15. Mai

Ryan did not get lost and was still there an hour later. In between serving her regulars—both humans and Shifters—Sofia was finding it hilarious. I was getting more and more pissed off. It wasn't just Sofia who had noticed. Most of the Shifters came into the Bar on edge. Their Pack Beta was lurking outside, a scowl on his face, radiating a talk-to-me-and-I'll-break-your-legs vibe. As soon as they saw me, though, they'd relax and grin, a knowing look on their faces. A few had even winked at me! It was all I could do not to go out there and throttle Ryan. If he was going to follow me around wherever I went, my being back was going to spread through the Pack in no time. Did he not have a job to go to?

"How you holding up?" Sofia put down a coffee in front of me.

I breathed in the scent of smoky dark roast. "Thank you, you're a lifesaver!"

"Just doing my job."

I took a sip and sighed in pleasure. "Well, you're amazing at your job. Is the owner around so I can sing your praises?"

Sofia slid into the booth. "Nah, she pops in now and then, but she leaves it to me most days."

I watched as Sofia took in the elderly Shifter couple sharing a slice of carrot cake, the human dad with his five-year-old kid who was drinking a baby cappuccino, the ones that were just frothy milk, and had a splodge of white froth on the end of her nose, and the other barista, a sixteen-year-old human goth who'd been introduced to me as Brian, who was humming a Taylor Swift song as he wiped the tables. Sofia smiled.

"You like it here."

She looked back at me. "Yeah, I do. I get to talk to different people here. Doesn't matter if they're human or Shifter, if they are office workers, pizza deliverers, CEOs, or cleaners. I get to watch their faces light up when they take their first sip of coffee or bite into the homemade muffins. Life is stressful, Mai. In here, they get to take a break for a while. Relax. Just enjoy the small things, you know?"

"Plus, everyone talks to you, and you get to know everyone's business, sometimes even before they do," I guessed.

Sofia laughed. "Yeah, there is that."

"What about your parents? Do they come here, too?"

Sofia's parents had never liked me. They weren't exactly supporters of Oliver, but they were quiet people. They didn't want to rock the boat, stick their necks out, or bring any attention to themselves. Especially the type of attention Oliver gave. Me? I was trouble. As Jem's sister, they could see that being my friend would only put Sofia in the firing line. They forbade her to see me. Something she completely ignored.

"Ah, yes, my parents." Sofia tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear. "They moved two years ago. Went out west to join my mom's sister."

"I didn't know she had a sister."

"They didn't like to talk about her much. I've only met her a couple of times. She married a witch, so they went off the radar for a long time."

Witches and werewolves mixing was frowned upon. Witches were even banned from practicing in the northeast ever since a witch called Simon Webster tried to create a spell that would put all werewolves under his control. He nearly succeeded, which freaked out the Wolf Council and led to a purge of all witches in a thousand-mile radius of where Webster lived.

"They had a couple of kids. The daughter got into trouble a couple of years back, and Mom and Dad moved to help my aunt deal with her."

I blinked. "Your parents? Moved toward controversy and attention?"

Sofia laughed. "I know, right? They were all ‘fuck no' when I wanted to stand up for what I believed in, but as soon as Jase and I moved out, they packed up and moved to help their niece, who was making waves with Wolf Council and threatening to burn the whole thing down. And they're helping her do it! Can you believe it?"

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. Mom and Dad saw the difference that Jem and Hayley made here. They knew how unhappy I was when Oliver was the Alpha. I think they realized that keeping their heads down and ignoring things didn't make anything better. If you want to change things, you have to step up. This is them stepping up."

"For your niece and aunt, though. Not for you or Jase."

Sofia shrugged. "In their own way, they think it is. They want to change how the whole Wolf Council is run. They think that will make things better for everyone, me and Jase included."

"Well, I'm impressed as hell. I never thought of Mr. and Mrs. Miller as agents for political change or guerilla fighters wanting to change the system! You weren't tempted to go with them?"

"We weren't exactly on speaking terms when they left. Besides, Jase was here, and he needed a place to stay."

"He lives with you?"

Sofia nodded. "We have an apartment upstairs. It works for us. Though I could do without his numerous girlfriends leaving their bras lying on the couch."

My eyes widened. "I can't picture little Jase Miller dating!"

"Trust me, you don't want to picture it. Or see it in person. It will scar you for life."

"What about you? Any boyfriends hanging around?"

"Me? Goddess, no! Men are way too much trouble. I'll stick with my pink rabbit; it sorts me out better than a guy ever could."

I raised my eyebrows and was just about to ask about Derek when the door swung open and a group of six office workers walked in, their chatter filling the whole room.

"Got to head back. I'll come catch up when the lunch rush is over."

I was sipping my coffee, still reeling from the revelations Sofia had shared with me, when my phone buzzed on the counter, an unknown number flashing on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you?"

Fear gripped me, and I froze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryan sprinting toward me.

"Well? Answer me, Mai!"

I flashed back to the last time I'd seen Seth, me on the floor, bleeding and about to pass out. Seth standing over me, his face grim, saying, "You gotta learn, Mai. You gotta learn."

I twisted to the side so that Sofia and Ryan couldn't see my face. "I'm out of your reach, Seth," I whispered. "Don't look for me."

"You can't escape me, Mai. I will find you."

My phone was snatched from my hand. I turned as Ryan held the phone up to his ear, rage boiling off of him, but I could hear the dial tone. Ryan's fingers squeezed my phone.

"Please don't break it, Ryan. It has all my clients" contacts on it."

He looked at me, his jaw tight. I don't think I'd ever seen him this angry. "Who was that?"

I shook my head, not ready to explain. I didn't want Ryan to know what an idiot I'd been for staying with Seth, even after I saw the warning signs.

"I'm handling it, Ryan. This doesn't involve you."

"You're my mate, Mai. Of course it involves me," Ryan growled.

A jolt of electricity zipped through me at his words. I'd dreamed of him saying those words, that I was his mate. It was a shame that now he was admitting it, I just wanted to throw something at him.

"Back off, Ryan, I've got this."

"Clearly, you don't. You're going to have to let me in, Mai."

"Not a chance in hell, Ryan Shaw."

We glared at each other, neither one of us backing down.

"You know," Sofia moved in front of Ryan, breaking our eye contact, "as delightful as this stand-off is, there's a new phone shop that opened last month on Boddington. Why don't you get a new number, switch the contacts across, then ditch this one."

I glanced at her. It wasn't a bad idea. Maybe I should go all out and get a new phone. Seth knew people who could track phones. I needed to get rid of it.

"He isn't going to touch you. I won't let him hurt you, Mai," Ryan said fiercely. "You're safe here, I promise."

I wished that were true. But Seth had shown me that I couldn't trust anyone. "No one can make me safe, Ryan. I have to do this on my own," I whispered back.