“How do you know there are only ten?” I frowned.
“I heard them.”
“You can discern ten different wolf voices?” Ainsley asked in awe.
“No,” Conri smirked. “I candiscernwhat they're saying.”
An extinguisher came into the guest house and rushed over to me. “You're wanted in the front yard, Ambassador.”
“Thank you, Extinguisher Keith,” I slid my seat back and everyone else at the table followed suit.
“Um,” Keith cleared his throat as he looked at my Guard. “They'll only to speak with the Ambassador. They said if anyone else comes out of the house, they'll leave.”
“Ridiculous,” Torquil huffed.
“It's fine,” I sighed. “You guys can watch over me from the windows.”
“At least take Cat with you,” Tiernan said in a low tone.
“Yeah, that's a good idea,” I agreed. “Come on, Cat, let's go talk to some werewolf witches.”
I left the guest house and everyone followed me into the main house and then to the living room. Several of my Guard set themselves up at the windows, lifting the glass panes to get an unimpeded line of fire. Extinguishers were already spread out around the house, watching the front yard warily, and Councilman Teagan was waiting in the living room.
“Ambassador,” Councilman Teagan said. “We've got Extinguishers up in my office and the upper floors, armed with rifles to watch over you.”
“Thank you, Sir,” I gave him a quick nod; extra protection was never a bad thing.
Tiernan and Conri flanked me all the way to the front door, where they remained, to watch me through the charcoal mesh of the screen. Cat stayed with me though, scanning the shadows as we walked down the wood steps.
“What is that?” Aidan asked as he stepped forward into the light. His eyes were glued to Cat.
“This is Cat,sheis a puka and she can understand you, so I'd be careful to not insult her.”
“A puka... I've heard of them but never seen one. She's massive,” he looked her over. “Is it true that they can shift into horses?”
“Yes, I met her as a horse actually,” I smiled, recalling my introduction to Cat. “We bonded and have been friends ever since.”
“Well, Mistress Cat,” Aidan held out his hand to her. “May we be friends as well?”
Cat looked up at me but I only shrugged. Sometimes she was a better judge of character than I was. She set her cognac-colored eyes on Aidan and his expression went from casual to acute. Something seemed to pass between them, some kind of understanding was reached, and Cat laid her head in his palm.
“Not one for shaking hands, eh?” Aidan laughed and stroked Cat's cheek. “Me either, to tell the truth.” And with that, he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. He turned the kiss into a cheek-to-cheek face press as he whispered, “It's nice to see you again, Princess Kick-Ass.”
“And you as well, Alpha Aidan,” I lifted a brow at him as he withdrew. I didn't give his kiss any regard. Aidan felt like a mini Conri to me and I assumed his flirtations were just as frivolous as the bargest's. “Did you speak to your elders?”
“I did,” he pulled a length of leather cord from his coat pocket. At the end of it, a small cluster of quartz crystals was tied to the leather. “Now they would like to speak to you,” he began to put the necklace over my head but I stopped him.
“What is that?” I pulled back a little to look the necklace over. It really did appear to be just a chunk of crystal shards, all grown together in a group, but I knew how deceiving appearances could be. And crystals were great receptacles for magic.
“It's a cluster,” he frowned at me like he couldn't understand why I'd be hesitant.
“I know it's a crystal cluster,” I huffed. “Why are you trying to put it on me?”
“So you can speak to the elders,” he cocked his head at me. “Don't the fey use clusters?”
“To speak to each other?” I asked and he nodded. “No, we use crystal balls. It's called scrying.”
“Scrying,” he mused. “Like divination. Interesting. We've always used cluster crystals.”
