“Thanks.” He sniffled and, without raising his head, pulled a tissue from the box and dabbed it against his nose.
I returned to my chair and waited. Something I wasn’t always good at, but Ren deserved the time and space to pull himself together.
More time passed, then he sat up and wiped his face with some tissues. “Damn it. I’m sorry, Anax. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that.”
“Why have you gone back to calling me Anax?” I gave him a small smile. “I won’t pretend to know what you’ve been through, Ren, but just the parts you’ve told me warrant falling apart. You have nothing to apologize for.”
He bowed his head. “Thanks, Tobias. Seriously. I didn’t know where I was going when I ran from those guys yesterday. I’m thankful that I ended up here.”
“So am I.” I completely meant it.
Xavier returned from patrolling at about the same time Davion arrived with a large bag full of fast-food breakfast platters and a cup carrier that held four large hot beverage cups. The four of us stayed at the kitchen table as we ate and drank. The two guards and I chatted. Ren didn’t say much, and he kept his face turned mostly toward Xavier.
It was a quiet day, thank gods. No intruders or conflicts. No threats. Just Davion sleeping upstairs, because he’d been up most of the night, and Xavier moving around the house and nearby land to make sure the day stayed quiet. Ren seemed at loose endsuntil I showed him the den, which contained two bookcases full of books and a large smart TV with just about every streaming service available. I left him in there to relax while I spent some time in my office making last-minute preparations for the gathering, specifically the speeches I would have to make and discussions I would have to have.
When car doors slammed outside halfway through the afternoon, I realized two things: I’d forgotten to eat lunch, and Kyle had arrived. Whatever was left to do for the gathering could wait. I still had another day. Right now, seeing my mate after being apart from him overnight was my top priority.
In the front hall, Kyle stood, flanked by our two senior guards Seth and Laurits. Two of our other guards, Benjy and Yovanny, were behind them. The door was open, but that wasn’t surprising given that five werewolves and their luggage were trying to crowd into the entryway.
Five werewolves. No humans, and one of the guards was missing. “Where are Chloe and Mandeep?”
“Hi, Tobias,” Kyle said. “I missed you last night. I’m happy to see you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I love you and you know it. Where are Chloe and Mandeep?”
“One-track mind,” Kyle muttered. He grinned. “They took the smaller car to pick up one of the other cooks. Solana? You apparently promised her transportation.”
“Right.” I’d hired the temp household workers based on how much I felt I could trust them and whether they seemed competent in the job, not whether they had any way to get to the hunt house. “So we’ll have two humans here overnight. You all know the drill.”
“Mandeep will be with them during the day, as you’d already established,” Seth said. “I’ve assigned Benjy to guard them at night, except on hunt night.”
I nodded. One of the things I liked most about Seth was that he knew his job well enough to take things off my plate. Especially since I’d made it clear to him after I took the rank ofAnax that Iwantedhim to make decisions without asking me about every little move. “Thank you, Seth. All right, for the rest of today, do what you would ordinarily do. Seth, Xavier is around here somewhere. Davion’s upstairs.”
“Davion can stay off duty until tomorrow morning,” Seth said. “I’ll have Mandeep step into his spot.” Each of the shifts had three guards. In the couple of months since I’d hired Davion, Benjy, and Yovanny, none of whom had worked as guards before, Mandeep had become a combination of a float guard, filling in when necessary, and my personal assistant since he had a gift for logistics and planning that I desperately needed.
“Sounds good.” I raised my voice slightly. The den was just a couple doors down the hall, and werewolves had better hearing than humans. Ren would hear me. “Ren, if you’d like, you can come meet my mate and our guards.”
The den door creaked open, and Ren hesitantly emerged. I studied the guards’ faces for any indication of doubt or disgust. I’d done my best to vet all of them for prejudice and hatred, but sometimes things were missed.
None of them reacted with anything other than a friendly smile. I relaxed and motioned to Ren to join us. “Everyone, this is Ren Torres.Heis our guest for a while and might join the household staff.” I emphasized the pronoun to make damn good and sure everyone knew Ren was a guy. “Ren, how many names can you handle hearing at one time?”
He chuckled nervously. “Throw ’em all at me and I’ll see what I can do.”
I took Kyle’s hand and pulled him closer. “You asked for it,” I said, grinning. “This is my mate, Kyle Slidell.”
“It’s good to meet you, Ren,” Kyle said in a gentler tone than his usual as he held out his hand.
Looking a little bemused, Ren shook it. “It’s good to meet you, too.”
“And these are more of our guards.” I started with Seth, going with the protocol of introducing the highest-ranked first, though with the guards, it was more about seniority than rank. “SethOgilvie, my head guard and the leader of the day guards. Laurits Solberg, second in command and the leader of the night guards. And Benjy Yates and Yovanny Westin.”
Ren looked completely overwhelmed, but he summoned a smile and said, “I’m glad to meet all of you.”
“Likewise.” Seth extended his hand, and Ren shook it. “I heard a little about you yesterday. I’m sorry for what you experienced.”
Ren raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Um, thanks.”
“We’ll have supper at six,” I said. “If Chloe and Solana aren’t ready to cook for all of us, we’ll order and one of you can go pick it up. Seth, I’ll leave you to organize the guards. Ren, do you need anything?”
