is very little similarity between the blond ape you now see before you and the distinguished gentleman who is behind you.”
I frowned . “Whatever. My point is that you touch me once, and you’ll have a stake straight through your heart.”
“Yes, of course, my little tempest,” he replied with obvious amusement. He brought his index finger to my shoulder and made a big production of touching me but I didn’t respond. I was practicing keeping my cool. “I wonder if perhaps I should enjoy having my testicles in your possession after all …”
I exhaled my annoyance audibly, but didn’t respond to his baiting. I knew better than to continue trying to provoke him. Sinjin enjoyed playing games because they were the best way to disguise himself, as well as the thoughts that ran through his head. Games were his best method of artifice and the act of distancing himself from those around him. It was as obvious as his ice blue eyes. If I’d met one man like this, I’d met a hundred. He was the quintessential flirt who couldn’t carry on a serious conversation if his life depended on it. And all in the name of self-defense.
“Now we must move on to introductions,” Jolie continued, clapping her hands together gleefully. She apparently thought the meeting was off to a good start. She glanced over at me with a smile before facing the fae king. “As you’ve probably already learned, Bryn, this is Odran, king of the fae.”
Odran stood up again to his immense and impressive height. The guy was ginormous. I couldn’t help gulping with worry because if the need ever arose, I wasn’t sure how well I could defend myself against him. And I didn’t mean in terms of an overzealous and out of control libido. I still considered everyone in this room my enemy, and as such, the time would probably come when I could or would be physically pitted against one or all of them. If that happened with Odran, I knew I’d have a hell of a fight ahead of me.
“Ah am pleased ta make yer acquaintance, sister ta our queen,” he said in a heavy Scottish brogue. Then he just stood there and looked at me expectantly, as if awaiting my own polite greeting in exchange. I just glared at him until he took his seat again.
“This is Trent,” Jolie continued with a smile at the much shorter man sitting beside Odran. He’s also pretty much a jerk, so you might want to avoid him, she added in her head. Trent immediately stood up, but there was no sign of friendliness in his face. Instead, he gave me a mirror image of the glare I aimed at him.
Yeah, I picked up on that already, I thought back to her. He’s been staring daggers at me since I walked in. And, not only that, but he seems pretty ticked off that things between the two of you didn’t work out.
Really? she thought back and then frowned.
Yep, his thoughts ran along the lines of picking up with me where he left off with you only I don’t think he’d be as nice about it.
A scowl colored Jolie’s face and her eyes narrowed as she settled her gaze on the were. Don’t worry, she thought to me. I won’t leave you with him.
I didn’t peg you as the masochistic type, I thought back.
“Trent is the leader of the werewolves,” Jolie piped up, probably after realizing that owing to our telepathic conversation, the silence in the room was becoming obvious.
Trent studied me for another few moments before sitting down, and not saying a word. Then Jolie faced the man standing next to Trent, the emaciated-looking vampire who stood in the far corner of the room. “This is Varick,” she said. “Varick and Sinjin are both leaders of the vampires.”
At the announcement that Varick and Sinjin were both leaders of the vampires, I detected a spark of anger emanating from Varick. It flared up and out of him like a red flame before his gaze rested on Sinjin. Sharpening my extrasensory perception, I focused in on the pale vampire, trying to pick up anything else he might unwittingly offer.
I frowned . “Whatever. My point is that you touch me once, and you’ll have a stake straight through your heart.”
“Yes, of course, my little tempest,” he replied with obvious amusement. He brought his index finger to my shoulder and made a big production of touching me but I didn’t respond. I was practicing keeping my cool. “I wonder if perhaps I should enjoy having my testicles in your possession after all …”
I exhaled my annoyance audibly, but didn’t respond to his baiting. I knew better than to continue trying to provoke him. Sinjin enjoyed playing games because they were the best way to disguise himself, as well as the thoughts that ran through his head. Games were his best method of artifice and the act of distancing himself from those around him. It was as obvious as his ice blue eyes. If I’d met one man like this, I’d met a hundred. He was the quintessential flirt who couldn’t carry on a serious conversation if his life depended on it. And all in the name of self-defense.
“Now we must move on to introductions,” Jolie continued, clapping her hands together gleefully. She apparently thought the meeting was off to a good start. She glanced over at me with a smile before facing the fae king. “As you’ve probably already learned, Bryn, this is Odran, king of the fae.”
Odran stood up again to his immense and impressive height. The guy was ginormous. I couldn’t help gulping with worry because if the need ever arose, I wasn’t sure how well I could defend myself against him. And I didn’t mean in terms of an overzealous and out of control libido. I still considered everyone in this room my enemy, and as such, the time would probably come when I could or would be physically pitted against one or all of them. If that happened with Odran, I knew I’d have a hell of a fight ahead of me.
“Ah am pleased ta make yer acquaintance, sister ta our queen,” he said in a heavy Scottish brogue. Then he just stood there and looked at me expectantly, as if awaiting my own polite greeting in exchange. I just glared at him until he took his seat again.
“This is Trent,” Jolie continued with a smile at the much shorter man sitting beside Odran. He’s also pretty much a jerk, so you might want to avoid him, she added in her head. Trent immediately stood up, but there was no sign of friendliness in his face. Instead, he gave me a mirror image of the glare I aimed at him.
Yeah, I picked up on that already, I thought back to her. He’s been staring daggers at me since I walked in. And, not only that, but he seems pretty ticked off that things between the two of you didn’t work out.
Really? she thought back and then frowned.
Yep, his thoughts ran along the lines of picking up with me where he left off with you only I don’t think he’d be as nice about it.
A scowl colored Jolie’s face and her eyes narrowed as she settled her gaze on the were. Don’t worry, she thought to me. I won’t leave you with him.
I didn’t peg you as the masochistic type, I thought back.
“Trent is the leader of the werewolves,” Jolie piped up, probably after realizing that owing to our telepathic conversation, the silence in the room was becoming obvious.
Trent studied me for another few moments before sitting down, and not saying a word. Then Jolie faced the man standing next to Trent, the emaciated-looking vampire who stood in the far corner of the room. “This is Varick,” she said. “Varick and Sinjin are both leaders of the vampires.”
At the announcement that Varick and Sinjin were both leaders of the vampires, I detected a spark of anger emanating from Varick. It flared up and out of him like a red flame before his gaze rested on Sinjin. Sharpening my extrasensory perception, I focused in on the pale vampire, trying to pick up anything else he might unwittingly offer.
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