Chapter 22 #2
“You are here to celebrate your upcoming nuptials, no?” Luka looks around as if searching for Brick’s mate.
“Yes. My bride is here with her friends.” Brick sweeps a hand out, indicating Madi and Aubrey at the spa. I tense slightly. My wolf doesn’t like calling attention to Aubrey. We don’t know these wolves.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sully shifting on either foot. He’s our security. He probably has wolves stationed all around the spa.
The thought makes me relax.
“We’re celebrating with a bachelor and bachelorette party,” Brick says. “It’s a human tradition.”
“Ah,” King Luka says. I don’t know what he’s thinking. His scent is overpowered by a thick cologne. His face is shadowed as he looks up at the human women.
I’m on edge. Brick being mated to a human is still a shock to other wolves. Human shifter pairings aren’t unheard of, but an alpha of a pack as large as ours would normally stick to tradition and find a strong shifter mate to keep the pack strong. At least, that’s the older way of thinking.
It’s my father’s way of thinking.
It used to be my way of thinking. But Madi proved her strength and proved me wrong.
Still, other packs might see Brick’s pairing as a weakness and decide to challenge him.
Is the King of Monaco one of them?
The guarded look disappears from Luka’s face like it never existed.
His mouth stretches into a wide smile and opens his arms like an exuberant host. “Well, you cannot go to the casinos. They are owned by the vampires. Come aboard my yacht, and I’ll show you what Monaco is all about.
Let us celebrate your mating, Atlantean style. ”
“Thank you, we would love that,” Brick says.
I catch Sully’s eye. Looks like we’re going to party on a yacht with a bunch of strangers. Alcohol, a huge group of shifters, and two human females–including one who doesn’t know our kind exist.
Fuck.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Sea Maid is a two hundred million dollar superyacht owned by Atlantean Enterprises. At 75 meters, it’s the largest yacht in the dock. I heard the docking fees are over six figures a month.
At dusk, it glows like a jewel. It’s so huge, it might as well be a bright white city floating on the water.
I watch over Aubrey as we board the boat.
For some reason, she and Madi were singing “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon on the ride over.
Now she, Madi, and Brick’s sisters Ruby and Scarlett ooh and ahh over the luxurious wood floors and white leather lounge area.
Staff members in white and navy uniforms offer us glasses of prosecco.
I wave mine away, and Aubrey grabs it and drinks it for me, her eyes sparkling. I’m glad she’s having a good time.
I notice our males are a lot less relaxed. I keep myself between the ladies and the Monaco pack wolves at all times. Luka allowed Sully’s team aboard the ship to do a security sweep. Sully himself okayed the trip, so I shouldn’t be on high alert.
The biggest danger is the King himself. And he’s drinking. It takes a lot of alcohol for a shifter to maintain a buzz, but he seems determined to accomplish it. He also insists on giving us the full tour, including the cinema, gym, spa, and ice room. The ladies love it.
“Instead of the spa, we could’ve come here,” Scarlett giggles.
“You are welcome anytime, my lady,” Luka captures her hand and bows over it.
I don’t like watching him flirt with Scarlett, who I think of as a little sister, but she’s a she-wolf who can handle her own. Brick makes her train daily in self defense.
We’re mingling on the party deck, next to the glass bottomed pool.
The other wolves stand back, murmuring politely. Everyone’s behaving themselves.
I don’t know how I ended up next to Luka, but he’s talking to me, and it’d be rude to rebuff him.
I’d rather be with Aubrey. After a day at the spa, she is glowing. Right now, she and Madi are on the top deck, taking in the view.
“Your luna is lovely, for a human,” Luka murmurs.
I give him a nod although I want to grill him on what he meant by ‘for a human.’ Is he a shifter supremacist like my father? Like I was raised to be?
“You’re also here with a human,” Luka says. He raises his head and sniffs the air. “The one with the delectable scent. Spiced oranges?”
Talking about scents is super personal. I tense, my wolf hating that he’s speaking of Aubrey so intimately and so casually. But maybe it’s an American thing.
Luka swirls his drink. He’s drinking ouzo, and the strong anise smell hides his own scent.
“I, too, enjoy a human now and then. They are so weak. Dominate them a little, and they become eager to please. Easily kept as pets.”
I have a gift for staying unemotional. Controlling my reactions, so I can manipulate situations with the correct angle, but anger explodes in my brain. Did this dickhead really compare Aubrey to a pet? Like she’s a dog like Pepper?
I want to kill him. Right here, right now. It’d be so easy. He’d never see it coming, I could just jump on him, tear out his eyes, and strangle him before he knew what was happening.
My wolf is howling, all for it. No one talks about Aubrey like that and lives.
Except…I can’t. This is the Alpha King of Monaco. We’re in his territory.
This is another example of how much Aubrey disturbs my ability to function. Fuck.
Nickel notices my tension and signs the equivalent of “Easy, tiger.” I signal back, “Fuck off.” I’m not going to lose control of my wolf in the middle of a foreign country.
I smile at the king, showing my canines. “Our pack treats humans like equals. We share their world, after all. And I don’t know about other packs’ practices, but we don’t fuck our pets.” I hide my sneer, but I don’t need to. My derision comes through.
The king hears it loud and clear. His eyes flare amber–the same color as Brick’s–and then he gets his wolf under control. “You misunderstand me. I was merely curious why the alpha of such a strong pack would stoop to mating a weak human. He will dilute his bloodline. His pups will be duds.”
That’s it.
I know he’s just saying out loud what many older wolves in our own pack think. But this insult cannot stand.
“Our luna is not weak,” I say loud enough that everyone on the deck can hear me. “She provides strength to our pack.”
Luka’s lip curls, but he seems to realize he’s crossed a line. “I mean nothing by this, of course. I am just curious.”
“See that your curiosity doesn’t make you less courteous,” I say. His eyes flash–I’ve just given the king of this territory an order. On his own yacht, no less.
Nickel must sense danger because he heads our way to intercede. “Luka, I’m glad to meet you, at last. I believe our families are connected by marriage. Our cousins in Gibraltar?”
Luka ignores Nickel. His gaze locks on mine. I tense, expecting a challenge.
Instead, he laughs and downs his drink. “Indulge me one more curiosity. Your human?” He gestures towards Aubrey, who’s laughing and leaning into the wind on the upper deck.
She lifts her braids away from her neck, and a fresh bloom of scent hits the breeze.
“What does she provide? Other than a few holes to please you–”
I don’t think, I just act. The king usually stands with both feet planted, like a ship captain used to stormy seas. But he’s made the mistake of leaning back on the railing to point Aubrey out.
I drop and grab his leg then heave. He isn’t expecting an attack, certainly not one that involves me dropping to my knees in front of him. In a split second, I get him off balance, and gravity does the rest.
The king’s mouth opens wide, and then he falls backwards. Not to the lower deck–we’re on the lowest part of the ship.
No, he spills right over the edge. I watch in slow motion as he roars–the sound splits the night–and falls into the dark water with a splash.
What have I done?
I just threw the king of the Monaco pack over the side of his own boat.
His two bodyguards are already moving towards me, shouting. They’re going to grab me, lock me down.
I don’t let them. I feint and dodge and weave, getting behind them, and then use their own momentum against them. One of them trips, and I make myself the fulcrum to send him flying. The other slams into me. I twist, deflect, and kick him over the side, too.
Now there are three wolves in the water far below. Which is fine–I’m sure they all can swim. The king’s bodyguards can protect him from sharks.
I have bigger problems. There’s more bellowing above me, as the king’s pack rushes to get to this deck to take me out.
Someone sidles up beside me, and I almost drop kick him, when I realize it’s Nickel. He smells like gin, and his perfect polo shirt is soaked with the juniper-scented liquid. He’s breathing hard, and I realize he moved to trip one of my attackers. He’s taking his place to fight beside me.
A howl, and Jake lands on the deck beside me. He’s shirtless, his abs gleaming wet from the pool. His eyes are bright, his wolf’s come out to play. He skids to my side, opposite Nickel. I signal for them to fall into a rugby formation, facing the King’s enraged wolves.
“The humans,” I mutter. I glance up, but I can’t see Aubrey or Madi anymore.
“Brick’s on it. He, Sully, and Vance will get them to safety, if they have to commandeer a boat to do it.”
That makes me feel better. I’ve already fucked up, starting a fight with our hosts. I’ll have to explain to everyone later. “We better give them a distraction then.”
Jake whoops. His fangs flash with his grin. “Let’s kick some shifter ass.”
“So what really happened?” Brick demands.
We’re in his penthouse suite, debriefing just the two of us.
On the boat back from the super yacht, I explained to the group that Luka got drunk and rude, and things escalated to a brawl.
Fortunately, everyone was flush with adrenaline and still in a party mood.
Aubrey and Madi started singing, “You’re so vain” again, and Jake and Vance even joined in.
Our escape from the super yacht was just another bit of fun.
Now Nickel and Sully are holed up in a comms room.
Nickel is on the phone with his family, using his personal connections to smooth things over with the pack here.
Sully is adding layers of security to make sure our pack is safe.
Everyone else is getting some sleep, worn out from all the excitement.
Except me and Brick. He wants answers.
“They insulted Madi,” I tell him, and his eyes go flinty. He’s not happy about the way things turned out, mostly because the humans could’ve been hurt. But he understands the need to defend our luna. He would do the same. “And humans in general. Are we getting kicked out of Monaco?”
“It’s up in the air, but I think we can smooth things over long enough to finish out our trip.
Nickel’s connections will help us appeal to reason.
Luka is a known hot head, and even though he’s the king, he’s still guided by the wiser members of his family.
We’ll want to avoid this country in the near future, but I doubt Luka wants it getting around that we beat him on his own boat. ”
I snort, remembering his outrage as he fell into the water.
“You’re usually more controlled than this,” Brick observes. I’ve been waiting for him to read me the riot act for starting something, but he looks less angry than thoughtful.
“He got to me. He was spouting the same stuff my father says.” Brick is one of the few people who knows how bad my father was. “And…he mentioned Aubrey.”
“Ah.” There’s a lot of weight in the syllable. I wonder how much I’ve revealed–or if my guardedness is announcing my deeper feelings for the chaos human. “A year ago, you wouldn’t have lifted a finger to defend a human.”
I inhale, my cheeks burning with shame. I treated Madi like shit because I thought she was going to tear our pack apart. I didn’t trust her, and I thought she’d end up being a weakness we couldn’t afford. And, yeah, my dad’s fierce anti-human prejudice played a part in this. “I’ve changed.”
“Yes, you have.”
Brick leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. “Aubrey is Madi’s best friend. Like a sister. I need to know what this human means to you.”
I feel like a kid getting grilled by the father of my prom date. I promise to get her home before ten pm.
“I’ve treated her well,” I say defensively.
“That’s not what I’m asking. I know that, when it counted, you treated her with respect. If you hadn’t, she would’ve chopped your balls off. And Madi would’ve helped.”
This is accurate, but I wince.
“And then I would kill you,” he continues in that even tone. “I wouldn’t want to, you’re pack second, and my closest friend, but–”
“I understand. If I hurt her, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”
“Hmm,” Brick murmurs again. He narrows his eyes, studying my face. I’ve given myself away.
What does Aubrey mean to me? I can’t answer because I don’t even know. She’s chaos to my control. Bright splashes of paint on a monotone palette. The scent of orange, cinnamon, and nutmeg filling the back of my limo.
What can I say? She has a silver nose ring that burns my skin. Kissing her is better because it hurts a little.
I can’t tell Brick any of this.
“She’s special,” I say.
“What does your wolf think?”
“He wants to protect her.” He wants me to do more than that.
Brick tilts his head as if waiting for me to confess the rest. How my fangs have sharpened when she’s in my bed. How feral I get near the full moon. How I imagine claiming her and keeping her in my life…forever.
I’m not ready to admit what she could be to me. Mate.
Brick seems to understand this. He nearly went moon mad trying to avoid claiming Madi. Of all the wolves, he knows what I’m going through.
After a long pause, he nods. “Your punishment is patrol duty for the rest of the trip.” Not much of a punishment; we’re all taking security posts to make sure Luka doesn’t have an opening to retaliate. “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll take the dawn shift.”
“Are you punishing yourself, too?” I follow his lead and rise from my seat.
“It’s my fault we were on that boat in the first place. I should’ve made sure I knew his stance on humans before allowing him so close to ours.” He claps my shoulder. “I’m grateful you stood up for Madi and Aubrey.”
“Even if it cost us?”
“Even then. That’s the lesson fate taught me when I met Madi. No matter what, your mate always comes first.”