"No," Bride said, pulling her hand back to look at it. There was a beautiful design on her palm. It reminded her of some ancient Greek design. "What on earth?"
Mina frowned as she looked at it. "Did you get a henna tattoo?"
"No. I didn't do anything. I swear. It wasn't there five seconds ago."
Tabitha leaned over to look at it. "How weird," she said. "And coming from me, that means something."
That was very true. Tabitha Devereaux was the epitome of odd.
"You've never seen anything like this?" Bride asked Tabitha.
"Nope. Maybe we're all delusional. Maybe it's like Plato's theory and there's nothing there but skin. Maybe we're just seeing what we want to see."
Mina snorted as she poured Tabasco sauce on her oyster. "Just because you live in a constant state of insanity, Tabby, doesn't mean the rest of us do."
Bride laughed at them.
She traced the design on her palm and wondered what on earth could have placed it there.
Colt gave Vane a hard stare. "Look, I know you can't stand me. But I've got your back. Go see your woman and I'll cover here in the bar."
"I don't need you to"
"Stop being so damned stubborn," Colt said from between clenched teeth.
"You have a mate out there, Vane, and whether you're Arcadian or Katagaria, you know the one law that governs us all. Your mate's safety comes above all else."
Colt was right and Vane knew it. The animal inside him was already straining at the human half of him. It wanted its mate. It demanded it.
Normally the human and animal parts of himself coexisted in a delicate balance. Hormones and stress could easily disturb that balance, and then he became truly dangerous. If the animal took control of him Many of his kind, both male and female, lost themselves to that animal half.
Unable to handle it, they went mad from it and became ruthless slayers who killed anything or anyone who crossed them. It was similar to a rabies infection and there was no cure for it.
That was why the Arcadians had Sentinels. Their job was to track and kill those who couldn't control their animal soul. Slayers. Of course, the Arcadians as a rule were rather liberal when applying the term "slayer" to one of his people.
Pretty much any Katagari who crossed their path was usually classified as a slayer with or without evidence.
"Go, Vane," Colt said, urging him toward the door.
The bear was right. There was no use fighting his nature. It was a battle he could never win.
He handed Colt the towel and quickly left the bar.
Out on the street, Vane made sure no one could see him and then flashed himself into wolf form. Unlike his brother, he was a solid white timber wolf. He was also bigger, weighing in at one hundred and forty pounds.
It was why his pack mates had feared him most in his animal state. As powerful as they were, he was more so. And he didn't follow rank the way the others did.
Animal he might be, but at the end of the day even though he denied it, he had enough human in him to refuse to follow anyone docilely.
He was a born alpha and everyone around him knew it.
Vane sprinted through the streets of New Orleans, careful to stay to the shadows of the darkening evening. He'd learned long ago that humans had a tendency to make him out to be a large dog if they saw him, but still the last thing he needed was a dogcatcher after him.
He had a long history of animal-control encounters. None of which had ever been good for the humans.
It didn't take him long to return to Iberville and the Acme Oyster House where he'd left Bride. Rising up on his hind legs to stand against the glass, he peered inside to see her seated with two other women.
One had dark auburn hair and a ragged scar down the side of her face. If not for the ghastly mark, she would have been exceptionally attractive. The other one was a very pretty brunette who shared similar features.