“No.” She took a breath. “But let’s go anyway.”
We got out of the car and walked toward the entrance. The bell above the door chimed as we stepped inside.
The interior was cozy. Warm lighting, overstuffed shelves, the smell of old paper and coffee. A bookworm’s paradise. My mate would love it here. Probably did love it, as a child. Some things made perfect sense.
I was cataloging the space, noting the exits, the layout...
And then I smelled it.
I went rigid, hackles rising, every muscle in my body tensing. My wolf surged forward, alert and ready.
Another wolf. There was another wolf here.
I moved instinctively, positioning myself between Riley and the rest of the store, shielding her with my body as we approached the counter.
“Caelan?” Riley whispered. “What’s wrong?”
Before I could answer, a woman appeared behind the counter. Dark red hair, glasses, a warm smile.
“Welcome to Woods & Pages! Can I help you find...”
Footsteps on the stairs. A man descending, carrying two cups of coffee. He froze when he saw me. I froze when I saw him. Of allthe bookstores in all the human towns in all the realms, and I walk into the one run by the King of Ravenor.
“Malachar Ashborne?” I said.
“Caelan Goldridge?” The man’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline. “What in the goddess’s name are you doing here?”
The tension in the room shifted from defensive to confused to cautiously friendly. Malachar set the coffee cups down on the counter, still staring at me as if seeing a ghost. The red-haired woman looked between us, clearly sensing she was missing context.
“You two know each other?” she asked.
“We do,” I confirmed, relaxing my stance slightly. Not completely, old habits died hard, but enough to signal I wasn’t here for a fight. “Malachar Ashborne. King of Ravenor.”
“King of...” Riley’s head whipped toward me. “Do you know him?”
The frown hadn’t left her face since this whole mess started. I hated it. Hated the distance, hated the suspicion, hated everything about this situation.
“Yes,” I said. “I know him. We’re not friends, exactly, but... acquaintances. Our kingdoms have dealt with each other in the past.”
“Diplomatically,” Malachar added. “Nothing hostile. We’re bound by the peace treaty the seven kingdoms signed hundredsof years ago. And before that, Ravenor and Duskmere had always been on decent terms.”
The two of us approached each other, clasping forearms in the traditional wolf greeting. It was strange, meeting a fellow king in a tiny human bookstore, of all places. The goddess had a sense of humor.
“I’d heard you found your mate in the human realm,” I said. “I didn’t realize this was where you’d settled.”
“Wen’s roots are here.” Malachar glanced at the red-haired woman with obvious affection. “We split our time between worlds, but this is home base.”
That tracked. Many wolves with human mates in the past few years had found similar arrangements, balancing their duties in Lytopia with their life in the human world.
Riley cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, I’m still catching up. You’re a king? From this…Lytopia?”
“Guilty as charged.” Malachar offered her a slight bow. “Malachar Ashborne, at your service. And you are?”
I hesitated, caught between instinct and uncertainty. Part of me wanted to introduce her as my mate, to claim her publicly, make it clear to everyone that she was mine. But things between us were still fragile. I didn’t know if she’d welcome it or resent it.
Probably resent it, given how the last two days had gone.
Before I could decide, Riley spoke.
