“You did it to yourself,” Tobais said.
“I didn’t think she’d go that far,” Arthur grumbled.
That was when Briar noticed Beatrix. She stopped letting Tobias pull her back and gave the other human a big smile.
“Hey, you must be Beatrix! Come in, come in! Book club is waiting for you. It’s a big day. We get another human, and Titan is finally joining us. He’s been promising to attend forever, but there’s always an excuse.”
“Dogs are not an excuse!” Mila, another human, said as she came to stand next to Briar. As Arthur expected, Mila’s vampire, Gio, was quick to step up behind her.
Usually vampires hated having their flock near other vampires, but that had changed with this group. The human and shifters associated with the Lobo Gris pack refused to remain isolated. The vampires in their lives were forced to concede.
Arthur blamed it all on Briar. She was the first one to bring the wolves and vampires together.
“Sorry, Mila, I didn’t mean it like that,” Briar said. “Dogs are awesome, and Titan is wonderful because he rescues dogs. Just like you!”
Mila blushed. “I only rescued one dog. Titan’s rescued thousands!”
“I don’t think it’s been that many,” Titan said. “How is Babette doing?”
Somehow, while Mila and Titan chatted about Mila’s rescued dog, they were all herded into the bar. He was surprised thatBeatrix didn’t even notice, she was too busy engaging with Mila and Titan about animal rescue.
Of course his flock would have something fundamentally important to them in common, he just hadn’t expected it to be animal welfare. It seemed he would soon be investing a lot of money in the health and lives of stray dogs and cats.
If it made his human and wolf happy, he couldn’t wait.
Beatrix
Although Beatrix had felt intimidated by the closed bar door, she was relaxed and engaged now that they were inside. She’d be forever grateful to Briar for opening the door, and Mila for drawing her into the conversation.
Briar wandered off, leaving her and Mila and Titan to talk about dogs in peace. The only thing that would’ve been better was if Mila had brought Babette with her. But of course she had a ton of pictures of the little dog on her phone to show Beatrix.
Beatrix was able to match her with all her pictures of shelter dogs on her phone.
Then a small woman was there, pushing Titan aside so she could stand next to Beatrix. “I’m Cora! It’s nice to have another human around!”
“Oh, you’re human?” Mila asked. “I thought you were a new wolf joining Mikey’s pack.”
“Really?” Beatrix asked, looking around. How many of the individuals around her were shifters or vampires? Everyonelooked human to her. She focused back on Mila. “Do I look like a wolf?”
“No, you look human,” Mila said with a shrug. “But I’m human so I can’t see auras like vampires can.”
“And we don’t have the sense of smell that the shifters have,” Cora added.
Beatrix looked up at Titan. “What do I smell like?”
“The sweetest dessert I’ve ever had,” he answered without hesitation, then blushed when the other two women giggled.
“So I smell edible?” she teased.
He leaned over and put his mouth to her ear. “Delicious.”
That one word made her shiver.
“Titan? Can we talk?”
They all turned to see a man at the back of the bar waving Titan over. He looked at her and then back at Mikey with obvious anxiety.
“That’s Mikey,” Titan explained. “He’s Alpha of the Lobo Gris pack. That basically means he’s our leader. He’s a really nice guy.”
