Royally Entangled

by Catherine Banks

  Werewolf.

  He grabbed the backpack from where the criminal had dropped it and held it out to me. “Here you go,” he said with a wide smile.

  I took it and smiled. “Thank you, so much.”

  The werewolf was a few inches over six feet, had a beard and goatee similar to Rhys’s, black, slicked back hair, and was obviously of Italian heritage. The leather jacket he had on only added to his masculine appearance, which my inner Jolie was drooling over. This town had a lot of hot guys. I was so glad I had moved here.

  Police showed up, but paused when they saw the werewolf with his foot on the guy. “Deryn,” they called in greeting. “We’ve got it from here.”

  The werewolf raised his foot and stepped back so that he was beside me. “He snatched this woman’s bag,” he explained. “Lots of witnesses to attest to that.”

  The police nodded and handcuffed the guy whose eyes were wide as saucers as he stared up at Deryn. Was he scared because he was a werewolf? Or was there another reason? The cops seemed to know him.

  “I’m Deryn,” he said to me and held out his hand, still smiling wide.

  I shook it. “Jolie. Thanks again, Deryn. I don’t know what I would have done if he had gotten away with this.” I slung my backpack onto my shoulders and pulled my hair out from under the straps. “Do you work near here? I could take you out to lunch as repayment for helping me.”

  He smirked. “You don’t have to repay me for doing what was right. However, I’d love to go out on a date with you.”

  “I can’t go out tonight,” I said a bit sadly. I had a raid planned with my clan and I couldn’t back out on them. We were determined to beat the hard raid.

  “What about making it a lunch date then?” he asked.

  I smiled and felt my shoulders rise. “Okay.”

  He took out a pen, pulled the cap off with his teeth, and held his hand out, palm up. I set my hand in it and he turned it over to write his phone number on my palm. He took the cap out of his mouth and put it back on the pen.

  “Text me the time and place and I’ll be there,” he promised.

  I nodded and smiled, glancing down at his number. “Okay.”

  With a wave, he walked away, head held high, shoulders back, and smiled at everyone he passed by. His butt looked incredible in those jeans and I wasn’t the only woman to notice. With one last look, I turned and went to work.

  “You’re late,” Justina said and shook her finger at me. “Lucky for you, everyone is in a meeting, so they won’t know.” Justina was tall, thin, and gorgeous. She was part Egyptian and part Italian, add in being a dhampir, and she was almost perfect. I had met her when I came to interview over a month ago and we had instantly become friends, texting nonstop since that day.

  “Thanks,” I said and plopped down into my computer chair. “Some jerk tried to steal my backpack.”

  “Oh no!” She gasped and rushed to me. “Did he hurt you? Are you alright?”

  She grabbed my arms, raised them, and spun me around to search for injuries.

  I shooed her worries away and sat back down. “A werewolf was on the bus and stopped him for me. So, I wasn’t injured at all.”

  She smirked, a knowing look on her face. “Oh! Was this a sexy werewolf? Not that they make any other kind!”

  I chuckled and nodded as I looked down at my hand with his number on it. “Definitely was. He asked me on a lunch date.”

  “A lunch date! Damn girl, you move fast! Wasn’t it just last night that you were with that dragon?”

  I blushed and mumbled. “Yeah.” Now, I was really regretting telling her about that. I should keep things like that to myself.

  “Hey, no judgments here! I try to get two different men each week, though my options are slim lately, but that may be my high standards. Just make sure you give me more juicy details!” She laughed, throwing her head back as she did.

  “Where should we go?” I asked Justina. “I don’t really know any of the lunch places here.”

  “Fifth Street Bistro,” she said immediately.

  I sent a text to the number he had provided, glad that my hands weren’t sweaty, since that happened somedays.

  Me: This is Jolie from this morning. Thank you again for getting my bag back. How does noon at Fifth Street Bistro sound?

  “You need to get pictures of these guys for me,” she said. “Work best friends share everything.”

  I chuckled. “I’ll try.” I’d love to have pictures saved

  Deryn: Sounds great. Can’t wait to see you again.

  She peered over my shoulder and whistled. “You are so getting laid tonight.”

  I put my phone away and shook my head. “Stop it.”

  “I’m jealous,” she said and sat down in her chair. “It took me a week to find some good males here.”

  “I definitely like this town better than my hometown,” I said with a smirk and laughed.

  The meeting ended and our coworkers came out, chatting and going to their desks, ending our reprieve. Should I feel bad for going on two dates in as many nights? Neither had been premeditated. Neither had been expected.

  I became engrossed in my work, letting the story take me, and it wasn’t until Justina yelled my name that I snapped back into reality.

  “What?” I asked, taking my headphones off and looking up at her.

  “Lunch!” she yelled at me. Several people turned to look at us, but I ignored them, leapt to my feet, and grabbed my ID and cash out of my backpack.

  “Thank you!” I yelled back and ran out of the office, shocked to find it was five minutes until noon already. On the elevator ride down, I typed in the address and used my maps app to find it. Justina saved me by giving me a location only a block away, so I wouldn’t be late.

  I walked outside, smoothing my clothes, taking deep breaths to calm down. I had dated werewolves before, and they were great at smelling emotions. I did not want him to think that I was nervous about our date, or flustered. I turned the corner and saw the bistro, it was pretty busy already, and standing outside was Deryn.

  I took one last deep breath and walked towards him, confident and relaxed, with a wide smile on.

  “Hi,” I said to get his attention since he was texting or emailing someone on his phone.

  He looked up and smiled. “Hi.”

  “You wait long?” I asked, despite the fact I was exactly on time.

  He shook his head and slipped his phone into his pocket. “Nope. How has work been?”

  We got into the long line of patrons, and I turned to face him. “Pretty good, actually. I would have been late for lunch if my friend hadn’t shown me the time.”

  “What do you do?” he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

  “I’m a video game writer,” I answered truthfully.

  His eyes widened. “You game?”

  I nodded, not surprised that he was shocked by that. A lot of males were shocked to discover that I played videogames. They were even more shocked when they found out how much I played. “Yes, I do. Do you?”

  “Lots!” he said happily. “What’s your favorite type of game?”

  “RPGs and FPSs.”

  “Me too! Have you played Ghost 2 yet?”

  “Only every night since it came out,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Did you beat the hard raid?”

  “Not yet. My clan and I tried last night, but got hung up on the last part.”

  “That’s awesome that you game. I haven’t met a girl in real life who games before.”

  “We’re out there, just few and far between.”

  “That’s an understatement,” he said and chuckled. “So, what’s a gorgeous gamer girl like you doing single?”

  He thought I was gorgeous? I knew I was attractive, but I would never have described myself as gorgeous. I had long, dark brown hair that was naturally wavy, high cheekbones, thick lips, and an hourglass figure. Even with how much I played video games, I made sure to work out and eat he
althy most of the time, so I was in good shape.

  “I just moved here from out of state.”

  “Really? Maybe I can take you for a tour?” he offered. “Show you the best parts of the city?”

  “I would like that,” I replied and stepped forward, following the line as it moved.

  “What do you think of our city so far?”

  “I really like it. I like the diversity here and how everyone gets along.” I also liked that there didn’t seem to be many vampires here. I was hoping to avoid vampires as much as possible. They were not my favorite race of Others.

  “Deryn,” a deep voice called.

  Deryn turned and scowled at the large male behind him. The male had dark sunglasses on and was a brick wall brought to life.

  “What?” Deryn asked, irritated by this male’s presence. They obviously knew each other, but that didn’t explain why he was upset by him just talking to him.

  “You’re wanted at headquarters,” the male said.

  “I’m busy,” Deryn snarled. “It can wait.”

  “It’s urgent.”

  Deryn rubbed his temples. “You guys always say that, and when I get there, nothing important is going on.”

  “I’m just the messenger,” the male said and shrugged.

  Those around us were slowly moving away from Deryn and the newcomer, their eyes wide, and stances stiff. Why were they scared? Was it because Deryn was a werewolf? I couldn’t see people in this city being scared of an Other, since there were so many of them here.

  “Fine,” Deryn said with a sigh. He turned to me and said, “I’m really sorry about this. It’s a family matter.”

  Pack matter, was what he meant.

  I smiled. “No problem.”

  “Dinner, tonight?” he asked. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Okay, if it’s early.” I could go to dinner with him and then get home and raid with my clan afterwards. I would make it work.

  He kissed my cheek and inhaled sharply. “I’ll send you details later. Thanks for understanding.”

  He left and people looked at me questioningly. I realized with a sigh, that I hadn’t snapped a picture of him for Justina, but it was too late. She would have to wait until later to get a picture. I ordered a quick bite to eat and took it back to work with me.

  I ended up staying late at work to help some coworkers with a project, so I didn’t even get to go home before my date with Deryn. Justina had been bummed that I hadn’t gotten a picture yet, but I promised her that I would try tonight. That had appeased her enough she loaned me a change of clothes for my date. I asked her why she had the clothes in her desk, and she had simply said, “You never know when you’ll need them.”

  I stood outside of the restaurant Deryn had chosen and rubbed my arms against the chill that was starting to set in. A drink sounded really good right now.

  “Waiting long?” he asked as he approached.

  I smiled and shook my head. “Nope.”

  He wore a pair of slacks and a button up shirt that accentuated his strong arms incredibly well. Yes, I had a huge thing for biceps. Well, muscles in general.

  I wore a nice blue dress, that hugged all the places men appreciated the most. Thank goodness Justina and I were the same size.

  “You look amazing,” he whispered and leaned forward to inhale my scent next to my chin.

  I inhaled his scent back and practically purred. He smelled like pine. “You look great, too.”

  He quirked his eyebrow. “You’ve dated a werewolf before?”

  I nodded.

  “How long ago?” he asked.

  “Two years ago,” I informed him. Knowing he would want to be sure that he wasn’t overstepping another wolf’s grounds, I added, “I’m completely unattached.”

  He smiled wide and pulled open the door for me. “Just what I wanted to hear.”

  The restaurant was incredible, reminding me of an opera house, with thick, burgundy drapes and low lighting. The host took us to a table that had been marked reserved, and they immediately brought out champagne and two flute glasses.

  Deryn raised his glass of champagne. “To new friends.”

  I smiled and clicked my glass against his. “New friends.” I took a long drink and then looked at the menu. It was extravagant and expensive, I wanted to try it all.

  “What do you recommend?” I asked and set my menu down.

  “The prime rib is amazing,” he replied, still looking at his menu.

  “I’ll have that then,” I said with a nod of my head, glad I had a decision made.

  He looked up at me and smiled. “I know you’ll love it.”

  “So, what type of work do you do?” I asked him.

  “I make a lot of decisions for the family business,” he replied. “My dad is the CEO, but he’s training me to take over and decided the best way to train me is just to hand me the reins for ninety percent of the operation.”

  “That sounds like a lot of work,” I said sadly. He wasn’t that old, but had a lot of responsibility.

  He smiled, joy filling him again. “Yeah, but I get a lot of time off to spend with my friends.”

  “What do you do for fun, besides play games?” I asked.

  “My friends and I usually hang out and drink, or play something together. We’re all really busy and have high level jobs, so the time we spend together is strictly relaxation time.”

  That sounded really nice. Sounded like what I needed.

  “And why is a sexy, alpha werewolf like you single?” I asked, resting my chin on my linked hands on the table, raised up on my elbows.

  “Haven’t found the right one,” he said with a shrug.

  “Well, I’m flattered to be considered,” I whispered huskily.

  He smiled and mimicked my position. “I’m glad that I found you early on.”

  “Oh?”

  “I know you’ll have plenty of suitors knocking down your door once you’ve been here a while.”

  “I doubt that, but I’m glad I met you early as well.”

  He smiled at me, and it warmed me all the way to my toes.

  My phone buzzed, and I looked at it.

  Dragonknight: We still raiding?

  Shit. I had forgotten to message them.

  Me: Be on in an hour or two.

  Dragonknight: Okay.

  “Everything alright?” Deryn asked.

  “Forgot to message my clan that I would be late to raid tonight because of our date.”

  “Do you need to go?” he asked, completely serious.

  He would let me leave our date early to go game? This guy was definitely a keeper!

  “No, thank you. I let them know I’d be on in a couple of hours.”

  “I really wouldn’t mind,” he said. “I know what it’s like when you make plans with your clan. Especially, if you and your clan members don’t live near each other.”

  Was he perfect or was I dead? Had that bus actually hit me and everything after was just a dream?

  “I appreciate it, immensely, but they understand that I just moved here and I need to meet people in real life.”

  “My lucky day,” Deryn said with a wide smile.

  “Your orders?” a waiter asked.

  Deryn held open the taxi door, looming over me as I stepped up to him. “I had a great time tonight,” he said softly and brushed some hair behind my shoulder.

  “Me too,” I said sincerely and stood up on tiptoe to kiss him lightly on the lips. “I’d love to do it again.”

  He leaned down and kissed me deeply, his tongue sweeping across mine. I leaned into him, as we continued to kiss. He tasted like champagne and strawberries. When we finally separated, I was grinning like a fool.

  “Good night, Jolie.”

  “Good night, Deryn.”

  The taxi dropped me off, and I took the stairs up to my apartment, needing some exercise. Deryn was a lot of fun and super sexy. I would definitely be calling him to hang out sometime soon. He was really
easy to be around.

  Rhys was sexy, but I didn’t really know much about him. That was something I could fix by going out with him again, on an actual date. But damn, that sex had been great!

  After taking a shower, I sat down to turn my game on, but saw my phone blinking.

  Deryn: I enjoyed tonight. Maybe Saturday we could get together to game? I’ve got a lot of old school games, including some karting games.

  I smiled and chewed on my nail as I debated what to say.

  Me: I enjoyed tonight as well. That prime rib was amazing. Saturday should work. I’ll text you Friday night to confirm?

  Deryn: Sounds great. Can’t wait to see you again.