And speaking of…
I stood and looked around the mostly-seated crowd. I didn’t remember Lienda. Funnily enough, no one I talked with really remembered anything specific about her, but I’d seen a photo of her once. I knew I could pick her in a crowd. We looked similar, but she had very blond hair. God knows where I got my hair color from.
It took no time for me to sight and scent that she wasn’t in the room, unless she was cloaking herself with the help of a magic user. I slumped into my chair, and suddenly I was crushed by Braxton and Maximus sandwiching me in. The brutes always stole my space, their long arms invading my territory. I was contemplating whether it was worth starting elbow wars when my stomach decided to make its presence known in the form of a loud rumble that echoed throughout the hall. I groaned, dropping my hands to my belly, which of course the boys took advantage of. Now they had much more of their person on my person, squishing the hell out of me.
Surely the meeting was due to start soon. The hall had been pretty full when I’d been looking for Lienda. It sat over two thousand, so about a third of the community attended. I glared up at the council again. Dammit, hurry up and start the meeting, I was freaking starving. I’d missed lunch because I was late for weapons class, and dinner was looking like it’d be too far away. The way my stomach was protesting, there was no hiding it in a room full of supernaturals.
And then the ribbing started.
Jacob the jackass was first. “Shit, batten down the hatches and guard your limbs, Jessa’s hungry – every man for himself.”
“Them there are fighting words, fey,” I said as I released my wolf a little and dived across Braxton. Jacob was going down.
Jacob held both hands up in mock distress. “Damn, she’s coming at me, Brax! Hand me the emergency snacks.” I let free a growl, followed by a solid thump to his chest – which probably hurt my hand more than his body – but I was semi-satisfied with my act of dominance.
My stomach growled again, louder than ever. At that point Braxton, Jacob, and Maximus were practically on the floor they were howling so loudly. Tyson had started flirting with the witch seated next to him and wasn’t paying attention anymore.
It’s safe to say I copped a fair amount of shit over my love of food. When it came to dinnertime I could hold my own with any one of these six feet plus men. What can I say, I love food. And I’m a shifter – we have a fast metabolism. I wasn’t fat at all, but I had plenty of curves and I liked having curves. I wanted them to stay exactly where they were, so I figured it was my duty to eat. The male supernaturals liked my curves too. I might not have many friends, but I was popular in some ways. What can I say, wolves are friendly.
The boys were still laughing their butts off so I decided to give back as good as I got. I rarely acted like a chick around them – sometimes I think if it wasn’t for the boobs they’d forget I wasn’t a man too – but right now some fake tears were in order.
“You guys are right,” I said in a subdued tone. I even lowered my eyes a little, which rankled my wolf, but she understood. “Maybe I could stand to eat less. You know … lose a few pounds.” Their laughter died instantly as they eyed me with something close to astonishment.
Braxton was the first to recover. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” His eyes flashed as he straightened in his chair. “You do that and I’ll follow you around with a goddamn steak … day and night.” His voice lowered on the last of his threat.
“And ice cream,” Maximus added. They knew I loved dessert of any description. Sugar was my weakness. “You lose one inch off that delectable ass and we can’t be friends any longer.” He crossed his arms over his chest, which at least freed up some space on his side.
I internally rolled my eyes. Braxton and Maximus’ responses were not a surprise. The predator supes were pretty earthy and sexual.
I stared at the three Compasses. Their unwavering attention was locked on me, their faces scrunched-up and all of them frowning. The morons looked really worried. Then I couldn’t hold a straight face any longer. My lips curved up as laughter burst from me. I flipped them off.
“Like I would give up food for any man.” I followed the middle finger with another rude gesture that shifters were fond of.
Their retaliation was cut off as the council members stood, ready to start our meeting. Braxton leaned in closer to me. “Just for that, no sharing of my dessert tonight.”
Ouch, that was mean. He always got extra for me, I could never fit enough on my plate. I turned sad eyes on him, but he just shook his head. Damn, the girly-act wouldn’t work twice on him tonight. Problem was, it wasn’t really an act, I was genuinely sad without cake.