by Jo Palmer
Nico shook his head.
“No?” she asked.
“It has blood in it, a delicacy for vamps, which even werewolves enjoy. But I think not brownies.”
“Ick.” She dropped the pastry and waited till he pointed at one that she would like. She sniffed it cautiously. “You don’t put blood in coffee, do you?”
“Personally, no. Some vampires do, it is not in the coffee, individuals add their own if desired. And no, I shall call you mine, my, and ours when and if I like. I read your thoughts, cara; you are well aware the wolf is yours, and he has been giving you time to adjust and feel this pull between you.”
Ada didn’t deny this. “Then you know how I feel.”
“Si. Queen Stephanie is astounding.”
“Amazing…I don’t think I have ever been so stunned by anyone. Are all the female rulers so…in charge?”
Nico smiled. “Oh, yes, wait till you meet my mother and the demon sultana. Here comes our wolf.”
Nate burst through the door covered in dirt and growling about it. “Bloody brownies. Your relatives want to see you; I had my wolves chase them off. We’ll invite them over to snack another day.”
“We’ll see. Did that boy not tell them I wasn’t here and to go away?”
“Sure. They didn’t believe him. Apparently brownies know when others lie. I didn’t know that.” He grabbed a blood-filled pastry, kissed her soundly, then gobbled it down.
“We do not know when others lie.” Ada rolled her eyes. “Obviously brownies are very good liars. Impressive.”
“Dammit, I like honesty and truth!” He grabbed one of the big coffee mugs and poured a cup, smirking at both Ada’s and Nico’s pained looks. “Great, now I’ve got two of you going at me. Anyway, we’ve got a council meeting after that drama last night. Man, Div went off!”
“That he did. I do regret not seeing the ancient fairy. I must admit I have never seen her.”
“She’s real small, all delicate, feminine, frigging blinding and dazzling and hotter than a wet dream…” Nate stopped and sat up, looking at Ada. “Not like you—I mean…well hell.”
Nico was laughing, and Ada just stared mildly at the werewolf, who looked trapped. She had seen the fairy, knew the creature was exquisite, and wasn’t jealous for she knew that mates never strayed. But it was good to see this tough, confident male squirm.
“You were saying?” she asked icily.
“Nathaniel!” A roar came from down the hall.
Nate winced, scrambling out of his seat. Nico put aside his coffee and took Ada’s as King Tomas stormed into the room covered in dirt, dust, and twigs.
“Why were those brownies given trinkets and not tossed out of the compound? They had the nerve to cover me… Brownie Ada, uh…”
“They are brownie Ada’s family, Pop.” Nate began dusting his father off. “They did this?”
“They think we kidnapped your Ada and will come back with pitchforks and flaming torches, as if this were the middle ages! My dear, perhaps you could speak to them? I don’t want my wolves harming your little brownie family.”
“Oh, very well. Gracious Moon Goddess, they are ridiculous.” She sighed. “King Tomas, why don’t we discuss this land allocation—”
“Give it up, brownie,” Nate said. “We werewolves are not letting those brownies in to measure anything.”
Ada dropped her eyes to his groin. “Nothing?”
He grinned. “OK, I’ll negotiate if you will. Got a tape measure?”
“Hey, Nate, you’ve got a sentinel meeting in three minutes,” another young werewolf announced from the doorway. “Some dude with a real bad rumble just called. Think it was Ruine, but his throat sounded messed up.”
“How many cousins do you have?” Ada exclaimed.
Nate shrugged. “Who the hell knows. This one’s my youngest brother, Malcolm.” He turned to the young werewolf at the door. “That better not of been you sneaking out of the compound this morning, boy, you know the rules.”
“No one lets me out of here!” Malcolm exclaimed loudly, hands turning to werewolf paws. “If you’re so loyal to pack and family and all that shit, why don’t you make them let me out? I’m only allowed out with twenty guards, and the rest of the time I’m kept locked up like a princess in a tower.”
“OK, OK, calm down, don’t have a hissy fit.” Nate winced as his younger brother went off in a bit of a shrillish fit. “Pop, calm your little pup down, he’s getting all squealy.”
“Mal, we’ve been over this. Your mate has seen you and insists on having you, but—”
“I can take care of myself and make my own decisions!” The kid, such a fragile-looking boy who coughed and turned red as he yelled, stomped his foot.
“You must stop teasing him,” the king said. “He’s feeling very unsettled with all the attempts creatures have made to get him and deal with the immortal. Come on, son, let’s take a walk.”
“Malcolm’s unwell?” Ada asked as the king and Malcolm left the room.
Nate sat and shrugged, not saying anything. Nico nudged his foot. Nate frowned, and there must have been some type of mental communication between then, because Nate, his gorgeous features troubled, leaned forward and smiled at her.
“Mal was born without a creature’s natural ability to heal, and without a werewolf’s ability to scent. He’s fine, just stressed at the moment. Blaine heals Mally if ever there’s a need. The problem is, my brother has had a few creatures swear he’s their mate. Without being able to scent, Mal can’t tell who’s being truthful or not.”
Ada was shocked. “Creatures would actually lie about that?”
“Of course, cara.” Nico nodded. “Malcolm is quite a catch. He is a member of the royal family, a position others may covet, and he is a gorgeous little creature that attracts a lot of attention from both sexes.”
Ada huffed out an annoyed noise and a brownie oath. She grabbed her tablet and got onto the Galdo Council website.
“What are you doing?” Nate growled. “This is werewolf business—”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You think this hasn’t happened to brownies too? We do not sense our mate immediately, so are at a disadvantage. Plus, we are weaker magically and sometimes physically, which leads you bigger, stronger creatures to think you can waltz in and snatch us like we were some sort of possession or bag of loot.” She paused, flushing. “We are living, thinking creatures, not loot. Is Mal able to use other senses to identify his mate?”
“We’re trying to sort that out. I’m inclined to think it’s the immortal, but until we know for sure, we can’t take any chances.”
“Well a court order stopping any creature from approaching Malcolm might assist in giving him some breathing room and provide time for your family to come up with a way of identifying who is his mate. Who is the immortal by the way…not Divij or Severo? Oh, why can Severo not tell who is Mal’s mate? His gift is to know who mates are, you said.”
“No, it is neither Divij nor Severo. Unfortunately, we have discovered, Severo’s gift does not work with family. This situation could have been resolved so easily but for that. Tienn has become impatient, but I feel a court order will calm him down for a short time.”
“Wait.” Ada’s eyes widened. “Tienn? The immortal Emperor is Malcolm’s mate?”
“Well, yeah.” Nate frowned. “Didn’t you know he was gay?”
“If you recall, my wolf, our brownie has not spent much time in Galdo, nor taken much of an interest.”
“Huh.”
“Hmm, this is an issue. I believe we should lodge the court order with the Judges, bypassing the royals. This way the matter is dealt with fairly and swiftly.”
Nate began to pace, still dusting off some dirt. He looked at Ada a few times then zoomed over to her, tossed her computer aside and hugged her close, nuzzling her neck, licking a little bit. He rumbled deep in his chest.
Hot, flustered, and about to turn into a pool of wetness as his hand grazed her breast, she
cursed as King Tomas stormed into the room. Funny how she held no embarrassment or vexation about Nico being near them when Nate did this. It was peculiar.
“Ah, Nathaniel…hmm—”
“Our brownie has come up with a wonderful idea to help Malcolm, Tomas. I will show you if Nathaniel has not broken her tablet.” Nico rose, collected the tablet, tutted over the broken screen, and steered Tomas out, closing the door behind them.
Nate grinned, cupped her face, and nibbled her lips. “Brownie, you just keep surprising me—”
“Sentinel meeting, now.” Ruine, who did have a very croaky voice, appeared, crossing big arms and taking up a ready to fight stance.
Nate groaned, and then growled, glaring at the demon. “Why? Well? Why the hell do I have to go? Why can’t I just have the day off—?”
He had risen and stormed toward the demon who flipped the werewolf over onto the floor and planted a big foot on his chest.
“Cool down, werewolf, or we go round.”
“Gentlemen, is this really necessary?” Ada smoothed down her skirt, and collected her handbag, briefcase, and coat. “I must get to the council chambers, and I wouldn’t mind sitting in on the meeting as I would like to know the latest.”
The big demon pulled Nate up who grumbled and pulled her close, sniffing her.
“What’s up with your voice, spawn?”
The demon’s top lip curled. “Divij froze my fire. He’s paid.”
Nate winced and patted Ada’s butt. “We’ll wait for Nico.”
“Watch where you put your paws, werewolf—oh!”
Stephanie tossed Ruine out of her way with one hand and engulfed Ada in a hug, lifting her off the ground to do so. She did that weird werewolf rumble deep in the chest, sniffed and kissed Ada’s cheek and placed her on her feet, smiling indulgently.
“I will enjoy having a smart lawyer at my disposal. Aidan has become soft since acquiring a mate. We should take him to the back forest and torment him until he gets his edge back, Nathaniel.”
Nate grinned toothily. “Happy to. The wiener whines like a toddler these days. More a lap dog than a wolf. My girl’s pretty ruthless.”
“I just adore her.” Stephanie kissed Nate, hugged Ada once more and on the way out, and smiled toothily at Ruine, patting his big thick arm.
Ruine winced. “She’s got a wicked throwing arm.”
Ada’s eyes narrowed. “Q. S. I know those initials. Oh! Queen Stephanie! She’s ahead in the brownie tossing, passing Blaine’s record by six inches…land dispute! Oh! I am going to slaughter you and your wolves in the court, Nathaniel Le Garde.”
With her nose in the air, Ada stormed out of the room and down the hall, Nate scrambling after her.
“Honey! Ma and the rest of the family won’t toss your family off the compound anymore, just the rest of the brownies.”
Squealing in brownie outrage, she shoved Duncan out of her way, tossed dust and dirt at the rest of the werewolves who jumped quickly away from her and speed off to the council chambers.
“Oh hell. Ma! Stop tossing brownies off the roof of the compound!” Nate hollered.
Every creature in the sentinel meeting was cautious and quiet in the beginning, and the imps were extremely wary of Divij who simply chose to ignore them. There were approximately twenty-two sentinels, four of them imps, the rest a mix of demons, immortals, werewolves, vamps and only three fairies. Ace, Dareios, and a female fairy who all the males seemed to fawn over, annoying the imps because they were being ignored.
The two female vamps ignored the byplay without interested, too self-involved to care.
As previously when she attended a sentinel meeting, Ada sat along a wall away from the long oval conference room table and beside Penny whose phone had been confiscated by Chase the moment they entered the room. There were a few other creatures she did not know, and some she did, who also sat behind the powerful sentinels. She was surprised they allowed others into private, important sentinel business. She would have asked but knew she’d be shushed, as this meeting seemed very tense and controlled.
It wasn’t Divij or Chase in the speaker seat today, surprisingly it was Lucio who fielded the hundreds of questions and made some plans, along with Nate who kept everyone quiet when necessary and in order.
“I’d heard of a demon called Etienne, didn’t know he had anything to do with that ancient fairy.” A demon rumbled. “Big guy. I was just a young spawn when he rumbled into the castle one day, and the sultana and sultan greeted him as a friend, not a foe. That’s all I know about him.”
“Did he look like the fairy?” Ace asked.
The demon shrugged. “Can’t remember. Light hair, dark eyes.”
“She’s the same. So we need to find out what happened to him, bring him back and reel in the ancient fairy, otherwise Grydern and this partner of his may overpower her, and that could lead to disaster if they get their hands on her powers. The alternative is we set a trap and capture her ourselves.”
The fairies in the room hissed at that idea. Fairies did not like to be trapped. No creature did.
“We know, we get it.” Nate calmed his fellow sentinels. “Have to think of her safety. Look, she’s revered, we understand, and she’s powerful. But can you three capture her? With our help, if you need it? It’s for her own good.”
The fairies were quiet, then Ace spoke seriously.
“There is a purpose to what she is doing, one we are only touching the surface of. Until we know fully, staying back may be the best option.”
“It is not. Too dangerous.” Lucio was firm. “We will have a show of votes.”
“Just wait!” Ace exclaimed. “See, our Parissa, she’s usually just happy and in her own little world making tea and coming to parties occasionally and hibernating the rest of the time. She woke with purpose and has brought all this about, so this is the time, here and now, that something big is going to happen. We have a viper, we need to find it and cut its head off.”
They argued, but in the end put the decision to vote, and when it was everyone against three, Ace stormed out of the room. Ruine watched him go and rumbled a growl. Ace tossed up a middle finger and slammed the door so hard the windows shattered. Thankfully someone intervened and repaired the glass.
After that, sentinels were assigned tasks, and that’s when the nonsense began and continued for over an hour and gave her a headache. They squabbled, argued, and carried on until she could have kissed Nate senseless when he finally disbanded the group.
Immediately she went to her new offices and spent the afternoon, with Nate, Blaine, Ruine, and Chase’s assistance setting it up organizing staff.
She thought Nate would wish to spend the night with her so had booked herself into the vampire vortex for a night of luxury. This seemed to have the opposite effect though and pissed the werewolf off. He stormed out of the office and had two of his werewolves follow her around. Nico joined her for dinner and suggested speaking to Nate first before making arrangements, that this may have been considerate. Ada just didn’t get that, and he muttered something about having to do a lot of mediating.
“I do not see why. If he wishes to carry on like this—”
“Cara, he feels you have not felt the mate spark. Perhaps if you declared you have, this would be eased.”
Ada fumed. “Me? The werewolf is keeping it a secret! I understood for the first thirty-six hours, now I am beginning to think he has something to hide. Does he, Nico?”
The vamp rose, kissed her forehead, and glided to the hotel room door. “We all need a little…affection, and to know we are wanted for just who we are. Werewolf, vampire, brownie, there is no distinction with love, is there?”
Ada thought that over later in bed. She felt she had shown Nate she was accepting and ready to navigate through their relationship. Why did the dense werewolf not see?
Huh! He was a werewolf, that’s why he didn’t see! She was being subtle, whereas those creatures needed a neon sign and a plank of wood to
the back of the head to make them see what was right in front of them.
Fine. She had some calls to make, then the werewolf was going to see just how sneaky, underhanded, and tricky brownies could be. This brought a sinister, happy little smile to her lips. Teasing a werewolf and pulling his tail was going to be so much fun.
The next morning Ada was invited by Penny to join the sentinel meeting being held about updates on capturing the fairy and trapping Revmiras, but Ada declined.
After sitting through two sentinel meetings, Ada decided she had attended enough of them to warrant a reasonable absence, say a decade or two. Yes, the knowledge gained at the meetings was phenomenal, but the logistics, politics, creature rivalry, and all round bitching gave her a stiff neck.
They performed an immeasurable service and did amazing things, but they squabbled more than a pair of toddlers over a toy. Honestly, she didn’t know how they could stand it. Nate got into the thick of things, Nico added a comment here and there just to keep tempers fueled, his cousin doing the same, Ace laughing, Ruine arguing loudly, and the rest were just the same.
A bunch of children.
With the last folder neatly placed on the wide, antique bookshelf, Ada stood back and studied her new office. Satisfied, she picked up her telephone and made a few calls. An hour later she had an office manager who guarded her door vigilantly, and an hour after that, a guard dog who guarded her office vigilantly. She had organized the office manager, not the guard dog. That came courtesy of Nate.
Tapping a pen against the top of her polished antique desk, she mused over just how to fix the situation. So far the werewolf was being his usual protective, offbeat, charming self, yet he still had not addressed the whole mate issue.
Ada herself had come around to creature ways, why was the wolf still remiss in mentioning their relationship?
Not one for this type of behavior, she had put a few plans into action and was awaiting a response.