Colby must have looked over once too often because Tristan nudged him. “Riley is Jason’s mate.”
Colby stiffened in shock. “But—” He swiftly bit off his question. Too late.
“One point four percent,” Jason said, sounding resigned and as if it was something he’d said too many times before to count. “One point four percent of shifters have a non-shifter as their mate.”
Colby had no idea that being mates with a non-shifter was even possible, let alone that it happened often enough to be a statistic.
He looked back at Riley, who was staring at him, looking pissed, but also something else. Colby finally realized what it was. He was wary of Colby. He guessed it must be difficult being surrounded by people who could transform at will into something that could kill you without even trying. And then there was the fact that Colby had been part of an enemy pack. He dropped his gaze and tried to make himself look small and unthreatening.
Colby was still focused on his plate when the atmosphere around the table changed. He looked up, and Matt Urban was standing in the doorway, watching them all.
His eyes swept the table, resting briefly on each of them in turn. When his gaze landed on Colby, it took everything he had to meet it, forcing himself not to look away. He was too used to keeping his head down and his eyes on the ground, avoiding conflict.
Once Urban made his way to the head of the table and sat down, everyone around the table fell on their meals. Colby sat frozen, unsure what would be worse—failing to follow the example of the rest of the pack, or to go against everything he knew was right. Tristan glanced sideways at him, then turned more fully to look at him.
“You can eat, you know,” he said, his low voice way too loud in the near-silence that was broken only by the scrape of silverware on plates.
Colby tilted his head meaningfully toward Urban.
“What?” Tristan asked, confused.
“Alpha Urban hasn’t started eating,” Colby said, his voice as low as he could get it and still be audible.
“So?” Tristan still looked puzzled.
“So I guess Williams was raised in a better-mannered pack than the rest of you,” Urban said, and Colby tensed even further at the realization he’d heard. “We’re not that formal here, Colby.” He picked up his fork, then gave him a small grin. “And while I could get used to the whole ‘Alpha Urban’ thing, I think it might just kill Jesse. ‘Matt’ is fine.”
Jesse paused with a weird mix of lasagna and apple chutney halfway to his mouth. “Alpha Urban sounds like a cheap perfume—notes of pine, power, and bossiness.”
Even knowing that Jesse was Urban’s mate, that disrespect felt terrifyingly reckless. But Urban—Matt—just rolled his eyes and sent Jesse a glinting smile.
Colby didn’t understand this pack at all. A non-shifter, and now this? Not knowing the rules made him feel unsteady, on dangerous ground. Nico used to do that. Change the rules without warning, just to keep him off-balance, always on the defensive.
He picked up his silverware and started to eat, not wanting to mark himself out as different, even though his appetite seemed tohave fled. The food was good, he could tell, but it felt like chewing cardboard.
“Good, isn’t it?” Tristan said next to him. “Jason’s the best cook ever. I keep telling him he should go on one of those shows, like Iron Chef or the British Baking Show. He’d crush it.”
Colby nodded, his eyes darting around the table to check who was listening and how they reacted to Tristan’s statement. And then he swallowed slightly. If he were staying here, for however long Matt said was necessary, he couldn’t sit in silence the entire time, putting all the work onto Tristan.
“It’s great,” he said hoarsely, then looked across the table to Jason. “Thank you.”
Jason’s cheeks pinked slightly, and he ducked his head shyly.
Someone that gentle wouldn’t have lasted two seconds in Cale’s pack. There, kindness got eaten alive—literally, sometimes. Here, he was both valued and protected. Colby couldn’t understand it.
But he wanted to.
Chapter Twenty-two
TRISTAN
After dinner, Tristan cleared the dishes, humming happily as he did so. Dave had come up to Colby after the meal and introduced himself. He didn’t say anything more, but the fact he’d done that, and the look of startled disbelief on Colby’s face, followed by a flicker of gladness, made Tristan’s heart lift. They just needed time, and even Bryce would come around.
Bryce, who’d disappeared somewhere with Matt as soon as they’d finished eating. Tristan didn’t know what that was about, but the fact Jesse hadn’t gone with them meant it was pack business of some sort.
“Sorry,” Colby said, waving a colander at him. “I can’t find where this goes.”
Colander safely stowed, Tristan looked at Colby, at the healing bruises on his face and the weariness in his eyes.
