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And I considered whether I’d taken in the young lion’s lust energy, or any of Venom’s. If I had, it’d been negligible. That wasn’t to say I might not begin taking in it eventually, but it didn’t seem to be the case right off the bat.
Conversation happened, eventually, with the two men telling me about the other people who lived in the house. Most of the flock lived in their own quarters in a separate wing, and while Andreas ate with them and worked out with them, he spent most of his time in this suite. He was a boyfriend, not part of the flock.
“Tell Etta what happened when you didn’t get the help you needed in chemistry?”
He buried his head in Venom’s arms, and his fear spread out like nectar. I ate at the edges while making sure my actions upped his fear level. Venom grinned at me over the lion’s head when he realized what I was doing.
“The belt, when I failed a quiz, and it was awful, but then I made a bad grade on the test, and...” He shuddered, and I thought he might cry. He didn’t, but his voice and fear level told me it was close. “He put my dick in a cage, so I couldn’t get fully hard until I brought my grade back up. I couldn’t touch myself, and he spanked me every day until my average was back up to a B, but the cage didn’t come off until it was higher than an eighty-five, so I wasn’t in danger of one bad grade taking me back to a C. It was awful.”
He kissed the top of Andreas’ head. “I also paid for a tutor, dear boy.”
“You did, and I will be forever grateful.”
Andreas left after about an hour — mealtime for the sheep. I took my leave when he did, thanking both the vampire and the lion for their hospitality.
My first stop was at housekeeping, where I explained to the manager that I kept prisoners in my room, and I needed to speak with the person who’d be in charge of cleaning my suite. She fiddled with her phone and told me it would just be a moment. I was more than a little surprised to discover a young vampire would be cleaning my room. My Masters had always used humans and shapeshifters for such jobs, but after my initial reaction, I tried to act as if it were normal. I gave her the protocol for my room, and the manager said she’d arrange for me to talk to the young man who cleaned it on the weekends as well.
For the time being, I only had what I’d brought in three large suitcases. The rest of my belongings were being shipped, and it was expected to take them a few weeks to arrive. I wouldn’t see them until we were in Chattanooga, which was fine. No need in moving everything twice.
I had a six o’clock meeting in Marco’s office, and I arrived five minutes early, hoping to talk to him, but I found Josef and Venom already there, along with Cora. I’d met her once before, but I was looking forward to getting to know Marco’s werewolf better.
Introductions were made, and then Kendra was suddenly in the room with us, along with a redhead who smelled of the forest.
“You know Kendra, of course, and this is Cora’s close friend, Kirsten. She’s been helping out with transportation. Kirsten, this is Etta, one of my dear friends of old.”
Kirsten smiled at me and met my gaze, and I got nothing from her. No fear, no transfer of energy, none of her thoughts.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kirsten. I look forward to getting to know you.”
She looked to Marco and back to me. “I’m not actually around the coterie house that much, but I’m sure there’ll be an opportunity.” She looked back to Cora and Kendra. “Text me when you’re ready to come home.”
And then she disappeared. Gone.
“What is she?” I’d heard about her, and assumed my questions would be explained once I met her, but now that I’d come face-to-face with her, I had more questions than ever.
“Dangerous,” Josef said. “More dangerous than you can imagine, but she’s a friend, thank goodness. Never, under any circumstances, hurt someone she calls hers. That means the wolves, the lions, and even a few of us vampires.”
I looked to the Wolf Alpha. “Doesn’t she undermine you, by protecting your wolves?” In our world, that was tantamount to saying she had to do it because her friend wasn’t capable of protecting her own. It made me wonder if the female Alpha should really be trying to manage the power she’d inherited when the old Alpha was killed. I’d assumed the Alpha Wolf over so many states would be more powerful than her formerly-human friend, but that wasn’t the case. At all.
“She’s careful to let me handle challenges by the old rules. If she’s around and I’m not, and someone threatens one of ours, she’ll defend them. If I’m there, she’ll let me.”
Kendra laughed. “She lets us. Isn’t that the truth.” Kendra gave me a shrug. “She was born human and she doesn’t much care about how it was done of old. She’s learned our rules and mostly sticks to them, but she’s constantly finding loopholes none of us realized were there.”
“She is Mother Nature personified,” Marco told me. “She kind of makes her own rules when she doesn’t like ours.”
“That isn’t exactly right,” Cora said. “Her official title is Harlequin, which means she’s the Queen of Alfheim. In this realm, the closest title we’ve found to aptly describe her is Mother Nature — it isn’t accurate, but it gives the general idea. Technically, she doesn’t hold a title here.”
“Harlequin?” My pulse sped. “A later word for the Erlkönig? The Goblin King? Those are legends even to us!”
Kendra lifted her brows. “And they bring fear into the hearts of all who know the legends. I didn’t think you felt fear?”
I breathed in and ate my own fear while I silently berated myself for the breach. No one ever scents my fear because I don’t let it out. I consume it as I feel it, but I’d sensed the truth in their words, and in the energy I’d felt. This woman was the old legends come to life. I looked at Marco. “Your girlfriend lives with the Harlequin? Is bound to her? A female Erlkönig?”
He shrugged and smiled with the right half of his mouth, a casual half-smile. “I knew Kirsten before she took on the title and energy. She’s always been a most interesting human, now she’s a most interesting demigoddess. She’s in a relationship with both the Amakhosi and Mordecai, she’s bound to Cora, and she’s my friend.”
“She’s my friend as well,” Kendra said. “Abbott chose his replacement based on who he thought would most easily fit into the existing structure, and since Marco is already on good terms with both Cora and Kirsten, he started at the top of the list and never fell to second place.”
“We’re all going to miss you,” Cora told Kendra. “Kirsten and I will be able to pop in for visits once you get settled in, but it won’t be the same without you living close.”
