Page 25 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Tuesday

Zoey

Another pebble hit my window. Crap. I pulled off my mask and wig and pushed the curtains to the side.

Otto was standing there, staring up at me.

He couldn’t come inside, I had company downstairs. And he couldn’t come up because I had all my cam stuff everywhere. Oh…and I couldn’t see him at all because he was a fucking werecat!

But I opened up my window anyway.

He pointed toward the front of the house.

We had a routine. He came to my window every night and I told him to go to the front door. But this wasn’t just a normal night.

“Wait!” I yelled.

He stopped in his tracks and turned back toward the window.

“Not tonight,” I said. “I can’t.” I hated the words coming out of my mouth. But I couldn’t do this. Not right now.

“Zoey, please.”

I shook my head.

“I’m coming up.”

“Not tonight,” I said again.

He ignored me and started to climb the trellis .

He couldn’t come up here. I didn’t want to have to explain all of this when my stomach was twisted into knots. When I didn’t even know if we could possibly have a future.

“Stop!” I called down at him. “I’ll…I’ll come down.” I left the window and quickly changed into a hoodie and jeans. I started climbing down the trellis.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “Zoey, stop, it’s dangerous.”

Really? “More dangerous than you climbing it?” I kept climbing down.

“Zoey, just use the front door. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

So now he was worried about my safety? “It’s no more dangerous than being alone with a werecat.”

“Zoey.”

“Don’t pretend that you’re suddenly worried about my safety…” my voice died in my throat as my foot slipped, snapping one of the wooden slats. One of my hands flew back with the momentum. And then I lost purchase with my other hand.

But I didn’t even get a chance to scream, because I fell right into Otto’s arms.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

I didn’t know whether to kiss him senseless or slap him. For some reason I just burst into tears.

“Zoey.” His voice sounded pained.

“Let me go.”

“Never.” He pulled me closer and let me rest my head against his chest. Like Callum had when he’d come to rescue me earlier tonight.

But unlike Callum, Otto’s skin didn’t make me shiver.

Otto felt warm. And safe. And it just made me cry harder.

How could I feel so safe and comforted when I knew what he was? What he was capable of doing?

He started walking, and I didn’t even care where we were going.

I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to have to say goodbye. I closed my eyes tighter and clung to him. And suddenly I realized how tired I was. I’d grown used to falling asleep in his arms. The familiar scent of a wood-burning fire on his skin soothed me.

“Zoey,” he said gently as he laid me down, rousing me from my sleepy daze.

I opened my eyes and stared up at the stars.

“This is where I come when I need to calm down. It’s hard for anything to bother you with this view.”

I turned to him, but he wasn’t staring up at the stars. He was staring at me.

I looked out at the street. We were on top of the bank, and I had no idea it looked like this.

There was patio furniture and a grill. We were sitting on a blanket in the middle of all of it.

And the view truly was amazing. I felt like if I reached out I could touch the stars.

It made me feel so small staring up at them. At the unknown.

I turned my gaze back to Otto.

His hazel eyes were fixed on me.

I wiped away my remaining tears. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I just want to know what you’re thinking.”

I pressed my lips together. That you’re a monster. But also…not.

“Maybe I should start,” he said. “I wanted to tell you. And I never meant to deceive you. But I don’t want to be this way. I don’t want any of it. ”

I nodded.

“And I’m sorry about when you first got to the bank.

I wanted to talk to Bennett myself. I had no idea you’d already spoken to him.

I was going to tell him tonight. He’d called for a meeting and…

I probably should have put it together that it was about you.

I don’t want you to think that I wasn’t happy to see you. I’m always happy when you’re around.”

Gah, why do I keep feeling like crying? I blinked faster so my tears wouldn’t start again. I had been hurt when he’d told me to leave the bank. But I’d pieced all that together while I was curled in a ball in his vault. It was just a misunderstanding.

“Despite what everyone else thinks, I would never hurt you, Zoey. I meant what I said earlier.”

“You can’t promise you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I’m in control,” he said. “I swear I am.”

“So…you know what you’re doing when you shift into a werecat?” Because it didn’t seem that way.

“No. If I shift, I’m not…me. And I don’t remember what happens when I’m in my other form.”

I swallowed hard. That wasn’t encouraging at all. “How did this all happen? Were you guys born this way? Or…”

“No.” He sighed. “We were all friends growing up. We lived on the same street. We spent our summers riding our bikes and swimming and hitting on girls. It was all so simple back then.”

“So…what happened?”

“In college we went on spring break to Egypt. There was this tomb with all these warnings not to touch anything. We were drunk. We didn’t think anything would actually happen. Ace dared me to pick up one of the artifacts. I was just fooling around.”

Yeah, that sounded like the two of them together.

“The next thing any of us remembered was being back in our hotel room. And the artifact was just sitting there on the top of Titan’s suitcase.

We tried to put it back a million times, but it kept showing back up at the hotel.

It wasn’t even until we got back home that we realized what it had done to us. ”

“The curse you mentioned.”

“It’s all my fault.”

Oh, Otto. My heart hurt for him. I grabbed his hand. He couldn’t have possibly known something would happen.

He looked down at my hand on top of his. “I messed something up when I touched it. We’ve been trying to undo it ever since. All those artifacts in the vaults? We’re hoping to find one that will undo it all. But nothing works. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“I’m sure none of your friends blame you.”

He laughed, but it sounded forced. “How could they not? I’m the one that touched it.”

I knew all of this was scary. But right now, I just felt bad.

I wanted him to feel better. Really, this wasn’t his fault.

I wanted to hug him, but I was still scared.

I couldn’t shake the thought about the hay maze massacre.

I wanted to know which one of them was responsible.

But I also didn’t. Because I wasn’t sure I could look at whoever it was the same. I squeezed Otto’s hand.

He squeezed mine back.

“So you want to get rid of the curse. Maybe if… ”

“I’m starting to think it’s not possible, Zoey.” He sounded so defeated. “We’ve tried everything.”

“But what if…”

“This is who I am. And you know me. I’m still me.”

I was trying to bring up the coin that King had mentioned.

But telling Otto I wanted him to change didn’t seem like what he wanted to hear right now.

He’d opened up to me. Not so that I could agree and tell him he needed to get rid of the curse.

But because he wanted me to accept him like this. He was still him.

“Say something,” he said. “Anything.” He looked so broken.

I pressed my lips together. “So what makes you change into a werecat? Losing control?”

“Anger, jealousy…anything that upsets us makes us change.”

“And you can control being angry or jealous?”

“I didn’t change when Bennett started fucking you with his fingers, did I?”

“Otto…”

“I know you were mad at me. I deserved it. But don’t for a second think that I wasn’t mad about it.”

“But you didn’t change.”

“No. Because I meant what I said. I would never hurt you.”

“All that stuff that Bennett was saying though…about you being alone with me…”

“We have a system. And I broke it.”

“A system?”

“We’ve all agreed to only date the same woman. A serious relationship because we don’t want to share our secret with just anyone. It needs to be someone we trust. Like you. ”

A serious relationship. That’s why Bennett kept saying he was looking for something serious. God, and I’d told him a million times I liked things casual. No wonder he was so dismissive of me.

“And we don’t fuck her alone. So that no one gets hurt.”

I just stared at him.

He cleared his throat and looked up at the stars. “If one of us loses control and changes, it insures that someone else will be there to stop us. From hurting her.” He looked back at me. “From hurting you .”

“But we’ve been alone together. We’re alone right now.”

“We can be alone. Just…within distance. The guys are downstairs. They know I’m talking to you.”

“So being with the same woman is because…you have to. Not because you want to?”

“I like being with you alone, Zoey. But I like the other stuff too.”

“You do?”

He smiled. “Don’t you?” He tugged my hand, pulling me onto his lap.

I straddled him.

He traced my lower lip with his thumb. “Answer me, Zoey. You like it too, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then nothing has changed.”

“Otto, everything has changed.”

“Why? You liked Bennett touching you, didn’t you?”

That’s not what I was talking about. Although… “Titan vetoed me or something.”

“He’ll come around. ”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t even talking about adding more guys into the equation. I’m talking about the fact that you’re a werecat.”

“I’m still me. We’re still us.” He pressed one of his hands against the center of my chest.

I took a deep breath. “Us?”

“I couldn’t ask you to be my girlfriend before Bennett got back. He usually decides these things.”

Ace and Huxley had told me that.

“But now? Aren’t you? My girlfriend?”

“Is that why you were sneaking around with me? Because you didn’t want to be caught? I thought I embarrassed you.”

He lowered his eyebrows. “Never. I needed to tell Bennett in person. You saw how he was tonight. He’s a dick when he’s out of the loop.”

Yeah, I’d heard some of what Bennett had been saying. But I’d been a little distracted by his fingers.

“And apparently you told him a bunch of times that you only like casual hookups,” Otto said. “You weren’t helping my case.”

“Well, I didn’t know that something like this arrangement was possible. If I did, I wouldn’t be single anymore.”

“So…are you not single anymore?”

I put my hands on his shoulders. “You’re a werecat.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

It should have. But he was right, it didn’t. Because right here right now we were just Otto and Zoey. “If I say yes, what does that mean exactly?” I couldn’t believe I was actually asking him this. “That I’m just your girlfriend or… ”

“No. If you say yes, you’ll be dating all of us.”

“Don’t I need to go talk to all of your friends first?”

“We’re in agreement,” he said.

“Bennett already said yes?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I was surprised by that. Even though he thought I just liked casual hookups, he really hadn’t seemed that into me. But maybe he’d enjoyed tonight before the whole disaster just as much as I had.

“So if I say yes, I’ll have five boyfriends?”

“Well…I wouldn’t call Titan that. He’s on the fence, but he’ll come around. I promise.”

“I thought you said you all had to agree.”

“In theory.” Otto reached up and slid his hand down the side of my neck. “But like I said…he’ll come around once he gets to know you.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. “So I’ll have four boyfriends?” And five if I could get Titan on board.

“I think the guys will each want to ask you themselves. Kind of like I’m doing right now. So for the love of God, please answer me.”

I laughed.

“There’s that smile I love.”

I swallowed hard. “You really love me?”

“Zoey, answer the damn question.”

I laughed again. “Yes.” I was pretty sure I was losing it, but when he was staring at me with his hazel eyes I had a hard time saying no to him. “I want to be your girlfriend.”

He flipped us over so that I was on my back. “Say it again.” One of his hands disappeared into my hair and he tilted me head back so that I’d look up at the stars.

“I’m your girlfriend,” I said again .

He kissed the side of my neck as his other hand undid the button of my jeans.

“Otto,” I grabbed his hand to stop him. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“I would never hurt you.” He pushed my jeans and thong down my thighs. “Ever.”

The cold air bit at my exposed skin. But Otto’s palms were hot. He leaned over me, pinning my hands above my head.

“Say it again,” he whispered against my lips.

“I’m your girlfriend.”

He dropped his forehead against mine. “For just a few minutes, it’s only you and me. Just us.”

Just us.

He thrust inside of me.

God.

He kissed the side of my neck and I stared up at the stars. I thought in a relationship I’d only have to worry about my heart getting broken. Not my whole body.

I closed my eyes and focused on the sensation of him filling me.

It was better than the stars.

And Otto was more important to me than my fears.

But please, don’t kill me.