Wolves were extremely territorial when it came to their mates. If she truly belonged to the kings, they wouldn’t abide smelling any male but them on her.
“There's a boat parked at the closest dock to this house. It has a bunch of females in it. We’re being… trafficked! We’re being trafficked. You’ve got to call the authorities. You have to help us!”
Trafficked? What in the devil?
I stepped forward, the urge to grab Tadhg by the lapels of his eejit jean shirt and demand he tell me exactly what was going on nearly overpowering me.
But Cian chose that moment to come back in with a cup of tea.
“Perfect, Cian!” Tadhg’s face lit up, using Cian’s arrival as an excuse to extract his sleeve from the small she-wolf’s grip. “Yes, a nice cuppa. That’s exactly what she needs.”
But now Tadhg was avoiding her eyes, too, even as he handed her a teacup on a saucer that also contained a finger sandwich and one of the mini-scones he’d just pulled out of the oven.
“This tea’ll warm you right up, won’t it?”
"I'm not going to sit here sipping tea while nearly everyone I know is trapped on that boat outside!” The she-wolf’s voice was weak but threaded with conviction. “You’ve got to help me. You’ve got to help us.”
The affable look Tadhg had worn like a mask ever since our PR firm dubbed him the chummy, accessible face of our company slipped a bit.
“Listen—”
A doorbell cut him off, and Tadhg’s light-brown eyes flared behind his pretend glasses. He liked to be prepared for anything, but I could tell he didn’t feel quite ready for whatever had arrived at our door—even if he’d arranged its delivery.
And that panic in his expression prompted me to say, “Cian, go get that, will you? That’ll be ourpackage.”
I just about growled the last word. I didn’t know what was going on here, but I was going to find out—whether the Mountain King was ready for me to or not.
“No! Don’t answer it!” The she-wolf tried to jump up from the seat she’d probably destroyed with her drenched residency.
“Relax.” To my surprise, the most easygoing king in our trio pressed a hand to the much smaller she-wolf’s shoulder and used his superior strength to keep her in place, even as he assured her, “Everything will be okay.”
“No, it won’t be. You don’t understand.”
She actually tried to fight Tadhg’s hold. She’d probably mistaken him for a human, and even a rail-thin she-wolf like her could best one of that species in strength.
But her inability to move even an inch under his firm grip was the clue that made her realize he wasn’t fully homo sapien beneath the scent-masking cologne he wore.
“What are you?” she demanded.
With his free hand, Tadhg pushed his fake glasses up on his nose. “Everything will be all right. I promise you that.”
“Don’t go making their she-wolf promises you can’t keep,” I warned. I didn’t know what kind of game Tadhg was playing here, but he was putting us in a precarious position, daring to touch the Irish Wolf kings’ future queen.
As if to confirm that notion, a coarse voice growled from the foyer, “Get yer hands off her!”
The Wild King came charging into the sitting room, his eyes glittering with violence. “Ye shouldn’t be touching her!”
Tadhg lifted both hands, his affable mask falling right back into place. “Sorry about that, Wild. Was afraid she’d pull another runner before you could secure her.”
He immediately ceded the space. And to my surprise, Wild, one of the roughest males I’d ever met—human or shifter—dropped down in front of her, his eyes filled with soft concern. “Ye crazy girl! What were ye thinking, jumping into the sea like that? Should I hug ye or strangle ye?”
He tenderly cupped her face, belying his harsh words. “Have ye any idea what ye did to my wolf when ye pulled that trick?”
She was his, I could tell that for certain now. But she jerked back, as if repelled by his touch. “Where am I? Who are these people?”
Great questions. I looked to Tadhg for the answers, only to find him no longer in the room.
At least not in the immediate room. He and Cian stood in the foyer, their eyes intent on something being heaved inside by Sea and two other fellows, whom I recognized as the beta enforcer wolves that stood behind the Wild and Sea Kings whenever they met in person with me.
