in front of his chest. “Dude, I’ve not seen them in, like, forever. Even if I did, I don’t have any money, let alone goods. Whatever those may be. I work as a barista. Come on!”
Colin ached for the little guy, he looked so scared.
“You’re still Inis.” Blubber Bozo Two was even more intellectual than One.
Colin wondered if he had any kind of weaponry in his bag. Does a half-eaten peppered salami count?
Trick tossed his one earring back as if it were a lock of hair. “You want me to change my name? I’ll go down to DURPS tomorrow and fix that right quick. I never liked it anyway.”
“Don’t be cute. Just be paying us back with goods or cash. We ain’t picky, slimy little fag.”
There’s that word again. Sure, Trick looked super gay but Colin admired that. Even envied him a little. If Trick had the guts to wear makeup and earrings, Colin should have the guts to act like the werewolf he was and defend the poor thing. Wolf the fuck up, you wuss. Colin shut his laptop, then tucked it (and the disappointing Reality of Sense Perception) away in his messenger bag.
It was a Tuesday night, after dinner, and in a suburban town, so it was only locals at the cafe. At the opposite side of the front section sat the straight couple who came for date night and made moony eyes at each other over Mexican hot chocolate. Against the side wall sat dour old Floyd who liked to knit, and blessedly never tried to make small talk. (Colin supposed he could nick the man’s knitting needles and stab the selkie with them, only that’d get blood on the guy’s knitting, which was probably rude.) In the back was the lesbian couple who’d recently added a third and came in to play board games.
They were all regulars who probably loved Trick, but they were also all human, and this was shifter business.
So Colin stood and picked up his empty coffee cup − it’d work to bash a head in a pinch.
Colin was one of the world’s least threatening werewolves. Even as a wolf he wasn’t big or vicious. As a human he was the opposite of butch – a lackluster mild-mannered nerd who disappeared into the background so well he’d once considered a job in espionage. One of his older brother’s super-hot college buddies described Colin as a washed-out twinky stick figure. To be fair, the buddy hadn’t known Colin overheard him say it. And while cruel, it was accurate. Or maybe Colin had simply turned into that person from then on. He envied Trick, partly because he himself hadn’t the guts to be a true twink – flashing skin and taking names. He wore baggy clothes, his face was inclined to petulance, and his temperament towards silence. At twenty-one, he was insipid in coloring and timid in personality, not the type to go up against blubber bozos.
Still, someone had to help Trick.
So he sent a 911 text to his Alpha and jumped into the fray like a piece of wilted lettuce – AKA he slouched into line behind the selkies. Speaking of which, the word selkies sounded wrong. He wondered if selkie was like the word sheep, both plural and singular.
Blubber Bozo One turned to glare at him. “Who the hell are you?”
Fucking A, sea folk had horrible noses. Couldn’t the man smell a shifter when he was standing next to him in a coffee shop?
Trick looked at Colin, eyes swimming in hope. “Can I get you another latte, Col?”
“You doing okay, Trick? These guys aren’t bothering you?” Colin could see the confusion in Trick’s eyes. That Colin, of all people in that café, would attempt a rescue. Quiet, grumpy, fragile-looking Colin. The shy student who barely said anything, just studied by himself in a drafty corner.
“Uh, no man, I’m cool, I promise.” Trick didn’t mean a word of it.
Colin turned his attention back to the bozos. They were big, outweighing him by a hundred pounds each, at least. But he bet they were slow. Plus he’d have some advantage if he shifted into wolf.
He pulled his gray hoodie off and tossed it back to his table. He liked that hoodie and didn’t want it to get torn when he went to wolf. Of course, it slithered to the floor. Now it was all cafe-sticky. Sigh.
“I really hate shifting form, but if you guys won’t leave off harassing the staff, I guess it’s gotta be