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Louie moved back to sit on the floor with the others. I stayed leaning against the wall, sipping my coffee.

“Are you going to join us?” she asked.

“I’m fine where I am,” I said.

“Too good to sit with us?” a man in his late thirties with dark blue eyes asked. He was about five foot eight; it was hard to tell with him sitting on the floor. He was dressed in a suit, complete with tie, as if he was on his way to work. His name was Neal.

“Not good enough,” I said, “not good enough by half.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” he asked. “I don’t like having a normal here.”

“Leave it alone, Neal,” Richard said.

“Why? She’s laughing at us.”

Richard glanced back at me from his corner of the couch. “Come join us, Anita?”

Sylvie was sitting beside Richard, not too close, but still, there was not enough room for me. Rafael sat on the end of the couch, spine straight, ankle propped on one knee.

“Couch looks full,” I said.

Richard held out his hand to me. “We’ll make room.”

“She isn’t even pack,” Sylvie said. “I won’t give up my seat to her. No offense to you, Anita, you don’t know any better.” Her voice was matter-of-fact, not hostile, but the look she gave Richard wasn’t exactly friendly.

“No offense taken,” I said. I wasn’t sure I wanted to sit on the couch surrounded by lycanthropes anyway. Even supposedly friendly ones. Everyone in the room was stronger and faster than I was, just a fact. The only leg up I had was the gun. If I sat right beside them, I’d never get it out in time.

“I want my girlfriend to sit with me, Sylvie, that’s all,” Richard said. “It isn’t meant as a challenge to your position in the lukoi.” His voice sounded patient like he was talking to a child.

“What did you say?” Sylvie asked. She looked shocked.

“We are the lukoi. Anita knows that.”

“You shared our words with her?” Neal said, outrage thick in his voice.

I wanted to say that it was just words, but I didn’t. Who says I’m not getting smarter?

“There was a time when sharing our secrets with normals could get you a death sentence,” Sylvie said.

“Even Marcus doesn’t allow that anymore.”

“How much of our secrets do you know, human?”

I shrugged. “A few words, that’s all.”

Sylvie stared at me. “You want your human girlfriend to cuddle up next to you, is that it, Richard?”

“Yes,” he said. There was no trace of anger in his voice.

Personally, I didn’t like the way she’d said “human.”

Sylvie knelt on the couch, staring at me. “Come human, sit with us.”

I stared at her. “Why the change of heart?”

“Not everything has to do with the pack hierarchy. That’s what Richard is always telling us. Sit by your lover. I’ll scoot over.” She did, curling up on the couch, near Rafael.

The Rat King glanced at me. He raised an eyebrow, almost a shrug. I didn’t trust Sylvie, but I trusted Rafael, and I trusted Richard, at least here, today. I realized that I would have trusted Rafael last night. He wouldn’t have the moral qualms that Richard had. Poor Richard was like a lone voice crying in the wilderness. God help me, I agreed with the pagans.

Louie and Stephen were curled on the floor, close by. I was among friends. Even Jason, grinning up at me, wouldn’t let me get hurt. Jason was Jean-Claude’s wolf to call, as was Stephen. I think if they let me get killed, they might not survive much longer than I did.

“Anita?” Richard made it a question.

I sighed and pushed away from the wall. I was among friends, so why were the muscles in my back so tight it hurt to move? Paranoid? Who me?

I walked around the couch, coffee mug in my left hand. Sylvie patted the couch, smiling, but not like she meant it.

I sat beside Richard. His arm slid over my shoulders. My right arm was pressed against his side, not too tightly. He knew how much I hated having my gun hand impeded.

Leaning into the warmth of his body, I relaxed. The tightness in my shoulders eased. I took a sip of coffee. We were all being terribly civilized.

Richard put his lips against my face,