mostly because no one has time for that. I will be treated well, or I will leave.”
“If I ever act out of turn, do as any alpha female would. Make me submit to you. You have the power to do it.” He rolled his shoulders, the dash lights highlighting his handsome face. “I will do anything for you, Jacinta. And that includes fighting my animal to do right by you, at every turn if I need to.”
I placed my hand on his thigh. He pulled his hand from the shifter and covered mine.
“You still don’t give yourself enough credit, but okay,” I said. “I’ll keep you in line if things ever go topsy-turvy.”
A smirk played on his lips, his dark mood lifting a little. “And if you get out of line, I promise to throw chocolate at you and run.”
I laughed. “Yes, good thinking.”
The closer we got to the restaurant, the more my stomach twisted.
“Have any of your people seen them yet?” I asked, leaving my hand on his thigh when he changed gears and slowed the car, pulling into a long driveway with dense trees to either side. I knew he had shifters patrolling the area in animal form, watching in case anything went wrong.
“Yes. We’ve been monitoring their team closely. It looks like they brought about a hundred people, though we’re not yet sure what they’re capable of, magically speaking.”
“A hundred people?” I cried out. “Is that normal?”
“Kingsley doesn’t think so. I wanted to ask Sebastian about it.”
That didn’t bode well for our “friendly” meetup.
I blew out a breath. “We definitely needed your brother’s help.”
The trees opened up and the restaurant glowed and twinkled ahead, pixie lights on poles lining a red carpet leading into the establishment. A perfect line of muscle-bound people waited on one side, hands clasped in front of them. The men wore black suits with red ties and matching pocket squares, and the women wore red dresses with loose bodices and long slits in the skirts. They’d be easy to get off in a hurry. Kace stood in the second position of the line, and Kingsley waited at the front, looking straight ahead, the broadest of them, his very stance and posture easily communicating that he’d give someone real trouble in a fight.
A line of limos waited in the parking lot beyond them, the first half-dozen long and black, just like those used by the Ivy House crew. Huge SUV limos took up residence on the other side of the parking lot, dwarfing the others, their number identical.
“Which limos did your people take?” I asked.
Austin pulled into a spot directly in front, next to the sign reading “owner.” “The larger ones. Kingsley and Sebastian both said mages often think shifters are the animals they turn into. That we live in filth, don’t have money, don’t have a sense of status or the ability to play politics, don’t have class…”
“You’re going to rub their faces in it.”
“Yes, I am.” He grinned at me before grabbing the door handle. “And I’m going to scare the ever-loving shit out of them while I’m at it.”
I pulled a vial of pink revealing potion from my clutch and drank it. “Do you want one?”
“Not at the moment. I’ll let you know if I think I need it.”
“Did the other shifters take it?”
“Those who’ve already shifted have, but Kingsley wanted to see if his people that are out in plain view could sense the lurkers. They all have a vial on their person, though, so if they need it, they have it.”
In the weeks leading up to this visit, Sebastian had been testing the shifters in every way he could think of. His findings had made him even warier of shifters, something that, conversely, increased his delight in them. With a superior ability to hear and smell, and sometimes even a preternatural sense for foreign presences, the shifters weren’t hindered by most concealing spells. Not all shifters were created equal, of course, but Kingsley’s team and those Austin had selected to help with this endeavor were better than most. Still, shifters already in their animal form would have a hard time taking a potion without hands. Better to be safe than sorry.
Austin exited the car and adjusted his suit jacket before sauntering around to my door. After opening it, he bent to help me out of the car. He shut the door behind me and slipped his hand into his pocket, bending his other arm for me. His face was