Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 4 - Can We Keep Him?

Somehow, that scared me in a way that her boyfriend had failed to.

To the other guy, she said, "Leave him alone. He didn't hurt that girl - can't you see that? Guilty people defend themselves."

Huh. Huh. I hadn't seen that level of deduction in anyone except Gwen. And even then, she usually liked to fact check before assuming anything...like the innocence of a stranger. But I wasn't complaining, not at all. She could defend me all she liked.

Without waiting for a reply or even looking like she expected one, she beamed. "I'm Evelyn. Call me Evie though - everyone does. This doofus is my mate, Alex. I apologise for him, by the way. So. Who are you?"

Right. Mate. Because soulmates existed here. I would have to get used to saying that if I wanted to fit in.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

Well, I could hardly tell her my real name. That might smother our newly budding friendship. Mischief sparked and somewhere in my subconscious recalled an old joke. "Uh... Douglas. Douglas Graves."

I berated myself as soon as the words left my mouth, but it was too late to call them back. Reckless, just like the liquor store yesterday. Already, I watched the couple frown and exchange an odd glance. He asked hesitantly, "Your name is Doug Graves?"

There was nothing left to do except ride it out. "Yeah. My parents had a real sense of humour, I guess."

"Right." Evie stretched out the word, letting it fill with doubt. But her smile finally reached her eyes, which I took for a good sign.

Light footsteps behind me. I knew the gait by heart, knew the slight pause before every other step. Eira. So I didn't turn, just watched as Alex tensed and even Evie tilted her head warily. No doubt my sadist of a sister was using the shadows to her advantage and playing dangerous. A light drizzle had begun to fall, and it obscured their vision to the extent where they could only see her when she had crept to my shoulder.

I brushed the mind-link. To inquire, not rebuke, "Took you long enough."

"I was watching from the window," she assured me, "and you seemed to have it under control."

It was an effort not to snort aloud. If that was true, she wouldn't have bothered coming down at all.

"My sister, Filipa," I said by way of introduction, and smothered a laugh. It was too tempting, no matter what Eira thought; her glare was burning a hole in the back of head.

"Fil Graves," they said in unison, smiling now. Without any sort of warning, Evie opened her arms wide and enveloped Eira in a hug, her eyes talking in that universal language shared by all females. And, to my astonishment, Eira hugged her back. What. What?

"You two are new here, aren't you?" Evie demanded.

"From the south," I said hurriedly, all the while wondering how the hell she knew that. Alex looked as confused as I felt, yet passively so, like Evie confused him regularly and he had given up trying to resolve it.

"Well, good. I've always wanted rogue friends."

A genuine wince. "We're not rogues, just lones."

Her eyes raked up and down my body, then it was Eira's turn. Her slender arms folded across her chest. "Oh, sure. You harmless, friendly people, you."

It's only in reflection that I can say how irrevocably right Evie was. It was often hard to distinguish between the lone wolves who kept to themselves and the rogues who made it their business to feud with the packs. But Eira and I weren't anywhere close to that fine line. And eventually I would be the one to draw it.