Talley’s face was ashen, and Jase was protectively holding her against his side.
“I’ve been trying to find a way to bring down the Alphas for seventy years, and this is the first time I’ve ever believed it can actually happen. It’s why you have to get me to Liam. I have to be there when they fall. If not, all this time, all this pain, was for nothing.”
Jase scrubbed a hand over his face. “Listen, man, I get it. Seriously, I do.” He pulled Talley against him even tighter. “But you have to understand, this isn’t going to be pretty. There really isn’t any way this isn’t going to end without bloodshed, and if Talley’s visions are right, a hell of a lot of it.”
“Have you forgotten the part where I’m Immortal? I did mention that I’ve been in the vengeance business for seventy years, right?”
Talley’s eyelids fluttered, releasing some of the moisture building up in her eyes. “So you can’t die? At all?” Joshua hadn’t told many people the truth of his existence. Actually, Jase and Talley pushed the grand total up to three, but he’d never expected anyone to ask those questions with sympathy instead of amazement. If he wasn’t certain Jase would try to kill him, he would have proclaimed deep and beautiful feelings for the Seer.
“I’m indestructible. Rip me from limb to limb, and I’ll simply come back together.” Not that it had ever gotten that bad before, but he’d done more than his fair share of mending over the years.
Talley tilted her head, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “But you’ll still feel it, won’t you?”
“A paper cut won’t kill you, but that doesn’t stop Jase from crying like a baby when he gets one.”
“I did not cry.”
“It’s okay,” Talley said, patting his knee. “It was a really bad paper cut. I would’ve cried, too.”
“I didn’t cry! I may have cursed every human to have ever worked for the paper industry, but I didn’t cry.” Jase tried to glare at Talley, but it’s hard to pull off a good glare when your eyeballs turn into little animated hearts every time you look at someone. “And don’t think I don’t see what you did there, He-Who-Can-Not-Die. I’m the king of distracting statements, so they don’t work on me.” The glare he threw Joshua’s way was a bit more effective, but Joshua wasn’t easily cowed by disapproving looks from teenagers. “Walking into the middle of Shifter war will cause you enough pain to wish you were dead. It’s no place for a civilian.”
“To stick with the lovely armed forces metaphor you’ve obviously worked so hard on, I’m not a civilian.” Joshua jumped up, lifted the mattress off his bed, and grabbed the scabbard hidden underneath. “You might consider me part of the special forces, like an Army Ranger or Rambo.”
“Or Conan the Barbarian.” Jase climbed off his bed to further inspect the sword Joshua had pulled free of its sheath. “Dude, you were sleeping with a sword hidden in your bed every night? Do you have any idea the number of jokes running through my head right now?”
“I’m sure they’re all as clever as they are inappropriate,” Talley said, eyeing the gleaming blade warily. “Joshua, you do know how to use that, right?”
Joshua smiled and rotated his wrist, causing the blade to whoosh by Jase’s head, missing his ear by less than an inch. “I’m getting the hang of it.”
“While your sword is very impressive, as I’m sure was the Renaissance Festival where you bought it, it doesn’t change the fact that you want to bring sword to a Shifter fight.”
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Talley said.
“I just don’t think—”
“How about a wager?” Joshua said, cutting Jase off. “Single elimination arm wrestling match. I win, I get to be part of this. You win, I leave you alone and stay out of it.”
“Just to be fair, you do realize I’m a Shifter and the full moon is only a few days out, right?”
Joshua slid the sword back into its scabbard. “So you turn into a coyote in a few nights. Can’t make that big of a difference can it?”
It took a few minutes to clear off a spot big enough for them to actually have a fair match, and then a few more for Talley to locate a can of Lysol so she could spray down the surface of the desk to “kill off whatever disgusting things were growing there”. Once they had a germ-free, uncluttered space, the two boys clasped hands, and Talley placed hers on top.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked Joshua. “I know how important this is to you.”
He met her eyes with a smile. “That’s why I plan on winning.”
She didn’t look so certain, but she said, “On the count of three then. One… two… three!”
She let go, and immediately Joshua’s hand sailed back towards the desk. It was only an inch from hitting the faux-wood surface when its downward descent came to a halt. “I think it’s sad how little your kind knows about our kind,” Joshua said as his hand slowly stared rising. “If you weren’t so sure that you’re the most powerful and amazing creatures in the world and took the time to find out what other supernaturals are out there, you may learn a few things.” The hands were now back to their original position, and Jase’s face was showing signs of strain. “For example, you might discover that what you call an Immortal, is also known as an Er’el and is blessed with the strength of Samson himself.” And with that, Joshua slammed Jase’s hand down onto the desk.
“Samson-like strength, huh?” Jase asked through teeth gritted in pain.
“Bring on the lions.”
Jase looked to Talley, who gave a slight nod. “Well, then,” he said, offering his non-injured hand to his roommate. “Welcome to the rebellion.”
Epilogue
One year later…
“Fine. I hereby declare you mates.” Scout crossed Talley as if she was a Catholic priest giving a blessing. “Go forth and mate.” It only took her a millisecond to realize what she said. “Ignore that last part. Please, don’t mate. Like ever. Because it’s Jase, and that’s just gross.”
Talley hooked her arm around Scout’s and patted her bicep. “You do realize that isn’t going to work, don’t you? The mating ceremony is a… thing.”