I bowed my head toward him. “You as well, Sire.”
“This is my companion, Cora.”
The female smiled at me briefly, her gaze glancing off mine before it focused on Leda. Her smile brightened when she looked at Leda. “Hi.”
She lifted her hand in a small wave. The king smiled at her with an indulgent expression. Though I did not know him well, it was clear he was smitten with her. I understood his predicament all too well.
“This is my mate, Leda Voight,” I said.
Leda stepped forward, holding a hand out to Cora. “Hi, Cora. It’s nice to meet you.”
The other human took her hand, and they shook.
“Oh, the custom of shaking hands,” the king said. “So, this is what it looks like.”
Leda grinned up at him, which set my possessive instincts on edge. Though I knew she was my mate, and I felt the partial bond, I wanted to grab her and drag her away from the king.
I had a handle on it until she held out her hand to him. “Would you like to try, Sire?”
He chuckled and lifted his hand to take hers.
Before I realized what I had done, I closed the distance between us and wrapped an arm around her waist, dragging her away.
“Mine,” I snarled.
The king’s guard moved to surround him, but he lifted a hand, halting them. “It is fine,” he called. “I forgot that the general is newly mated, that is all.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t,” Leda said, smacking my forearm where it was wrapped around her ribs. “Put me down, ya big goon!”
I realized I was holding her a couple of feet off the ground. Carefully, I lowered her, and as soon as I released her, she turned on me, shaking a finger at me.
“Don’t do that again!”
“I am sorry.”
She sighed and dropped her hand. “It’s okay. I’m pretty sure I would have done the same thing if you tried to touch Cora.” She paused. “Well, maybe not the same thing because I can’t pick you up off the ground.”
“Truly, I am sorry.”
The angry expression on her face faded. “It’s okay.”
She planted herself at my side and put an arm around my waist. Resting a hand on her shoulder, I looked to the king.
“My deepest apologies, Sire.”
The king waved his hand. “I completely understand. We should dispense with the formalities. Call me Fane.”
“Please come into the house, and we will have tea.”
At my invitation, the king looked to his guards. Since I had trained most of them myself, I watched with approval when four of them entered the house while four more remained at the king’s side.
A few moments later, the guards returned and one of them nodded to the others. After that, I led the king and Cora into the house and to the rarely used parlor. I was on my way to the kitchen to ask Masu to make us tea when I met her in the hall.
“Master, I have the kettle on to boil. I will also bring some treats.” She smiled and clapped her hands. “So exciting that the king is visiting!”
“Thank you, Masu.”
The king’s guards were spaced throughout the house, inside and out, but the king had insisted that they wait outside the parlor. He said that the male who trained the guards would likely be able to protect him just as well.
