Page 34 of The Alpha’s Heir

Not that he hadn’t been acting different, too.

On the whole ride over here, he’d been almost… tolerable.

“It might be because you aren’t drunk and calling me a mutant.” I winked before tasting the soup.

It was definitely all tomato and vegetables, but at least it tasted good. I had to stop myself from slurping up the bowl. Mom would be pissed if she saw me acting like a wolf at the table.

“Ah, yes.” Justus suddenly seemed nervous as he glanced past me. “I’m… um… sorry about that.”

I didn’t need to turn around to know where he was looking. I could sense where Roman was behind me, and wherever he moved about the room. But while Justus had been kinder since leaving the dress shop, Roman had turned to stone.

Maybe he has some jealous beast in him after all.

I frowned into my soup. That wasn’t the woman I was, and I hadn’t tried to make him jealous. Besides, he’d been the one telling Justus and me to get along.

And he had said he was in charge today.

That was kind of hot.

“It’s fine,” I told Justus, more confused than I was this morning. “We should hurry up and eat.”

Justus nodded, twirling his spoon for a moment before he placed it back on the table. He reached for his water glass. There was a slight shake to his hand.

“Are you okay?” I studied him.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he chugged down the water and color flushed his face as he glanced past me again. “I’m fine.”

He was clearly not, but I was hungry, so I kept eating. Justus didn’t touch his spoon. If he didn’t want his food, I wondered if he wouldn’t mind passing it my way.

Sweat beaded on his brow as he fiddled with his pocket. “There’s… uh… something I need to ask you.” His gaze went past my shoulder again.

I resisted the urge to look that way too. “What is it?”

He coughed to clear his throat and took another drink of water before talking. “I know our introduction was less than welcoming. But if we’re going to be stuck together… forever… It’s only right to do things… differently.”

Is he having a stroke?

He coughed again, but his water was empty. I slowly pushed my untouched glass across the table.

Justus didn’t take it, but he did watch my hand intently. “Our introduction needs a redo. Megaera Cerberus, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Justus Troy, only son of Councilwoman Helen Troy, and it’s an honor to meet you.”

What is he doing? My wolf cringed.

Beats me. I stared at him, wondering what all this was about.

He finally looked up at me. “I think it’s brave, the sacrifice you are making for your kind, and if we’re stuck doing this together, I’d be honored to have you as my wife.”

It’s not like he had another choice…

What’s he doing now?

Justus scooted his chair back suddenly and moved to kneel on the floor. I thought he’d dropped his napkin for a minute, but movement just outside the windows caught my attention. We’d drawn another crowd again, but this time it felt staged.

Flashing lights and people holding phone-like devices stood strategically outside the restaurant with a perfect view of our table.

Justus pulled out a white box and opened it. The shiny ring inside caught the artificial lights and reflected them back to me.

This was a show. A human tradition. One I’d only read about in books. But it felt wrong. Like it was supposed to mean something, and it meant absolutely nothing to me or my wolf.