Dominic stood, kissing my cheek before pulling out my chair for me.
I dropped my book bag under the table and sat, keeping my gaze down.
King Venclaire asked calmly, “Did you also run into a fist while getting here?”
Dominic stilled on his chair.
I closed my eyes, thinking very unkind thoughts about the King Vampire. “No, definitely didn’t run into any fists.” I had dodged most of them.
“Your right eye,” Ezra, directly across from me, stated bluntly. “It’s bruised and I didn’t put it there during sparring.” Their damn Vampire sight was annoying.
Dominic jerked my chin up, leaving me blinking. I could see him just fine now from both eyes, which meant…he objected, “There’s nothing wrong with her eye.”
I kept the sigh of relief at bay, smiling at King Venclaire and Ezra. “See? Nothing’s wrong.” Truth.
Ezra raised a black brow and King Venclaire kept quiet. At least they weren’t going to blab or call me a liar. I would rather Dominic not know about me being bullied. He already worried enough.
I popped my neck, placing my napkin on my lap as a server brought a salad for me from the cart like everyone else had in front of them, and Dominic’s hand instantly moved to the back of my neck, massaging softly.
Across the table to my right, Pearl asked, “You’re Dominic’s mate? Lily Ruckler?”
“Yes,” I mumbled, trying not to groan as Dominic’s fingers worked their magic on my sore muscles. “And you’re Pearl Cooper.” I studied the guy sitting next to her. A Mage. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name. Are you Pearl’s mate?”
He nodded, smiling. He was the masculine equivalence to her feminine beauty. They fit. “I’m Gideon Brooks, and yes, I’m Pearl’s mate.” He stared at my hair curiously. “You’re a Shifter, but I’ve never met anyone like you before. Excuse me if it’s impolite, but I’d love to know what you shift into.” His accent was just as cool as Pearl’s. English accents rocked.
“A wolf,” King Kincaid stated, answering for me.
“Really?” Jack Collins asked. “In your shifted form, are you red, like your hair?”
“She’s beautiful in her shifted form,” Dominic specified bluntly, also not letting me speak. “A perfect red wolf.”
Pearl smiled, understanding what I already knew. He really did find me beautiful. Tiny and all. “What’s your mate gift? Ours is empathy.” She grinned with a twinkle in her eye. “We’ve found its uses entertaining.”
I almost choked on my drink, knowing full well what she was talking about. We had also been afforded empathy. We weren’t supposed to have two gifts, another oddity of my hybrid nature, so we kept the empathy strictly to the bedroom.
“Telepathy,” Ezra answered quietly. “They have telepathy.”
I knew he wasn’t unintelligent. Didn’t miss much.
“What’s it like?” Jack asked as he placed his fork aside, done with his salad, reminding me that I needed to eat my own quickly before the server took it away.
“It’s,” Dominic paused to chew a bite of his salad, taking his hand away from my neck to dab at his mouth with his napkin, “very helpful.” He left it at that.
I stuffed my mouth so as not to blab about how helpful it had been — many times — with my fearless wolf causing a ruckus during the month after my first shift.
“You know,” King Venclaire murmured, his lips twitching, “I heard the oddest conversation the other day.” He watched King Kincaid. “There was a fox seen taking on a mountain lion near your lands. Did you hear anything about that?”
My eye twitched.
Dominic choked on his water.
Christ. My shifted wolf form was as small as a fox, another twist, which all four Kings knew specifically from my Awakening. Yesterday, I had wandered off from the group and met with a mountain lion Shifter who was traveling in shifted form to the King’s house. I hadn’t known the person and had acted instinctively to protect.
I hadn’t told King Kincaid and Dominic about that, and after we had shifted, bloody and tired, I had made the mountain lion Shifter promise not to say anything. And, yeah, we had been off Kincaid’s property. Out in the open. Unwise. King Venclaire obviously had spies around the place now that he was in town.
King Kincaid cleared his throat, not glancing my way, stating, “Yes. I did hear that. We’ve been having a few incidences with an errant fox.” Lie. His wolf growled quietly. “We plan to take care of any issues such as that better in the future.” Truth.
I started to sweat. King Kincaid really didn’t sound happy. If he only knew half the “incidences” I had gotten myself into, I would probably be booted from the house.
King Venclaire snickered. “Sounds like a willful animal. Good luck taming it.”