Wild and Free (The Three #3)(61)

I could sense him digging in as he started, “Lilah—”

I sought compromise.

“Bring them back here. The men can stay. We won’t hurt them, and if they want to establish trust, they’ll accept that, sit, and break bread with us. They’ve come here for a reason, but this is our turf. We make the rules. They eat in the war room with you, with me, and with our family.”

Abel narrowed his eyes. “Fuck, you’re like a biker bitch guru.”

I raised my brows.

Abel shook his head, giving me another new look, this one saying my-woman-is-adorable-but-also-a-pain-in-the-ass-and-a-big-one-at-that.

I didn’t like it as much as the other, but I still liked it.

Then he looked to the door where Chen was standing and ordered, “Bring them in here.”

Chen took off.

We all waited, and when they showed at the door, I was super glad I did the shower and primping thing.

The first one through was a classy, beautiful blonde with gorgeous blue eyes. The one who came after was a lush, sophisticated brunette with lovely green eyes. The blonde was in jeans, but the kind of jeans (with all the rest—fabulous blouse, kickass spike-heeled designer pumps, etc.) that they’d put in the pages of Cosmopolitan. The brunette also was in jeans and had on kickass high-heeled boots, but her thin sweater would be on the pages of Cosmopolitan for the Outdoorsy Woman (if they had that, which they didn’t, but looking at her I was thinking they should).

“Yay, we’re having a party,” the blonde stated as her eyes fell on the table groaning with Jian-Li’s food.

This was a surprising opener and I looked to Abel.

“Where should we sit?” the brunette asked like they were indeed at a party and had assigned seating.

“Show them their seats, Chen,” Abel ordered, and Chen moved, showing the women the seats that Jian-Li and I never took.

They followed Chen like they hadn’t a care in the world.

The other men drifted to their own seats, doing this cautious and alert.

Abel went to his and pulled me back in his lap.

The women watched this, and the minute my ass was settled, the brunette, smiling enormously, looked across the table at the blonde and declared, “Told you wolf traits would win out.”

The blonde shrugged, grinning. “It seems you’re right. Lucien will be disappointed.”

“Perhaps you’ll tell us who you are, then you can explain what the f*ck you’re talkin’ about,” Abel growled.

They looked to him, appearing not offended in the slightest by his less than stellar hosting skills. The blonde spoke first. “Sorry. Very rude. I’m Leah, Lucien’s wife. He’s a vampire. Like a superhero one.”

“And I’m Sonia,” the dark-haired one stated before I could process the idea of a superhero vampire. “Queen Sonia, but no one calls me that unless Callum is feeling kingly, which is a lot since he is king. That being King of the Werewolves.” Her shoulders straightened and her eyes locked to Abel as she stated, “And I’m a she-wolf.”

Holy shitoly, female werewolves were hot.

Leah followed this with a quiet request. “Are you going to tell us who you are?”

Abel apparently wasn’t because next he demanded, “Explain what you meant about wolf traits winning out.”

“The lap thing,” Sonia shared, tipping her head to me. “Wolves hold their mates close in every way. To their hearts. In their minds. And when something like this is going down, even if it’s just lunch, they hold them on their laps.”

Wow.

Well, that explained that.

I looked to Abel, who I was surprised to see was looking at me and doing it like he didn’t even know I was in his lap.

This I took as him putting me there but not really paying attention to the fact he did. He just did it.

Out of instinct.

“You’ve been raised as human,” Sonia said softly, and both Abel and I looked to her.

“I have,” Abel shared.

“I was too. It’s a lot to take in when it all starts coming at you,” she replied.

“You were raised as a human?” I asked.

She nodded, then shook her head, then lifted her hand and waved it in the air before dropping it and saying, “I was, but by vampires. Though, I didn’t know they were vampires because I didn’t know there were vampires, or werewolves for that matter. It was all quite a shock when I found out and I didn’t handle it very well. But now it’s all good.”

Wild.

“Can you please give us your names?” Leah asked quietly, and Abel’s hand at my hip tightened.

“I’m Abel and this is my mate, Delilah.”

Both women smiled, but only Leah murmured, “Abel and Delilah.”

Abel looked to Sonia. “Are there many like us?”

“You mean here in Serpentine Bay, or generally, throughout the world?” she queried.

“Both,” Abel grunted.

“No to the first,” she answered. “Callum, Lucien, Gregor, and Yuri have been going out to see if they can sense any, but none since the night you were, well…attacked.”

“We’re very sorry about that, by the way,” Leah stated, leaning into the table, her head turned toward Abel and me. “It isn’t very vampire unless, of course, it’s provoked, and we know you didn’t do the provoking.”