by E. Blix
He opened the bathroom door and stepped out, eyeing Wesley cautiously. “Hi?”
Wesley didn’t bother with the niceties.
“Did you freak out on Mouse after she saved your ass?” He gestured in the direction of the hall, anger and concern trickling into his voice and already stiff posture. “You may not have noticed, but she’s not exactly all right in the head. She can’t talk because some asshole tortured her every day for years. Max tried making her into an obedient little monster, and it messes with her head every time somebody does something to validate that image. If you flinch from her or act afraid, it makes everything Max told her about herself right. That she’s just like that twisted piece of shit. If you did, I can’t say I’d blame you. I probably would’ve pissed myself in your shoes. Maybe you didn’t. You’re braver than I am, if that’s the case.”
He started toward the door, still taut with suppressed anger. He paused just long enough to offer a few last words of wisdom before leaving. “But if you did, you should think long and hard on just what that might have meant to her. She took on John to keep you safe. Don’t repay her by being a callous prick.”
Lisa laughed.
“Leave him alone,” Clarisse said.
“Aye, he is a right piece of work,” Lisa said, shaking her head, still laughing. She gestured to Ashi to get up, heading over to one of the chairs and settling into it. “John’s a bit of a prig, no doubt. Low blow, biting but not claiming.”
Ashi came out of the corner, balanced slightly forward on the balls of his feet, ready to bolt if need be.
“I’m not really sure how this ‘claiming’ thing works. I don’t like getting bitten, but I don’t even how to go about getting ‘claimed’ so John doesn’t bite me anymore.”
“Easy enough,” Lisa said, her cherry lips curving in a sly smile. “If someone wants you, they’ll seal the deal with a bite. It leaves a little something behind. We can… I don’t know. Smell it. Feel it, once someone’s been bit. It’s rude to nip someone else’s property, so we leave off.”
“There’s a connection between the donor and the host, so most everyone will leave ye alone. Except your host, o’ course,” Clarisse said, tucking her sock-covered feet under her as she twisted on the couch to a more comfortable position to watch Ashi.
“Right. Tough bit o’ luck, not liking being bit.”
Ashi rubbed his neck. “Well, I mean, it felt good to be bitten, but I don’t like being bitten. It’s supposed to hurt. That’s what I was told, anyway.”
Lisa laughed again. “Who told you that nonsense? We’d never get laid if it hurt.”
Clarissa shot her a look. Ashi just frowned. “The deputy of my pack told me that. I’m a Were. This is the first time I’ve had to deal with vampires.”
Lisa arched a brow, at a loss for words.
Clarisse, still not feeling particularly warm toward the Were after his harsh words from a few days before, glowered at Ashi. “What are you doing here, then? Why not go back tae your pack?”
Ashi worded his response carefully. “I’m paying off a debt along with a packmate. Otherwise I would be home with my pack.”
Lisa nodded. Clarisse didn’t look convinced.
Christoph scrubbed his hand through his wet hair and paced. This was unlike anything he’d ever encountered in Goliath. If you had problems, you dealt with them quietly. You didn’t whine or flinch or run away. You pushed through it, and with a few good friends, you made it out the other side.
He frowned. He had to apologize. He should also get with Analie and have her outline what the hell the standards of behavior were here. Sighing, he headed out of the apartment.
Christoph was not particularly eager to face something that made him, a creature of the night, afraid of dark corners. He shuffled down the hall, dragging his feet, and entered Mouse’s apartment.
Analie and Freddy were on the couch. Freddy was well-dressed for once, which surprised Christoph, who had only seen him in band T-shirts and baggy jeans. They had a photo album open between them. Christoph came closer to investigate.
It looked like a Goliath barbeque from a year ago. Oh, God. There he was with that crew cut he’d had back then. Analie was resting her fingers on a picture of her riding piggyback on Gavin.
“Hey,” Analie said, looking up.
“Hey,” Christoph answered. He nodded to Freddy, who was staring at him with a weird expression. “Where’s Mouse?”
“In her room,” Analie said.
Christoph looked toward Mouse’s door. “You mind hanging out in your room for a bit?”
“Nah.” She picked up the photo album, and she and Freddy went to her room, shutting the door.
Christoph walked over to Mouse’s door and took a deep breath. He didn’t want to knock because he sure as hell didn’t want to go in.
“Hey, uh, Mouse? It’s Christoph. I just wanted to say thank you. For saving me. I was really freaking out about John being all ‘argh, gonna eat you’ and then you busted in there like Wonder Woman and totally creamed him, which was actually really cool....” Christoph scrubbed his hair. “Anyway, I’m really sorry I... did what I did. I’m trying to get used to this place. I was a total douche, ʼcause that’s not cool when you were obviously saving my ass. So—I’m sorry and I hope you don’t totally hate me now.”
Analie and Freddy were smashed against the bedroom door, listening to Christoph.
“He’s getting better at talking to girls,” Analie whispered.
“This is better?” Freddy muttered.
Mouse had scrubbed John’s blood off her hands, then slumped down on the bathroom floor, curled up against the tub and watching dully as a few pink-tinged tears stained the porcelain. More evidence of the monster she was, and always would be.
She cringed when she heard Christoph’s voice. His apology only started up the tears again, and she covered her burning eyes with her hands, trying to stop. She was too cowardly to face him considering the way she was feeling right now, sure he’d be even more horrified with her to see that even her tears were stained with blood.
Christoph dragged his feet over to the couch and sat down. He half-hoped Mouse would come out, and half-hoped she’d stay in there. He’d give it a little while and see.
Analie and Freddy ventured into the living room again. They sat next to him on the couch, Analie between the two. Christoph looked over that the photo album they were still poring over and groaned when he saw The Picture.
“Burn that.”
Analie grinned. “No. Besides, there are copies.”
Christoph shook his head. “That totally sucks. I can’t believe you have it in there.”
“This covers the whole pack,” Freddy said. “We can’t omit important events.”
Analie grinned wider. “Like you in board shorts.”
“With a grass skirt,” Freddy interjected.
“And a coconut bra.” Analie laughed when Christoph covered his face. “Okay, now Mouse needs to see this.”
Both Christoph and Freddy looked uncomfortable. Analie rolled her eyes.
“Get over yourselves. Mouse! Come see a picture of Christoph in a coconut bra!”
“The whole fucking house can hear you!” Christoph snarled, reaching out to grab her. Analie easily deflected his arms.
“Seriously, this is historical stuff!”
Mouse stayed right where she was, frozen in discomfited terror that they would see her like this.
Wesley wanted to get back to the paperback he’d been reading. When Analie’s voice echoed through the walls, he grimaced and threw the book across the room, rising to his feet with a great deal of irritation for the third time today. Admittedly, he was curious about the pic, but his concern for Mouse overrode his need for a laugh.
He stalked
down the hall, didn’t bother knocking, and poked his head in Mouse’s apartment to growl half-heartedly at the three on the couch.
“Now’s probably not the best time for that, Analie. Though I’ll bet Ken and Reece will get a good laugh over it when they get back from work tonight.”
Analie and Freddy shrank back, nodding to Wesley, acknowledging the higher-ranking person in the room. Christoph glanced between them and settled back as well.
“Don’t show Ken,” Christoph murmured to Analie.
“I’m so showing Ken.”
Wesley hung in the door, torn between the temptation of joining them and being too surly to sink to looking at a photo album. Eventually, he slunk inside, telling himself it was because he was concerned for Mouse and wanted to make sure someone was here for her if she needed it—and not because he wanted to snicker over a picture of Christoph in a coconut bra.
Analie held up the photo album at an angle so Wesley could see. “Christoph would have you believe he was drunk.”
“I was.”
“He wasn’t,” Freddy piped up.
“The pack had a luau-style party,” Analie explained. “Everyone came in bathing suits and trunks and stuff. And then there was a hula competition—”
Christoph tried to cover her mouth, but Analie swatted him away.
“—and it was supposed to be girls only because the guys were going to have a Ha’a competition—”
“War dance,” Freddy explained.
“Yeah, and we had the Ha’a first because we figured the hula would calm everyone down because there is nothing worse than a whole beach full of battle-ready male Goliaths—”
Freddy nodded.
“—and when the Ha’a was over, everyone was wondering where Christoph, Roman, Matik, Gavin, and Hawk were because they do the Ha’a the best, and when the hula competition started, they all came out with the skirts and coconut bras—”
“Ugh,” Christoph groaned.
“—and Hawk had a little ukulele—you can see him in this picture, the guy with the mohawk—and they all started singing in their really deep voices ‘Aloha Oe’ and sort of swaying their hips around and doing the hula arms thing.”
Christoph was doubled over, his face in his hands, groaning. “Oh my God, why won’t that night die? Why can’t everyone just forget it?”
“I don’t think anyone can forget it,” Analie said, patting his shoulder.
There was an entire page in the album dedicated to the epic hula performance with The Picture in the center of the collage. It was a full-body shot of Christoph, grinning from ear to ear and striking a Marilyn Monroe pose, blowing a kiss to the camera in his shiny coconut bra and grass skirt over Hawaiian-print board shorts. He hadn’t shaved and there was two day’s worth of Were-level stubble on his face.
The other photos were of Gavin, Malik, Hawk, and Roman. In the background of each picture, it was apparent that it was just past sundown. The photos would have looked like any other beach party, save that everyone’s eyes reflected gold.
Wesley cracked a smile, though it didn’t touch his eyes. He saw very plainly what they were: the claws and the eyes, the hints of their nature as Others. That was a ton of werewolves gathered in those pictures, and it made him nervous as all get out to see it.
“Cute. I’ll bet Ken will love that one,” he said, unable to bite back on the comment. He couldn’t repress a snort of laughter at the thought of what the gay vampire’s reaction would be.
Sebastian left Angus’s room still weirded out. Particularly after the Highland warrior told him to “get the fook out ʼtil ye grow a pair.” He’d tried to explain about the gigantic cat downstairs, but Angus hadn’t been amused and seemed to think he was pulling his leg or exaggerating.
Next he rushed over to Jessica’s, telling her what he’d seen, and hoping to get a little sympathy or mutual fear.
Instead what he got was: “Holy shit! There’s a tiger in the house? I want to see!”
Sebastian tried to persuade her for quite a while to stay upstairs, but eventually she dragged him out, intent on seeing what was going on in Mouse’s apartment.
Freddy reached past Analie and poked Christoph to get his attention. “Hey, check it out.”
He rolled up his right sleeve and displayed the triple bracelet of a Captain Third Class Amberguard. Christoph’s jaw dropped.
“Holy shit, where did you get that?”
“Host family has Amberguard artifacts,” Freddy said, grinning.
Christoph looked back at Wesley and grabbed Freddy’s hand, holding it up and pointing. “This is serious business for our pack. We hate Amberguard. Check it out—this first band means the Amberguard has a rank of Warrior. The jewels tell you what class. Second band means Officer. Third band means Captain and it has all three jewels. Highest rank you can hold before Deputy and then Alpha. Bet they had to take his arm off to get this.”
Freddy nodded.
“Jesus Christ,” Wesley muttered, eyes widening as he looked over the bracelet. “We don’t have anything that formal to go by here. Usually in a house, the rank at the top is eldest, followed by the next elder, and the next, and so on. Alec does it a little different here. John is barely a fraction the age of Angus, but he’s Alec’s second-in-command. Go figure, huh?”
Jessica came tearing in, bright-eyed and dragging Sebastian behind her. Her face fell when she found no giant tigers lounging in the living room. Sebastian looked like he wanted to sink into the floor.
“Hey guys, what’s up? Heard there was some wacky stuff going down over here.”
“I don’t think so,” Christoph said, looking over at Freddy and Analie.
They were both red, looking like puppies caught in the biscuit bag. Freddy fidgeted with the corner of the photo album. He was sorely tempted to lie, but being untruthful was greatly frowned upon in Goliath. That he was no longer in Goliath didn’t matter; Freddy had taken their values to heart from the moment he’d heard them and his displacement hadn’t changed that.
“I shapeshifted.”
Analie nodded.
“Accidentally.”
Analie kept nodding.
“I saw Ashi and freaked out. Stress can trigger it.”
Christoph stared at Freddy. “Holy shit, you’re a shifter?”
Freddy ducked his head, partially covering his face with a hand. “Yes.”
“Oh, another Were?” Jessica said, sounding just a teensy bit disappointed.
Sebastian looked at her. “You would’ve been happier if it was a real tiger loose in the house?”
She shrugged. He boggled at her.
Analie blinked. “No, not Were. Me, Christoph, and Ashi are Weres. Freddy’s a shifter. There’s a difference.”
Jessica and Sebastian were both looking at Analie like she was crazy. Wes responded to their confused looks. “Must be a regional thing. Out here, anything that can shift is a Were. Werewolf, Were-cat, Were-bird, doesn’t matter. It’s Were.”
Jessica looked around, curious. “Oh, hey, where’s Mouse?”
Analie looked at Christoph, who hesitated for a good long while before he answered Jessica.
“I was a total dick.” He hung his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “Unintentionally, but yeah. I wigged out and hurt her feelings. On an epic level.”
“He said a really good apology through the door, though,” Analie put in.
Jessica frowned, then turned a dubious look on Analie. “Is she okay?”
Wes shook his head. “No. Holed up in her room.”
“Oh, hell.” She sighed. “All right, I’ll check on her.”
Jessica headed over to Mouse’s room, not bothering to knock. She knew Mouse would’ve overheard that she was coming.
Christoph was staring
at his hands. He really didn’t want to look at anyone in the room right then. Being embarrassed over hurting a vampire’s feelings was the most uncomfortable situation in the world.
Analie, who’d been somewhat at a loss, looked over at Wesley. “Wait. Are you serious?”
Freddy was more worried than her. “We told Royce I wasn’t Were because we thought he was asking if I was a werewolf.”
Christoph looked over at them. “You lied to the alpha.”
Wes looked a bit confused for a second. Which alpha? There were three alone in the city he knew of. Then it struck him that they meant Royce, and he gave an abrupt, barking laugh.
“Oh, hell. Alec would’ve known that you were Were-something. Even if you denied it down to your last breath, he couldn’t miss it. You reek of change.”
Jessica found Mouse hiding her face behind her hands in the bathroom. With a sigh, Jessica moved to Mouse’s side, kneeling down and putting a soothing hand on the vampire’s shoulder, whispering words of comfort.
Wes abruptly turned his head toward Mouse’s room, losing track of the conversation as he focused intently on eavesdropping on whatever Jessica was saying. Even his extended hearing wasn’t quite keen enough to pick it up, so he soon returned the full of his attention back on Analie, Christoph, and Freddy.
“So over here I’m a Were-cat?” Freddy asked.
“Were-tiger?” Analie suggested. “Were-big-ass-tiger?”
“Just how big do you get?” Christoph asked, eyeing Freddy with unease.
“Hey, look,” Freddy said quickly, turning to a random page in the album. “It’s... whoa, Were portraits.”
It was a two-page spread of nothing but the Weres in Goliath, in Were form. Most were just sitting around in what looked like scrubland or mountains. A few were inside houses, lounging on the floor or crouched in the kitchen with a sandwich.