“Amelia, nice to see you again. I trust time has treated you well.”
“It has, Your Majesty, thank you.” She bowed again, but not as low as Magnolia had.
For the next fifteen minutes we were at the head of a lengthy queue of wolves who were required to let their beers grow warm while they bowed in a variety of heights and told us how thrilled they were to have us in their territory and how lovely it was to have me home again.
Like this had ever been my home.
The last wolf in line was a squinty, leering sort who I would give a wide berth to in a back alley or at a regular bar. Not that I was physically intimidated by him. Rather, something in his manner set off my spidey sense. He was on the wiry side of lean, and a hunger in his eyes suggested a small nudge would be enough to push him into dangerous losses of control. He smelled like trouble and was probably the main reason they’d been forced to stop socializing with humans.
He gave Lucas a midlevel bow and an appropriate—if forced—royal address. When he turned his attention to me, though, propriety shifted into something different. Not lust—I knew what that looked and felt like. No, this wolf wanted something other than sex, I just didn’t know what it was. He leaned a little too close and sniffed the air around me, nostrils flaring wide as he breathed me deep.
I stood my ground and stared him in his steel-blue eyes.
“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” I suggested, trying to give him an opportunity to fix the huge social mistake he was making. Lucas had gone rigid beside me, and it didn’t take our mate bond to know rage was simmering under that hard surface.
“Yes. How silly of me,” the wolf said, his voice raspy and holding the promise of something dirty and raw. “Your Royal Highness.” Those three words sounded filthy coming from his chapped lips. “What a great treat it is to have you home…mingling amongst us commoners.”
“Hank,” Amelia spoke up, “watch yourself.” But she wasn’t really scolding him. The way she said it was more like a parent chastising a child when they secretly found the bad behavior hilarious. The rest of the pack remained quiet and watched us.
“Apologies, Princess,” Hank said.
“Already forgiven.” I didn’t want to start trouble on our first night. And I didn’t want to jeopardize our tenuous peace here by kicking the shit out of a redneck werewolf in a wife beater and saggy Levi’s who couldn’t grow a proper beard.
“Real swell of you to take time from your life in the big city, spending time with all them…lesser sorts.”
At first I thought he meant the vampires and I tensed up, ready to make a break for the door. But when he licked his lips and grinned, I began to question the real meaning behind his words. My hesitation was rewarded when a short but well-muscled African-American werewolf next to the bar groaned and shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Hank, maybe I missed something. Must be the hair.” I laughed and twisted a blonde ringlet around my finger, doing my best impression of Brigit when she was trying to lure in a meal. “What do you mean by lesser sorts?”
“Hank…don’t.” This time Amelia’s warning was real, but still no one moved.
“Heard from some of the pack up there she spends an awful lot of time with some half-breed and his pretty blonde lady friend.”
By his abysmal description I was pretty sure he was talking about Nolan and Brigit. I also now knew exactly what he meant by lesser sorts.
I leaned in close, my lips almost against his ear. “Back away from this. Do it now and you won’t get hurt. But don’t mistake this for forgiveness.” When I stood back, I made sure the threat in my glare was clear
. If Hank and I met alone in the dark, one of us wouldn’t come back. No one talked about my people like they were anything less than the best specimens living or undead. And no one talked shit about Nolan.
Hank licked his lips then raised his hands in mock surrender. “Sure thing, sweetheart.”
Lucas intervened, clamping a hand on Hank’s shoulder before my urge to punch the son of a bitch in the face could be realized. “Hank, is it? Maybe your king is okay with you insulting members of your own pack to their face, but I won’t stand for your behavior. Secret is your superior, both in my pack and yours, and if you don’t treat her appropriately, you and I are going to have a discussion about how to show a lady respect.”
The lesser wolf looked like he might protest, but he didn’t get a chance.
Callum came into the room at that moment, and Hank dropped to the floor faster than if someone had screamed duck in the front lines of a war zone.
“Hank, have you been causing problems for my guests? For my family?” Callum placed an arm around my shoulder in an almost paternal gesture, unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.” The growl behind Callum’s words was unmistakable, and the violence it promised pulled me out of the momentary trance his touch had put me under.
“My King, I’m sorry. I meant nothing by it.”
“Then you won’t mind missing the rest of our festivities tonight.”
“I—”