“Of course, buddy,” I said, flashing him a grin. “Everyone’s welcome.”
He didn’t smile like I expected. Worrying at his lip, he tugged my sleeve harder until I lowered my head for him to whisper in my ear. “They don’t want me to play.”
“We can hear you,” one of the older kids said suddenly. Neil, I thought his name was. The disgust and judgement seemed out of place on his youthful face. It was an expression I’d only seen on adults before. “We’re shifters, Reid. Whispering doesn’t stop us hearing you. Duh.”
The other kids tittered and smirked. Neil exchanged a high five with the girl next to him.
Me? I was too busy processing Neil’s words. The younger kid’s scent. His human scent. I knew immediately why he was here.
This boy was the spitting image of the alpha of the Clarkson Clan. Clyde had a son.
A human son.
How is that possible?
“Go back into yer hole and leave us alone,” Neil said, snapping my attention back to the matter in hand.
A growl slipped from me before I could stop it. I didn’t tolerate bullying. It wasn’t something you came across often as a shifter. Our instincts were to protect and defend the weakest members of the pack. These kids should’ve been doing just that rather than picking on and excluding him. What the fuck had gone wrong in the Clarkson Clanthat their kids thought this was acceptable behaviour? “Enough.”
Every one of the shifter kids froze. The smirk slipped from Neil’s lips.
“It’s okay, they’re all twats.” The human stuck his tongue out at Neil and amusement rippled through me.
“Um, I’m not sure that language is appropriate.”
The kid huffed, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m ten, not seven. Besides, they call me far worse.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic. I wasn’t his parent, so I figured I’d leave this battle for them. “Fair enough.”
Ignoring them, I dropped to a squat, the move bringing my face level with his. Extending my hand to him, I introduced myself. “Hi. My name’s Evan.”
He grinned broadly, shaking my hand with a surprisingly strong grip for a little guy. “I’m Reid.”
“You’re welcome to join in if you like.”
Reid’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Really. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone is nice to ye.”
His grin turned impish. “Nah. Don’t worry about that. I might be human, but I can fight my own battles.”
I kept a close eye on him during the match, but Reid was right. He was able to dish it out as well as take it. He met their dirty looks and insults with his own, out-sassing the best of them.
Not only that, but Reid kept up with them. Hell, he outpaced them—something a human child should never be capable of. His size helped. It made him nimble and light on his feet as he whizzed between them.
He launched the ball towards the goal. I saw it going left with plenty of time for me to save it, but just as with the other kids, I dove in the other direction.
Reid crowed in delight as the ball hit the back of the net. Neil, however, marched over with a scowl. “Oi, that’s not fair. You went the other way.”
It was no different from what I’d done with the rest of them. It didn’t escape me that Neil was choosing to call me out now.
I kicked the ball back into play before raising a brow at Neil. He looked to be a few years older than Reid, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. Definitely one of the oldest out of the kids. “Aye. So what if I did?”
Neil’s nostrils flared. “It’s cheating. You shouldn’t be giving Reid any special treatment. He’shuman.”
Alarm bells rang in the back of my mind at the venom in that final word. “What’s being human got to do with anything?”
Doubt flickered in Neil’s eyes. Like all shifters, clans were taught to respect those more powerful and older than them. Mind you, they were supposed to be taught to defend those weaker. Everything I’d seen on this pitch suggested that wasn’t the case. “It’s unnatural. He never should’ve been born.”
