beg-your-forgiveness thing for head-scratches.”
'You’re lucky I didn’t send you on a suicide mission,' Analie thought grumpily. She gave him a look and then settled down, her head on her paws.
Mouse was relieved that Analie wasn’t about to go on a rampage. As quickly and quietly as she could, she crept back to her room and shut the door, curling up on the floor beside her bed with a stuffed animal. It wasn’t the bear Ari had given her, but it was better than nothing.
“When can I stop?” Christoph asked.
Analie didn’t even bother to look at him.
* * *
Taking the advice she had been given to heart, Clarisse waited in Jessica’s apartment so as not to scare the newcomer with her presence too soon, eager to hear the outcome.
In her place, and just as curious as the vampire, Jessica headed down the hall to Sebastian and Thad’s apartment, knocking on the door.
She waited.
No answer.
A louder knock this time.
She waited.
Just as she was about to try a third time, Thad cracked the door open, half his hair sticking up in all directions, the other half flattened against his head. He was only wearing pajama bottoms, and looked tired and disgruntled as he stared at her.
“G’mornin’!” she chirped, leaning in to give him a little peck on the cheek, which he quickly wiped off with the back of his hand. “Came to meet the new guy. Can I come in?”
He managed a weak smile, shaking his head. “Sure. Knock yourself out. I’m going back to bed.”
“Cool. Hey, Clarisse started a betting pool. I’ve got $20 on the new guy downstairs with Mouse for three weeks.”
Thad perked up a little and looked thoughtfully at the room where Ashi had been hiding all day. A slow grin curved his lips. “Tell her to put me down for $50 on two and a half.”
She laughed and headed over to knock on Ashi’s door.
Ashi heard the knock.
He heard the second knock, louder.
He also heard the third knock.
The closet was quite comfortable.
Though Thad had intended to go directly to bed, he watched with mild curiosity to see what would happen when Ashi opened the door. Jessica gave him a worried look at the lack of response.
“Why isn’t he answering?”
“I don’t know. He seemed okay when I talked to him last night.”
Jessica tapped her chin with a finger. Maybe he was just asleep.
Then again, maybe he was hurt. John had bit him last night.
Oh, God.
“What if he passed out from the blood loss and hurt himself?”
Thad looked dubious. “I don’t think John took that much.”
“Thad, he’s not answering.”
Thad rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up as she gave him a pleading look, and opened the door. He blinked at the decided lack of Ashi.
“Uh… maybe you better get Mr. Royce down here.”
* * *
Ashi remembered joining Goliath.
Gregory had introduced him to a Were named Luis, a young man a little taller than Ashi who gave him a crushing handshake and stared right in his eyes. It was a clear warning not to mess with him. Gregory had quietly admonished Luis for his challenging behavior toward a newcomer.
“He’s challenging me?” Ashi had asked.
“Well, his behavior—” Gregory had begun, but Luis interrupted him.
“I’m giving you the opportunity to see if you’re tougher stuff than me. If you want to keep things cool between us, you’ll listen to me and follow my lead.”
“But you’re challenging me, right?” Ashi had pressed.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Luis had gone to the hospital.
After that, no one wanted to be Ashi’s “buddy” or help him learn the ropes. He learned through trial and error. It made him an incredibly powerful Were and gained him a very high rank, but his knowledge of Goliath rules, the Code, and pack lore was almost nonexistent. Sure, he could recite the Code if need be, but it had never been driven home what any of it meant. No one wanted to hang around Ashi for very long. Any excuse to enforce his rank or climb a little higher was quite literally pounced upon.
Being at the bottom again, with no chance of beating someone up to gain rank, was disconcerting. Being abandoned by his packmates was more an issue of a rank than of friendship. He was almost starting to see the benefit of not enforcing his rank quite so brutally. Or even enforcing it all the time. Maybe.
Maybe there was something else to it. He was too jittery to think about it right now.
* * *
Jessica didn’t like waking Royce, and didn’t know what he’d