same way, I guess; he'd been the dominant in whatever group he took over. The mix of panwere and Belle Morte's line of vamps seemed to have changed it from me trying to be dominant to everyone into trying to be a dominant couple with everyone.
"Take his hand."
I blinked up at them.
Truth repeated, "Take his hand."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
Haven reached out to me. I could have moved back, but I was just a little late in moving. Maybe it was a Freudian slip, or maybe it was an entire wardrobe.
His hand wrapped around mine with room to spare. His hands were as big as Richard's, the fingers longer, closer to the way Jean-Claude's hands looked, but the size was all Richard. The feel of his hand in mine made something tight in my chest loosen. I had enough men in my life, damn it. All I had to do was let go of his hand, but I didn't let go.
Haven was staring down at our clasped hands as if he didn't know what they were. He sounded distracted, like he was thinking about something very different from what his words said. "Your Nimir-Raj has kicked Joseph and his lions out of the coalition. I've checked with the wererats, the werehyenas, and your Ulfric. They're all cool with me doing what needs doing."
"It was good of you to check with everyone," Truth said.
"The animal groups in your coalition with Jean-Claude are still united. I didn't want to piss everyone off the first day back." He was rubbing his thumb across my knuckles as he talked. "I just need to ask you how you feel about it, and I can get started."
"Anita, please," Joseph said. He was still being held between the two vampires.
"No one in the coalition trusts you anymore, Joseph. I don't trust you either."
"So you won't care what I do?" Haven asked. He was looking at my face now. His face was more serious than I'd ever seen it.
"There are some lions in his group that are weak, but they're still valuable. Give them a chance to join you."
"Valuable how?"
"They have jobs. They bring income into the pride so that others don't have to work."
"Money won't be a problem. Auggie bankrolled us until things got up and running."
"And that's another thing; I'll try not to interfere in how you run the pride, but I can't let you bring new mob connections to St. Louis."
"You know that's one of the main reasons Auggie wanted us down here."
"I figured it was, but we've got enough crime without adding. I'll let the lions do what lions do, but the mob is human and I'm a federal marshal. Don't make me have to choose."
"I'll have to talk to Auggie." He was just holding my hand, not meeting my eyes again.
"I'll talk to him if you want, or Jean-Claude can."
"Jean-Claude probably can come up with a compromise that Auggie will listen to," Haven said.
"Remember the two lions you almost broke when you were here last time?"
"The college kids, yeah."
"They've helped me keep my beast under control. In fact, Joseph has a lot of young people in college. Let them finish their degrees, help bring in legitimate money."
His hand squeezed around mine, not hard, but firm. "Did you sleep with them?"
I started to ask why, but there was something about the way he was standing there, some quality of stillness that made me afraid to tease. I said the truth, "No."
"None of them," he said.
"No, but if you're not into sharing then you are holding the hand of the wrong girl."
"I know how many you got on your plate, but they aren't lions."
"And if I had slept with any of the other lions?"
He gave me a look; there was nothing comforting in that look, hell, there was nothing very human in that look. "I won't share with another lion."
"I'll need more than one of each of my beasts. You can't be with me twenty-four-seven."
He frowned. "No, I can't."
"Also, I've got Micah as my Nimir-Raj, then Nathaniel came as my leopard to call. It may work that way with all my animals."
"You only have the Ulfric."
"Not true," Graham said. "She sees a lot of Jason."
"He's Jean-Claude's pomme de sang" I said.
"That's why he's around a lot, but that's not why you do him all the time."
"Thanks for putting it that way, Graham." Funny how Graham reminded me often why he wasn't getting sex from me.
"He's also Nathaniel's best friend." Wicked added that.
"Can we