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Translation: Sorry I assumed you were raping my woman and attacked you. In his defense, it had looked bad since Sam had been sucking baby kraken venom from my upper thigh after I’d been stung at the lake behind his house. But I was glad he’d offered an apology.
Sam yanked out a chair and sat with a grumble. “You had no business making assumptions in the first place, stalker.”
Julian’s eyes glowed for a moment, but he tamped it down before I could react, and as far as I could tell, Sam was too busy filling his plate to notice. The wolf paused to run a slice of garlic bread beneath his nose.
“Guess that’s a myth,” he said as he stuffed it in his mouth.
Julian pulled my seat out for me and began serving the two of us dinner as well. Sam was only being slightly rude, in truth, since werewolves ate dinner first and chatted later. Still, I wished he’d try a bit harder himself.
“Julian was there that night because he’d scented a killer and had come to tell me,” I said, placing my napkin in my lap.
Sam set his fork down and continued chewing his mouthful as he regarded me then Julian. He took a long drink of water, then wine. Then he nodded. “Thanks for dinner.”
“You are welcome,” Julian said, taking a sip of wine. He hadn’t touched the bit of food on his plate. I knew he didn’t need to eat like the rest of us, but he did enjoy it.
Twirling my fettucine, I launched into a recount of my vision at the beach.
“The kid was a wolf? You’re sure?” Sam asked, hand on my arm.
Feeling rather than seeing Julian tense, I reached my own hand beneath the table and set it on his knee. “Absolutely.”
“And how old?” Sam asked.
“I’d say about four or five. But shifters age faster than humans, so I can’t be sure.”
Sam pushed back from the table and dropped his gaze to his lap. I chewed my cheek as I waited for whatever his reaction might be. Shifters were notorious hotheads, and Sam was no exception.
“Thank you for sharing this with me,” he said, meeting my eyes and then sliding his over to Julian. “I can’t let whoever’s doing this get away with it. It’s my job—my responsibility to protect my people, and especially our children.”
The emotion behind his words shone in his aura as bright blue and I smiled. “We will find them. Together.”
“How?” he asked, once again looking between me and Julian.
“After dinner,” Julian said, swirling his second glass of wine. “We will search the base while the general is away at a meeting. With your nose, we should be able to find the location of the hidden area faster.”
“Are you admitting my nose is better?” Sam asked with a crooked grin.
Julian set his glass down and looked up through his lashes. “In this case, you will be able to scent the difference between wolves, whereas all I will smell is wet dog.”
My breath caught, and I gripped his knee hard, telling him exactly what I thought about that comment through our silent connection. But after a moment, Sam let loose a loud snort followed by laughter and I relaxed.
“I suppose I’ll count us equal now after my garlic comment.”
Julian reached a hand across the table and, to my immense relief, Sam took it. I wondered how fiercely they both squeezed, but nothing indicated any issues as they shook and released each other.
Julian set a hand over mine on his leg. “Finish up then. I have a chocolate souffle to serve before we depart.”
* * *
Sam agreed to ride in the vamp mobile—as I’d dubbed Julian’s matte black sports car that always reappeared as if by magic no matter how damaged I’d seen it the day before. Either it was magic, or he had a garage full of them on standby somewhere. Either way, Sam barely fit in the backseat but insisted I sit in front, and even though Julian pressed the button that made the top of the car invisible, I knew Sam would hit his head on it if he sat up straight.
“Do you think the babies he referred to in your vision are Maryanne’s?” Sam asked, voicing the same question we had earlier regarding the little ones I’d helped deliver from their mother’s corpse.
“If they are, that means the general lied to you.” I twisted in my seat to watch his reaction.
Other than his eyes turning into molten silver, nothing showed. But I could see the spike of hot red anger that flared from his aura.
“I’ve never trusted SHADE,” he admitted. “I’m only here to serve shifters and make sure nothing impedes on our rights.” A muscle ticked in his jaw as the scarlet surrounding him melted into a pale yellow. “Looks like I haven’t exactly done a good job.”
