Grimm Wolf - Julie Steimle (fantasy novels to read .txt) 📗

garlic blub whole, like an apple. Their eyes had watered and they had coughed a lot as their throats burned. But Daniel has insisted that it was necessary so they would not become carriers of partial lycanthropic toxemia—or werewolf-itis as James had ‘joked’. Rhett had thrown up. But they made him do it again, and they made sure he kept it down. It was imperative, they had said. But that cure had been nasty. Werewolf-itis, they said, was like feeling your hair and teeth pull out of you every full moon, and was hell on the human psyche.

“Good,” Rick murmured, hardly looking at them. Tom was nearly done wrapping his wounds. The guy was amazingly fast.

“Will you be at Jordan’s funeral?” Rhett asked, no longer feeling combative. Rick didn’t deserve to be berated. He didn’t look like he could endure another verbal beating besides.

Lifting his eyes and meeting Rhett’s gaze, Rick nodded. “Yeah. I wanted to be a pall bearer, but…”

“You’re not strong enough right now,” Tom murmured. He affixed the last bandage and then handed back Rick’s shirt, urging him to put it on.

“The media is going to be there, then,” Emory muttered, glancing to Rhett.

The media. They came out looking for scandals like vultures these days, rather than just reporting news. And a rich family like the Deacons was ripe for a scandal.

Rick closed his eyes, nodding. He looked inclined to curse, thinking along those same lines.

“So… why are werewolves allergic to honey?” Rhett asked as Rick finally was clothed again.

Lifting his head, surprised at the question, Rick peeked once at Tom who was smirking. Then he said, “Um, it’s part of what makes a werewolf. Part of the curse.”

“Curse?” Emory stared, intrigued. Rhett perked up, listening.

“Yeah,” Rick said, nodding. He seemed to regain more of his composure. “I’m an inheritor of it. It’s in my DNA. But a first generation werewolf is made by witch curse. I’ve got a blog that explains it all if you really want to know more.”

“You’ve got a blog about werewolves?” Rhett chuckled, stunned really. He was almost mad again, wondering why Rick had not told them this earlier. But he knew the answer. They were not interested in such things and they had thought all that werewolf talk was silly. They could see it in Rick’s eyes that he was tired as well. Maybe they could argue about it later.

Nodding, shrugging, Rick explained, “Yeah. It’s called Everything Werewolf. I go by the moniker Anonymous_Wolf.”

Emory laughed. It was too much. He could not tell if he was laughing from stress or relief.  

“I give accurate werewolf advice on the net,” Rick added, shrugging more. “You know, in case someone encounters a bad one.”

Rhett and Emory exchanged looks.

“There are good ones?” Emory asked, a crooked smirk playing on his mouth.

Rick pulled back dramatically, clutching his chest. “Ouch. That hurts.”

But Rhett laughed. Then he reached out and pulled Rick in a hug.

Shaking, almost not believing it, Rick then hugged him back, holding tight. “I’m so sorry. Really. I never wanted—”

“Shut up,” Emory said, grabbing him and joining in the hug. “You saved us.”

Rick was shocked, and he closed his eyes breathing in relief as he quietly tried to stop crying.

And Rhett whispered, “Thanks for saving our lives.”

Tom stood back. He waited with folded arms until Rick was able to let go and regain control of himself. When they left the room and the hospital, Rick remained subdued. When they got into the car, Rick said to Henry, their driver, “We need to get them bodyguards. At least until the SRA give up and leave them alone.”

“You need a bodyguard,” Tom muttered, looking out the side window.

Their driver Henry nodded.

“Are you volunteering?” Rick asked dryly, knowing the answer already.

“I gotta get back to work,” Tom muttered deeper, frowning. “The Company doesn’t like it when I skip off to do what I like.”

Chuckling, Rick nodded to himself.

“But you are going to stay Stateside for a while, right?” Tom asked.

Rick nodded. “Yeah. No more Europe trips for me. Not for a while at least.”

Tom nodded again in silence.

But after a bit, Tom said, “You know, I think I know a guy who could do you just as good. Excellent bodyguard. And he’s a friend of ours.”

Rick raised his eyebrows, curious.

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Publication Date: 08-20-2018

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