Freddy was gripping the edge of the table, his knuckles white. He stared up at Royce and swallowed hard. All his training on vampires wouldn’t help here.
Never fight a vampire.
Just walk away.
They don’t want to bother you.
They’re fast and dangerous, so the best thing to do is run away.
Useless now. This vampire wanted to bother them. They couldn’t run away.
“This is a friend of mine,” Analie said slowly, as if she was choking on each word.
Freddy nodded, his head jerking around like a marionette’s.
“He’s visiting me.” Analie glanced at Freddy. “He was just leaving.”
Freddy was desperate for any excuse to go tearing out of that Starbucks, but the idea of leaving Analie alone to contend with a very powerful, angry vampire made him feel sick.
“Uh, Analie?”
“Shut up,” Analie snapped.
Freddy’s response was automatic. “You shut up.”
Analie kicked him under the table.
They both jumped when Royce cleared his throat.
“Right, then,” Royce said. “I gathered he’s your friend. What is he doing here?” Without waiting for an answer, he leaned forward to point a manicured fingernail at Freddy’s nose, growling softly. “You stay right where you are until this is sorted out.”
The boy didn’t have the scent of any of the local packs on him. He was definitely a shifter of some kind, feline, but not a flavor that Royce was familiar with. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. He was meddling in something he had no business with.
Did the boy have ties to Goliath? If he was breaking the rules, just like the alpha had, that had possibilities.
In keeping with the angry tones he’d been using, rather than show signs of speculation, he went on the attack.
“Where is your pack, boy? Who do you belong to?”
As terrified as Freddy was, this whole “boy” thing was really getting on his nerves. Still, he wasn’t about to become indignant. He was too busy trying not to start shaking like a leaf.
“I-I-I don’t have a p-pack,” Freddy stammered. ‘Technically.’ “I’m not Were.”
Analie nodded, though she didn’t entirely agree. Freddy may not be a werewolf, but she still (privately) considered him part of Goliath.
Non-werewolves had no place in Goliath—literally. They held no rank, never went to pack meetings, rarely went to any pack gatherings, and generally stayed out of the way. Pack benefits and protections were generally not extended to them.
Amelia raised Freddy, but not within Goliath. Being another kind of shifter, he was not considered part of the pack now that he was old enough to shift and fend for himself.
Analie felt dizzy and realized she’d been holding her breath. She started to breathe again, glancing between Freddy and Royce.
“Don’t lie to me, and keep your voices down in public,” Royce said, radiating cold and anger. “You reek of Were. I’ve never known any of you to travel alone. Least of all one so young. Someone somewhere is taking care of you. Who is it, and which pack are they with?”
Unspoken lay the obvious. If he was with Goliath, the shit would well and truly hit the fan.
Royce was hoping he’d say as much. It would mean sanctions against them, and the possibility of raising enough uproar that any more of them to cross the state line would soon find themselves hard hunted. Perhaps enough so as to bring the war back to the West coast.
Technicalities were saving the day for Freddy.
“I did travel alone,” he squeaked. “I’m not Were. Someone is taking care of me, but they’re not here. They didn’t come with me.”
“He’s not lying,” Analie spoke up, clenching her hands into fists. “He’s not Were! Leave him alone!”
'I need to grow a pair,' Freddy thought miserably. He had to swallow a few times before his voice started working. It cracked as he spoke. “I’m telling the truth. I’m not a member of G—of Analie’s pack.”
Saying “Goliath” out loud might cause all sorts of trouble he and Analie didn’t need. He sat and shook and stared at Royce, wishing he looked a little more dignified. A cocoa-stained Linkin Park shirt was not what he wanted to die in.
Royce eased back, considering. Frowning severely, he looked back and forth between the two, eyes narrowed.
Eventually, he came to a decision, his voice now flat and decidedly unamused. “If I find out that either of you were deceiving me later, I am going to be very displeased.”
Like he wasn’t already.
“Analie, you’re way out of line by sneaking around without somebody with you. I’m responsible for your well-being. What would you have done if hunters