and took my place in the short queue for breakfast. Johannes, who had come to us from the pack up in Berwick about five years ago when his alpha had dropped dead of an early heart attack, had clearly been at work. I dolloped burnt bacon, scrambled eggs and some slightly charred toast on my plate. Someone came up next to me and started to do the same. I glanced sideways and realised it was one of the Brethren. I tried not to hold my breath.
“Mmmm, crispy bacon,” she said.
I was about to retort something in Johannes’ defense when I realised that she was being genuine. Odd – even those who normally liked their bacon crispy found Johannes’ offerings hard to handle.
She piled several pieces on her plate and smiled at me from under a dark fringe. “I’m Lucy.” And then added, just in case I wasn’t sure, “I’m with the Brethren.”
“Mack. Cornwall pack.”
“Woman of few poetic words there, Mack. We don’t bite, you know.” She laughed suddenly, “Well, not this early in the morning anyway.”
I’d withhold judgement on that one till they left without discovering my true nature. “I’m sure you’re all very cuddly.”
Lucy snickered again. “Relax. We’re just curious about you. We visit the countryside packs whenever they need help with a particularly vicious otherworlder or arbitration with an in-pack dispute. We’ve never had to come here before and you’ve never needed us. It’s….unusual.”
She was trying to be friendly, not combative. I took a deep breath and tried to match her relaxed attitude. “Not much happens around here. Not like London, I guess.”
“Yeah, beating up vampires and city-slicker daemons whilst dodging the Ministry of Mages is a whole lot of fun.” She added some black pudding to her plate whilst I winced in anticipation of her ruined tastebuds. “I’m sorry about your alpha. It seemed like he was a good guy.”
‘He was,” I replied, swallowing down the unexpected lump in my throat. “When I find out what killed him, I’ll rip its guts out.”
Lucy looked at me curiously and paused for a second before asking, “So what are you?”
I knew what she meant but I wasn’t going to go down that road unless I really needed to. The ways of actual werehamsters were a mystery to me and I didn’t want to get caught out. Deliberately misunderstanding her question, I replied, “Hungry,” and turned to sit down at a nearby table. Now I’ve covered a few niceties you can go away, I willed silently, looking down at my unappetising plate and hoping she’d get the message.
Unfortunately Lucy wasn’t going to give up that easily. She sat down opposite me and began shoveling food into her mouth. I stared in fascination, before picking up my knife and fork and gingerly taking a few bites myself.
“You know what I mean,” she said insistently between mouthfuls. “What’s your shift?”
“I don’t like to talk about it.” With any luck she’d think that I was a small weak were that I was slightly ashamed of. Like a hamster. Then I belatedly remembered that I’d said I was going to rip the guts out of whatever had slaughtered John. Oops.
“Huh.” She looked somewhat nonplussed for a second before continuing, “Well, I’m a honey badger.” That explained the voracious appetite then. I was relieved that it appeared that she wasn’t going to push me any further to reveal my own shift. “It’s a pleasure to find out so much about you, Mack ‘I don’t like to talk about it’.” She took another mouthful and began chewing hard on a piece of bacon.
“I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.” I didn’t want to play the meek and weak card, and I clearly wasn’t much good at it. Lucy seemed like a decent shifter who I’d normally get along well with, despite her Brethren affiliations. Then I thought briefly of Julia’s instructions and realised that if I was to survive this then I had no choice. “You all just look so strong and…masterful.” Oh god, kill me now. She flicked her eyes at me briefly, with a faintly amused expression on her face, before returning her attention to her plate.
I took a few more bites and was about to speak again when a bell sounded. Lucy immediately stood up, suddenly all business instead of focused on her food. “The evaluations are about to begin.” She looked at me assessingly. “I wonder how you’ll do?”
I coughed, staying in my seat. “I’m…er…not much of a fighter.”
“It’s not just fighting skills that