11. Finley #2
Tonight I was with Zander Vaughan, the rock star, and I was his mate, superior to all other women who dared to think they would have ever had a chance with him.
Head high, shoulders back, and a slight smile on my face to keep it soft as I looked at my mate.
His eyes wandered over my frame as the silk rippled and moved against my body.
Flashes of light burst into action as photographers tried to capture the moment as Zander kissed the back of my hand before tucking it through his elbow and not letting it go.
The others fell in behind us, knowing that we would be drawing the most attention, and I knew Colt wanted nothing to do with the reporters yelling and screaming to get our attention.
“Zander, who have you brought with you tonight?”
“Has the rock god finally found his mate? Women of the world will be weeping tonight.”
“Zander, do you have a comment on the review written in Rolling Stone?”
“Ma’am, tell us your name!”
“Are you his mate? Who are the other men with you? Do you have an open relationship?”
“Zander, are you bisexual?”
The energy and emotions coming off all these people were frantic and desperate.
Even having shut that part of me off, it was almost as if they were so intense I couldn’t help but take notice of them.
We’d agreed we would answer some questions but to leave it up to Zander to choose who we talked to.
He knew the ones to avoid and who it would benefit to answer.
The more in the limelight we could be, the harder it would be for the Senate or the Dark Ring to retaliate.
It wasn’t like after this, they could take me out without someone noticing.
“Zander, one comment for old times’ sake,” an older male reporter called out, waving his notepad.
Zander smiled and steered us over to the man. “Franklin, are you still working for that deadbeat gossip rag? You’re way too good for them. I’ve told you that time and time again.”
“Seems you can teach an old dog new tricks, working for Pitchfork now,” Franklin answered, giving Zander a wink before he turned to me. “Now, who is this stunning woman who is clearly out of your league?”
Reaching out a hand, I introduced myself, “Finley, Finley Beinorin, Zander’s mate. It’s nice to meet you, Franklin.”
“Why did you just give him your father’s name?” Rath demanded, his words cutting into my mind through my walls. “Do you know how foolish that was? What if it brings even more danger upon you than there already is?”
Using my magic, I slammed the door he’d barged through in my mind. I would deal with his concerns later but now was not the time.
“Finley, such a unique name for an equally unique woman,” Franklin replied. “Now, do you mind me asking who those other men are?”
“Not at all. Those men are also my mates. We all live together as one big happy family on our pack lands,” I shared.
Next was the part none of them were going to be prepared for or like, but Ayla and I agreed it was time.
The elves needed to stop hiding from the world and take their place as they rightly deserved to.
If they wanted to call me their queen, then I was going to lead them out of the darkness and into the light.
They had every right to be a part of society, no longer fearing the world around them.
“I’m not an expert or anything on supernaturals, but isn’t it unusual for a werewolf to have more than one mate?” Franklin questioned. All the other reporters around him fell silent as they listened, each wanting to know what I’d say next.
Zander’s grip on my hand tightened as if warning me not to do what I was about to. “Yes, for a normal werewolf, it would be, but since I’m actually a Light Elf, it changes things.”
That had the reporters exploding with questions shoving recording devices into my face begging for my attention.
Unfortunately for them, I only had eyes for the man who was staring slack-jawed at me, his pencil slipping through his fingers to the ground.
Using my magic, I whisked the pencil up and caught it to hand back over.
“Here you are. I have a feeling you’re going to need that,” I said, then turned to Zander. “Shall we head up? The light from these cameras is going to give me a headache if we stay out here much longer.”
The rage in Zander’s eyes burned as he nodded bruskly, drawing me away from the wall of reporters. Silently we entered the elevator and one of them hit the button for the top floor. Rath snapped his hand at the camera in the corner and it frosted over.
“What the fuck, Finley.” Colt snarled. “Why the hell did you just tell them that? Do you know what you’ve just done?
Holy this… this is awful,” he spluttered, running his hands through his hair, messing up how perfectly it had been styled.
“There’s no way we can go to this party.
There will be people after her in seconds after word spreads about what you just admitted to. ”
I grabbed his arms and pulled them down until I could slide my hands into his.
“Colt, please let me explain. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision or something I was doing to cause trouble.
The elves need to stop hiding. If we are going to win this fight, they need to fight alongside me.
” I turned to look at Rath. “You call me a queen of our people, but if no one knows our people exist, who do I lead? I used my last name because all my life, I never even knew I had one. The Organization stripped it from me. My parents are elves, which means my last name is elvish too, giving me every right to use it.”
Rath looked slightly taken aback by my words and I could feel regret from him in how he had lashed out.
“You’re absolutely right, nin mel. You do have every right to use that last name now that you know it.
My protectiveness and need to keep you safe had me reacting before I understood your reasoning.
You are our queen, and while I might not agree with you on how you chose to draw out our people, I will stand behind you as your mate and Guide.
All I ask is that as that person in your life, I not be blindsided like that again. ”
The elevator came to a halt with a ding as the doors opened, revealing the rooftop. Noah reached out and hit the close door button giving us a few more moments before we had to put this aside.
“That was unfair to you, but I was worried you would stop me, and I didn’t see a better moment to speak the truth. If anything like that should happen to occur again, I will make sure you know,” I agreed. “Now we need to set this aside because tonight we have bigger things to worry about.”
As the door opened again, Zander laced our fingers together as he led me out. I could tell from the tension in his body he was not happy with me, but right now, I couldn’t do much but not make it worse.
“Zander!” a black man in an all-white suit boomed, throwing his arms wide as he spotted us. “Fuck, man, it’s been forever since I’ve seen you at one of these things. Looks like getting wifed up has kept you a homebody.”
Zander released my hand to share a bro-hug with the other man. “Clarence, how the hell are you, man?”
“Doing a whole lot better now that I know someone with a brain’s gonna be here,” Clarence chuckled, then turned to me.
“This must be the lucky lady. How do you do, Clarence Parker, jazz master of the decade,” he shared, introducing himself with a bow.
“I know better than to be touching another man’s lady, especially when that man’s a werewolf. ”
Zander laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t try that suave bullshit on her. She’ll chew you up and spit you out before you even know what happened.” Turning to me with laughter in his eyes, he gestured to Clarence. “The man gets furry himself. Clarence is a werecat, panther to be exact.”
My brows shot up at this information. “How are you two friends?”
“Oh, baby girl, that is a myth. Just because we turn into cats and dogs doesn’t mean we fight like them.
Nah, we made a fast friendship when I pulled his drunk ass out of a bar in New Orleans.
Man can’t handle the brews those vampire bartenders make,” Clarence informed me and nodded over to Derven.
“Ask your man if you don’t believe me. They do something that can get any super blackout drunk. ”
“Oh, God, don’t remind me,” Zander groaned. “That was hell to do a show the next day. I thought my brain was going to explode it pounded so bad.”
“Told you to go to the witches. They would have fixed you right up,” Clarence teased, punching Zander in the shoulder.
“Now, I won’t take up too much of your time.
I know you got a crowd to work. I’ll find you later when you remember why you stopped showing up to these shit shows.
” With a wink and a smile, Clarence was off to the bar.