“Seth and Caden are the only official ones. Honestly, I don’t really know the status with anyone else.”
Calliope’s eyes gleamed. “How many anyone elses? Yelena is obvious with her affections, which is kind of a surprise after having no one but Haru for years. Are you with the wolf?”
“I’m not, no, but he and Seth knew each other before we came here and they’ve definitely grown close.”
“What about Velda?”
Heat rose in my cheeks. “Nothing official.”
“She loves more freely, but she’s never fully attached herself to someone while we’ve been here. Others?”
“Not that I know of,” I said with a laugh.
“Kendrick likes you.”
I stiffened. “He can like me all he wants. It’s not going to get him anywhere.”
The tigress giggled. “I’ve watched him a lot. My running theory is that he has a thing for powerful women. Or at least women who don’t like him. He would simp for Yelena in a heartbeat if she gave him the time of day. I’m betting it would be the same for you.”
I couldn’t deny what she said, not after seeing the way he had looked at me when we charged his artifact. The desire in his eyes had been equal to, if not stronger than, his anger over being ambushed. “If the men in my life are going to be grumpy, they have to at least be sweet. Caden has a lot of strong feelings, but he would do anything for me. I can’t say the same for Kendrick.”
Calliope shrugged. “I’m not telling you to go for him. I’m just pointing out his preferences I’ve noticed. Sometimes it’s fun to imagine powerful men bowing at your feet.”
I hated that her statement forced me to do exactly that. Kendrick would be a pretty picture on his knees, with all that fire in his eyes, hating the supplication as much as he loved it.
“Your eyes are glowing, little witch.” Calliope grinned. “Does that mean you like the idea?”
“Kendrick is an asshole,” I snapped.
Calliope continued beaming at me. “Never said he wasn’t.”
She seemed pleased as punch, getting me all twisted up like this. I had plenty of relationships to work on, and Kendrick certainly wasn’t one of them. Nobody even liked him. Even if I wanted him to be part of a pack, it would be a shit move on my part to force everyone to deal with him. “I can’t.”
“Are you saying that to me or to yourself?” Calliope asked.
“Both.” I stood up, unable to continue making eye contact with her. “I should go.”
“You’ll get no shame from me if you did want to play with him. The others might be a different story, but omegas are drawn to strength and kindness. At least he’s got one of the two.”
“It was lovely having tea with you.” I inched toward the door. “I’ll see you later.”
I reached the door to the hall, closing my fingers around the handle before she yelled out, “Come update me if you do play. I wouldn’t say no to finding out if my theories are true.”
I shook myself, stepping into the hall and leaning against the closed door. Kendrick was a dick who didn’t deserve my attention. For the sake of my lovers and my own sanity, I couldn’t entertain the possibility.
This place is so chill compared to Orlando, I commented, trotting along at Haru’s side.
That’s because this place is run effectively and not trying to dodge both human and shifter authorities.
I turned sharply toward Haru.Were they not allowed to do those fights?
Not by any laws. They were too powerful to touch, but I’ve heard they were removed from power since we left.
Huh. Maybe the nests were evolving. Shifters lived so long they didn’t do that very often. It would certainly be a nice change of pace.
I followed Haru while they worked. The nest had so many competent people living here it was kind of ridiculous, and Haru was the communication point for most of them, a bridge between the people and the Protectors as needed.
We stopped to talk to the raccoon shifter in charge of government forgeries to give them my information. It was so easy to navigate before computers, but now things were more complicated. We had to contend with nonsense like Social Security numbers and credit scores.
