“Why do you feel you have to defend him?” Nathaniel asked.
“I don’t know, maybe because I was in love with him once, or maybe because he’s still my lover and I feel guilty about that.”
“Why guilty?” Envy asked.
“I’m not sure, but there’s some guilt tied up with him.”
“I was there, Anita; he blew his chance to be with you over and over,” Jason said, “and he doesn’t like me for a lot of the same reasons he doesn’t like Nathaniel and Micah.”
“We’re just friends with benefits,” I said.
Jason nodded, and sipped his coffee.
“Richard is your wolf king; is he making your life hard in the pack?”
Jason looked down.
“Talk to me,” I said.
“I’ll never be high in the pack hierarchy, Anita, but that’s because I’m more a lover than a fighter.” He grinned, trying to make a joke of it.
“Is Richard taking his feelings out on you?”
“Not really. I can fight enough to hold my own and not be picked on in the pack, but I’ll never be good enough to rise much, and honestly I don’t want to be in charge.”
“I know you’re more dominant than you let on, but that you truly don’t want to be in charge of the other werewolves,” I said.
“Not even a little bit,” he said, and took another sip of coffee.
“So, you’re all saying that Richard sees Nathaniel, Micah, and even Jason as not worthy to have won the fair maiden,” Envy said.
“Something like that,” I said.
“I don’t think it’s in the front of his head,” Nathaniel said, and squeezed my hand.
“How he feels about Nathaniel and me is,” Jason said. “We are literally further down in the structure of our animal groups, and he’s the Ulfric, the leader. Among the wolves, that means that anything he wants is pretty much his, and he knows that he could kick our asses, but here we sit, happier and more a part of Anita’s life than he is, and that is what he has trouble accepting.”
“But Micah is Nimir-Raj, leopard king, and the head of the Coalition, so he’s becoming like the leader for all the animal groups in town, and even across the country. Why does Richard have an issue with him?”
“Because Micah is five-three and Richard is six-one,” Jason said.
“What?” Envy asked.
“You know how most women walk into a room and assess the beauty in the room to see where they rate, and who might give them a run for their money?” Jason asked.
“Sure,” Envy said.
“A lot of men do the same thing, but they’re not looking at who’s better-looking, they’re assessing threats, physical potential.”
Envy gave him wide eyes.
“No, really, they do,” I said.
“I don’t,” Nathaniel said.
“Me, either, but that’s because we both know that we are not the biggest, baddest man in the room most of the time. We both made peace with that reality years ago,” Jason said.
“So you’re saying that Richard looks at Micah and thinks he can take him in a fight, so Micah shouldn’t be winning Anita either.”