Roger made a dismissive hand gesture. “I knew he was lying. Your blood doesn’t evensmelllike chocolate. I’ve got a really good sense of smell. That’s my superpower.” And he and his brother returned to their seats next to Serafina, who whapped them both on the head. “We’ll talk about your bad manners later,” she threatened them.
Taylor took a sip of her wine, and as she glanced around the table, she realized that Grant was staring at her with open admiration. Oddly enough, Mandy didn’t look the least bit put out by his behavior.
“Taylor, I’ve never seen you looking so beautiful,” Grant said. “If you get bored with Cliff – and trust me, you will – you know where to find me.”
Cliff growled and stiffened in his seat. Taylor put her hand on his knee.
“Why, Grant,” she said with a fake simper. “You are too kind. And I’ve never seen you so...” She dropped the simper and gave him an icy look. “Blatantly obvious.”
He arched an eyebrow inquiringly.
“You’ve been in the office before, and you didn’t flirt with me. But suddenly I’m hotter than a bushel of Jalapeno peppers? The only reason you’d be so interested in me, especially with your beautiful date right by your side, is to needle Cliff. Let me guess. Middle brother, always had to fight for attention?”
Cliff threw his head back and laughed. Austin cracked a rare smile.
Grant turned his irritation on Austin. “So where are you working again? Male model for Homeless R Us?”
Austin smirked at him. “Do you plan on staying with this date all through dinner, or will you be,” he glanced at Serafina and moderated his language, ““datingsomeone else on the dinner table by dessert?”
“Hey!” Cliff snapped at him. “Language. Cubs.”
“I knew what you meant,” Serafina said loftily to Austin. “I’m not twelve.”
Just then, they heard loud voices at the doorway. A group of people marched in, and Taylor felt the atmosphere suddenly grow chilly even though the temperature hadn’t changed.
There were seven very old people, four male and three female. They were divided into two groups, Taylor noticed. No, three. Two groups of three clustered together, and an older man standing apart from them. Following them in was a man who looked to be in his fifties, accompanied by a pretty woman with blonde hair pulled back into a chignon, wearing a black lace jacket over a black silk dress. The woman looked at the ground and avoided everyone’s gaze. The man’s face was heavily scarred, but he would still have been handsome if he didn’t have a sneer curling his lip and contempt radiating from every pore in his body.
Cliff introduced them to Taylor. He started with the older people, whom he referred to as the pack’s Elders. The three of them who stood closest to the scarred man were Minnie, Phineas and Oswald. The three of them who looked friendly to Cliff were Herbert, Maurice and Juliette. And the man standing off by himself was Oswald.
The scarred man was Jerrold, and the blonde was his wife Leota; Cliff had told Taylor that Jerrold was competing with him in hopes of becoming pack Alpha, and that had something to do with the Alpha Trials, but he hadn’t had much of a chance to discuss it with her.
Serafina glared at Jerrold. “You lied to me, and you tried to get my brothers into trouble. You’re a liar, not a leader,” she snapped.
Jerrold met her gaze. “You are a juvenile who needs someone to take you in hand anddisciplineyou appropriately. I’ll see to it when I’m Alpha.”
There was a hint of lechery in his eyes that made Taylor furious and nauseated at the same time. At the mention of “‘discipline”,’ the blonde shivered and hugged herself. Taylor thought she could see bruising on her arms underneath the lace jacket.
Austin shot to his feet, lip curling back in a snarl. “I don’t care if you win the Alpha position or not – you lay one fucking finger on her, you pervert, and I’ll end you.”
Jerrold flashed a triumphant smile at the elders. “I told you. He’s mentally unstable and completely out of control. He shouldn’t even be allowed to participate in the trials. What kind of leader would he make?”
“It’s required by charter,” Juliette said, her lip curling with disdain as she spoke to him.
Serafina looked at her uncle with a mixture of defiance and disgust. “A competent leader would know that.”
“I see that you’re incapable of teaching the youngsters in your pack the most basic manners,” Jerrold said loudly to Cliff, while shooting a glance at the older werewolves who were standing near him. “When I am Alpha, I can assure you, I will bring back proper discipline for all pack members, from the youngsters to the adults.”
Serafina coughed into her hand. It sounded like she’d said, “Never gonna happen.”
Before Jerrold could say anything else, Cliff said, “And I hear that you’ve been attempting to manipulate younger pack members to physically assault my future mate.”
The Elders looked startled.
“Outrageous!” Jerrold blustered. “I did no such thing.”
“Calling me a liar?” Cliff’s voice went even colder.
“Oh, you mean the little joke that I made with Roger? Of course I didn’t expect him to take it seriously.”
