“Yeah,” I said, my pulse in my throat from jumping, “I mean Black Queen here.” Eagle was whoever was in charge of the guards overall on a shift. Black Queen was my call sign. No, it wasn’t my idea, but until I thought of a better one I couldn’t bitch too much. Yes, Jean-Claude was Black King. Like no one was going to figure that out.
“The lions are on their way down. It’s the Rex, two bodyguards, the two new female lions, and two other males that Haven’s okay with you feeding on, just like you negotiated, darlin’, but the two feeders are a little worse for wear.”
“Stop calling me darling, and what does that mean . . . Eagle?”
“Means someone has beat the shit out of them. They’re being carried down to you all.”
“What the fuck,” I said.
“Are ya asking why he beat ’em to shit?” Bobby Lee asked.
“Yeah, I am,” I said.
“White King seems to think you’ve fucked them more than you’ve fucked him. He didn’t like that.” White King wasn’t the code for Haven, but for any VIP of a visiting vampire or animal group. You had to be more welcome here to have your own code sign.
“Jesus,” I whispered, “I haven’t fed on many . . . Oh, shit. No, he didn’t.”
“You’ll have to finish a sentence there, Black Queen, before I can give you an answer,” Bobby Lee said.
“Shit, I don’t know how to do this and not say names.” I looked at Jean-Claude.
He covered his earbud and spoke low. “Who do you fear it is?”
“Noel and Travis,” I said. They were in college and were two that had survived from the old pride’s leadership to Haven’s new regime. I had used them to help me control my lion when Nicky wasn’t available, but I hadn’t fed the ardeur on them, because they were too young. They were legal, but young in experience. As far as I could discover, Noel was a virgin. I was so not going to be his first. I had tried to persuade the old Rex, Joseph, that they were too tender to throw to the ardeur, but he hadn’t understood. Apparently Haven hadn’t understood, either. It was just a different misunderstanding.
Jean-Claude spoke to that invisible voice. “Joe College and Christmas are who the Black Queen is concerned about.”
“The concern is well placed, Black King.”
“Shit,” I said.
“Yep,” Bobby Lee said, “that about covers it, Black Queen.”
I didn’t want to have to deny I’d had sex with Travis and Noel over the open airwaves, as it were; besides, I’d learned a long time ago that you can’t prove a negative. You can prove that you did something, but it’s the devil to prove you didn’t do something.
Nathaniel said it for me since he wasn’t on the headset. “You haven’t had sex with Noel and Travis.”
“I know that, but apparently the White King doesn’t believe that.” I fumbled at the neckpiece, trying to turn it off for a minute, but I couldn’t remember how. I was angry. I hadn’t been angry until now. It gave me an idea.
“Eagle, how angry is White King?”
“Angry enough to fry your bacon from a distance.”
“You know, you can give the quaint southernisms a rest, Eagle.”
“Are you disparaging my heritage there, Black Queen?”
“No, just cranky.” I turned to Jean-Claude. “Help me turn this off.”
He pressed something and I was suddenly alone in my own head again; yea. “You’ve thought of something,” he said.
I nodded. “I can feed on anger, remember?”
“I remember, ma petite.”
“Haven is angry; I’ll feed on it.”
“If you feed on his anger, he may take that as a form of attack,” Richard said.
I looked past Jean-Claude to him. “If he’s hurt Noel and Travis as badly as Bobby Lee says, then I’m not sure I care if he thinks he’s being attacked.”
“If you kill him, fine, but make sure you kill him because he needs killing, Anita, not just because you’re pissed at him,” Richard said.
I started to say something angry back, but Nathaniel touched my arm, and Damian touched my shoulder a moment later. They were both calmer than I was, and some of that calm seeped into me. It helped me take a deep breath and let it out slow. I nodded. “Point taken, but I can’t let him hurt them like this and get away unpunished. If I do, then we won’t have control of the lions, and Haven will do something worse.”
Micah said, “He’s like a teenager acting out. He wants your attention even if it’s negative attention.”
“Are you blaming me for this?” I asked, and the anger was just there again. Damian’s hand tightened on my shoulder. Nathaniel put his hand in mine. It helped me push the anger down again, but it was there and if I wasn’t careful it could raise my beasts and then we would be in a mess.
“I’m just saying that Haven thinks like the fifteen-year-old he was when he joined the werelions. He’s stuck there emotionally. It makes him react to things.”
“What do I do?” I asked, and that I asked him was a mark of what we meant to each other. I didn’t ask many people’s opinion.
“Save Noel and Travis first; get them on this side of the room, then see if Haven is willing to be reasonable.”
“Reasonable how?” I asked.
“Sex, maybe.”
“I don’t want to fuck him; I’m so mad at him I can’t see straight.”
“May I offer an opinion, ma petite?”
I turned back to the man at my side. “Please, at this point I’m taking suggestions. I am in over my head here.” I said out loud what I’d thought earlier. “This would be easier if you had a tie to the lions, and not just me.”
Jean-Claude looked at me. His face was unreadable, but it was a long, considering look. “Augustine said he spoke to you about the lions and certain possibilities.”
“We don’t have time for coy, Jean-Claude. He told me that there was a chance, if you slept with the women of some of the cat-based animal groups, that you might gain them as your animal to call, too. He thinks you might be able to gain an animal through me, instead of me always gaining through you.”
“Are you saying you want us to sleep with the female cats?” Richard asked.
I looked at him. “No, I’m saying maybe Jean-Claude should sleep with them.” I added, because he was looking at me, “Jean-Claude makes me feel secure. You don’t yet, Richard. Jean-Claude has hung in there while I fucked a lot of other men. He’s been a good sport, so maybe it’s my turn to be a good sport.”
“Ma petite, the lions will be here in moments; I want to be very clear between us. Are you saying that you would be open to me sleeping with the female lions while you sleep with the males?”
I fought not to cross my arms or look pouty. “I think so, oh, hell, I don’t know. As a theory, I think it’s got merit.”
“Merit?” Jean-Claude said. “That is not a strong enough word to get me into another woman’s bed, ma petite. I think merit would come back and, how would you say, bite me on the ass.”
I couldn’t blame him. “I need help, Jean-Claude. The leopards work because Micah is reasonable and wants to help me, and he’s leopard king to my queen. The tigers work because so far the only males in town are mine. We don’t have a tiger group to get pissy with me. The rats and swans work not because they’re our animal to call but because their leaders value the order you’ve brought to the city and they want to help that along.”
Jean-Claude spoke into the air, into his earpiece, whatever. “Give us a moment.” He forgot all about code names as he turned to me. “The lions are outside the door, and making Haven wait will not help things. Do you want me to try to seduce one of the women into my bed? It must be yes or no.”
“Can I think about it?” I asked.
“No. Yes or no.”
“No sex for tonight, but make friends so that maybe another night soon you can.”
“Not precise enough,” he said. “I will not be punished for doing what you tell me to do. Tell me to seduce them, or tell me don’t, and tell me now.”
I stared at him and didn’t know what to say. But he was right; I had to decide now. Fuck. “I don’t know how I feel about you with another woman that I haven’t met. Can I meet them first and then ask me again?”