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Laz is tall and thin, with lean muscle roping his body. Long, thinning grey hair is tied back at his neck in a scraggly ponytail that reaches down his back. He’s wearing beach shorts and a heavy poncho that’s definitely too hot for a Californian summer day, but Laz never goes without it. On his feet are flipflops and on his wrists, stacks of beaded bracelets. Laz was a handsome man during his adult filming days, but a youth filled with unbridled partying has left its mark in the deep lines on his face and the stoop to his shoulders. Still, he’ll be the first to say it’s been a good life.
“You sent me to a madhouse last night,” I say accusingly.
He grins, the lines around his eyes creasing. “Heard about that, though I don’t think you can blame the client for reacting badly when a wolf shifter leapt through his living room window.” He looks Keenan up and down. “I’d say from the size of you, you’re probably the culprit.” He sticks his hand out at Keenan who looks taken aback before enveloping it in his own massive fist.
“Keenan Wolven-North.” He eyes Laz like he’s an escaped zoo animal.
I wonder if shifters see us that way all the time. Like zoo animals that do nonsensical and silly things. Or pets maybe, living in gilded cages.
Keenan shifts his gaze to me. “We don’t think that.”
I realize he’s responding to my thoughts. A shiver runs down my spine. It’s very strange to have another person invade my most private sanctity. How does one go about shielding their thoughts?
“With practice,” he says.
“Stop doing that!” I step away from him. Maybe distance will stop him from spying on my thoughts.
“It won’t.”
“Stop it!”
Laz is looking back and forth between us, his expression bemused. “So it’s true, you really are his mate.”
I round on Laz. “How do you know about the mating thing? In fact, how do you know about last night at all? I didn’t call and I didn’t give your name to the police.”
The beaded curtain sways, drawing my attention as Angel glides into the room. Like her stage name suggests, Angel is angelic. With long platinum hair and a face that has held its beauty into her 70s, a long colourful dress flowing around her lean frame, she can still command a room.
Angel thrusts her phone at me, her rings flashing in the light. “This is how we know about last night.”
I take the phone from her. “Oh shit.”
On the screen is my professional headshot overlayed on an image of Keenan being dragged unconscious out of Yannis’s house. The headline reads, “Long Lost Wolf Prince goes wild over Actress Mate.”
“Not good,” Keenan mutters, hovering over my shoulder to read the story with me.
The rest of the article is about as accurate as the headline, which is surprisingly accurate while sprinkled with embellishments. It says Keenan is next in line for the throne. I look at him and he shakes his head.
“No, it’s Lock’s children, then Rush.”
“What’s a rush?” asks Angel.
“My sibling. Third in line for the throne.”
“Ah,” she says, nodding, then her jaw drops. “You really are a royal prince? I thought that was some paparazzi bullshit.”
“He really is a prince!” I assure her.
She grips my hands and dances in a circle. “Vanessa nabbed a prince!”
I pull away from her, blushing as I glance at Keenan. I don’t want him thinking I’m some kind of gold digger. I like money as much as the next person, but it’s not my biggest motivator in life. If we do end up doing the mating thing, I want it to be because we’re in love.
His gaze turns heated and my blush deepens. I temporarily forgot he can see into my head whenever he wants. I’m annoyed that I can’t do the same.
“You will one day,” he assures me. “If the bond continues to deepen.”
The news makes me feel a little less self-conscious about what he might see. I’ve never had to control my thoughts before. What if I think about something that turns him off? Like bellybutton lint.
I push the thought away and turn back to Laz and Angel who are looking at us knowingly. “So how bad do you think this incident has damaged my career?” Not that I have much of a career, but it’s not great to throw in a scandal before I’ve made a name for myself. “I swear I didn’t know there were photographers or how they got there so quickly.” Something tickles my brain and I realize they weren’t the only ones who got to the scene quickly. “Come to think of it, the police arrived really fast, too.”
