Chapter 143

Grace

I opened my eyes what seemed like hours later, alone, and frowned, sitting up just as Charles came back into the room, naked, half hard, with two cups and a pitcher. He smiled and crossed the room before offering me a cup full of water.

I set the cup aside and pulled him down to sit beside me. He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Something on your mind." I hesitated, not sure how to phrase it, until he smiled at me. "You're thinking too hard."

"How is it that you can always tell when I'm... off?"

"The stars align and reveal an anxious symbol in the center of your forehead." My hand went to my forehead, and he snickered, pulling my hand away. "It was a joke. Your whole aura changes, is all. What's on your mind?"

"Is that a witch thing?"

He wiggled his hand. "Half and half. Being half-witch helps me suss out people's intentions, but it is mostly lycan instinct when it comes to you."

He leaned close and nipped at my shoulder. "You smell different when you're anxious when you're warring with yourself. When you're happy..."

He kissed my cheek. "Why do you ask?"

He poured himself a cup of water and drank.

"I feel like I can't read you... Not well anyway."

Charles frowned. "What are you getting at?"

"I... want to be close to you," I said. "I don't have a big family to introduce you to or some secret cabin to kidnap you to, but I want to know you."

The way you seem to know me.

It was thrilling and a little frightening. I should be worried that I wanted that. Was I just chasing the same thing I thought I was chasing with Devin, or was this something else?

Charles smiled. "I don't know you nearly as well as you seem to think. We've known each other for a few months, hardly enough time to really decide if we like the way each other chews."

I wrinkled my nose. "Do you really care about that?"

"No, it's just an example." He smiled. "Though watching you stuff those muffins in your mouth gives me hope for your oral skills."

My face heated. "They were really good!"

"I could tell." He took my hand. "How about you stop worrying about what you think you don't know and ask?"

I hesitated. "We'll be late to breakfast."

"I didn't mean now," he said. "I mean... whenever. I want you to be comfortable with me enough to ask instead of staring at me with that frown on your face."

He set his cup aside and slid back into bed, pulling me close with a soft sigh.

"As I said before, I'll answer your questions, Grace. All you have to do is ask."

I snuggled closer to him. "Okay."

At least, I thought it would be okay. I hoped it would be okay, yet I woke up still feeling off. Charles didn't comment, letting me stew in my thoughts that seemed to be spinning and swinging from topic to topic, worry to fear, pride to shame. Worst of all, I couldn't put a name to why.

We went to breakfast and chatted with whoever was nearby. Lake Town was full of mystical shops and friendlier people than I could ever imagine meeting. They were so different, unfamiliar, much like Charles was in some ways. It was like they operated in a totally different world.

First off, the store that sold things for sex also sold cough medicine, and no one seemed to think it was strange. It wasn't at all like walking into a pharmacy that happened to sell condoms in some little section of the store.

There was a whole aisle for it labeled "sex," as if children didn't walk in. And they did! A pair of teenagers walked in just behind us and down the sex aisle as Charles stopped me in front of a section of potions and started looking around.

I looked over at the teenagers, a young woman, and a young man. Neither of them were giggling, joking, or looking awkward. They weren't anything like a teenaged werewolf with their pointed ears and cloaks. I couldn't decide if I was scandalized, shocked, or just stunned that no adult had come around to get them out of the aisle.

"You're staring," Charles said, pulling a few bottles from the shelf and reading a label.

"Those kids..."

"Are making smart choices and fully aware of what they're looking at."

"That can't be right," I said. "They don't look more than... fifteen?"

Charles looked at me. "Right... I guess that would be strange for you."

My eyes bulged. "The age of consent?"

"Is sixteen for witches," he said. "It's what seventeen for werewolves?"

My face heated. "Well, yes, but they just walked in and, well--"

"Culture shock," Charles nodded. "Werewolf culture is a lot like human culture: repressed as hell. I can only imagine how many times you heard the abstinence speech."

I frowned, looking up at him as he grinned. "And how often you didn't listen to it."

I scowled. "Yeah, but I still wouldn't have been able to just walk into a sex shop."

Charles laughed as the teenagers turned to look at us weirdly.

"It's an apothecary. Why don't you ask them why they're here if you're so concerned."

"I can't just--"

"Consider it practice for social outreach and establishing political ties outside of the States, hm?"

I hesitated, but I turned, feeling wary. The two teens glanced at each other.

"If you're going to keep staring, I can't promise what he'll do," the young woman said.

The young man grinned. "I've been known to do some wild things when stared at."

Charles snickered. My face was hot.

"Well, I didn't mean to stare. I just... You look like kids, shouldn't you be in school not..." I glanced at the wall. I didn't even know what it all was, but it was in the sex aisle, so it had to be related to sex, right? "Looking for...sex stuff?"

"You must live a really repressed life," the young woman said.

The young man nudged her. "Be nice. She's worried about our virtue."

The young woman snickered and plucked a few vials off the shelf.

"Not that it's any of your business. But these are inoculation potions. They're used to make sure you don't catch or spread anything--including the common cold." She glanced at me. "We have a bunch of toddlers to babysit, and I like to be prepared."

"Oh..." I blinked. "In the middle of a school week?"

"Where are you from, lady?" The young man asked. "How-- Uncle Charles?"

I turned woodenly to Charles, who was grinning at me and tugging his hood off his head. "The one and only. How's business, you two?"

"Good," he said and gestured to me. "Whose the concerned citizen?"

"This is Grace," he said. "We're here on vacation. She's never left the States."

The young woman wrinkled her nose. "Bless her heart. Get her something good, Uncle Charles, hm? Draught of Ecstasy or something fun. She needs it."

Charles laughed, and I shuffled my feet, feeling more ridiculous by the minute. "Sure thing, Dina."

I looked up at Charles. "You let me embarrass myself."

"You haven't embarrassed yourself," Charles said, shaking his head. "It's a learning experience. Remember I told you about Selene and their views on formal education?"

I nodded.

"It's a witch-wide belief that aside from reading, writing, and math, most things are better learned through practical application and apprenticeship. Dina and her brother, Juno, work for the training compound as daycare attendants."

"We get to teach the ABCs," Dina said, dropping a few other vials in her brother's basket.

I felt even dumber. I thought they were dating. Charles wrapped an arm around me.

"You could have said something..." I scowled at him.

"Then how are you going to learn? If you're going to start interacting with leaders of different species or different species in general, you have to start somewhere. I'm letting you figure out what you don't know with people who aren't easily offended or violent. These two are about as harmless as you can get."

"Yeah," Dina said. "Sienna would have told you to mind your business, fuck off, and bought liquid condoms while flipping you off."

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Dina and Juno had left soon after. Charles bought whatever he was buying, and then we headed back to the cabin.

"You okay?"

"I feel ridiculous," I said. "Like there's a whole world that I don't know about and am about to be dropped in... like a lobster in a boiling pot."

He snorted. "You're a cute lobster, at least."

I nudged him as he laughed. "Give yourself a break. You're learning. That's the important part."

I look up at him. "You must have grown up surrounded by all this... To think that werewolves, in general, think that we're so... superior to lycans and my basic education feels so impractical."

"It's just a different culture," Charles said. "I grew up between two worlds, so to speak, and exposed to a lot more."

"I said all that about werewolf isolationism, and I'm not very open-minded."

Charles chuckled. "You're more open-minded than you give yourself credit for."

I sighed. "If you say so."