“Are you worried about tonight?” she asks when she stops giggling at my dramatics.
“Not really. I give great customer service, and it can’t be worse than dealing with irate coffee drinkers, but I’m worried that no mates have presented themselves,” I admit. This is really bothering me. My mother’s passive aggressive ways have really messed with my head, and I’m worried I’m not cut out for this and there are men out there with marks who hate the idea of being shackled to a short, curvy former human. I mean, it has to rub some of them the wrong way, right?
Her expression softens with sympathy, and I wince, but before she can respond, the door to the dining room opens, and one of the palace staff hurries into the room. He looks a little stressed, like he’s not sure what to do about what brought him here.
“Your Majesty, forgive my intrusion, but you have some visitors. Shall I send them in?” He sounds as frazzled as he looks.
“Who is here?” Violet asks before I can respond.
“It’s two male shifters and a human woman. She claims to be your mother.”
No! Surely she wouldn’t? How would she have gotten here? She would need permission. My stomach rolls with dread as all of these thoughts whirl in my brain, and my food threatens to make a reappearance. Violet grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze as the dining room doors open once more and my mother waltzes in, escorted by Niles and Brock. They appear beyond giddy to be here and look around the room with eager eyes. My mother has a haughty sneer on her face and stares down her nose at the food on my plate.
“Colbie, dear, you shouldn’t make such a pig of yourself. Carbs are not going to do those hips any favors.” She grimaces with disgust.
I wince and feel my cheeks heat with shame. It’s the same argument she gave me when I decided I wanted to be a baker. I almost gave it up, but Granny wouldn’t let me. She and Mother had a huge blowout when Granny told her to shut up.
“Actually, shifters can eat all the carbs they want and not have to worry about weight. It helps fuel our animals, so when we rip people’s heads off, we don’t get tired,” a menacing voice from a doorway that leads to the kitchen growls, and Niles and Brock squeak with alarm and clutch each other in panic.
My mother just glares at Liam as he strolls to the buffet and puts a piece of apple pie on a plate with a huge dollop of whipped cream before adding a couple of colorful donuts to it as well. He stalks toward us and places it in front of me, never once taking his eyes off my mother.
“Eat up, my queen. You will need your strength to deal with all the fawning idiots tonight.” He doesn’t look at me, just gives the plate a nudge. My mouth drops open in surprise. He’s been nothing but indifferent toward me up until now. Violet fans her face like she’s hot. I guess my mother is a lot.
“Humans are not being given permission to enter the shifter zone during the transition. How did you get here?” Liam demands, and a sly smile crosses my mother’s lips as she reaches out and runs a finger over his broad chest, admiring him. He has a punk rock kind of look with his shock of white hair and the piercing in his eyebrow and lip. Liam is most definitely not the type my mother is usually attracted to, but she’s going to work whatever angle she can to get her own way.
“You wouldn’t deny the queen the support of her mother, would you?” she purrs and flutters her eyelashes, but he just removes her hand from his body.
“What help would you be? You know nothing about shifters. How did you get in here?” he barks.
She rolls her eyes and gestures to Brock and Niles. Brock stops clasping Niles’s hand and gets his shit together, straightening the vest he’s wearing.
“My father is on the council, and he gave permission.” He adopts a self-important air, one I’ve never heard from him before, and I blink in surprise. I had no idea that Brock’s father was on the council. He’s never mentioned it before.
“And just who is your father?” a voice booms out, and when I look past my mother, Brock, and Niles, I find Lucas standing there with an expression of fury on his face. Standing behind him are the queens, their faces neutral. I’ve learned that’s their public face, and I had better get good at my own.
“Vallen Tideman.” Brock puffs up his chest to make himself seem bigger, but he looks like a real weeny against Liam and Lucas.
“Ah, yes. Tideman’s son who was banished to the neutral zone for the sake of his reputation.” Lucas’s expression softens ever so slightly as Niles and Brock squirm on the spot. I am dying to know why, but I keep my mouth shut. There’s time for gossip later.
“Layla, Mia, Evie, it’s delightful to see you again,” my mother calls, not able to stand the lack of attention on her anymore.
I watch as the three women internally speak to one another. It’s the small, minute expressions on their faces that they taught me to look for. It means they are speaking through their mate bond. I guess they are trying to figure out how to play this. On one hand, I’m the new queen, and on the other hand, she’s the woman who has been designing for them for years and also my mother. They could very easily destroy her career, but she would make me suffer.
Lucas doesn’t give them a chance to respond. “No matter what my wives told you to call them in the neutral zone, you will address them formally here and give them the respect they deserve, and at least for a few more weeks, they are the queens.” The look he gives my mother would probably shrivel any normal sane person, but it doesn’t seem to affect her in the least. Narcissism at its finest.
I feel the pressure of his dominance in the air, and both Niles and Brock scurry to bow to their royals. My mom obviously can’t feel it, but I see her calculating her response. In the end, she dips into a curtsy, the overly formal dress she is wearing making it possible.
“You will also give our new queen the same respect. How dare you barge in without being invited?”
“She is my daughter, and I will do as I please,” my mother snaps, losing control at being spoken to like that, and I see the moment she realizes she fucked up. She whirls around, looking at me with pleading eyes. “Honey, I only want to be here to support you,” she cajoles, and I feel torn. Despite knowing she’s only here for her own gain, she’s my mother, but she also broke the rules, and I am now the shifter queen who has to see that they are enforced.
Before I can respond, the room suddenly fills with Watch Team One, Adam, and an unknown group of men who must be his team of shifters.
“Gryffin, Adam, can you and your teams please escort these three back to the border?” My mother turns to argue with Lucas, but he puts his hand up.
“Ms. Karridge, you may have received permission, but it was falsely given. I am still king, at least for a few more weeks, and my word is law. Be hopeful that your daughter will forgive you this trespass and still deign to see you once she is ready—ready being the operative word. As for you two, you shouldhave known better. You know your father didn’t have your best interest at heart. I will be placing a six month ban on both of you.”
“But we live in this zone,” Niles cries out. “Our home is here.”
