Page 11 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“I… I would prefer no tears on it,” Julian says, sliding the paper back to himself. “How about you do the multiple choice? Do you think you could do that? And I’ll work on the short and long answers?”
He slides the answer sheet over to me, and I set to work, thrilled to have something to occupy my mind.
“I wonder if I should give up my life of luxury, become a hermit, and teach wolf children in some village in the forest,” I muse.
“Let me know how that goes,” Casimir says as he stops to look at what Julian is grading. “Isn’t it the third week of college and you’re already making these children do long tests like this?”
“It’s a level three class. I’ve already had most of them for years,” Julian explains. “That means I can torture them even more. Trust me, they deserve to be tortured.”
“You’re very sweet,” Casimir says.
“Thank you, dearie.”
“You two disgust me,” I whisper.
Julian sets his hand on mine, stilling the pen I’m using to mark incorrect answers. “I’m being serious. What about going out and trying to date someone?”
“I don’t… I just…”
“Why? You might be surprised who you find out there.”
I don’t even know what to say to him because the idea of dating someone… the idea of losing someone again… “I just… I’ll think about it,” I settle on.
Julian gives me a look, but sighs and returns to his grading.
When the following night rolls around, I find myself arriving at the council hall a bit early. No one’s even here yet, so I sit on a stump and watch the night sky until Julian and Casimir roll up. I used to hate the night sky so much because that’s when the monsters are free to roam… and then I became a monster.
“Hey, you beat us here.”
“I was on this side of town and had nothing else to do,” I admit.
Julian’s attention is immediately sidetracked when he sees his father pull in.
“Do you want me to do the threats?” Casimir asks, like this is a normal question to ask someone. “I do love threatening Terrance. I don’t know if you know this about me, but it’s one of my favorite pastimes.”
“I will handle it,” Julian says as Terrance gets out of the car and immediately opens his mouth, but before he gets a word out, Julian shakes his head. “You willnotstart claiming that thevampires are monsters because we suspect that the couple was killed by a vampire, do you hear me?”
Terrance closes his mouth and stares at his son. “I would never.”
“Never, my ass!” Julian says.
Terrance walks over, gaze locked on Casimir. “I see you’re here.”
“I see you’re here too,” Casimir chokes out.
“I saw your threat for today.”
Casimir looks as proud as a peacock. “Yeah? And did you like it?”
“I thought it needed a little work. Felt like a playground threat,” Terrance says.
“Are you still sending my father threat chocolates?” Julian asks in disbelief. I guess after Casimir got stuck with multiple chocolate bars, he started sending one a day to Terrance with a threat included. Julian explained that Casimir finds delight in the simplest things that add to Terrance’s irritation.
“I will never run out. I made sure of it,” Casimir says.
Julian sighs. “I’m going to lock you two in a room together… like an escape room or something. That could be fun, watching you two working together.”
“You would torture me like that?” Casimir asks, as if he doesn’t realize how feisty his wolf is.
