Oliver
My feet were like lead as I dragged myself away from the train car. I didn't want to leave.
Something inside of me wanted to stay with her. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something unusual about her. Elsie had said that Jules could seem almost magical, but in my opinion, she was the magical one.
I kicked at a pebble as I slowly started to head away from the Circus grounds. It rolled across the dirt path. I would get to see her in the morning, so why was I acting this way. She did say that tomorrow morning was it, though when those words left her lips, I felt part of my heart fracture.
"Oliver! Where are you going?" There was that french accent again; how did Jules always seem to know where I was? If he kept it up, I would probably think he was tracking me or something.
I turned around and scratched the back of my head sheepishly. I was supposed to stay with Elsie until he came back, and instead, I left. He was probably sore with me. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about him.
Jules's stride was solid and quick. Before I could even blabber out an excuse, he was less than a foot away from me. The glow of a cigarette bounced between his lips, followed by thin wisps of gray smoke.
"Oh, Jules, I was headed home." I focus on the bud in his mouth.
"No, no! You must stay!"
"I couldn't impose on you." I shook my head.
"Nonsense. I insist you stay. We can have a nightcap in my car. I won't take no for an answer." He was so insistent. Could I really reject him? When would be the next time someone was offering me hooch? Probably never.
I licked my lips at the thought. I had only had booze a few times in my life. Especially with prohibition, it's not like even if I wanted it, I could get it. Now that it was over, there was a higher chance I could indulge. Here was an opportunity on a golden platter.
"I guess I could stay for a drink." Jules slapped my back enthusiastically.
"Good, good. Come, come. This way." Jules steered me in the opposite direction of the town.
He walked with purpose and poise. Every person we passed greeted him, and he responded with personal remarks. It was clear his troupe respected him. I couldn't figure out why Elsie had made those remarks about him.
"Here we are, Oliver, my boy. Welcome to my little abode." Jules motioned for me to go into the car first. He flicked his cigarette butt to the ground and smeared it into the soil with the heel of his shiny black boots as I walked past him.
This coach was nothing like I had ever seen. I expected it to be dirty or maybe even a bit dingy. It was a traveling circus, after all. Did they really have glamourous accommodations? I was wrong; it was immaculate. Decorated in bold reds and golds.
Jules came into the car behind me, hanging up his top hat on a hook on the wall. He ran his hand through his greased hair, ruffling it. Jules peeled his tailcoat off and hung it up beside his hat. He straightened his crisp button-up shirt.
"Sit, sit." Jules motioned towards a red velvet chair.
"Thanks." I nodded in gratitude as I sat down.
As Jules rummaged around in a cabinet, I took in my surroundings. Besides the chair I sat in, there was another identical one. A large bed with spotless sheets and a comforter sat. His car even had electricity. All of the furniture seemed to be an expensive set.
All of it put my mattress in the office to shame. My sheets were clean but stained. I had one thin blanket. All my belongings were able to be tucked away in a single wooden chest.
I seemed like a bum compared to Jules. He would probably turn his nose up at my little 'home.' Anyone would, honestly.
"Here you go." Jules handed me a glass with an amber liquid. "I hope you like bourbon. This is my best bottle. Very smooth."
"I'm happy with anything." I put the glass up to my lips and let the sweet nectar take over my tastebuds. It had a deliciously warming effect. It was rich in vanilla and oak flavors. Jules was right; it was incredibly smooth.
"So, what do you think?" Jules flashed me a grin as he swirled his own glass before taking a small sip of his bourbon.
"It's out of this world. I was sure I sounded like a dip." The alcohol was giving me a warm fuzzy feeling. "I've never tasted anything so good."
"I'm glad. Here let me top you off." Jules took my glass and poured me some more.
The booze must have been stiff because I didn't remember draining my glass like that. Once Jules handed me my drink back, I purposely tried to slowly nurse it.
"So, Oliver, did you enjoy talking to my angel?" Jules reached into a drawer and pulled out an ornate humidor. He pulled out a cigar from the box and pulled out a cutter. With a sharp snip, the cap fell off back into the box. Jules pulled out a lighter and slowly rolled the cigar in its flames. Jules seemed to swirl the smoke around in his mouth before exhaling it.
"Oh, yes. I did." I felt my words slightly slur. I watched as a puff of smoke escaped out of his nostrils. Something about the combination of alcohol and the smoke rushing out of his nose made him look kind of demonic. "She's lovely."
"That she is. She can be quite feisty." A blissful look took over Jules's face as he talked about Elsie.
"I could tell."
"She played nice, right?"
He sounded almost like her parent with that question. "Yeah, she said she doesn't like nicknames, though. Maybe you shouldn't call her your angel."
The words hung in the air like the smell of burnt euphemism. The atmosphere seemed to grow thicker and almost harder to breathe.
"Careful, Oliver." Jules was warning me; his charismatic looks seemed to sharpen and turn almost sinister. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. It must have been the hooch. There was no way for his face to change like that.
When I opened my eyes, he looked like his usual debonair self. "I'm sorry. It just seemed to bother Elsie."
"I know how to treat my wolves." It almost sounded like he growled at the end of his sentence.
"Wolves?" I raised my eyebrow up in confusion, but then it hit me. "Oh, I get it. Your circus has wolves, so you call everyone wolves? That's unique."
"Something like that." Jules gritted his teeth but then let out a sigh. "Let us talk about something else. Unless you are saying that you want to run away with the circus?"
"Ha, no. I have it good here. Richard takes care of me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have a job, money, or a roof over my head."
"I hear you sleep in the office like a dog. You wash in a river. You don't look like you get enough to eat. How is that better than my world?" Jules leaned over towards me.
"I...I'm not saying it's better than your world. I'm content here." It was true I was content in this town. I was comfortable with my life. It wasn't a forever home, but it worked for now.
"Well, if you change your mind, we leave in the morning."
"Ha, I wouldn't hold your breath, Mr. Loupe." I took a deep swig of my drink.
"Careful, Oliver. That bourbon can be a mischievous seductress."
"What do you mean?" I yawned as I polished off my glass. I licked my lips hungrily. I felt my eyelids becoming heavy, and the edges of the world seemed to almost blurb.
"I think you will understand soon."
Those were the last words I remembered. I'm sure there was more to our conversation. I just couldn't put my finger on it. It was there somewhere but lost in a haze of reds and golds. A turbulent sea of vivid colors and noises.
My head felt like it had been split in two. No, more like someone was inflating a balloon between my brain and skull. Constantly pumping more and more air, trying to cause my head to pop. I just wanted to sleep for the next week.
"Oliver!" A harsh voice called to me; there were so many emotions dripping off of it. I was nausea just trying to figure out who was talking to me. It was probably just Chester trying to wake me up before Richard got into work.
"Oliver!" The voice was getting louder and louder. I swear it sounded like an oncoming freight train. "Shit, there you are!"
I licked my dry and cracked lips as I tried to pry open my eyelids. They were so heavy, my eyelashes caused my vision to be blurred. If only I could open my eyes further and see better. Just the thought made the muscles in my neck give out.
I inhaled deeply, the smell of cigar smoke was gone, and the scent of sawdust and lacquer was filling my nostrils. Was I home? How did I get here?
"Oh, my god, you reak." I felt two strong hands clasping my shoulders, forcing me to sit up. "What the hell happened last night? You smell like you fell into a vat of alcohol."
"Richard?" Chester wasn't that strong; he wouldn't be able to lift my dead weight without help.
"Yeah, come on, you have to get up." Richard tried to pull me to my feet, but my body threatened to collapse.
"Why?" I groaned as I finally convinced my eyelids to open up all the way.
Richard's face was unshaven, his hair was a mess, and he wasn't dressed for work. He seemed frantic; his eyes, movements, and breathing made me want to puke.
"What's going on?" I finally was able to slur together a sentence.
"Where were you last night?" Richard's words rushed out of his mouth; too fast, he was going too fast for me right now.
"Cirque du Lune."
"After the circus?"
"After it was over, I talked to a pretty girl." Probably the prettiest girl in the world. The thought of Elsie seemed to lighten the pressure in my head.
"What else?"
"I had drinks with the ring leader." I scrubbed my face with my hands aggressively, trying to break up the thick fog I seemed to be trapped in.
"Anything else?"
"Not that I remember." I groaned as I wiped the hunks of thick sleep away from my eyes.
"Okay, okay." Richard's words weren't directed at me. He seemed to be talking to himself.
"Richard, what's going on? Why are you so bananas?" He was acting so strange. I don't think I ever saw Richard look like this. Every time I saw him, he was freshly shaven and neatly dressed. He looked like he ran straight out of his house this morning, not even looking in a mirror.
"Chester and his family were murdered last night, and Mrs. Green, his neighbor, said she saw you with him last."
Oliver"Chester...Chester's dead?" The words tasted like charcoal in my mouth and made me feel as if I was drowning, gasping for a breath of fresh air. It was as if freezing cold water had been dumped over top of me. The hangover that was clinging to me was ripped away, leaving me in a confused and emotional state."Yeah, Mrs. Green found them first thing this morning." I felt Richard watching me like he was studying some type of science experience. "She said that the front door was left partially open. At first, Mrs. Green thought maybe one of the younger kids left it open when they ran out the door. When she knocked on the door to let them know, no one answered. That was when she went in..."Richard's voice began to tremble as he trailed off. Richard looked away from me; his eyes seemed to be examining every surface in the office. Now that I was more present, I recognized how pale his skin was with deep dark bags underneath his eyes."Mrs. Green found a
OliverThe door to the caboose slowly creaked open, allowing a cloud of musky dust to slip out, contaminating the air. I glanced over my shoulder one last time at the platform. I caught a glimpse of Richard's hair, beginning to summit over the last stair, and immediately gulped.Without another thought, I hastily slipped into the boxcar. The compartment was dimly lit and the complete opposite of what I thought when Jules said his world of pure imagination. The heavy metal door loudly banged shut behind me. I stepped to the side to let Jules pass by but accidentally stepped on something soft and squishy."Watch where you are stepping! You piece of shit!" A menacing low voice grumbled beside me. Suddenly whatever I was stepping on was yanked out from underneath me. I stumbled to catch my balance after losing my footing."Oh, calm down, Grady!" Jules chuckled behind me as he roughly clasped my shoulder. "Oliver, this is Grady. He is one of my right-hand men.
Oliver I felt like the air was sucked out of my lungs when I looked into the door frame and saw Elsie standing with her hands on her hips. Her hair was rolled in foam curlers with a white silk scarf tied around them. A peach satin and lace teddy skimmed the top of her thighs. A white silk kimono robe had slid off of her shoulders, resting in the crooks of her elbows. She was the most beautiful sweet patootie I had ever seen; she didn't seem real, even with the rollers. I was sure my jaw hung ajar as soon as I had caught a glimpse of those pale milky thighs. I no longer felt the needle piercing through my skin. As soon as I saw Elsie, the world seemed too slow, and I let my full attention fall on her. When did I become such a sap? As I let my eyes wander up to her face, I found a sour expression. Why did she look like that? Shoot, I had goofed up and stood her up this morning. She probably thought I was a nogoodnik now. I had forgotten about her between the bo
Oliver As the words left Elsie's lips, the lights flickered momentarily as the sound of rain falling down plinked throughout the train. Elsie pulled her face away from my ear and looked up at my face expectantly. I didn't react, though; my face was as still as a statue. It was as if time froze for me. I didn't know what Elsie meant; she wasn't a wolf. Her actions were starting to bother me, nicking away at the wall I was keeping up. Why was she so dead set on me not being here? Why couldn't I have a place here? What did I ever do to her? My world had been ripped out from underneath me just a couple of hours ago. My only real friend in town was dead, and the man I looked up to had accused me of murdering him. I had nothing. All I had was Jules's hand reaching out to me. He unknowingly pulled me out of a dark and lonely place. He was giving me a chance, giving me a glimmer of light, of hope. Elsie studied my face, searching for something, maybe just try
ElsieI knew as soon as I saw that kid talking to Jules after the show, things weren't going to end well. I saw the excitement in Jules's eye, the same one he got when he would find a new rogue werewolf with skills he could make a buck off of. It was the same look he got when he found Birdie hiding out in the woods, abandoned by her pack. I swear it was like dollar signs were popping out of his eye sockets.I didn't get one thing though, why did Jules get that look about this random human? What was so special about him? What did Jules see in Oliver that I didn't? I didn't see the money.The first time I set my eyes on Oliver was in the river. The twit was lurking behind some rocks and startled the troupe. I've never seen a human run so fast before in my life. I almost felt bad for him, especially with Grady there. Grady wasn't a pretty wolf, that was for sure. If people thought he was menacing in human form, they would defecate themselves if they caught a glimps
Elsie I refused to move from the floor until I heard Rosemary's door snap shut. It burned me up that Jules had taken Oliver to Rosemary. I understand that she used to be a nurse before joining the circus, but that was years ago. Now she was just a broad who danced around on her mate's back in the center ring. From the outside, it probably looked like Rosemary and I were just eggs to each other. That wasn't the case; we had our reasons. She was blaming her fall from grace on me instead of opening up her eyes to reality. When I joined the circus, Rosemary was the big finale. She used to eat up all the attention Jules gave her, but that didn't last. Rosemary met her mate about a month after I joined. Thomas was a lowly pack
ElsieI spent a few hours hiding away in Shirley and Carl's compartment. Shirley was two years older than me, and she was my best friend. She was loud, confident, saucy, sassy, and demanding. Past her rigid exterior, she was the most maternal person I knew.Shirley was the one who found me half-dead on the bank of a river. She was the one who convinced Jules to take me in. He couldn't see my face behind the bruises, blood, and mud. Shirley was the one who cleaned me up and helped me adjust to my new life without my mate.Once upon a time, Shirley was the daughter of an Alpha, but now she was rogue just like me. Ironically both of us were rogues because of love. I was a rogue because of Clyde, and Shirley was a rogue because of Carl.Carl was just an average human who liked to play with fire...in more ways than one. One day he accidentally wandered onto Shirley's pack's territory. He was captured and would be slaughtered in front of the whole pack at dawn.
Oliver"How long has he been out?""I think about an hour.""What are you going to do when he wakes up?""I have no idea.""Better figure it out.""I know."Voices slowly started to register with me. Where was I? I was on something soft, but how did I get here?I focused on the last thing I remembered. What was I doing? I was in Jules's car...but why was I there? Elsie...Elsie was there. I felt the fear and confusion burrow in the pit of my stomach.Without thinking, I groaned and opened my eyelids. I wasn't in Jules's car anymore, that was for sure. I wasn't sure where I was, though. I was about to sit up when I heard a voice."Better think quick, Elsie; he's awake." A familiar voice spoke, but I couldn't place who it was.I turned off of my side as I sat up and locked eyes with Elsie. As soon as I saw those hypnotic eyes, the memory came flooding back to me. She had turned into a wolf. I scrambled backwar