My mouth full again, I nodded, and then found my plate fascinating in examination.
That was, until Ezra, who was sitting next to his dad across the table, reached to grab the salt from the middle of the table, and King Kincaid went quiet. Predatory quiet. More than likely, only a Shifter would notice his animal’s wildness silencing, so only Fi and I glanced at him. He was peering down at his plate with his nostrils flared.
Unexpectedly, he moved so brutally fast he scared the shit out of me. He stood, seizing my arm and jerking me to my feet. I dropped my fork and my chair knocked over, but I did manage to keep my yelp at bay. He proceeded to drag me away from the table at a fast clip, not saying a word, working his way through the tables to the woods behind.
No one tried to stop us, and after the initial movement, I tried to keep up the best I could, so we wouldn’t make a scene for whatever this was about. Honestly, only a few people noticed, thank goodness. When we were past the tree line, he continued stalking, taking us deeper into the woods, so far that no one would be able to hear us. Eventually, he halted, releasing me with a jerk.
Pacing back and forth between oaks, his wolf growled low and, still being cautious, quietly he hissed, “I thought King Venclaire told you to be private about your goddamn affair!” His nostrils flared. “And, today, of all days, you decide it’s a great idea to fuck a Vampire on school property?” His wolf snarling, he got right in my face, making my own wolf want to growl, but I knew better than that. “Tell him as soon as he’s done eating to dunk himself in the damn pond. He reeks of you. Any Shifter who comes within a few feet of him is going to recognize, at the very least, he’s sleeping with a wolf Shifter. And no-one can fucking know!”
His forehead banged against mine, staying there, so our eyes were an inch apart. “Both of you need to get your fucking acts together before you two start a goddamn revolt! You’re going to be the Queen Shifter. He’s going to be the King Vampire. The two don’t mix, unless it’s behind a locked, sealed, and barred damn door, and even then, to almost every single Mys out there, it’s fucking wrong. Do you understand me?”
I nodded. I had figured it out, but couldn’t explain the truth. It was because of Ezra’s arm. When he had held me…well, the sexual fluid of a Shifter gives the animal away to one of our kind. Even though we smelled of each other from dancing, this was a different scent entirely, and no amount of grooving on the dance floor could explain the situation away.
He started stalking away, and pointed at me. “I expect you to call some of those Shifters by tomorrow.” An order. How lovely. He continued marching through the trees, rubbing a hand over his face repeatedly, and then began strolling normally before he was out of my view through the vegetation.
I was thankful at the moment that Aros and Felix had stayed back. Whenever King Kincaid and I talked privately, they were instructed to guard at a distance for privacy. Good damn rule.
My wolf was more than a little ticked but I, myself, felt like crying in frustration. I walked it out, pacing back and forth, only sniffling a few times and blinking rapidly to keep any tears from falling. When I felt I had better control of myself, I made my way out of the woods, and back to my table. I could sense the individuals at my table eyeing me, but I moved casually and calmly, and sat on my chair, which had been righted.
I kept my eyes on my plate, and sighed, realizing I needed a fork to eat with since mine was under the table somewhere. After getting another one, I sat back down and made myself eat. I was not going to pass out today. Food was a must.
Once I had finished, not hearing a word of the conversation around me and really hoping no one had tried to converse with me, I lifted my glass and perused the table’s occupants. Cahal and King Venclaire were both casually watching me as they talked to one another. Ezra was too, but more covertly, as he spoke with his mom about her lessons. After listening for only half a minute, I decided that if I were her student, I would probably run. By the sound of it, under all of that pretty and sweet was a hard woman. Opportunity knocked when Cahal and King Venclaire turned to view something behind them.
Stealthily, I tapped my nose and then my arm, before they returned to coolly watching me while talking between themselves, and I placed my glass down, fiddling with my fork.
Ezra’s conversation stalled. “Mom, I’ll be back in a second.” Smart, he was.
“Okay,” she murmured, confused, as he stood from his chair and sped away in a blur.
King Venclaire and Cahal flat out eyed me, not even bothering to talk.
Well, then…I turned toward Antonio, who was staring at the woods as calm as could be. “See anything interesting out there in the woods of King Hall?”
His gaze slammed to mine. “What did you just say?”