Page 24 of High Stakes and Soulmates
Casimir just smiles, looking proud of himself for causing me issues. Like is there a reason I’m forced to take this?
“You really don’t have another leash?”
“I don’t. This was the only one that matched Julian’s fur,” he says.
“Funny,” I grumble as I take the leash. Nothing says awkward like leading your friend onto a crime scene with a collar and leash with enough bling to blind you.
“Am I the only one feeling awkward about this?” I ask, but the wolf shakes his head. “Good. I guess we can be miserable together.”
Thankfully, he’s rather small for a werewolf, which means he’s still quite large for a dog but not abnormally so.
“Someone’s going to be like, ‘Hey, Cyrus, why are you leading a werewolf around?’ and I’m going to be like, ‘Ha, don’t you lead other men around with a leash and collar?’”
Julian glances up at me and I find myself wildly disappointed he can’t talk to me like this. He can only talk to other werewolves—and Casimir, for some unknown reason.
When I walk onto the scene,allheads turn to me.
“Cyrus… you sure that’s a dog?” Zach asks as he comes over.
“Right?” I ask. “I told my buddy the same thing. He had him tested. You know, one of those pet breed DNA things? Turns out he’s like fifty percent wolf. But he’s a good boy.”
“I can tell by the shimmer of his collar,” Zach says.
“There is my floof,” Ezio coos as he rushes over and ruffles Julian’s head all around. I’m over here feeling awkward as fuck just walking next to him and Ezio is mauling the poor guy.
“What’s his name?” Zach asks while he stares at Ezio rubbing his face on Julian’s.
And then I blank. Should I just say Julian? Is it weird to say Julian? They know I’m friends with Julian, who has risen a bit in fame just by dating the man who owns half the city. But then it’d be more awkward to just make up a name on the fly.
“It’s Pawficer Sniffington,” Ezio says after giving Julian’s face a kiss.
Julian gives him an “Is it?” look.
“He loves me,” Ezio claims, sounding like a proud father as he holds Julian’s face in his hands. Like… how does Ezio even fit into this lore of me having a friend with an ex-police dog who was phenomenal at his job?
“I know not to pet a working dog, but I sure want to pet him,” Nancy, a tech, says.
“You can pet him!” Ezio tells her. “Pawficer Sniffington, shake!”
“Pawficer Sniffington” does not look pleased and is well aware that at this point, Ezio is just harassing him. He reaches a paw out, but instead of shaking, he simply grinds it into Ezio’s foot and then heads off with a wag of his tail.
“He’s Schutzhund trained, you better be careful,” I say.
“I don’t even know what that is, but it sounds scary!” Ezio whines as he hurries after us.
“It’s where they teach them how to attack,” Zach says, far too excited to hand this information to Ezio. Ezio looks less than impressed that Zach told him instead of me, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He’s a rather oblivious guy, after all. And why am I grinning about that? Shouldn’t I be helping the two come together?
I lead Julian around the house and even take him close to the dead guy, which I’m hoping doesn’t bother him. When we go into the kitchen, he looks down into the cellar before making a move like he’s going to jump.
“Can I take him down?” I ask.
“Go ahead,” Maeve says, so I let him jump down. He sniffs around before jumping back out. I feel like I’m the one on the leash instead of him as he leads me into every room before he takes me into the bathroom and uses his paw to smack the door shut with Ezio and me inside.
“No cameras in here, you’re good,” I say.
He shifts while Ezio leans against the door.
“Man… the smell of blood is just sothick,” Julian says quietly since we really don’t need anyone hearing a random man speaking.
