is the others’ type,”

  “You mean me having a P where you like a V?”

  “Exactly.”

  “No, I’m just going crazy here,” Jason said.

  “His Wi-Fi is pretty shitty.”

  “It’s not that and you know it.”

  “From what I can tell they’re only looking out for you. And everyone at Laf. Also NYU. Actually most of Manhattan.”

  “I haven’t changed since the full moon. Just the odd little thing. Fangs, eyes, claws.”

  “And your pointy ears there, Legolas.”

  “Not Spock?” Jason asked, reaching up to find his ears had extended into points.

  “I plan to spread my pop-cultural references around. Ya know, keep it fresh.”

  “I just want to go home. I wanna eat shitty pizza. I want to stress about my classes. Hell, I want to go to my classes.”

  “And this has nothing to do with the aforementioned insatiable sex drive?” Mouth asked. “Because Papa Matteo does seem like a cock-blocker if you don’t mind me saying.”

  “I think my dick has gotten me into enough trouble thank you very much.”

  “It’s like a divining rod for self-destruction,” Mouth said.

  “Hey, John was nice.”

  “You mean the guy who bedded you to get close to McLachlan in order to sell him out to a demonic cult? Real catch.”

  “He had layers.”

  Mouth scoffed. “I’m sorry, did you say ‘layers’? John, right? Gay-face? Good hair? Demonic cult?”

  “You’re being an asshole.”

  ““No, I’m being your best friend. But hey Matteo is probably a much better roommate than me.”

  Weighing up his words, Jason took a moment to reply. “Mouth, you’re the friend I need right now. More than that. You’re my brother. How it’s been since day one. And right now I need that.”

  Mouth was quiet. Which was always an unexpected rarity. “Have you told Matteo that? And thanks. Right back at ya.”

  “I keep thinking about that tarot reading Rowan did. She said my strength comes from my friends. Maybe that’s what this is. I don’t feel strong right now.”

  “Weren’t thinking about her reading and bad men when you were fooling around with Ben, were you?”

  “Shit, really hoped you weren’t going to bring that up,” Jason winced.

  “Guess with all this coming true, you’ve got some happiness owing.”

  “Friends’re all I need right now,” Jason said.

  “Matteo’s a friend. Well at least he wants to be.”

  “I know. And he’s great but now that I’m a wer…”

  “Werewolf.”

  “Thank you. Thing’s’re different. Like I’m totally getting a returned absentee father vibe.”

  “And I have one of those so yeah not fun.”

  “Sorry.” Jason winced. His parents were actually still together. Happily middle class, happily heteronormative, and happily…boring.

  “You know you’re gonna have to start saying the word at some point, right?”

  “What word?”

  “Werewolf. God, were you in this much denial about being gay?”

  “Took me a year and is that getting me back for the absentee dad thing?”

  “No, yes, not really. Shit does this make you a queer-wolf?”

  Only Mouth would come up with that.

  “Please don’t say that again. Ever,” Jason sighed. “I think it could get you killed.”

  “I won’t if you go and talk to Matteo.”

  “You’ll have my back?”

  “Always,” Mouth said, following Jason out of the room. They found Matteo downstairs in the living room with Eddie. Ever since moving out of the basement, Jason had become more aware of the problems in Matteo’s world. Besides him that was. Mills was recovering in the other guest room. And by recovering he meant the man was unconscious as Rowan worked to heal him. Turned out Somerset had slammed him on the stairs quite brutally.

  “Hey,” Matteo said, standing up. “You guys want some food? I have bagels. And there’s bacon. You want me to order a pizza?”

  “I see what you mean,” Mouth muttered.

  “No, but thank you. I was actually wondering if I could leave? Ya know, go back to the dorm? My life? The coffee shop?”

  Matteo glanced at Eddie whose face was stern. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  “Because me imploding here is gonna be so good for everyone.”

  “How’s that now?” Matteo said.

  “I get it, I’m a…werewolf now. But that’s only three nights a month. The other twenty-eight I gotta be me. I gotta live my life.”

  “And I completely agree,” Matteo replied. “I really do. I just think you need another couple of cycles under your belt before we can do that.”

  “A couple of months?!” Jason cried.

  “Are you shitting me?!” Mouth demanded.

  “No,” Matteo replied plainly. “I’m not. Jason, this is incredibly traumatic.”

  “No shit!” Both Mouth and Jason said.

  “That would mean dropping out of college,” Jason continued. “I don’t want to drop out of college.”

  “But you could change and hurt people,” Eddie said.

  “Or I could go to class, not change, and not hurt people.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “It kinda is,” Mouth said.

  “Uh, Mouth maybe now’s not the point to jump in,” Eddie said sternly.

  “Why not?” Jason challenged. “Seems to me it could’ve been him and not me who was sired.”

  “I think I’d have a little more sense than to sleep with Ben.”

  “Whose side are you on?” Jason demanded.

  “Oh, right, yours of course. Just well, Ben? Really?”

  “Mouth!” Matteo said loudly. A flicker on the Pack Lord’s face told Jason the man was quite relieved Mouth hadn’t been the one who was sired. That would have been too much for him.

  “Remember when life was simple and new wolves could check out for a couple of months?” Eddie asked.

  “Not an option,” Jason said.

  “Simpler and better time back then,” Matteo replied wistfully. “The thing is Jason, there’s a period of…adjustment.”

  “It’s not just the full moon you have to be concerned about,” Eddie added.

  “Your…appetites will increase.”

  “You’re doing a lot of pregnant pauses there, guys,” Mouth said, then a thought occurred to him. “Oh god, are you gonna get pregnant? Is that even possible?”

  “No, no,” Matteo said, stung. “Quite the opposite actually, but that’s not the reason for the pause.”

  “Is this about sex?” Jason asked.

  “You could say that,” Matteo said, blushing.

  “Think he just did,” Mouth observed, then nudged Jason. “You know what’s worse than an over-compensating absentee father?”

  “An over-compensating absentee father having the birds and bees talk?”

  “Or is it just birds and birds?” Mouth asked.

  “Or bees and bees?” Eddie suggested.

  “It’s bees
okay,” Matteo snapped. “The bees carry the pollen. They do the fertilizing. Hence the bees are male.”

  “Dad’s losing it,” Mouth muttered.

  “I am not losing it!”

  “You know who says they’re not losing it? People who are actually losing it.”

  “Mouth,” Jason warned. “Pretty sure this is one of the times you need to shut up.”

  “Only because he’s about to give you a free-pass to fuck anything that moves.”

  “I most certainly am not,” Matteo replied shocked. “You’ll want to. Believe me you’ll want to.”

  “Little rapey,” Eddie commented. “But yes, your sex drive will increase. Quiet dangerously so.”

  “How’s that?” Jason asked.

  Matteo and Eddie shared a concerned look, possibly a memory.

  “Let’s just say…your impulses won’t be under your control. Not for a while.”

  “Hence why I’d rather you stayed here a little longer,” Matteo said.

  “I’m gonna have to learn to deal with them at some point,” Jason replied. “Now’s as good a time as any.”

  “I disagree,” Matteo replied.

  “And I get that but this is my life. Not the wolf’s. Mine. If I have problems I know where to come,” Jason said. “I’d rather make a mistake and learn from it than be safe here but ignorant.”

  “But these can be pretty brutal mistakes,” Eddie said.

  “Listen I’m clearly not gonna win this one–” Matteo admitted.

  “Which, given that he’s your Pack Lord now, is only gonna happen the once,” Eddie said, cutting in.

  “–so I’m not gonna fight you anymore. I just want you to think about this some more. Sure, you have a life you need to get back to. Yes, there could be dangers. But what about everything else? What about Colton? He could easily get to you in class, in the coffee shop, in your dorm.”

  “He got in here easily enough,” Jason replied quietly.

  “You’ve got another week of moping and talking back tops,” Matteo said angrily. “Then you’re gonna get some boundaries.”

  “Really?” Jason asked, taken aback.

  “I’m with him on this one,” Mouth said, folding his arms. “He’s the Pack Lord and you’re a newbie werewolf. You’d be a dumbass not to see he’s actually looking out for you.”

  Silently, Jason thought about what had been said. In truth, he was still coming to terms with being a werewolf. Not the process of how he was sired, what changing involved, or how much self-grooming was involved. But accepting the idea of it all. Who he was, was gone. Jason Harrison, the beanpole sophomore who wanted to be a screenwriter. That guy didn't exist anymore. Now he was Jason Harrison, werewolf. This guy was a whole different person with a completely different life. Coming to terms with that was easier said than done.

  “Sorry,” Jason said. “I’m really grateful for all you’ve done. I just…need some space.”

  Finally, a statement Matteo seemed to recognize and understand. Eddie too. Within the hour, Jason was packed up. He gave Matteo a hug and left with Eddie and Mouth. The sounds of the city, the crisp fall air, the thrumming metropolis welcomed him back and Jason felt at peace for the first time in…well, for the first time.

  XIX

  Resigned to Jason’s decision, Matteo went to check on his other charge. Mills.

  He hadn’t stirred since the attack. Considering all the options and feeling largely responsible, Matteo moved him to the spare bedroom.

  From there Mills needed to heal. Given that he was human, traditional medicine was an option. Despite having been a licensed, practicing doctor at various points of his long life, he’d been supernatural long enough to dismiss modern healing. Too much reliance on chemicals and procedures.

  Which left the supernatural avenues.

  Vampire blood with its healing properties was an option but having run afoul of a lot of people, Matteo didn’t need to make a foe of Mills.

  The obvious choice was Rowan. But as yet Matteo didn’t know if she was in a fit state to work on Mills. He hadn’t seen her since her return. They’d spoken once, and it was so stilted and strained that he knew her grief was still raw.

  But as always she’d come through, arriving the following morning quietly. Her silence remained as she assessed the damage.

  While to outsiders her magic involved lighting a few candles, wafting stinky herbs about, muttering a few Latin phrases, and applying ointments, Matteo knew it to be far stronger. She was incredible. Healing was an art to Rowan. She didn’t need large machines, expensive tests, or invasive procedures. The spirits told her everything about Mills’ injuries. Fractures, contusions, hemorrhages, and hematomas. Assured he wasn’t paralyzed, hadn’t lost any function or feeling, nor sustained irreparable head trauma, Rowan thanked the spirits and set to her manner of healing. Matteo was stunned at the level of diagnostic. He shouldn’t be. He regularly survived his whole body being reshaped so he could hardly question the power of the supernatural.

  The concern was that Mills hadn’t woken yet.

  “He won’t. Not yet. Not with this much healing,” Rowan said when Matteo enquired about him. “He needs sleep to let his body, mind, and soul heal. He’s strong but been masking a lot of pain for a while now.”

  “He plays the brooding stoic well,” Arizona Chase said from a chair against the wall. Upon his return he had hardly left Mills’ side.

  “Don’t we all,” Matteo said, directing the comment at Rowan. Despite having been in his house for the better part of a couple of days now, she had barely spoken two words to him.

  That was unfair.

  More accurately, she hadn’t said anything beyond small talk to him.

  And they didn’t do small talk.

  Not when all of the recent turmoil and tragedy was considered.

  “Any word from the Clan?” Matteo asked.

  “Seems the chapter house has a new acting head in Somerset’s…absence.”

  “Oh god, not Milton,” Rowan groaned. “Surely it’s Siobhan?”

  Chase shook his head and raised his hand.

  “You?!” Rowan baulked. “Siobhan should be pissed.”

  “Little harsh,” Matteo said.

  “Said the old boys’ network,” Rowan muttered.

  “I didn’t ask for this,” Chase replied.

  “And that makes it any better? That the operation is so male-centric they leap frog the longest serving woman in attendance for a man. Unbelievable.”

  “She turned it down,” Chase said, subdued.

  “Perhaps you should have led with that,” Matteo suggested, convinced Rowan’s reaction was just the rawness of her nerves in general.

  “Guess that makes Somerset your problem then,” Rowan said, having taken a breath. “Explains why she passed on the job.”

  “Thanks,” Chase said, attempting a smile. “But yeah, I gotta find him. Find his ring. Find some way to end this.”

  Matteo drew his breath sharply.

  “It’s not going to be that simple.”

  “How so?” Chase asked.

  “Because he can’t go back,” Matteo replied. “Say you get him. And the ring. And he puts it back on, what then?”

  “He goes back to being himself. The wolf goes away. Case closed. Problem solved. What’re you getting at?”

  “That ring. The magic in it. It’s ancient. It’s supremely strong.”

  “We get the ominous but you wanna vague that up a little more?” she asked.

  “The moment he puts that ring on, the wanion making him a wolf is cancelled,” Matteo replied. “And everything with it.”

  “His healing,” Rowan said softly, grasping the unspoken implication.

  “He’ll age sixty years in a matter of minutes. That kinda change will kill him.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Chase said.

  “Ever see him sick? A cold? The flu? A headache? Hayfever even?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wolves don’t s
uffer those. Not unless they’re silver-related,” Matteo explained. “Before the Ordeal I hadn’t been sick since the nineties.”

  “Actually,” Rowan said suddenly. “There was a hangover two days before the Ordeal, but to be fair you were doing shots of silver-laced vodka.”

  “Unfortunately, yes we were.”

  “So he’ll die?”

  “Afraid so.”

  “And if we leave him as is?” Chase asked desperate.

  “He’ll be wild and feral,” Matteo replied sadly. “Somerset was damaged long before he was sired. All the suffering he went through as a kid – all racially motivated – broke him. Guess that was the weakness which drew Dominic to him. The wolf was supposed to strengthen him. Never suspected it would fracture his personality.”

  “A werewolf with split personality?” Chase asked in disbelief.

  “Not that out there when you think about it,” Rowan said. Matteo flinched, wondering if the barb was intentional.

  “We never knew if he had dissociative identities before siring or whether the wolf brought it out in him. But Dominic pretty much went to hell and back for that ring.”

  “So glad McLachlan’s not here to make the obvious Frodo joke,” Rowan muttered.

  “Can’t we use magic? Slow his aging while healing him at the same time?” Chase asked, standing up.

  “Would it were that simple,” Matteo said. “The ring cancels out any magic cast on the bearer.”

  “Where does that leave us?” Chase asked. He sank back into the chair defeated.

  What options were there? The realization hadn’t come to him at first. With everything else happening, his mind had been working overtime to process and arrange his thoughts. However, when he realized their inability to save Somerset, he felt sick. Colton had claimed another innocent.

  Though not before making him a weapon.

  One directed at Matteo and his friends.

  “It’s unclear at this stage,” he lied.

  The room fell silent. Chase’s swagger and charm bruised with the news. He stared at a spot on the floor, trapped in his thoughts.

  “Can I have a word?” Matteo asked Rowan quietly.

  “Sure, two even,” she replied flippantly, leaving the room.

  When the door was shut, Matteo pulled her into a hug. At first she resisted, remaining stiff and rigid.