Luke sighed and stood with a small, sad puppy-dog smile on his lips. “I suppose I should have expected that. After all, you haven’t forgiven me for tearing you from your old life into this strange one.”
“And speaking of that, how far did you tear me from my life?” I gestured around at the rough walls and rafters. “I’ve seen a lot of old-fashioned towns along this trip and no sign of a freeway or Starbucks.” And here I thought there was one every square mile on earth.
“I took you across several hundred miles and a state-line to reach my home,” he admitted.
My face twisted into disbelief. “How in the world did you even find me that far from where you live? Why in the world did you go looking that far when you had Stacy right here begging you to have her pups?”
“Our noses are very powerful and very selective, especially when it comes to choosing a mate. I merely followed mine to your city and rummaged through the scents until I found yours.”
My face drooped. “So you stalked me that far?”
“Yes, but don’t you think you’re worth it?” he teased.
“I’m worth at least a thousand stalking miles,” I replied.
He pulled me gently against him and wrapped his arms around me. I blushed at the heat of his body against mine, especially when the heat pooled between my legs. “You’re worth much more than that to me.” Then he let go and stepped away. The sudden loss of his hard chest caught me off balance and I fell face-forward onto the rock floor. “And that’s why you’re staying by my side all day tomorrow,” he added.
I growled and whipped my head up to glare at him. He somehow survived my evil eye. “You sure you shouldn’t be checked out for a split-personality disorder?” I wondered.
“Every werewolf has a split personality disorder with their Beast,” he pointed out.
“I think you’ve got an extra one in that head of yours.”
“My head is quite sound.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
“You had ample opportunity to examine my head last night.”
“Not through all that fur and furious sex,” I countered.
“Care for another examination?”
“Am I still stuck to your side like a Siamese twin tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
The argument could have gone on the rest of the day, but there was a knock on the door. “Who is it?” Luke called out.
“It’s me, sir,” Alistair’s voice drifted through the closed entrance. I’d forgotten about the manservant, and realized then that he hadn’t been part of the search party.
“Enter,” Luke replied. Alistair stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “What have you found out?” Luke asked him.
Alistair grimly shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not good, sir. Lance and Simpling have convinced Farber to join their cause and Mullen is leaning toward them.” I raised an eyebrow. Apparently Alistair had been playing Secret Agent Man around the villa.
Luke frowned and paced the room. “Damn it,” he softly swore. “I hoped to at least have Mullen on our side. What about the others?”
“Baker refuses to join sides, and Stevens doesn’t believe there are sides to join,” Alistair finished.
Luke ground his teeth together. “That old fool is willfully blinded to what’s going on.”
“He hopes the differences can be settled amicably,” Alistair added.
Luke paused in his pacing, sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “That’s understandable. I was the same only a month ago. How’s the turnout for the vote?”
“A majority of Alpha members are present, but there are several trains coming from the Lone regions,” the manservant replied.
“At the very least we have some time on our hands before the vote at the end of the week. Any idea who’s going to put their names in for the High Lord position?”
“All of the lords are expected to put their names in, and the favorite is currently Lance.”
“Um, boys?” I spoke up. The two men glanced over to me. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Politics,” Luke told me.
I rolled my eyes. “I got that, but what’s this about putting names in and turnout?”
“I’ll explain in a second,” Luke promised. He looked to Alistair. “Anything else to report?”
“Nothing yet, sir, but I will keep my eyes and ears open,” Alistair swore.
“Good. Especially watch the accountant assassin. They may try something during the voting,” Luke advised.
“Very well, sir.” Alistair left on his new assignment, and Luke turned his full attention on me.
He gestured to the bed. “This may take a while.”
19
My face fell and I plopped myself down on the bed while Luke stood in front of me. “I believe I told you before that this meeting’s to decide the High Lord of the werewolves.”
“Yeah.”
“The decision is based off of a vote by all werewolves present here,” he continued. “On the second to last day the lords offer their names for nomination, and the last full day is the voting where we elect our new leader.”
“How does that work? Wouldn’t everybody from the regions vote for their own leader and make it a tie?” I pointed out.
“They often do, but sometimes the leaders don’t satisfy their people, or another candidate is better favored to unite all the regions,” he explained to me. “There’s also not an equal population in the regions. The boundaries were set based on the geography.”
I furrowed my brow. “So let me get this whole voting thing straight, starting with the lord people. You guys are elected to leader of a region, and anybody can be the leader but it’s usually from an important family, right?”
“That’s right. Baker himself is a commoner by birth.”
“And that vote happens how often?”
“Every three years.”
“And then every so often this meeting takes place-”
“Once every five years,” he told me.
“-and people come from all of the regions to vote on a new High Llama.”
“High Lord,” he corrected me.
“And the High Lordiness can only be one of the six-”
“Seven.”
“-lords who run the regions, right?”
“Yes.”
“So with Lance and Simpling kind of running things they’re going to make sure the vote goes their way?” I guessed.
“Unfortunately, yes, especially with Farber on their side and Mullen leaning in favor of them,” Luke added.
“Who’s Mullen?”
“Another lord of the region that specializes in research and development,” he told me.
“So how important is this High Lord position?”
“The High Lord has a large purse from taxes collected from not only his region, but all the others. That’s used to manage the basic administration duties such as region dispute mediators and such, but he can also decide where the money is funneled.”
“So it’s a racket?”
“If the High Lord is dishonest then it can be,” he admitted.
“This ever happen before?”
“A few times in our past, but never has the effort been so organized and the danger so high for all of us,” he told me. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I hate to admit it, but Lance has a point about the humans. They’re encroaching on our lands and eventually there might come a point where we’ll have to decide to leave our lands or reveal ourselves.”
I groaned and fell back on the bed. “Just my luck to be stuck in this much trouble,” I grumbled.
Luke sat down beside me and there was a sad smile on his face. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Did you want change for that ten cents?” I quipped.
He chuckled. “Is my apology worth that little?”
“Yep.”
He reached up with one of his hands and traced his fingers along the inside of my lower thigh. “I could apologize in other ways,” he suggested.
My body said yes with a flare of heat, but I wasn’t willing to give in, at least not immediately. I shifted higher on the bed away from his teasing hand. “Aren’t we supposed to be worrying about political intrigue and assassination attempts?” I reminded him.
Luke grinned and crawled onto the bed. Seeing him on all fours raised my body temperature another ten degrees and I was having trouble breathing. There was a clawing inside of me like an animal trying to get out and let him take me right then and there. I squashed it down, but only for the moment. “We’re safe so long as we stay in here,” he assured me.
“B-but I still haven’t forgiven you for kidnapping me,” I insisted.
He climbed over me and set his hands on either side of my arms. I lay down, and he leaned down and brushed his nose against mine. “Then let me make it up to you in whatever way I can,” he slyly replied.
“I-I think it’s a little early for bed, don’t you?” The sun had set, but in the mountains that happened early. It was barely past five. Apparently he didn’t think it was too early because he nipped at my neck. I softly gasped and he chuckled.
“It’s been a long day without play. Why not have a little fun?” he wondered.