Rafael (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #28) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,48

good, but I felt your power and your force of will. I knew you were king, but I didn’t understand what that meant, until now.”

“All kings are powerful, or we would not be kings of our animal groups,” Rafael said.

Nathaniel shook his head, hard enough for his hair to fly around his face. “I don’t mean that. I mean I could literally feel your will, your willpower pressing on me when we were . . . inside Anita just now. Your strength of purpose is frightening, Rafael.”

“Is that a complaint or a compliment?” he asked.

“Neither, both.”

“I must go and change for the fight, and prepare myself mentally, so if you have a point, make it.” There was a touch of irritation, almost anger, which was unusual for him. Shit, I hoped he didn’t get any of my anger issues.

“Let Anita have one person with her like Micah did.”

“Claudia will stay with her.”

“Someone not rat.”

“I gave you my word.”

“I’m not worried about your honor; I’m worried about the energy of that many wererats in that close a proximity to Anita just after she’s made you her rat to call.”

“No one mentioned that was a problem before,” Rafael said.

“I hadn’t felt her rat be stronger than I’ve ever felt it inside her. Now I have.”

“What do you mean?” Micah asked.

“We’ve helped Anita stay human because we play her beasts off each other. One of us will let her smell our skin and different beasts, it’s kept her from choosing or changing form for real.”

“We know all that,” Rafael said, and again there was that note of impatience that wasn’t typical of him.

“When Anita goes to our pard, she has Micah and me with her. When she goes to the lupanar she has Richard with her, or sometimes it’s the leopards and the wolves together. She’s never had to walk into one of the big group meetings without one of us at her side.”

“Are you saying, mon minou, that she needs Rafael to stay near her tonight?”

“No, I know that’s not possible, but I do believe Anita needs at least one other beast with her so that she plays the energies off each other if she needs to.”

“None of the other beasts to call may come, it would undermine me almost as much as if one of her other kings came at her side.”

“Pierette can stay with Anita and Claudia.”

“No, no leopard, it will be seen as Micah’s token.”

“Not if you introduce her as a potential lover.”

“What is it with all of you pressuring me into a three-way?”

“Rafael has already turned it down, turned her down,” I said.

Nathaniel stared at the other man. His face said it all, astonished. Rafael actually looked uncomfortable and started explaining like a guy who thinks himself macho and cool and turned down something cooler-than-thou. “I’m sure she is lovely, but I have never had a woman suggest a three-way without it going terribly wrong.”

“I tried to convince him the offer was legit and not some deep-seated girl trick to see if he’d cheat on me, but in his defense one ex stabbed him and another burned his stuff over three-ways,” I said.

“You are dating the wrong people,” Nathaniel said.

“As I explained to Anita earlier, I have dated the wrong people for many years.”

“We’ve all been with Anita and Pierette, and nobody stabbed anyone or set anyone on fire,” Micah said, as if he couldn’t quite believe the last part.

Nathaniel literally waved his hand in the air as if erasing the whole thing, then said, “You don’t have to sleep with Pierette if you don’t want to, though why you wouldn’t want to—no, never mind. My point, Rafael, is just let Pierette be with Anita as her girlfriend and potentially yours. She can hang on both of you in sight of the crowd.”

“It will start the women fighting over me again.”

“But the other women aren’t Anita’s lover and Pierette is,” Nathaniel said.

“You mean the old idea that Rafael would be free to sleep with women that I’m already sleeping with, but no one else?”

“Yes, and taking her in there as both your guard and your girlfriend means that she can touch you. If you need to smell her leopard, she can put bare skin near your face, and it will look like flirting.”

“Mon minou, you have become devious.”

Nathaniel smiled. “I’ve always been devious; I was just really bad at it.”

“It is a way for Anita to have extra protection to fight her way through the crowd where you