Page 6 of Feral King

"Poor Lyra," she says, clucking her tongue into the listening silence. "Still think you belong here?"

Her gaze drags down my body. Slow. Deliberate. An inventory taken in public.

And then the laughter comes. Rippling out from the nearest tables, soft and cruel and hungry, the sound of people who've been waiting all night for someone to fall.

Guests are staring now, phones half-raised, and I'm standing there doing violent arithmetic about which response gets me escorted out of my own event. My cheeks are hot.

Alexander smirks.

"She's here with me."

Four words.

Not loud. Not fast. Not even angry.

The laughter dies so completely I can hear the string quartet falter mid-bar.

I didn't hear Julian approach. He's simply there, between Sophia and me, like he's been there all along.

Sophia asked if I still think I belong here.

Julian just answered for the entire room: I'm here at the personal invitation of the most powerful man in it.

Everyone else is a guest.

I'm the reason he came.

CHAPTER 2

LYRA

Sophia's face does something complicated. The math is simple enough even for her.

She just publicly insulted the woman standing under Julian Volkov's protection, and there are five hundred witnesses.

Something about his presence makes it clear just how small she and Alexander are.

"Apologize." He doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't repeat himself.

"Julian," she says, her composure cracking along every seam, "we were just talking. You know, girl stuff. Nothing you need..."

He waits.

That's all he does. He waits, and the silence does something to her that shouting never could.

"I...She's... This isn't..."

Sophia is reduced to a stammering mess. I've never seen someone lose the English language that fast.

But he doesn't stop there.

"Your contracts with Volkov Industries end tonight." He doesn't blink. "All of them. Your access to this building, this company, and every subsidiary under our umbrella is terminated, effective immediately."

Her eyes flash. "You can't do that!" Her voice climbs an octave as her eyes dart to Alexander.

He stands perfectly still, quiet and chastened. I've never seen him like this before.

"Alex, tell him he can't do that!" she demands.