The women gasped. Valerie looked at her daughter and nodded slowly. “Not bad, baby girl. Not bad at all.”
“Ma! You’re not helping.”
Maverik’s eyes narrowed as he stood silently staring at Lucien while he munched on his donuts.
“Lucien, you said?” Kaid asked, walking up and extending his hand.
“Yes. Are you Kaid?” Lucien asked.
“I am.”
“I’ve asked Brandt for permission to be on his land, and I’m asking the same of you.”
“You want sanctuary?”
“No. I don’t. I just want permission to be here for a while.”
“Did I mention that Lucien is not requesting sanctuary, because he doesn’t need it. He’s just asking if he can hang out for a while,” Brandt said.
“Is that so?” Kaid asked.
“It is. Respectfully,” Lucien said.
“Boy, me and you gonna have a little talk about things,” Maverik said, striding toward Lucien. “You do not hang out with my daughter and just leave when the feeling hits you!” Maverik snarled.
Hellen looked around the room and saw the overall unnatural amount of interest in Lucien from the entire clan, her daddy about to take Lucien outside, and was overcome with panic for more than one reason. She caught Tempest’s eye and mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’, before taking a deep breath and making an announcement to the entire clan, both generations. “Tempest is pregnant!”
Everything stopped. All the females stopped whispering about Lucien. The males stopped sizing him up, and all attention immediately shifted to Brandt and Tempest.
Lucien started laughing, then turned to see a very angry Tempest and an irritated Brandt glaring at him and Hellen. “Hey, it wasn’t me,” he said, holding his hands up.
“The hell, Hellen?!” Brandt demanded.
“Right back at you!” Hellen shouted. “You are so wrong for this!”
“Like you aren’t?!” Brandt yelled, taking a step toward Hellen.
Lucien moved so quickly, if they’d not been shifters, they wouldn’t have seen it. He was just suddenly standing in front of Hellen with his back to her, as he faced Brandt. “You really don’t want to do that,” Lucien said, threat and lethal intent dripping from his words.
Brandt stopped just short of Lucien. “Neither do you.”
“She was wrong, she knows that. I know that. But you’re not going to lay your hands on her.”
Riley leaned over toward Maia whispering to her. “We really need to visit more often. I forgot how entertaining it can be around here.”
Maia nodded, but kept her eyes glued to the two males staring each other down.
“We’ve fought all our lives. We all have,” Brandt said, casting his glance around for others in his generation. “We’re going to solve this like we usually do.”
“Fine with me, move Lucien. Haven’t had a good fight in a long time,” Hellen snapped.
“You will not touch my female. I’m asking you respectfully to back away before I lose all sense of reason,” Lucien snarled.
“They fight like siblings. By the end of it, they all join in. It’s not what you’re thinking. But here’s what’s going to happen today,” Delilah said, inserting herself smoothly between the two males. “You are going to sit over there,” she said, charmingly yet insistently to Lucien while her Dragon demanded complete attention as she pointed toward the sofa Everly was currently sitting on. “And you two are going to sit over there,” she said to Brandt and Tempest, pointing to a different sofa opposite the first.
Nobody moved.
“I meant now!” Delilah demanded, her Dragon clearly present.
