Silvia started chanting, taking Nicolono away from the fun game he was playing with Jules. Angel covered her mouth with one hand. She kicked out and his hand slipped.
Nicolono handed them the tool and snapped his fingers at Jules, indicating that he should follow him out of the room. They both left as she finished the words. His wife and her fucking curses. She was clever, more than most, in fact. It had always pissed Nicolono off that Silvia was smarter than him, but he found it endearing since Thomas had shown him his true mate. He’d have to reward her when she finally came back to herself.
He stood outside waiting for someone to scream in pain or something. He hoped he had dodged her words. She used words like guns, blowing a hole in all that her opponent held dear, like his precious manhood.
Angel and Damian came out of the room a second later. “What are you doing? Get back in there and finish the job.”
“We can’t.”
“Why? What did she do to you?”
“She made us see our truth,” Angel said and turned from him, heading down the hallway.
Damian walked away without a word.
Chapter Nineteen
Lucas watched the change happen in Bennett when they stepped out of the back door and onto the patio. Lucas clung to Bennett’s hand, holding it a little bit tighter when all eyes turned to him. Lucas wasn’t used to all the attention and really didn’t know if he liked it or not. For all Bennett’s badassness in front of the clan, he let Lucas cling.
Lucas tried to remain as calm as possible for Bennett’s sake, but he was having a hard time, especially when Bennett stood right behind and to the left of Ramsey. Bennett squeezed his hand gently before letting him go.
Stand behind me, baby.
Why?
I don’t trust one of the clan members.
Lucas did as he was told. He fisted the T-shirt Bennett had on, holding on for dear life and decided to keep his mouth shut for once and do what Bennett said.
There were several animals staring, including a big snake rattling its tail. It was pretty in color and had brown diamond shapes on its back. Lucas knew this because the thing was only about five feet away from them.
It looked at Ramsey with its beady black eyes and its tongue flickered as if to sayall the better to eat you.
Reggie won’t hurt you, baby,Bennett said.
I don’t like snakes.
He’s completely aware and has human thinking capabilities, just like me when I’m my dragon.
Lucas waved at the snake. “Hey there, little snake. Don’t kill me. That’s a nice snake,” he whispered into Bennett’s shirt. He could’ve sworn the snake smiled at him.
A mountain lion licked its paw and a black panther sat right next to it. It definitely wasn’t common to see all these animals together in the same small space. A bobcat sat next to him and a wolf took up Ramsey’s side. Lucas looked from the bobcat to the wolf and swallowed the lump of fear. His throat went dry when the bobcat put a paw on his leg. He instantly had a picture of Forrest in his head and breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m freaking out a little, Forrest. I’ve never been around so many animals in my life.”
Shifters, baby. Don’t let them hear you call them animals.
Lucas winced. “Sorry.”
That was another thing, shifters had so many customs, he wasn’t even aware of most of them. He just knew he was going to say something offensive.
“There will be a competition for three enforcer positions. Anyone can compete and the best three will be chosen. The competition will be fighting to submission and the first pairings will be chosen byBennett and myself. This Saturday at six o’clock in the afternoon. We have a vampire coven interested in taking our newest member from us and we will not let that happen. The coven has already sent a scout, so be on alert and let one of the inner circle know when you see someone lurking around. That’s all I got. Anyone who needs to talk to me will be able to immediately following the meeting.” Ramsey’s deep voice boomed out amongst the crowd.
Murmurs followed Ramsey’s very minimal speech regarding the vampire coven and Lucas. Everyone had a ton of questions and Bennett didn’t blame them for it. Ramsey could have explained things with a bit more depth.
“Who’s the cute blond behind Bennett?” Someone yelled from the back of the group.
Lucas could feel tension in Bennett’s body, so he worked his hand under Bennett’s shirt, rubbing up and down his back, hoping his touch would help.
