“Thank you,” Pearl nodded, giving Buttercup a quick kiss on the forehead.
“What about you, Jack?” Ezra asked, sitting directly across from me.
Jack sat next to him holding his lion cub, which was a perfect tawny color, close to his chest. “I’m going to name him after the direction of my element.” He chuckled when we stared at him. “West, people. West is my element’s direction.” He held the cub in front of his face, and spoke softly, “West is your name.” He got a lick of gratification on his chin.
My jaw dropped at the same time Antonio chuckled hard.
“What?” Jack asked, pulling the cub back to his chest protectively. “It’s a good name.”
Antonio glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.
My gaze darted back and forth between Jack and Pearl as I sputtered, “Have you two never seen The Princess Bride?” It wasn’t completely the same, but it was close.
“No,” Jack answered slowly, his eyebrows coming together.
Pearl shrugged, shaking her head.
Antonio jerked his head toward me. “It was her favorite movie growing up.” He rubbed his forehead. “I think I can probably recite the whole damn thing, we watched it so many times.”
I continued looking back and forth between Jack and Pearl, but they were waiting for clarification, so I fluttered a hand. “Never mind. Probably a fluke.”
Antonio snorted, then his lips quickly thinned.
Or not. Oh, my. I was sure my eyebrows were almost in my hairline.
Jack’s eyes narrowed as he watched me.
Again. Oh, my. Now I understood what Jack had been saying this morning when helping me with my clothes. A quick glance at Pearl told me she had no clue yet. I swiftly averted my gaze to Ezra, who was staring at me with an arched eyebrow.
He murmured quietly, “I’ve seen the movie.”
I pressed my lips together as his head cocked to check out the other two.
Jack flipped his hair out of his eye and stared Ezra straight on when their eyes met.
“Interesting,” Ezra whispered.
“And shut up and butt the fuck out,” Jack whispered, just as quietly, fully comprehending that his little secret was no longer secret.
Ezra and I both nodded once.
“Jack, grab West before he attacks Buttercup,” Pearl blabbered quickly, her attention fully caught on West, who had snuck across the table and was lying on his belly with his head hanging over the side right in front of Pearl, staring avidly at Buttercup. He didn’t really appear like he was going to attack, just staring, but Pearl didn’t understand that they were ‘friendly’ yet.
And as I quickly snatched West up when Pearl started to squawk when he reached a paw out to Buttercup, Jack didn’t understand either. Jack’s jaw hung open in blatant shock as I set West next to Bonnie, who was staring across the table at Clyde, who was returning the favor. West bent and sniffed Bonnie, and she pulled her attention away from Clyde to sniff at him curiously.
Clyde didn’t like this so much.
I don’t think any of us anticipated the level of hostility Clyde had in him as he had behaved ever since Ezra had talked with him. West wasn’t a small lion cub, but he was about an inch shorter than Clyde and had a little less muscle definition. You wouldn’t think that would have been a big deal, but add in Clyde’s instant fury, and it made for a bad situation for West.
Clyde gave a furious hiss and pounced straight on West, using his big paws and claws against the cub’s chest to knock him onto his back, snarling and batting at him.
“Shit,” Ezra muttered, jumping to his feet.
“Stop him!” Jack shouted, smacking the back of his hand against Ezra’s chest. “West didn’t do anything wrong.” His chair fell over as he got to his feet.
“Now that’s more like it,” Elder Jacobs stated, watching as the cubs rolled and fought each other, not playfully at all.
“I got a hundred on Clyde,” King Venclaire stated instantly to King Kincaid, who shook his head, not taking the bet.
“Clyde,” Ezra yelled. “Stop that right now.”
Clyde paused, glancing up at Ezra. He had a dab of blood on his nose from a nasty bite to West’s ear. And that moment of distraction caused him to get raked across his face by West’s claws. Demanded or not by his owner to behave, Clyde still growled at West, his ears lowering.
“West, stop!” Jack ordered harshly.
West’s claws disappeared, but he bared his teeth at Clyde. Clyde huffed at him, but when no other attack came, his head began darting between Ezra and Bonnie, his huge paws pattering in place on the table. He appeared anxious, especially when he glanced away from them to West, then back to Bonnie, making a whimpering sound in his throat as he danced around.