I chuckled, jerking my head at Ezra. “He’ll probably name his something barbaric like Zeus.”
Ezra grunted. “I know what I’m going to call him.” He glanced at his dad. “I’ve had the name picked for years in case we got one.” He chuckled as his dad’s eyes narrowed. “I had to come up with something better than,” he coughed, “Bastard.”
“The name he picked isn’t much better,” Cahal grumbled, eyeing my clothes.
“It wasn’t always such,” Antonio said quietly.
“Bastard?” I asked, ignoring his dad and Antonio.
Ezra jerked his head toward Cahal. “That’s what he named his eagle.”
Hmm. I was betting Cahal had been miffed that he hadn’t been top dog.
Eyeing the little lioness, I picked her up. She immediately stopped hissing and rubbed her cute head against my face, peering at me with the most beautiful golden eyes. I smiled. “Bonnie. I’m going to name her Bonnie because she’s so pretty.” I wasn’t going to be mean and name her something horrible because I was upset Ezra had more power than me.
She licked my cheek. Guess she liked it.
Ezra made that funny noise in his throat, and he sputtered, “Seriously?”
“I know it’s not a tough name, but,” I kissed her nose, “she’s gorgeous.”
Cahal snorted, coughing over it, and turned his back to everyone.
“Well, what’s this name you’ve had forever?” King Nelson persisted.
Ezra cleared his throat, staring hard at his cub and rubbing the back of his neck. His dad glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. Ezra cleared his throat before sighing and saying quietly, “Clyde.”
I blinked. Clyde was the special name he’d had picked forever?
King Venclaire laughed outright. “Oh, that’s perfect.”
King Fergus and King Nelson nodded, chuckling hard.
King Kincaid raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Lord help me, not Bonnie and Clyde.”
Huh?
I blinked slowly as comprehension dawned.
Well, there was nothing to be done about it now. I had already named her. And I guess it fit.
“Clyde?” Elder Merrick asked, his nose wrinkling in distaste.
Ezra’s hooded gaze snapped to him, but before he spoke his dad murmured softly, “We adopted a tabby cat when Ezra was a toddler. He ended up with cancer and died a few years later. The shelter had named him Clyde and we never changed it.” His dad’s lips lifted in a soft smile, making me stare again. “Ezra called him ‘Tide’ for almost a year because he couldn’t pronounce it right.”
“Dad,” Ezra grumbled, his jaw hard and cheeks pinking.
Cahal shrugged, unrepentant about embarrassing his son.
Elder Merrick’s lips twitched. “Little putty tat make a lasting impression?”
Ezra’s eyes flashed. “He was a protective animal that died too soon.”
The male cub, newly named Clyde, peered up and growled at Elder Merrick.
I stepped forward into Ezra’s line of sight, since the furious vampire appeared like he wanted to rip the Elder’s throat out. And damn Elder Merrick for taunting him, especially when he knew Ezra was already out of sorts with regard to him. Tilting my head, I asked, “What else should I know about our Vizoacs?” I held his infuriated gaze when he looked my way, and I could tell he was barely holding it together by the squint to his eyes.
He inhaled sharply and his free hand, which wasn’t petting his cub, fisted, but he said evenly, “They understand when spoken to and do exactly as the owner says.” He glanced at the cubs. “Normally, they hate each other, but work together when needed.”
Antonio walked past me, whispering, “And they’re said to have a touch of your essence.”
Ezra’s eyes darted to him. “That, too.” Green eyes met mine.
Oh! No wonder they didn’t mind each other.
Glancing down at Bonnie, I watched as she sat when the Kings and Elders began talking amongst themselves. And pretty much fluttered her eyelashes at Clyde. I choked and quickly snatched her off the table. “You know, I think I’m going to have a talk with her.” If she could understand me, she and I needed to have a conversation about discretion. Now.
Ezra’s lips lifted, not missing Bonnie’s antics. “That would be wise.”
Rejoining the group after my ‘talk’ with Bonnie in the hallway about restraint, I sat at the long conference table and placed Bonnie on it. Jack and Pearl had finally joined the group. They had been late because their cubs had found them, both of them immediately knowing what the animals were since they apparently paid better attention in history class than I did. I nodded toward Pearl’s lioness cub, which was almost blond in color and larger than Bonnie. “What are you going to name her?”
She grinned as everyone began to seat themselves around the table. “Buttercup.”
I smiled at the lioness, who was grooming herself on Pearl’s lap. “It fits.” My grin grew. “I’ve always loved that name.”
Antonio rolled his eyes, understanding.