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“Knowing Gavin, he’s either soaked Cally with his own blood, or forced one of his underlings to do so.”
Lauren grinned at her mom. “One of his people can sense metal — all metal, not just silver. Comes inextremelyhandy when you want to know if someone’s carrying.”
“How close do you need to be?”
“I can sense metal from about twelve to fifteen feet away, and I can tell if someone has more than expected. From four to six feet away, I can tell where it is — feet, waist, shoulders. It isn’t an exact science, but it’s helpful.” And yet one more sensory input to deal with, but she was handling it okay.
“How are things going with your men?”
Mordecai walked to the door, opened it, and left without saying a word.
“He’d prefer not to think of me having sex with Gavin,” Lauren told her mom. “He’s never been happy about Nick, but he could deal. Gavin? Not so much.”
“I know. He sees you like a daughter. You’d think he’s old enough he’d be used to little girls growing into women by now.” She grinned and sat in one of the comfy chairs. “In some ways, you’ve changed your evil vampire, and yet, he’s still the same Gavin.” She sighed. “Okay, I don’t think he’s ever beentrulyevil, but…”
Her mom sighed again, and Lauren finished her sentence for her. “Part evil?” Lauren resisted the urge to sigh. “To say he lacks empathy would be an understatement, and that’s colored everything about him. He cares not a tiny bit for the suffering of people he doesn’t know, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change, but he’ll go to the ends of the earth to protect those he cares about.”
“And often, the things he does to protect people are the things that have made him seem evil.”
“Exactly,” Lauren agreed. “As for how things are going, Mordecai has helped with that. Uncle Aaron, too. I can handle multiple inputs now, sensory input, in a way I never could before. Learning how to deal with the input from my riders started me on the path, and then whatever Aaron and Mordecai did in my brain to open up more pathways…” Lauren shrugged. “All my life, I knew was… not broken, exactly, but that my brain wasn’t wired the way everyone else’s is. It feels like maybe I’m closer to normal, now?”
“Oh, my sweetheart, you and I are never going to be even close to normal. Not just because of your early beginnings in China, but also when we returned. Your time with our Shifù altered your brain in ways I don’t believe you understand. Your reflexes, your ability to focus no matter what is going on around you — some big stuff got rewired while I was off having adventures with Monkey.”
“Have you seen him lately?”
“Cora and I were sparring in the wolves’ field a few weeks ago, and he joined us, so it was the two of us sparring with him. He gave us a grueling workout and then left without saying a word.”
The Monkey King was another of those mythological beings who happened to be real. Lauren’s mom seemed to collect such beings, sometimes.
“When Nick and Gavin first started hinting at the possibility this might work with all three of us,” Lauren said, “I expected I’d have to play referee between them. Two alpha-types and one female? No way.”
“I rarely have to intercede between Mordecai and Nathan. It’s happened a few times, but for the most part, they deal with their own shit.”
“Yeah, but they’re both, I don’t know — older and more enlightened?”
Lauren’s mom gave a startled laugh. “Nathan? Youhaveto be kidding. He’s as enlightened as a damned cave man. Mordecai at times, too.”
“Okay, so you have a point, but still, I find myself amazed that it’s working. I mean, we all have jobs that require a great deal of our time, but Gavin arranges his day so he has a few hours free when Nick and I aren’t working. We can’t manage to get all three of us in the same room at the same time every day, but we manage it three or four times a week. The other days, I usually have at least an hour with one of them, sometimes a few hours.”
“That’s healthy — one-on-one time, and all-together time. I understand Nick isn’t doing any physical therapy here?”
“No. Queenie has her hands full helping Gavin handle the vampires in Vegas because there’s ten times more here than there were in Branson, and it’s worse than herding cats. Worse than high school drama class.” Lauren shook her head, not wanting to get into the specifics of the butthurts she’d heard about from grown damned vampires because it would get them off the subject of what Nick was up to.
“So Nick has been acting as the liaison for the shifters — those in the flock, those working the shows, living in and around Vegas, and the interactions between the various groups and packs and whatnots. High school drama class stuff again, in some cases, but he’s good at it, both in temperament, because he’s good at defusing touchy situations,andhe’s badass enough to keep them all under control when they can’t be calmed down. He had to fight a…” She sighed. “Condor, maybe? I don’t remember. Some birdbrain wanted special favors and I guess was itching for a fight, so Nick gave him one a few days ago, and basically wiped the floor with him.” And then had given her a romp in bed a few hours later that was worth writing home about, if she did that sort of thing, but her mom didn’t needthosedetails.
“Nick hasalwaysbeen destined to handle supernatural politics,” her mom said, “he just didn’t want to see it. He negotiated with the Amakhosi to remain longer than any other male lion has ever been allowed, and he found ways to make it work while he lived in the territory. His nontraditional Pride is another sign of his strength — most lions with Rex potential won’t upset the applecart with their wants and needs, but Nick was strong enough to ask for what he wanted, and get it.”
Lauren stared at her mom, because it made sense, now that she put it that way, but she hadn’t seen it until that moment.His strength allowed him to be different.
Chapter 43
Gavin stepped into the palatial bedroom the three shared, and watched Nick while he talked to someone on his cellphone.
“Negotiations for the number of people you can bring are closed, Jason. Four alpha wolves are coming, and each has a set number they can bring in their party. The guests have all been vetted, and the list is closed to changes.”
Nick was wearing earbuds, so Gavin only heard his side of the conversation. After a brief pause, Nick replied, “I realize we’ve invited other wolves into your territory, but this should have been handled in negotiations last week. One moment, I’m going to put you on speaker phone and invite Gavin into this conversation.”
Nick walked to the dresser, touched his phone, and pulled the earbuds from his ears. Gavin smiled at Nick and told the phone, “My in-laws will be at tonight’s party, which should have brought Cora, the Alpha of the Southeastern U.S., to the party. She declined at the last minute, and if I find out you are the reason, I will end you and install an Alpha I can work with.”
