by Raven Stone
Then Gabriel swept his eyes over all of us.
“Dinner will be ready soon. Italian okay?” he asked Nadia.
She smiled and nodded.
“Great,” he said, his gaze resting on me. “See you in a few?”
I nodded, then he led us all inside.
Chapter 61
Degarr – New York
Gabriel was right.
There were whispers and stares. We seemed to attract a lot of attention, as we went through the palace.
We went to my rooms, dropping off our things and giving Nadia a chance to get some water. After a brief rest, we headed towards the King’s office, and encountered the same looks and quiet whispers.
This really was a small community. Hell, it was practically a small town. I’d forgotten how those could be. It was just the newness, I reminded myself. Everyone loved having something new to talk about. I led Nadia and Jamie into the office, and came to an abrupt stop.
I’d thought Gabriel had meant dinner with him and Orleande, but I’d been wrong. The whole group was here: Cerone; Zine; Fiona; and Allura and Gideon in their human forms. I shot a look at Nadia. Was it too many? Would it be overwhelming? She’d never met someone’s friends and family before.
Her eyes were a little wide; her heartrate slightly increased. I caught her eyes and raised my eyebrows, but she gave me a small shake of her head. I took that to mean she was fine, but I made a note to keep an eye on her throughout the night.
“Are you going to introduce us, Degarr?” Cerone stood there with her hands on her hips, an amused look on her face. “Or just leave us all to stare at each other?”
Trust Cerone to be amused by this.
“Of course,” I said. “Cerone, this is Nadia,” I gestured, “and Nadia, this is Cerone, one of the Council members.”
“Nice to meet you,” Nadia said.
“Likewise.” Cerone shook Nadia’s hand, before stepping back and shooting a sly look at me.
“Don’t.” I warned her.
“Don’t what?” She gave me an innocent look. “Don’t ask her what her secret is? It took him fifty years,” she shot a look at Gabriel and then Orleande, “and her amount of time is downright epic. Of course I’m going to be curious. She’s achieved this in under a month,” she gestured towards Nadia, “and I might as well ask now. The humans are going to be pestering me for answers anyways.”
I could feel the weight of Nadia’s stare. I carefully avoided her eyes, and chose to focus on the pesky vampire in front of me instead.
“You’re exaggerating,” I said dryly.
“Unfortunately, John Degarr, she isn’t,” Zine interjected, stepping forward. “Each of us have been asked why you don’t seem to have a favorite, and now that you’ve brought someone home with you, I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Even you?” I asked.
Zine nodded.
I swept my gaze over the other vampires. “I’m sorry. I’ll ask them to stop.”
Zine gave me a smile. “You can’t order curiosity away, but I appreciate the thought.” She held her hand out to Nadia. “I’m Zine. I’m afraid you’re about to be deluged with questions, so please let me know if you need any help.”
Nadia gave her a beautiful smile, and shook her hand.
“You’re Zine? It’s nice to meet you.” Nadia shot a look at Jamie. “Jamie, she’s beautiful.”
And Jamie, my brash, outgoing wolf, turned a bright red.
Cerone chuckled. “You got the ginger to blush. I like you.”
Gabriel’s eyes got an interested glint in them, bouncing from Nadia, to Jamie, to me.
What did he see?
I didn’t have the opportunity to ask, because he chose that moment to step forward with Fiona. “We’ve met, of course, but I’d like you to meet my gatori, Fiona.”
Fiona stepped forward with a smile. “It’s great to meet you. I’d love to show you around or hang out sometime.”
“I’d like that,” Nadia replied.
“Great.”
They shook hands, then Fiona took a step back. Her gaze flicked to me, and then to Nadia, and back again. Her hesitation was clear in her movements, and in her expression. Fiona wasn’t my human, she wasn’t my lover, and she wasn’t my gatori.
But I was her safe place.
And the fact that I made anyone feel safe? Especially after what Alisha had put me through? That meant Fiona was damn important to me, even if she hadn’t been Gabriel’s.
“Don’t be stupid,” I said.
I opened my arms and she ran into them. I would simply explain things later to Nadia. Or now, if she asked.
Fiona wrapped her arms around me.
“John,” she said softly.
She’d started calling me that after moving to the palace, and spending enough time around me and Gabriel. Now, I felt the gentle touch of her vampire along my skin.
I tipped her chin upwards.
“If you do that, we’ll stand here for hours, and Jamie’s hungry.”
She let her vampire descend, and she gave me a smile.
“Jamie’s always hungry.” She slipped out of my arms, and shot a good-natured smile at my wolf. He returned her smile.
I took the moment to check Nadia. Her heartrate was normal, and she didn’t seem upset by my interactions with Fiona.
Gabriel stepped forward again, and my gaze shifted to him. I didn’t see any signs of jealousy in him either, in spite of the fact I’d just been hugging his gatori. He was probably used to it by now, and he knew our relationship wasn’t sexual, but I knew seeing another vampire have a close relationship with your gatori could be difficult, especially this soon after turning. Then again, he seemed to be fine with Fiona and Vonn too. Maybe he simply didn’t have a jealous bone in his body.
He gestured to the two wolves, standing there in human form. “This is Allura and Gideon – two of my friends, and guards.”
Allura shot him an unreadable look before stepping forward and holding out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you too.” Nadia smiled, then reached forward and shook Allura’s hand.
Moments after their hands connected, Nadia’s head tilted to the side. She didn’t say anything, though. Instead, she moved on to Gideon. Their hands had barely touched before she stared up at him, something flickering over her features as she let him go.
“They’re like you, Jamie,” she said softly. When he didn’t respond, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Aren’t they?”
His gaze bounced between the three of them. It was clear he wanted to answer Nadia, but it wasn’t his secret to tell.
Allura stepped forward.
“You’re right, little human.” Then her hand shot out, grabbing Nadia by the back of the neck and pulling her forward.
I growled, the sound rolling out of me without any thought. Jamie put a hand on my arm, even as Allura met my eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt her, heartwolf. I’m just curious.” Allura buried her nose in Nadia’s hair, and then sniffed along her skin.
Nadia was absolutely still.
God, what was Nadia thinking?
Allura’s nose came close to Nadia’s neck, and I growled again. The wolf looked up with a smile.
“Do you know what you’ve done, heartwolf? For that matter, do you know what you’ve done, Jamie?”
I shared a confused glance with my wolf.
“I think it’s safe to say we don’t,” I replied. “Now, will you please give me my human back?”
I asked the last question slowly, and carefully. Allura was dancing on the edge of something primal in me, taking my human like that, and I wasn’t sure she knew that about vampires.
“Now, Allura.” I demanded.
Allura let Nadia go with a smile. I took Nadia’s arm, pulling her back to me and wrapping my arms around her. Something in me calmed.
“You don’t know what you were toying with.” I told Allu
ra. “That was stupid.”
The wolf’s smile widened.
“You really think this is just about your vampire instincts, don’t you? All of that delicious anger and primal energy pumping through you right now,” she said.
I frowned at her. “You can be just as annoying as Cerone.”
“Hey!” Cerone protested.
“And of course this is my vampire instincts,” I continued. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“It was dangerous, yes, but not for the reasons you think. You’re right, your vampire instincts are at play, but so are your wolf instincts,” Allura replied.
“I don’t have any wolf instincts. I’m not a wolf,” I said.
“I beg to differ.” Allura shot a look at Gabriel. “We both know what you want to do to him.”
Claim him. Make him mine.
Something deep inside of me growled, and that sound spilled into the world.
Allura smiled.
“Exactly. And now you’ve formed a pack. When you finally claim him, I’m betting he will join it.”
White noise. For a moment, that was all I heard. I shook my head. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Let your human go,” Allura said. “I won’t touch her.”
I let Nadia go, handing her to Jamie. He pulled her to him, wrapping an arm around her waist and tipping her head up.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Nadia nodded.
“Why did you hand her to him?” My tormentor asked.
“Because she’s safe with him.” I crossed my arms.
“We are surrounded by your friends and lovers, Degarr. You could have handed her to any of them. Instead, you chose a wolf. Why?”
“Because it’s Jamie,” I gestured towards him, on the edge of losing my patience.
“Because he’s a member of your pack,” Allura said, albeit a bit gently.
“You’re nuts.”
“Am I?” Allura raised her eyebrows. “Gideon?”
Gideon shot me a wary glance. “Don’t pull me into this.”
Allura sighed.
“Don’t be a pussy, Gideon. I’m trying to prove a point here. Now sniff Jamie and Nadia, or touch them like you want them to join your pack,” she ordered.
Gideon’s gaze bounced between the two of us. It was clear he didn’t want to piss either of us off, but I also read curiosity in his eyes.
“Fine,” he said finally.
He went to Nadia and Jamie. He sniffed their hair first, then shot me a look. Slowly, carefully, he stroked both of their arms, his eyes on me the whole time.
Tension spread through me, like someone sinking metal hooks into me and stretching my skin thin. I tried to tell myself that it was tension any vampire would feel, at seeing another man touch their human and their wolf, but that was hollow, even to me.
“They both smell like you,” Gideon said.
“Of course they do. We just spent hours in a plane and a car together,” I replied.
He buried his nose in the juncture between Jamie’s neck and shoulder. It was something wolves often did, and it had never bothered me before. This time I stiffened.
Gideon noticed, and so did Allura.
“Your scent’s here, Degarr, just like it’s always been. Jamie’s scent is here too. But this time, your scent is wrapping around his. Do you want to explain that?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Did you spend the entire plane ride hugging him?” Gideon asked.
I blinked, my mind flashing back to that moment on the plane.
“Not the entire plane ride.”
Gideon’s eyes slid over to Nadia. “And your human? You hugged her too?”
“Yes.” I crossed my arms. “What are you getting at?”
Something lit in Gideon’s eyes. In the next moment, the color in them deepened, and they shifted over to his wolf eyes.
“Are they part of your pack? Or are they unclaimed?” His voice had gone a shade deeper.
Something dark and twisted bubbled in my stomach.
“They’re mine,” I said tightly. “But we’re not a pack. That’s impossible, since I’m not a wolf.”
He shot me a doubtful look. “You’re wolf enough to wrap your scent around them, to mingle your scent with their individual ones so any wolf will know they’re yours. But why don’t we test it? Why don’t I take the first step in marking him?” He looked down at the back of Jamie’s neck.
That thing in my stomach boiled upwards, filling my limbs with heat.
Gideon dropped his head, trailed his lips along the nape of Jamie’s neck, and I went mad.
Stark raving mad.
I grabbed Gideon by the throat, tearing him away from Jamie. I held him up in the air, taking his full weight. Fur rippled up and down his body.
“You will not shift.” I demanded, almost growling the words. “And you will not touch Jamie or Nadia. Not without their permission, and not without mine. Is that clear?”
Gideon stilled and the fur disappeared back into his body. He turned his head, his blue eyes meeting mine.
“Yes, Alpha,” he said. “I’ll do each of those things, if you will do something for me.”
“What’s that?” I asked warily, deliberately ignoring the Alpha comment. I just wanted the boiling rage in me to calm, and Gideon’s compliance was helping with that.
“Take the first step in inviting me to your pack.” Gideon gripped my arms, his eyes pleading with me.
Jesus.
I was holding him up in the air and all he could think about was joining my non-existent pack? And if I said yes, wouldn’t that mean that I suspected that he and Allura were right? That the feelings that had rippled through me tonight, had their echoes in other nights?
“Gideon,” Allura admonished.
“You know what I’m here for, Allura. You know why I moved back to the States. If I don’t need to leave the palace to get what I need, why should I?” he asked. “It’s not my fault you didn’t want to start your own.”
I shot a glance at her.
“He’s right,” she replied. “I didn’t want to start a pack. I’m not an alpha.”
“But you are,” Gideon directed towards me. “So invite me. Please.”
Fuck.
I probably could have denied the truth, and denied him, if not for that one soft word, and that pleading look in his eyes. The look that spoke volumes about his loneliness.
I lowered him to the ground and buried my nose in his hair. I breathed in his scent, then pushed his hair aside and ran my open mouth over the nape of his neck.
My vampire stirred, curious, and something deep inside of me stirred with him.
Gideon let out a low, shaky breath, his body trembling in my grasp.
“Alpha,” he breathed.
Holy fuck.
Chapter 62
Nadia – New York
I didn’t know what to think. About any of it. I wasn’t sure what to think about the woman – Fiona – who was supposed to be the King’s, but went into Degarr’s arms and melted like butter. And I sure as hell didn’t know what to think about the strange woman and man who had sniffed me, who were werewolves like Jamie.
What the fuck?
Who the fuck were these people?
I found myself staring at Degarr as he cupped my face with his hands, staring intently at me.
“Did she hurt you, love? Did either of them hurt you?” he asked.
“No.” I gripped his arm, the same arm that had easily dangled a grown man in the air like he was nothing. “You were never in danger with Esmond, were you? None of us were.”
He stroked my hair and kissed my forehead.
“No,” he said simply.
“Damn it, Garr,” Jamie said.
Degarr shot him a look. “You did well, Jamie. Well enough for me to feel comfortable moving forward.”
I sighed. “But I didn’t.”
“You just need to learn to trust me. That�
�s all,” he replied.
I glanced pointedly at our opulent surroundings, and then at Allura and Gideon.
“I trusted you enough to come here, and I trusted you while your friends did strange things to me.”
He laughed.
“You did.” He brushed his lips against my forehead again, and I trembled. “You did well. Now come on, you must be hungry.”
I followed him and the others into the next room. It looked like a living room that had been hastily converted into a dining room. A large table, laden with food and wine, filled the middle of the room.
Everyone settled around the table. Degarr and Jamie were on either side of me, with Zine and Cerone on the other side of Jamie, followed by Fiona, the King, and Orleande, and then Allura and Gideon brought the whole thing round again.
I reached for the wine in front of me, and Degarr deftly plucked it from my hand.
“I would suggest you stick to white wine or rosé while you’re here, otherwise you might get a taste for blood.”
I stared at the glass. The liquid inside was red, and thick. “Is that?”
“Blood,” he confirmed. “Pure blood, although sometimes it will be bloodwine.”
“Gotchya. I’m trying to stay away from wine for a while anyway,” I replied.
Degarr shot me a wry smile before setting a glass of water in front of me. I gave him a smile of thanks, then picked up my fork and dug into my food.
It was heavenly; a simple spaghetti with a sauce that tasted like it had taken hours to create. I might have made a noise or two.
Then again, the sounds coming from Jamie probably drowned me out. He finished one plate, and Degarr reached around me, giving his plate to Jamie. The two traded plates like they did this every day, and Jamie continued plowing through food.
“So, how did you two meet?” Zine asked.
“Don’t,” Degarr said into my ear.
“I tried to kill him,” I said at the same time.
Degarr sighed.
The King looked apoplectic, but I noticed Orleande appeared calm, simply giving Degarr a look that clearly said she expected something like that.
“John,” King Gabriel admonished.
