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The scent hit his nostrils before the platter plunked down in front of him. Adam squinted at the pastries. He was not too fond of sweets, but enjoyed a hearty meal. To keep his body strong and trim, he worked out, and he sparred with Sakura. The time he had bested her in her house and made love to her afterward seemed years ago.
“Please help yourself,” Deveron said.
Adam didn’t understand it, but he found himself tempted beyond reason. He scanned the men’s faces, wondering if they’d poisoned the pastries, but Deveron smiled and took one. He bit into it and soon downed the sweet. Another man poured coffee for everyone. Before Adam could say a word, he heaped a mound of sugar in Adam’s cup.
The scent too much to resist, Adam selected a dessert and took a tentative bite. No odd taste or reaction came over him—unless one counted the feeling of being in heaven. Pastry after pastry disappeared into his mouth, and he didn’t stop until he reached for another and found the platter empty. Sharp embarrassment made him scoop up the coffee and drain the cup. He cursed, glaring at Deveron.
Deveron laughed. “I put nothing in it. We’re not in the habit of harming our own.”
“I’m not like you,” Adam growled.
“Not exactly, no. But you are a shifter. A bear, right?”
Adam hated that they had the advantage. “And what are you?”
Another man spoke up. “Maybe we should keep that to ourselves, Deveron.”
“No, no. We want Mr…I mean… We want Adam to trust us, so it’s important to be transparent. We’re foxes.”
Adam blinked, disbelieving.
“Show him.” Deveron nodded to the man who’d insisted they keep their secret, and the man frowned. He obeyed though, walking around the table and into the open space to Deveron’s right. Adam stared wide-eyed as the man’s suit fell to a pile on the floor. Beneath it a small lump wiggled, and soon the small head of a red fox appeared.
“Estas brutal!” Adam shook his head.
The tiny furry animal disappeared beneath the pile again, and soon a very naked man stood in its place. Adam turned away and heard the rustle of the man dressing.
“Also,” Deveron said, “for your information, the reason you enjoyed the pastries so much is because one of the main ingredients is honey. Bears enjoy eating young bees, and because of it, develop a taste for honey. It’s not some made up trait from a children’s story.”
His calm explanation did not make Adam feel any better. To think he would eat anythin
g as disgusting as a bee was preposterous, but he had proven the theory of bears enjoying honey. He shoved the plate away. “I don’t care about honey or what you think you know about me. What I want to know is what you think you’ll do with Sakura.”
“Nothing.”
“Explain!”
Deveron steepled his hands together, elbows on the table. “It’s very simple, Adam. Sakura Keith, the oldest daughter of the well-known Keith Hunters, is now one of us. And if my sources are correct—and they are—she was the last of the darlings. Shae Keith is a wolf shifter, and her sister Shiya is in a mated relationship with two bear shifters. The Keiths are essentially no more. We shifters are now at the top of the food chain.”
Adam stood slowly from his chair, his gaze lowered to the table to hide the violence bubbling into overload. He leaned forward and grabbed Deveron’s shirtfront and dragged the man halfway onto the table. Cries of alarm rose throughout the room. Adam bared teeth he knew were razor sharp, and when he spoke he didn’t recognize his own voice. “Did you bite her?”
“N-n-no, of course not. I would never,” Deveron stammered. He was no small man. In fact, Adam would put him at similar weight and height to himself, yet Adam held the man without effort. Deveron swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. Deveron named a man Adam didn’t know.
“He acted on your authority though, right?”
Deveron paled. He seemed to search for soothing words, and then his expression cleared. Two heavy hands slammed down on Adam’s shoulders and drove him into his seat. Against his will, he had to let go of Deveron, and the man stood and straightened his jacket. A pleasant grin creased is face.
“Thank you, Savino,” Deveron said.
Adam strained to see behind him and caught sight of a burly man at least six and a half feet tall, shoulders that must fill a doorway, and a scarred face. The blemish ran from mid left cheek up over his eye and disappeared into his hairline. From the staring quality of that eye, Adam guessed Savino saw nothing through it.
“I’m sorry I was a little late, sir,” Savino said with a lilt to his voice. Adam guessed him to be of Italian descent, and from his very nonhuman scent that he too was a shifter, but definitely not a fox.
“Look, Adam,” Deveron said, “we wish you no harm. All we want is to take back control from the Keiths, to ensure none of our people are hunted down and slaughtered ever again. The stronger shifters did nothing but hide. We, the foxes, considered weaker, came up with a plan.”
“What kind of plan?”
He shrugged. “To take down all the Keith women for one, and that’s pretty much been done. It’s obvious you can’t return to the family, but understand if you even try, we’ll be sure to expose you for what you are.”
