New Management on Bay Street

That morning, the coffee shop did not open as usual.

Jamie sat at one of the worn, scratched wooden tables in the corner, ass planted firmly in the faded couches, the stuffing coming out in a few spots. His small, pale hands were wrapped around a tall glass of juice, since just the taste of anything that held caffeine made him gag. His baseball bat, which he had studded with nails he had nicked from a building site when he was thirteen, rested against his leg under the table, giving him comfort. As he concentrated on the orange liquid in his glass, he kept replaying an image of him hitting one of those werewolf gang kids over the head with his bat. He’d named it Berta. He wished he’d used Berta, before they had taken Raphael. The rest of his group looked just as miserable. Gus was on one of the mismatched chairs, knees pulled up to his chest, arms around them, staring at the steam rising from his tea with glassy, dark eyes. Val was pacing up and down the coffee shop, Buster sat on the counter, hands laced in-between his legs, head lowered. Art was sitting next to Jamie, rapping his fingers on the table in a way that picked at everybody’s already frayed nerves, but nobody dared to tell him to stop. Next to Raphael, Jamie was the next most reliable person in the group – if you were in shit, he’d pull you out of it. Now he was racking his brain, trying to think of a way to get Raphael out of the king-sized pile of crap he’d just stepped into.

Val stopped suddenly, her worn boots, which she wore even in the worst of the heat for lack of a second pair, squeaking on the floorboards as she turned to face Jamie and Art, ‘’well,’’ she spread her hands, ‘’what are we doing?’’ there were dark circles under her eyes. They all looked like crap – usually they’d be asleep right now, except for Jamie. All heads turned to Art at Val’s question. Val usually talked with her fists – she wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the box. She could think on her feet and make split second decisions but getting people out of shit wasn’t her forte – she was usually the one who needed helping out. Jamie could be smart, when he wanted to be, but just the thought of that dread-locked wolf guy having Raphael made Jamie want to follow Val’s example and just whack him in the face with Berta. Art was the bright guy, the one who always had the genius ideas, like starting to dance at the Crypt or supplying the club with DeeDee’s weed.

But he was all fresh out of genius ideas.

‘’We need to go to the cops,’’ he said quietly.

The group flinched as if they had been collectively slapped, ‘’oh. Hell. No,’’ Val practically snarled, ‘’you get their attention on this place, we’re done for. Jamie’s getting evicted, DeeDee’s getting arrested...actually, all of us are getting arrested,’’ she shook her head, ‘’no. No way.’’

‘’We’re talking about a gang here,’’ Art said, voice uncharacteristically hard, ‘’not a scrap in the bar when you get away with a few broken bones. Not an illegal fight that you can win or lose money in. Raphael could die. I mean, bloody hell, we don’t know what wolves do with their mates, especially if they’re not compliant. I’d rather be behind bars than know that Raphael...that Raphael has...’’ he swallowed hard and dropped his eyes, clenching his jaw.

‘’Art is right,’’ Buster said, jumping off the counter. He had a plaster on his nose where it had been broken the previous day, ‘’the cops will find Raphael and get him home safe before we can even figure out how five people can take on an entire gang.’’

‘’Shit,’’ Val said, but relented, ‘’fine. How are we doing this?’’

‘’If we say we saw him dragged from an ally from the pub three doors down,’’ Gus said slowly, ‘’then it shouldn’t make much of a difference to the investigation, and maybe they won’t come looking here.’’

‘’Right,’’ Art nodded his head, more confident now that they had a plan, ‘’but if we all go to report this, it’ll be dodgy. Only one of us should go.’’

‘’Who?’’ Val asked in a clipped tone.

All eyes turned to Jamie.

The blond boy moved his glass away from him violently, ‘’oh, you’re shitting me. Why me?’’

‘’You’re the second most innocent looking,’’ Art shrugged.

Jamie pointed an accusing hand at the boy opposite him, ‘’make Gus go! He bloody looks like a terrified high schooler.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Gus protested meekly.

‘’Yeah, but Gus is also shit at lying,’’ Art put his hand on Jamie’s shoulder and squeezed, ‘’come on, Jamie. You’re the next logical choice.’’

Jamie glared at him, then swept his blue eyes around the room, ‘’fine. Fuck.’’

*~*~*

‘’Do you wolves make a habit of this? Kidnapping your mates?’’ Raphael’s voice was hard. He had been blindfolded, sat on a motorcycle and told to hold on tight or fall and die. His blind fold had only been taken off a few minutes prior. He was in some sort of warehouse, judging by the metal walls and echoing corridors, and he was alone with the guy who had called him ‘mate’.

‘’Shut up,’’ the guy grumbled. His voice didn’t go with the fact that he was holding Raphael’s hand and pulling him down a dark corridor, his wrist adorned with a bundle of bracelets – the ones braided from different colours of string, the shitty kind that kids used to make in DT in primary school. Raphael couldn’t figure out why a gang leader would have something so...sentimental. Raphael was pulled from his wonderings when the wolf suddenly stopped and closed his hand over something in the dark corridor. His fingers closed around a handle and he slid open the doors to a warehouse room with an infernal rumble. The wolf all but tossed Raphael inside, which was hilarious, since he was at least half Raphael’s size. The wolf closed the doors behind them.

Suddenly Raphael felt nervous, ‘’um...’’

‘’You don’t have to be freaked out,’’ the guy said. Raphael realised he wasn’t grumbling – his voice was just like that. Low, husky, slightly raspy like he smoked too much or had a cold. It should have gritted on Raphael’s ears, but it didn’t. Under the artificial, bright light of the room Raphael took a proper look at the guy claiming to be his mate. He was pale, almost sickly so, his arms muscular, fingers long and bony. One of his ears held a large black earring. He had a straight nose and a grove between his eyebrows, like he frowned too much. He wasn’t unattractive, but he definitely looked like a gangster. And there was one more problem...

‘’I’m not into guys.’’

‘’Yeah, me neither,’’ the guy huffed a mirthless laugh, ‘’not into anyone, really. But you get who you get and you gotta deal with it.’’

‘’Maybe you do. I’m human,’’ Raphael said, turning as the guy walked across the room, ignoring Raphael now that he had him under lock down. Raphael realised he was in his mate’s living space, though the large room was pretty much bare and echoing. There was a mattress in the corner with only a pillow and no blanket, like the guy got hot at night. There was a pile of clothes in one corner, and Raphael couldn’t tell if it was laundry or just the entity of the guy’s wardrobe. Other than that, there was a single cardboard box next to the bed and a harshly carved wooden cross hanging low on the wall... and that was it. Not even a window.

The guy walked over to the box and dug around, ‘’whatever,’’ he said, uninterested, in his gruff voice and pulled out an opened bag of M&Ms. It wasn’t ripped open, like Raphael would expect it to be – instead it was opened neatly and rolled down, stuck in place with tape. The guy opened it carefully and took a handful.

‘’M&Ms?’’ Raphael asked, eyebrow raised, before he could stop himself. Kiddie bracelets, now this?

‘’You want?’’ the guy extended the packet to him.

‘’Prefer smarties.’’

The guy grunted in acknowledgement and rolled the bag back down, tossing it in his box as he popped an M&M in his mouth, ‘’I’m trynna quit smoking,’’ he said.

Raphael frowned, ‘’what are you, sixteen?’’ though it wasn’t like he could judge. Jamie started smoking when he was fourteen.

The guy gave him an incredulous look, ‘’nineteen.’’

‘’Shit, no way. My age?’’ Raphael’s frown deepened, ‘’you look younger. It’s probably cause of-‘’

‘’My height,’’ the guy rolled his eyes, ‘’yeah, I know.’’

A silent descended on them. Not exactly uncomfortable, but... The guy popped another M&M into his mouth and peered at Raphael from under long, dark lashes. Raphael could have sworn he saw his blue eyes flash gold; he swallowed thickly, ‘’you got a name?’’

The guy blinked, the only acknowledgement that he had forgotten to introduce himself, ‘’Fritz,’’ he said.

Raphael nodded, ‘’I’m Raphael Arevalo. And I’d really appreciate it if you let me go now.’’

‘’Can’t,’’ Fritz shrugged.

Raphael swallowed again, prepared himself for a fight. Fritz was smaller than him, he could probably take him, but the alien warehouse layout could be his downfall, ‘’why?’’ he asked icily. He prepared himself for something from a cheesy gangster movie – ‘because I’m not done with you’, or something like that.

Instead, Fritz shrugged his shoulders again and popped another M&M into his mouth, ‘’cause dinner’s in twenty minutes. You can go after that.’’

*~*~*

The police station loomed in front of Jamie like a mountain. He gulped. Jamie could count things that scared him on one hand. Police was one. He had one too many run-ins with them when he’d first gone AWOL for him to be comfortable around cops. And yet he’d go inside the goddamned station and report Raphael as kidnapped, or he could never call himself Raphael’s friend again. Taking a deep breath, Jamie put on his best ‘scared kid’ face and walked inside. The world didn’t explode and he didn’t immediately get tackled by officers, so that was a good thing. In fact, the whole place looked kind of dead. There was one bored-looking woman behind the glass window of a reception and a few doors leading off somewhere, but the waiting chairs were empty. Another deep breath later, Jamie was walking up to the front desk. Just act scared, just act scared... ‘’e-excuse me?’’

The woman glanced up, uninterested, but at the sight of angelic looking Jamie she sat up properly, ‘’how can I help you, pet?’’ she asked in a faint Scottish accent.

‘’I’d like to report a-a kidnapping?’’

The woman’s eyes widened, ‘’oh dear, a kidnapping? Are you sure?’’

Jamie nodded his head, wavy blonde hair bouncing around his jaw, ‘’I saw my friend get dragged away by scary looking men, maybe two hours ago. His name is Raphael and it was behind the pub on Bay Street. I think the men were from some kind of gang, the leader had dreadlocks but he was white and-‘’

‘’Hold up, sweetheart,’’ the woman stood up and walked out of her little reception box, ‘’stay here, I’ll get someone who can deal with this better,’’ she disappeared behind one of the doors.

Jamie clenched his fists. He felt like his skin was crawling. He wanted to run back outside, but he made himself stay. For Raphael, for Raphael, for Raphael... the doors opened again and Jamie glanced up. The female officer was coming back out, followed by a man. He looked Hispanic, his skin colour similar to Raphael’s. His hair was black and slicked back down his nape, a stray strand hanging in his face. He had a strong nose, full lips and shockingly pale brown eyes. He was just in a pale blue shirt, sleeves rolled up to expose muscular forearms, as if he’d been pulled out of his break. As the man closed in on Jamie, the boy could read his name tag – officer D. Delarosa. The man stopped in front of him and inhaled, opening his mouth to ask a question.

Then he froze and sniffed the air again. Then, without a warning, he leaned down and brushed his nose directly under Jamie’s ear. Jamie yelped and jerked back just as the man breathed, eyes flashing gold, ‘’mate...’’

‘’Oh fuck no.’’

When Jamie realised what was going on, it was too late – he was already running back towards Bay Street.

*~*~*

When Raphael thought of a gangster didn’t he didn’t expect...this.

The dining room was another large open warehouse space and it would have looked ridiculously cold and isolated, except the table in the middle was surrounded by chatting people who didn’t seem to notice the vacuum-like space around them. As Fritz approached, heads turned to peer at Raphael. The human realised with a jolt that most of Fritz’s gang were kids – they reminded him of his own group. There was a girl, whom Raphael had first mistaken for a boy, dark skinned and tattooed, though she looked no older than seventeen. She sat next to the only other girl, a girl of about sixteen with dyed red hair hidden under a white cap, wearing a grimy white hoodie despite the heat (though it wasn’t as bad in the warehouse). The third girl was older, maybe in her twenties, with fried pink hair and fake lashes. Then there were the boys – an almost feminine looking half-Asian with black nails and a tattoo just above his eyebrow; a sleepy looking adult man with frizzy hair and a frizzy beard, a bit like he got hit by lightning; and an actual kid, maybe fourteen years old, his cheeks still a little chubby.

‘’Guys, this is Raphael,’’ Fritz said in his gruff voice, and motioned to the people gathered around the table, ‘’this is Neta, Graham and Rosita,’’ he pointed to the girls in order, then gestured to the kid, ‘’Robbie,’’ to the guy who looked like he had an electric shock, ‘’Dom,’’ then finally to the pretty boy next, ‘’and Sid. This is my pack.’’

The girl in white with the red hair, Graham, snorted, ‘’not much of a pack without an alpha.’’

Fritz, to Raphael’s surprise, didn’t rise to the bait. He had seemed so explosive, so violent, in the Crypt – that had all been an act. Raphael realised his mate was actually pretty level headed. He pulled back one of the two empty chairs and slid into it, motioning for Raphael to sit down next to him, ‘’we just came here,’’ the kid, Robbie, said, ‘’we ran all night from our old place, but we’re all betas and we’re looking for an alpha,’’ he peered at Raphael with dark eyes, ‘’are you an alpha?’’

‘’No. I’m human.’’

‘’Ahh,’’ the wolves around the table nodded, like it explained everything.

‘’You smell like one,’’ pink-haired Rosita said, ‘’green soap and ink.’’

‘’Well, I’m a tattoo artist, so...’’

That got their interest. Fritz sniffed the air, just lightly, ‘’you kind of smell like...’’ he frowned and thought about it, ‘’a new car?’’

Graham chuckled, ‘’I don’t think you’ve ever been inside a new car, Fritz.’’

Fritz shrugged, ‘’and rain,’’ he added, ‘’on tarmac, in the summer.’’

Raphael laughed, a little embarrassed by the sudden assessment of his scent, ‘’that’s...weirdly specific.’’

‘’That’s cause you’re mates,’’ Robbie said, ‘’so he can smell what we can’t. We can’t smell the rain.’’

‘’Can we eat?’’ Fritz asked suddenly and bluntly, the edge of irritation in his voice.

The conversation burst out on the table again as spaghetti was passed around. Raphael realised that some haven’t spoken – Neta was eyeing him with apprehension from the opposite end of the table, Sid ate in silence, not even glancing up at him and Dom’s head kept drooping, like he had taken some kind of drug. Even though he was the oldest, Raphael kind of understood why Fritz was looked at as a leader. He was the most...composed. Once the food was on the plates, Raphael fully intended to reach for his cutlery – he came from the poor end of life, and that meant never passing up on a free meal. But just then Fritz extended his hand towards him and the other towards Rosita, who took it easily and took Graham’s hand. The small pack joined hands all down the table and, uncertainly, Raphael took Fritz’s and Robbie’s, ‘’whose praying?’’ Fritz asked in a calm, gruff voice.

‘’I will,’’ Rosita stepped up immediately and closed her eyes as Raphael glanced around the table, surprised. No one questioned the prayer, clearly the daily order of things, ‘’dear lord, we thank you for this food, even though we’ve had spaghetti three times this week. Please give Dom the strength to learn to cook new dishes, and without taking meth,’’ the pack chuckled at that but Dom was pretty much unresponsive, high off his head, ‘’thank you, oh lord, for bringing Raphael to Fritz as his mate. I think. I hope,’’ she peered up at the ceiling as if she was having a personal conversation with God, ‘’I don’t know if he’s a good thing yet. I’ll get back to you. Amen.’’

‘’Amen,’’ the table echoed as they let go of each other’s hands and dug into the food, resuming their conversations.

Raphael was still pretty surprise, though this explained the cross in Fritz’s room. Eventually, he dug into his food.

*~*~*

‘’We should go on a date.’’

‘’What?’’

True to his word, Fritz let Raphael go after dinner. Or, rather, he insisted on walking him back to Bay Street, even though Raphael was a pretty big guy and Fritz was more likely to get jumped. Still, it wasn’t exactly unpleasant, walking through the dark streets in the dying summer heat, ‘’I said we should go on a date,’’ now Fritz’s voice was grumpy – it was lower and a bit more slurred, ‘’like...for pizza, or something. Dunno. Never been on one.’’

‘’What’s the point? I’m not into guys and if I was, I’d definitely not bottom. That’s your wolf thing, right? You guys like the dominance and everything,’’ Raphael said.

‘’Don’t generalise,’’ Fritz’s voice was soft as he stared ahead, rather than at Raphael. Then, again, ‘’let’s go on a date. See if we...like each other.’’

‘’I’d like you if you were a girl,’’ Raphael said, shrugging, ‘’you’re a pretty chill guy, aside from the kidnapping and raiding our club.’’

An amused smile played on Fritz’s lips – Raphael had a feeling he didn’t smile often, ‘’the thing about mates...we don’t have to have a relationship or anything. We can just be mates, y’know? Sometimes just being around each other is enough.’’

Raphael frowned, ‘’enough for what?’’

‘’For me not to go crazy during the full moon.’’

Raphael stopped abruptly and Fritz turned in his direction, almost lazily, ‘’what do you mean?’’

‘’Don’t freak out,’’ Fritz shrugged again, like it wasn’t a big deal, ‘’every full moon, mated wolves feel the need to be with their mates. It’s just...a thing. New wolves are usually tied up. Those who just found their mates are, too, usually, cause the first few times can be...rough. But after that...’’ he glanced away. Clearly he wasn’t all that comfortable discussing it with a stranger, ‘’...I don’t think I’ll need you to touch me. Just being around you would...help.’’

‘’I get it,’’ Raphael said slowly, ‘’kind of. So instead of going on dates...we should just hang out sometime.’’

‘’Yeah,’’ Fritz nodded, a little stiffly, and began walking again, ‘’do you have a phone?’’

‘’I got one at the tattoo parlour, but not a personal one,’’ Raphael fell into step with his mate, ‘’I could give that to you?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ Fritz said gruffly, digging out his own phone. It was a shitty nokia, one that was practically extinct in 2017, but considering Fritz’s background and the fact that his pack was clearly squatting in an abandoned warehouse  it wasn’t surprising, ‘’here, just put it in...’’

Raphael did as they continued to walk. When he passed Fritz back his phone, they had turned onto Bay Street, ‘’look,’’ Fritz slowed, ‘’sorry about the whole raiding your turf thing. Figured we’d assert dominance and rumours of an illegal club made us think it was run by another gang.’’

‘’There’s no gang on Bay Street, or in the area.’’

Fritz nodded, ‘’yeah. Noted,’’ he exhaled slowly, ‘’and...sorry about forcing you to come with us. Kidnapping you, or whatever. I freaked when I felt that you were my mate. Went with my instinct.’’

‘’It’s cool,’’ Raphael said, and glanced at the shorted guy, ‘’what did it feel like? I mean...how did you know?’’

Fritz stopped altogether and glanced up at Raphael with blue eyes, ‘’I don’t know how to put it into words,’’ he said finally in a soft voice.

Raphael’s eyes flicked to his and then to his mouth, for some reason, ‘’why’d you stop?’’ he asked in a hoarse voice.

Fritz pointed down the road, ‘’cause there’s a cop car in front of your place and I don’t feel like getting arrested.’’

*~*~*

Jamie heard the bell to the coffee shop jingle as someone walked in. He had been standing with his back to the doors, facing his friends. A whole day had passed and still no sign of Raphael – they had failed him. And they were all pretty much dead from lack of sleep. Definitely couldn’t take on anyone in a fight, ‘’we’re closed,’’ Jamie barked, turning, and did a double take when he realised the cop from before – his mate – had walked in. Immediately he felt apprehension and distaste – those goddamned wolves, deciding to walk in everywhere and take whoever the fuck they wanted, ‘’how did you find me?’’ what they had tried to avoid had happened – they had directed the attention of the authorities at the last building on Bay Street.

This time, the officer was composed, ‘’by your scent,’’ he said in an earth-rich voice. Warm like coffee. Jamie hated coffee. The officer’s response earned him a few glares from Jamie’s friends, who had been filled in on the situation, ‘’I’m officer Diego Delarosa.’’

‘’I don’t care wha-‘’

‘’You said someone was kidnapped?’’ the officer cut him off, all business, ‘’I came to take you to the station, to fill in a proper report.’’

Jamie looked at him untrustingly, ‘’why can’t I do it here?’’

‘’That’s the procedure.’’

‘’I’ll go with you,’’ Gus offered in a small voice.

Jamie glanced at the officer again, ‘’and this has...nothing to do with the fact that...that we’re...’’

‘’Just doing my job, sir,’’ officer Delarosa said with a straight face.

Jamie blinked at being called sir, but eventually stepped forward, ‘’stay here, Gus,’’ he stomped past Delarosa, ‘’and you,’’ he jabbed a finger at his chest, ‘’better find Raphael.’’

‘’Aw man, you called the cops?’’

All heads whipped to the doors, where the bell had chimed again, notifying the group of Raphael’s arrival. Jamie’s entire form sagged, ‘’thank fuck.’’

‘’Raphael!’’ Gus yelled and ran for him, throwing his arms around his broad shoulders.

Raphael put one arm around him, ‘’damn, I was only gone a few hours.’’

‘’You were gone a whole day, asshole,’’ Val came over and smacked the boy upside his head, ‘’we were going out of our minds.’’

‘’I know, but...’’ Raphael ruffled Buster’s head as he came over and squeezed Art’s shoulder reassuringly, ‘’cops?’’

‘’You better have a good story about how you got out,’’ Val said.

‘’It’s...interesting,’’ Raphael admitted, ‘’you guys look like hell. Did you sleep?’’

Buster shook his head for everyone. Officer Delarosa stepped forward, ‘’alright, I’ll need you all at the station to make statements-‘’

‘’Look, officer,’’ Jamie cut in icily, ‘’we haven’t slept all day and to be honest, you couldn’t drag me any further from my bed right now if you had a whole SWAT team with you. Raphael has been found, no thanks to you, so why don’t you just...’’ Jamie made a shooing motion, ‘’be on your way? And next time, if you’re going to follow me, at least get here early enough to resolve the problem before it resolves itself.’’

Officer Delarosa stared at Jamie for a long while, amusement twinkling in his brown eyes, before he finally inclined his head, ‘’goodnight, then.’’

The group doubted they would have gotten away with it if the officer hadn’t been Jamie’s mate, willing to play his game, but Jamie didn’t even miss a beat, following the officer to the doors, ‘’trust me, it’s going to be.’’

‘’Thanks for the help!’’ Gus called after him as Jamie slammed the doors behind him.

He put his hands on his hips, ‘’there. That got rid of him.’’

Art came to stand next to Jamie, ‘’quite the opposite,’’ he said with a sigh, ‘’I think you just made him want to stay.’’

And, with that, summer vacation finally came to an end.