The king laughed, patting Luka on the back. “Is it true you were in prison for many years?”
Luka and I both bristled at the same time and the king noticed.
He gave Luka a knowing side look. “Wondering how I know all of these things?”
Luka was very still, as if he might pounce at any moment.
The king grinned, seemingly enjoying my man’s discomfort. “I have a well-traveled friend. She trades information with me as a part of our business arrangement.”
For some reason, Maz popped into my mind. She couldn’t be here though, right? She wasn’t that well connected … or was she? Perhaps he meant the leader of the Los Angeles Vampire Hunter Society. Either way, they knew things about Luka and our world and we knew nothing about them, which was uncomfortable.
“I shall need a similar friend, then,” Luka told him. “So that I can find out about you.”
It was a veiled threat, and the king noticed. I could tell by the tic in his jaw. “Well, isn’t that why you’re here?”
“Indeed.” Luka smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
A bell dinged, breaking the tension, and our attention was brought to the fight.
‘I don’t trust him,’I said suddenly as the werewolves started to go at it. They punched each other wildly and without restraint.
‘I haven’t trusted him from the second we walked in. Too chatty. Too gleeful. He’s hiding something, and he knows too much.’
My stomach soured. I had totally trusted him in the beginning of the night. Some good sense of character I was!
‘What’s the plan?’ I straightened, suddenly alert and ready for an ambush.
Luka watched the fight as the men proceeded to tear into each other. Ugh, I’d seen enough of these fights during Luka’s trial to last me a lifetime. I stayed quiet, focusing on the garden beyond the fight as the match raged on and the crowd cheered. Luka screamed in excitement and the king growled, which pulled my attention back to the mat. Our driver, Tink, the smaller man that Luka had bet on, had the throat of the larger man in his hands. The bigger dude was turning purple.
“Call it,” the king told Carmen.
Carmen rang the bell and the smaller wolf released his hold on the larger one.
Interesting. The king didn’t let them kill each other? Maybe he wanted to save his big wolf for another day. The crowd looked sullen, most of them probably betting on the larger wolf, but a few had wide grins, including Luka.
The king appraised my fiancé. “You made a good call.”
“Underdogs have more fighting spirit,” Luka told him.
The king nodded as the lingerie-clad human walked over and handed Luka a fat stack of cash, at least quadruple what he’d given her initially.
“You know, I wonder who would win in a fight between you and I,” the king said suddenly.
I stiffened as Luka casually handed me his stack of cash and looked over at the king.
“I thought I was here as your guest,” Luka told him.
The king shrugged. “You are. But I can’treallytrust someone until I know how strong they are. What if you are here to take over my kingdom?”
Crap, this was derailing fast.
“I assure you, I’m not,” Luka deadpanned.
The king nodded. “I would respect you more if you would honor me with a fight.”
‘What the hell is he doing?’I asked Luka.
‘This is the way he works,’Luka responded.
