Page 27 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Tuesday

Zoey

I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face after Otto kissed me goodnight.

“Until tomorrow, girlfriend,” he whispered against my lips.

“Until tomorrow, boyfriend.” I gave him one last peck and then he helped hoist me onto the trellis. And by help, I mean he just put his hands on my ass.

All the lights were off downstairs, and I hadn’t brought my keys with me. Otto had offered to pick the lock. But everyone thought I was upstairs sleeping. If someone was still awake, I didn’t want to scare them by breaking in.

Now that I had practice, climbing up the trellis wasn’t so bad. And this time my eyes were adjusted to the dark night.

But my phone ringing in my pocket wasn’t expected. I jumped, almost falling back, but I was somehow able to hold on. I cursed under my breath.

“Are you okay?” Otto called up to me.

“Fine,” I said. But my heart was racing. Who the hell was calling me this late at night? The ringing cut off before I could even decide whether it was worth checking while hanging from the trellis. I started climbing again. My hand landed on the window ledge .

Emma’s head appeared out the window and I almost screamed.

“Zoey? What the fuck are you doing? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry, Emma!” Otto called up to her.

Emma jumped.

“Had to borrow my girl for something,” he said.

Emma leaned out the window to see him. She looked back and forth between us.

“We have a lot to talk about,” I said. “Could you please help me up?”

She grabbed my hand and helped pull me through the window. I waved down at Otto. I leaned against the window ledge and sighed as I watched him walk away under the moonlight. I had a boyfriend. Four of them, actually.

“Seriously…what the fuck?” Emma said. “I thought you were in bed but it was just a pillow.” She gestured toward my bed.

Huh. I could see why she was confused. It practically looked like I’d set it up to seem like I was asleep under the sheets. I definitely hadn’t meant to be so sneaky.

“And you literally just called me less than two hours ago screaming for help from him . What were you thinking sneaking off like that without telling me?”

I brushed some dirt off my jeans. “I was thinking about what we’d talked about earlier. About whether or not I loved him.”

“Oh.” Emma nodded. “Right. Sorry.” She took a deep breath. “I’m just really revved up right now. I thought maybe they came and kidnapped you or something and took you to their secret lair. ”

“Secret lair?” I laughed. “I don’t think they have one of those.

” At least, not that I knew of. “I went with Otto willingly. He was trying to climb up and I wasn’t exactly in a good place to tell him about the whole camming thing.

So I just did the first thing I could think of and climbed down to him. ”

She sat down on the edge of my bed. “Okay. So…then what happened?”

“He told me how he became cursed.” I climbed onto my bed too and sat cross-legged. “He blames himself, Emma. They were all on a trip to Egypt and Ace dared him to touch some relic they weren’t supposed to. And it cursed them.”

Emma nodded. “I thought maybe they were born that way. But that makes sense. Since they’re all just friends. God, that really sucks.”

“He feels so guilty. I hate seeing him hurting.”

“I definitely get that.”

I pressed my lips together. “And then he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes.”

“Wait, I thought you were dating all of them?”

“I am. Well, all of them but Titan apparently. He hates me for some reason. But Otto said they’d probably each ask me officially on their own. It was really sweet. Otto took me to the roof of the bank. The view is amazing up there.”

Emma smiled. “Told you that you knew the real him.”

I rolled my eyes. “You love being right.”

“No, I just didn’t want you to dismiss them because they’re werecats. Because I’m dating a vampire. I get it. That initial urge to run away. ”

I laughed. “Yeah, you went right to the train station when you found out, I remember.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you spoke to Otto. I’m glad you’re giving a relationship with them a chance. But next time just give me a heads up, okay? You really scared me tonight. A couple of times.”

“I’m sorry. I promise to give you a heads up next time.”

Emma exhaled slowly. “Good.”

“I have a boyfriend,” I said with a smile. “Several of them.”

She laughed. “I’m really happy for you.”

“I’m really happy for you too. How are you and Callum doing though? Because Kebe was flirting with him hard .”

“I know, right?” Emma lowered her voice. “What the hell was that?”

I shook my head. “Some women, am I right?”

“Well, Callum’s assured me that he’s not interested in her.

We actually had a really good chat tonight after Kebe went to bed.

My jealous paranoid side reared its ugly head and we had it all out.

Speaking of which…I talked to Callum about a cure for his vampirism.

He says he’s searched everywhere. All over the world for the past couple of centuries.

And he doesn’t want me to waste my time searching for something that doesn’t exist… ”

“Well you don’t have to waste your time searching for something that doesn’t exist. Because it does exist. I talked to King and he knows of a cure. It’s actually a cure for vampires and werecats.”

“Wait, seriously? ”

“Yeah. I tried to bring it up to Otto tonight, but he acted similarly to Callum. I think he just wants me to accept him the way he is. And I do. But…”

“You want to cure him if you can.”

I nodded.

“I completely get it. I didn’t even think about the fact that I might be hurting Callum’s feelings by asking him to change back.”

“Exactly.”

Emma stared at me. I could tell what she was thinking before she even said it.

“But you still want to know how to do it, don’t you?” I asked.

“I can’t help it,” Emma said. “Of course I want to know. If Callum searched for over 200 years for a cure, he clearly wants it. And I want it for him. Well…selfishly for me too. Is that so terrible?”

“No. I want the same thing. So get this. There’s a coin. With an Anubis head on it. Honestly, it sounds a lot like the coin that’s on the back of the guys’ pocket watch. Do you remember if it had an Anubis head on it?”

Emma shook her head. “No. There were etchings of symbols on it. But nothing like that.”

“I figured that would be too good to be true. Plus the one we’re looking for is silver, not gold.

I really want to look at their bank vault filled with relics again.

But I also don’t necessarily want to bring up the idea of a cure until I know for sure I can find it.

I don’t want Otto or the rest of the guys to think I don’t accept them. Because I do.”

Emma nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think Callum would approve of me looking for this either. He’s also worried about what the cure might do to him since he’s technically so old...”

“It’s a cure. I don’t think anything bad would happen.”

“Well, if it really could cure all of them safely…”

“Then we gotta try,” I said. “Right?”

Emma kept nodding. “Right. Okay. I definitely want to look in that vault. But that’s a whole different issue since you just started dating them. Immediately snooping is bad girlfriend behavior.”

I laughed because we’d snooped all over Callum’s house. She was right, though. That was terrible girlfriend etiquette. “Well, I actually remember the code to the vault. From when Bennett showed us inside. We just have to break in. A classic breaking and entering. Like we did at Callum’s place.”

“Do you not remember how poorly that went?”

“What do you mean? You two are together now.”

Emma laughed. “Yeah, but we almost got caught. Several times. And then I left him that voicemail…”

“Like I said, it all worked out. You and Callum are together now.”

“We could have been arrested!”

I laughed. “Officer Davis would never arrest me. So it’s a moot point. I’m thinking we break into the bank sometime past midnight when we know for sure the guys are asleep.”

Emma put up her hand. “Slow your roll. Callum has a room full of relics too. That he said he’d be happy to show me at any time. Let me check in there first before we rob a bank, please.”

I sighed. “Fine. But I’m actually really looking forward to pulling a bank job. Rumor has it that my new boyfriends are thieves. I think if they catch us they’ll just be impressed. Maybe even a little turned on.” I winked at her.

Emma laughed. “Maybe. Or they’ll be pissed that their brand new girlfriend of less than 24 hours is robbing them.”

“I’m helping them. Not robbing them.”

“Either way, my thing first. And then as a last resort we’ll try your thing. Deal?” She put her hand out for me to shake.

“Deal.” I shook her hand. “It’s not like I was going to pull a bank job without you anyway. Fingers crossed Callum doesn’t have the coin, though. Because I really want to do it.”

“Zoey.”

“Emma!” I said with a laugh.

“Shh, we don’t want to wake up Kebe.”

I laughed again. “Why? Afraid she’ll start texting Callum in the middle of the night or something?”

“Gah, I hope not.”

“Don’t worry, it’s great that she’s living here. I can keep an eye on her.” I would never let her steal Emma’s man. I yawned and lay back, my head hitting one of my pillows.

Emma collapsed down beside me. “It feels like college all over again.”

I smiled. “Except now we both have boyfriends.”

***

I slowly opened my eyes. Emma was still fast asleep. I needed coffee. A ton of it.

I was okay with Otto’s secret. Truly. But I could barely sleep last night. I kept picturing Titan’s sharp teeth and his low growl. I tried to shake away the image as I headed downstairs.

The sound of a drill made me turn my head. I almost screamed when I saw a man standing on a ladder by my fireplace.

Wait. “Ace?” I said.

He turned to look at me over his shoulder. “Good morning, Zoey.” He gave me one of his charming smiles as he climbed off the ladder.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I stared at the camera he’d just finished putting up.

He set his drill down and pushed his shaggy blonde hair off his forehead. “Installing a security system for you.”

God, he was so handsome. But I was a little distracted by what he said. It looked like that wasn’t the only camera. I saw a couple just in this room. “How did you even get in here?”

“I have my ways.”

I put my hand on my hip. “Did you pick the lock?” Otto had told me he wanted to do that last night.

“Um…maybe. But what I just installed on your door makes that impossible now. And I made myself a key so I don’t have to try to pick it again.” He lifted up his key chain, pulled off a key, and tossed it at me. “Full disclosure, I made several copies. For all of us.”

I opened my mouth and closed it again. “How long have you been here?”

“A few hours. Here, look.” He walked over to me and showed me the display on his phone. He was logged in to some security feed with angles of my whole downstairs, front door, back door, and the sides of my house. “Pretty cool, huh? I just need to do upstairs. ”

“Do I really need a security system? This is…a lot.”

“I had a little trouble sleeping last night. I know you trust Callum, but…I don’t. It makes me uneasy knowing that he comes and goes.”

I’d had trouble sleeping last night too. But not because of Callum. Maybe I would have felt a little better knowing Ace was looking out for me though. As long as he didn’t…shift into a werecat.

“I’ll give you all the login info once I’ve finished installation,” he said. “Oh, and there’s already coffee brewing for you.”

“You made me coffee? And you installed a whole security system before I even woke up?”

He smiled. “Yeah. I want to keep you safe.”

It wasn’t just his words that made me smile. It was the way that he’d said it. “And why exactly do you want to keep me safe?”

Otto had said that each of the guys would ask me out in their own way. Installing a high tech security system wasn’t what I was imagining. But I really did appreciate it. This town was a little unpredictable.

“Why do you think?” Ace asked.

“Because you like me?” I smiled up at him. I was pretty sure I was blushing.

“That. And I protect what’s mine, Zoey.” He reached out, cupping the side of my face in his rough palm.

“I’m yours, huh?”

He stepped forward, making me step back. My butt hit the wall behind me. And he caged me in. “You’re definitely mine,” he said against my lips.