Free Under Wraps: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 1) by J.A. Cipriano

between us stretched out into infinity.
    “Come on, let’s go,” I said, and my words sounded hollow and empty in the air. I smiled, tossing the back of her head my best ‘it will be alright’ smile. It didn’t seem to do any good.
    “Okay,” she squeaked after what felt like an hour, and her head inclined into the barest nod. She spun on her heel, and her cheeks were bright and puffy from tears. Unsure of what to do, I watched as she started forward, putting one foot in front of the other in a slow line.
    “You know we’re going to stop Khufu, right?” I said because I didn’t know what else to say. “We’ll pay him back for everything.”
    “I know that,” she said, and I got the feeling she was leaving something unsaid. I’d gotten that feeling a lot since she’d awoken. I knew that part of her silence was related to the takeover, but somehow, I didn’t think that was everything. There had been a look in her eyes when she had woken up that told me she knew something I didn’t. It was something she knew because of what had happened when I had absorbed the book of Thoth.
    Only she wasn’t telling me what it was. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, either. Part of me wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she told me exactly what was going on. I knew that part of me well. It was fear. It was scared something bad had happened. It filled my mouth with a sour taste I couldn’t quite dismiss. It was like the faintest stirrings of a sore throat signaling a cold you desperately wanted to fade before it got worse. But just like with the sore throat, I knew that it would get worse before it got better. Maybe I just needed some spiritual vitamin C?
    Still, it was hard to be really scared because my wolf was back. I could feel him in the back of my mind, head on his paws as he looked out my eyes. Absorbing the book didn’t seem to have worried him. If it didn’t worry my wolf, it shouldn’t have worried me. Unlike most other Alphas, my wolf was a little bit of a scaredy cat.
    It was actually the reason I’d moved from beta to Alpha a few years back. Because my wolf was so damn paranoid, he leapt at the first sign of a threat, all gnashing teeth and flashing claws. He reduced enemies to smithereens before they had a chance to throw more than an untoward glance in our direction. After it had happened a few times, others had backed off, and I had become an Alpha, albeit a reluctant one. The thing was, no one screws with Alphas.
    I always knew that one day this would end badly for me, and because of that, I was hyper aware of my wolf. I couldn’t always control him or my rage, but I tried really hard to let things slide off me. It’d also had a strange effect, at least around the other wolves. They assumed that because I ignored things, I was strong enough for their antics not to matter. Somehow, they bothered me even less, which was good.
    All that being said, I was still pissed at her betraying me. Even though I knew it wasn’t her fault, what with the possession and everything, part of me wanted to grab her by her stupid neck and shake until a prize came out. And then there was the book thing. It worried me, and Aziza’s reaction was worrying me more. Why wouldn’t she tell me what was on her mind? What was she hiding?
    “Say, Zeez,” I said, but before I could say more, she cut me off.
    “Why do you keep calling me that?” she asked, glancing at me with half-narrowed eyes. It made her amethyst eyes look like twin slits of lavender glass. “That is not my name.”
    “It’s just a nickname,” I replied, shrugging, “If it bugs you, I could go back to calling you Aziza.”
    “I don’t know if we’re close enough for you to be giving me a nickname.” The barest hint of a smile crossed her face, and her face thawed just a touch. It was the first smile I’d seen since she had woken up.
    “Actually, you’ve been calling me by a nickname the whole time. My name is Theseus. It's