Chapter Ten
“Goddammit, I told you I didn’t know it was her!” Ezra shouted.
“How the f**k could you not know?” Antonio yelled harshly.
“I’ve never actually seen her this way!” Ezra expounded, sounding furious. “Hell, I didn’t even know it was her until I searched the bag she dropped and found her wedding ring. She said she was as small as a fox, but f**k,” it sounded like he was breathing heavily, “I thought she was exaggerating.” He cursed profusely. “All I knew was a f**king tiny red animal was coming directly at Lacy and me while I was feeding!”
I scented past the dissipating marijuana smoke…truth. He had been feeding, not kissing her.
While lying on a Lacy…on his bed…when she was dressed for sex.
Hmm…nope, knowing he had been feeding didn’t really help how pissed I was.
I twitched in extreme agitation, and I felt warm hands land on my head.
Elder Merrick’s voice interrupted whatever Antonio was starting to shout. “She’s coming around, so everyone shut the f**k up.”
The twitch didn’t help the pain in my head, which was killing me, and a tiny whine escaped before I could stop it. I felt another hand on me, which I could tell was Bindi’s from the scent, and I felt a Mage’s healing magic pulse around my head.
Elder Merrick hushed quietly, “Lily, you and I are definitely going to need to train together. My tail could easily snap you in two.”
I huffed softly, which was half a sigh as the throbbing pain lifted from my skull at Bindi’s work.
“She’s going to be all right?” Ezra asked in a deep rumble. “I didn’t hurt her too badly?”
Bindi muttered, “Not for lack of trying. Her skull’s fractured in two places.”
Elder Merrick’s wolf growled softly. “King Zeller, you’re f**king lucky you called when you did and all your words have been truthful, or you would have been dead already for hurting her.” A deep loud growl. “Again.”
“You can go f**k yourself,” Ezra rumbled. “I wouldn’t have hurt her either time if I had known it was her, and I’ve about had it with your pitiful threats.”
I blinked my eyes open when the Mage’s tingling magic disappeared, my head no longer pounding. I was staring up into irate golden eyes and furious navy eyes, Bindi and Elder Merrick on their knees next to Ezra’s black couch where I lay on my back. I wiggled, turning my head to give Bindi’s hand a good lick in thank you, making her scowl even further, even as she scratched behind my ear with her other hand. “I know. You’re welcome.”
I turned my attention to Elder Merrick and made a chomping motion at him.
His eyebrows rose. “Yes, you will be training with me,” his eyes flittered down my tiny furry body, “and Lord help us if I even step wrong.” He blinked, then he glanced up at Bindi. “You should probably be there during her training sessions just in case.”
I growled, nipped his hand, and quickly darted from his reach, sitting at the end of the couch, grinning at him, showing him my sharp pearly whites.
He chuckled quietly. “All right, so you’re quick.” He blinked, shaking his head as he evaluated me. “But you’re so—”
I growled, cutting him off, done with this conversation for now…and let my gaze travel the room. Antonio was behind the coffee table, standing with his hands on his hips, still wearing an expression of worry, so I huffed, letting him know I was all right. My gaze stalled on the bed, which was still messy from where Ezra and Lacy had been, and I felt my anger ratchet right back up. Lastly, I peered to the side where Ezra watched me with his arms crossed and a hand over his mouth, evaluating me from the tip of my ears to my tail, which was starting to swish back and forth in fury.
I growled.
“And that’s our cue,” Elder Merrick muttered softly, jumping to his feet. He patted my head as he walked by, stating, “And Lily, it wouldn’t be very Queen-like to pee on his bed, even if it suits all your purposes.”
I stopped my growling long enough to huff at him, because, sadly, that had been a thought as I pondered the best way to mark his room and exact my revenge at the same time.
Elder Merrick left, chuckling quietly with Bindi on his heels, who glanced one last time at King Zeller, giving him a proper scowl.
Antonio walked to me and bent over, ruffling my fur around my face as he kissed the tip of my nose — yes, I quit growling then — and stated, “If you’re going to attack in the future, make sure you do it right and don’t get caught.” I nodded as he lifted and peered back to the still silent Vampire, my husband. Antonio patted my head once more. Kissed my head again as I stared across the room, and he stated, “Cahal’s got Isa right now, so don’t worry…and I’ll keep her for the night in my tent so you have the entire evening to yourself.” I blinked, my head snapping to him, but he quickly scurried out of the bedroom before I could object to Isa’s first overnight sleepover with her grandpa.
“I didn’t know it was you. If I had, I wouldn’t have reacted as I did,” Ezra stated calmly — not really apologizing — as I swung my head to stare at his statue-like form. His chest expanded, but that was all that moved as he spoke behind his hand. “I can imagine what that must have looked like.”
I fairly vibrated where I sat, staring at him as I was, the image replaying of him on top of her, entwined in her arms and legs, so I jumped down, only to jump onto his bed and begin to sniff at it, my tail twitching like mad in my agitation as I picked up the various scents.
He continued, “It’s late, so she was wearing her pajamas,” the woman wore that to bed?, “and I was starving so I had her lie back.” I wish he would just lie so I could pee on his bed. “She’s a regular donor of mine, and she sometimes tries to get frisky, but I’ve never had any type of sexual interest in her or done anything intimate with her.”
I sighed into the sheets, relieved he hadn’t lied about any of it but still pissed I couldn’t hunt the woman down now and take her out in the pitch black of night. But it didn’t mean I couldn’t scent up his sheets, which luckily for him, held no scent of sexual fluids whatsoever. So I started rolling on his bed, working on the area where I smelled Lacy the most, wiggling and rolling, pressing my furry cheeks into his pillow and shaking my head. And this is how it went for the next fifteen minutes as I thoroughly went from one end of his bed to the other, systematically working my way across, not leaving one area untouched, while Ezra sat on the arm of his couch and eventually lit a cigarette as he watched me with a slowly growing expression of amusement.