He rolled up the cuffs on his black button-up. “If it helps, I’ve never picked up anything negative from Archer. Shame, guilt, and occasionally anger, but nothing malevolent. Especially around you.”
“Whatdoyou pick up?” I dared to ask.
He shrugged. “Someone once told me to keep my nose out ofeveryone’s business, and this is probably one of those times.” Lucian opened the door and escorted me inside.
My stomach knotted when I looked around the busy room. I hadn’t been back since the night Noah attacked me. The bartender was cussing at a customer who’d shifted into a pig.
As we walked by the bar, a shirtless man with a mullet eyed me. Setting down his beer, he beat his fist against his chest. “Sister from another mister.”
I frowned, having no clue what he was talking about.
Lucian pointed at him. “Stay away from her.”
“What’s that about?” I asked.
“That’s Kevin. He’s a horse with shitty taste in music.”
“How does he know I’m one too?”
Lucian guided me through the busy center tables. “The same way the wolves can spot their own kind, I guess. That’s something you’ll have to ask them.”
I spotted several Arrowhead packmates but not all of them. Robyn and Montana were in a heated game of pool, and it looked like she was having more fun bending over the table and teasing him than actually playing. Mercy and Bear waved at me from the end of the bar, where they were engaged in conversation.
The group had claimed an oversized booth in the recessed area in the back. Archer and Virgil were competing at darts, and when Archer caught sight of me, a smile flirted around the corners of his mouth.
Our gathering was planned, and as I scooted into a booth next to Melody, I couldn’t help but notice Archer wasn’t wearing his leather jacket. He looked good in his jeans and grey T-shirt, but what caught my eye were his lace-up black boots. They added another inch or two to his height. I’d only seen him in nice loafers in public.
The last booth on the right was horseshoe shaped and had a seat against the wall. Tak had claimed that spot, likely so he couldface the room. Salem was sitting across from Melody, watching her lay cards on the table. His longish hair was pulled back in a knot, a piece hanging loose. His short beard gave him a sophisticated appearance, like a guy you’d expect to be sitting on the steps of a great monument with his nose buried in a book.
I looked at the vacant seat across from me. “Where’s Joy?”
“Home,” Salem replied. “She doesn’t like coming in here at night because of all the smoking and rowdy men. It’s not good for her nerves.”
“Hope stayed with her,” Tak added while tapping his fingers on his tea glass. “I wish I’d done the same.”
Melody laid another card on the table, where she was playing a game of solitaire. “Why’s that?”
Tak rested his chin in his palm. “They were going to play Yahtzee. She knows how much I like that game.”
Melody snorted. “That’s because you always win. She wants to have a fair game where she might have a chance.”
“I can’t help it if my ancestors are guiding the dice.”
Melody laid down an eight of hearts beneath a seven of spades. “Sure. Because your ancestors are highly concerned about your winning streak. You know, she might play with you more often if you didn’t shout ‘Yahtzee’ at the top of your lungs and then laugh maniacally.”
Tak chuckled softly and drank his tea.
When Melody got stuck, I pointed out a king she could move to an open space. Lucian stole the seat across from me and was checking the security cameras on his phone.
Along with Hope and Joy, it appeared Lakota and Krys had also stayed home. From what I gathered, the pack rarely left the house as a whole. Even though Catcher was there to guard it, I remembered what Archer had told me about the barn fire that happened months back when the pack had all gone out at the same time.
Salem didn’t strike me as the type who liked going out to drink. His dry humor amused me, but since he was very literal, I couldn’t always tell when he was joking. From his conversation with Tak, it sounded like a few rogues had paid him for medical services. Packs hired Relics to work with them, but that depended on how many were available in the area.
Though Salem wasn’t a Relic, he was knowledgeable in the medical field, and that made him useful. I listened to him talk about a young boy who had fallen out of a tree and broken his arm. Young Shifters couldn’t accelerate healing until they experienced their first change, which happened in late teens to early twenties, so having a healer around proved a valuable asset. After setting the boy’s arm, Salem had given the parents an unsolicited opinion on how children shouldn’t climb trees.
A short-haired server came to our table. “Does anyone need a refill?”
They each shook their head. Meanwhile, Tak watched her with an amused grin as the girl dropped her pen on the floor and then dropped it again when she stood back up.
