Page 22 of The Runaway Mate

“How you holding up?” Sofia put down a coffee in front of me.

I breathed in the scent of smoky dark roast. “Thank you, you’re a lifesaver!”

“Just doing my job.”

I took a sip and sighed in pleasure. “Well, you’re amazing at your job. Is the owner around so I can sing your praises?”

Sofia slid into the booth. “Nah, she pops in now and then, but she leaves it to me most days.”

I watched as Sofia took in the elderly Shifter couple sharing a slice of carrot cake, the human dad with his five-year-old kid who was drinking a baby cappuccino, the ones that were just frothy milk, and had a splodge of white froth on the end of her nose, and the other barista, a sixteen-year-old human goth who’d been introduced to me as Brian, who was humming a Taylor Swift song as he wiped the tables. Sofia smiled.

“You like it here.”

She looked back at me. “Yeah, I do. I get to talk to different people here. Doesn’t matter if they’re human or Shifter, if they are office workers, pizza deliverers, CEOs, or cleaners. I get to watch their faces light up when they take their first sip of coffee or bite into the homemade muffins. Life is stressful, Mai. In here, they get to take a break for a while. Relax. Just enjoy the small things, you know?”

“Plus, everyone talks to you, and you get to know everyone’s business, sometimes even before they do,” I guessed.

Sofia laughed. “Yeah, there is that.”

“What about your parents? Do they come here, too?”

Sofia’s parents had never liked me. They weren’t exactly supporters of Oliver, but they were quiet people. They didn’t want to rock the boat, stick their necks out, or bring any attention to themselves. Especially the type of attention Oliver gave. Me? I was trouble. As Jem’s sister, they could see that being my friend would only put Sofia in the firing line. They forbade her to see me. Something she completely ignored.

“Ah, yes, my parents.” Sofia tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear. “They moved two years ago. Went out west to join my mom’s sister.”

“I didn’t know she had a sister.”

“They didn’t like to talk about her much. I’ve only met her a couple of times. She married a witch, so they went off the radar for a long time.”

Witches and werewolves mixing was frowned upon. Witches were even banned from practicing in the northeast ever since a witch called Simon Webster tried to create a spell that would put all werewolves under his control. He nearly succeeded, which freaked out the Wolf Council and led to a purge of all witches in a thousand-mile radius of where Webster lived.

“They had a couple of kids. The daughter got into trouble a couple of years back, and Mom and Dad moved to help my aunt deal with her.”

I blinked. “Your parents? Moved toward controversy and attention?”

Sofia laughed. “I know, right? They were all ‘fuck no’ when I wanted to stand up for what I believed in, but as soon as Jase and I moved out, they packed up and moved to help their niece, who was making waves with Wolf Council and threatening to burn the whole thing down. And they’re helping her do it! Can you believe it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. Mom and Dad saw the difference that Jem and Hayley made here. They knew how unhappy I was when Oliver was the Alpha. I think they realized that keeping their heads down and ignoring things didn’t make anything better. If you want to change things, you have to step up. This is them stepping up.”

“For your niece and aunt, though. Not for you or Jase.”

Sofia shrugged. “In their own way, they think it is. They want to change how the whole Wolf Council is run. They think that will make things better for everyone, me and Jase included.”

“Well, I’m impressed as hell. I never thought of Mr. and Mrs. Miller as agents for political change or guerilla fighters wanting to change the system! You weren’t tempted to go with them?”

“We weren’t exactly on speaking terms when they left. Besides, Jase was here, and he needed a place to stay.”

“He lives with you?”

Sofia nodded. “We have an apartment upstairs. It works for us. Though I could do without his numerous girlfriends leaving their bras lying on the couch.”

My eyes widened. “I can’t picture little Jase Miller dating!”

“Trust me, you don’t want to picture it. Or see it in person. It will scar you for life.”

“What about you? Any boyfriends hanging around?”

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