can touch him now. If ye would rather not whore yerself out to everyone in the building, make friends so someone will want to claim ye. It’ll be much easier on ye, trust me.”
As Clarisse explained the facts of life to Ashi, Jessica was shaking Thad awake from the light stupor he’d fallen into on the couch. “Go get Analie, please? I’ll be right back.”
“Ugh.”
“‘Kay. See you in a minute!”
Ashi stared at Clarisse. He’d still get bitten if he made nice with someone, but at least he wouldn’t be a public drinking fountain. Somehow this brought absolutely no comfort. He didn’t want to get bitten at all. It was like telling someone you’re only going to shoot them once with a shotgun, not three times.
“That’s like a cow making friends with a butcher,” Ashi said, shuffling a few steps toward the bed.
“Ah, no, lad,” Clarisse said, going grave for the first time. “Cows are killed for their meat. Donors are kept, and kept well, by their hosts. What good is a dead donor? If ye have someone who thinks ye a bit of a tasty treat, and give them reason tae be interested in ye aside from what ye can do for their hunger, then ye have no worries of being treated poorly.”
* * *
Thad shuffled downstairs, rubbing his eyes on the way. He tugged his pajama pants up and scratched his bare chest, yawning hugely as he knocked on Mouse’s apartment door. He hadn’t expected it to be ajar, and it opened up at the rap of his knuckles, revealing something that made Thad wonder for a second if he was hallucinating.
There was a giant… furry… something lying on the floor.
His eyes widened, a sharp breath taken as it looked at him. It only took a second for the terrified reaction to switch from frozen in fear to actively attempting to claw his way through the wall behind him.
“What the hell is that?!” he screamed, rapidly backpedalling.
Analie whined, looking worriedly at Thad. Christoph stood up, holding up his hands.
“Hey, hey, it’s cool. This is Analie. Calm down. Look.” He reached down and scratched under Analie’s chin. “See?”
Thad was clearly not convinced that this made her harmless.
“What the hell?!”
Wesley poked his head around the doorway down the hall. “What is going on over there now?”
Thad pointed, gaping, not saying anything else as he stayed mostly flattened against the wall.
Christoph urged Analie to flatten herself against the floor. He’d have rather gotten her to her feet and further away from Thad, but a pony-sized Goliath wolf rising to its full height was probably not the best move.
“It’s okay! She’s harmless!” Christoph said. “Please don’t freak out.”
Analie whined loudly, her ears pinned back.
“Look, she’s afraid of you. Please, just calm down.”
Wesley, overhearing the commotion, jogged over to see what the hell was making that whining noise and what Thad was pointing at.
Half a second later, he was plastered against the far wall next to Thad, also pointing and gaping.
“What the hell?!”
“It’s Analie!” Christoph shouted. “Christ, guys! Grow a pair!”
He moved closer to Analie. “Look, she’s like a big puppy. A fuzzy, cuddly puppy.” He threw an arm over her wide shoulders. Analie almost growled, but thought better of it. “See, she’s cool. Look, she likes head scritches. See? She’s a good Were! She’s da best Were in da world. Are you da best Were in da world? Yes, you are! Yes, you are, looka dat Were!”
Analie’s swishy tail thumped against the floor.
“Is da Were a big bad Were? Nooooo, she’s not a big bad Were. She’s a puppy! She’s a puppers! Looka da puppers!”
‘Please, dear God, will those two idiots calm down already? This is the second most emasculating thing that’s happened to me in 24 hours.’
“Will you guys shut up so we can sleep already? Jesus!” someone shouted from down the hall.
It broke Wesley out of his fright enough to regain a semblance of poise. Okay. The big, giant, furry, scary thing with really big teeth wasn’t attacking. He could deal with this.
Shuddering, running a hand raggedly over his face, he then inched away from the wall.
“Look, just… just… don’t… just…”
“Oh my God, that thing is—”
Wesley slapped a hand over Thad’s mouth so hard, the human’s head thumped against the wall.
“Can you just shift back? Please?” he finally got out, all in a rush.
“If you leave the room, I’m sure she’d be happy to,” Christoph said. “She’s not going to shift right in front of you. She’s au natural currently.”
Analie rounded