With a shake of my head, and a few chuckles, I strode back to the car. Stepping inside, and settling back into the rich leather seats, Kade’s arm brushed mine when he dropped in next to me. Nix was too huge to come inside, so she had taken to the sky, Finn following her. Those two were fast becoming the best of friends. Which my familiar had never done with any others. Ragnar the Red Queen’s lynx had been a friend, but still on a superficial level.
Kade and I were very close in the back seat; his scent wrapped around me, trying to cloud my mind and dull my senses. Shifting to see him better, my mouth opened, and before I could censor myself I said: “Want to grab some food with us?”
It was just Kade, Violet, and me in the car. Calista and the guards were in the second royal vehicle.
Kade’s lips did that quirking thing where the dimple appeared and his eyes got all swirly. He was amused by what I’d said. Which part I had no idea. I wanted to ask him, but I was afraid of the answer.
Finally he said: “I can manage a quick bite, then I must get back to my people.”
It was good that he was staying a little bit longer. We needed to fill Violet in on the plan for the next full moon. That was very important. This was what I was telling myself anyway. It had nothing to do with the fact that I wasn’t ready to part company with him yet.
Hitting the intercom for the driver side of this beast of a car, I told Blaine about our plans to grab some food at the local pizza place.
There was a slight pause. “Are you sure we should go with such little guard? You and the king in one public place … you’re making it very easy for the fae.”
“Blaine, you stress like an old woman,” I said, trying to inject some humor into the situation. He was so serious lately. “We’ll be fine. We won’t stay long. I promise.”
I heard his sigh and then the comm cut off. Seriously, we had some guards, plus Finn and Nix. We were strong. A couple more guards wouldn’t make any difference if fae attacked en masse anyway.
Blaine chose Vinnies, which I had expected. The owners were wolf shifters and they had a special private party room in the back that they allowed me to use. Not only for my own privacy and safety, but also because humans frequented their restaurant and us sitting close to them for a long time would make them sick.
It was kind of ironic that for the most part the queen’s security measures were in place to safeguard against a bear attack, and I was about to dine with the bear king.
Once Kade, Violet, Calista, and I were inside and seated around four large triple meat pizzas – Blaine, Monica and the other guards stationed about the room keeping watch – I started to tell everyone what we had learned from Baladar, focusing on his plan to try and fix the mecca. Violet leaned over listening intently, which was good, because she was a fundamental part of this plan.
The magic born was nodding. “Yes, that makes sense. If you and Kade can both see the mecca, then you will be able to work together to send it back! You’ll know exactly how much to send and how much to keep so that we don’t give the fae more power than is fair.”
I picked off a huge chunk of sausage and popped it in my mouth. “You make it sound easy, Vi, but I’m sure tons can go wrong.”
Kade, who had to be on his seventh slice of pizza, met my gaze. “I won’t let anything go wrong.”
The usual flash of mecca surged between us, and before I could say anything Calista pulled out her tablet and said, “I have your first batch of potential mates ready for viewing, Your Majesty. Would you like to cull some of them now?”
My stomach clenched; she had done that on purpose. She’d picked up on this … thing … between Kade and I and she had acted to bring it to a screeching halt.
My wolf howled, and my trigger temper went into overdrive. I didn’t want to shout at my advisor in front of everyone, so I stood abruptly. “Excuse me. I have to use the restroom.”
Violet stood as well.
“Alone,” I clarified. She nodded and sat back down, not arguing; she understood.
My gaze swept over Calista, who I expected to look mortified, but instead she was wearing her look of stubbornness. I knew she thought what she was doing was best for me, but it was not her call to make. I had already taken steps to distance myself from Kade, so all she’d done was make things very awkward.
Needing to calm down, I blasted past Monica; her blond hair whipped around as she followed, but I held my hand up. “Bathroom. Alone.” I attempted to smile at my dominants, but wasn’t sure it was very convincing.
Letting the doors slam behind me, I did a quick room check. There was an old woman washing her hands. She’d jumped when the door slammed shut, scowling at me.
“Sorry,” I murmured, deciding I might as well use the facilities while I was in here.
Stepping into the stall, I practiced some deep breathing, trying to clear the red haze from my mind. Of course, with a shifter’s sense of smell, deep breathing in a toilet was so not a pleasant experience.
Why was I so angry? I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster when it came to all things Kade. I had agreed to take a mate, but after our fight the other day when I told him about it, it felt crass to just bring it up like that, to basically throw it in his face. No doubt everyone there knew Calista had done that deliberately.
After finishing up, I opened the door ready to head for the sink, when I came face to face with the old woman again. She was standing there peering at me with eyes that were not of this world.