Chapter 119: Inseparable

Nash

At ten-till there was a short knock on the door. I peeled myself off the bed and went to answer. I was a bit anxious about who I would find on the other side. I leaned against the door and felt that familiar magnetic pull.

Not Louis, please.

I pulled open the door. Daphne was standing on the other side, smiling a little smugly. “I knew you wouldn’t leave.”

I grunted in response. I wasn’t sure which was worse, the fact that I had seriously considered driving away, or the fact that I was completely incapable of doing so. I wanted to be irritated with her, but I couldn’t hold on to the emotion. I was just happy to be near her again. She reached out and took my hand, and it was like my whole body sighed with relief.

She led me by the hand through the hallways, obviously already familiar with the layout of the corridors. She stopped before a set of double doors that were already propped open in welcome. It was a very formal dining room, with a long table, with a fancy fireplace at one end and a bunch of paintings in gilded frames hanging on the walls. There were two people already seated at the table, staring at us with barely veiled hostility. An older man, and a beautiful woman in a dress so low cut her nipples were threatening to escape.

I jerked my eyes away from her breasts and instead studied the portraits on the walls. I was attracted to one in particular, a painting, not of a human, but of a wolf, situated on a jagged cliff edge, muzzle pointed toward a crescent moon, captured mid-howl. There was something so lonely about it, and something eerily familiar. Like something from a dream.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your guest?” A woman’s purring voice jarred me from my thoughts.

I turned back to the table. I couldn’t ignore the hostile vibes, and I didn’t like the fact that they seemed to extend as much to Daphne as they did to me. “Hello,” I said smoothly, pasting on the smile that I had reserved for just those situations. It was my smooth, cavalier, don't-f.uck-with-me smile. “I’m Nash Turner. And you are?” The tone of my question was, you are nobody so why are you here?

“I’m Pilar Larkin, and this is my father, Alpha John Larkin.” She put extra emphasis on the alpha part, like I should be suitably impressed.

I wasn’t. I didn’t bother with the polite formalities of nice to meet you. It wasn’t nice. There was something really off about them. I held out a chair for Daphne, and then seated myself beside her. I realized belatedly that I had seated myself at the right hand of the king. Putting myself between the King and Nash.

S.hit.

“Oh good, everyone is here,” Louis’s voice came from the door behind me. I hated that I already recognized his baritone. Not only did I recognize it, I reacted to it on some gut level, and a feeling of warmth spread in my middle.

He strode into the room and took his seat at the head of the table, and motioned to the staff that was standing near the door. At his signal, they swarmed the table with wine, sparkling juice, and ice water. Daphne graciously smiled and thanked them when her glasses were full. I noticed that the Larkins ignored the staff, like it was beneath them to speak to waiters.

Louis was somber, but he thanked them by name. I grudgingly gave him credit for not being a King A.sshole. He turned toward me, and I felt the impact of his eyes like a shove in the chest. They seemed to sparkle with bits of gold. “I hope you found your room adequate?”

“Yeah, the room is great,” I said. If I’d been alone with Louis, I probably would have ignored the question. However, something in me refused to disrespect him in front of two sharks sitting across the table. I could see the way they were sending speculative glances between us, trying to figure out how I, the human, fit in the picture.

“I’m glad you decided to stay,” he said quietly. The words were ripe with meaning. I gritted my teeth together.

He turned to the father-daughter couple across the table. “Alpha Larkin, I imagine you must be getting anxious to return to your pack.”

I watched Larkin’s mouth flatten for a second before he pasted on a slick, snake-oil salesman smile. “Indeed, I am. As you know, things have been… precarious. Even dangerous, you might say. I need to get back to support my pack.” He picked up his glass of wine, swirled it under his nose before he took a sip. “Given the unstable situation at home, I wondered if I might ask a favor of you, Your Highness.”

Louis stiffened. “I’ve already told you, Alpha, I will not be able to send my fighters to your pack.”

Larkin set his wineglass back on the table. “Oh no, that point is already settled. It’s about my daughter.” Larkin reached out and took his daughter's hand, and stroked it like she was something precious. “Pilar is my only child, and she is precious to me. I am reluctant to bring her back to the pack and place her in danger. If anything should happen to her, I wouldn't ever forgive myself. I hoped, my King, that you would allow her to stay here, in the safety of the palace.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Daphne tense. I turned back to Louis to see his response. Surely he must know he was being played, although I had no idea for what purpose. Given the fact that Pilar Larkin’s tits were about to fall out on the table before the soup course even started, I had a pretty good idea what they were hoping.

And I didn’t like it.

I didn’t want to think too hard about why I found it so disagreeable.

The waiters came, bringing baskets of warm, fresh bread and bowls of rich, brothy soup. My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t had a real meal in days. “So, Miss Larkin, you are the Alpha’s only daughter?”

“Didn’t he just say so?” she snapped. And then she pulled herself together, no doubt, for the sake of the King, and smiled sweetly, putting a virtual band aid over her mistake.

“That makes you the Alpha heir, doesn’t it? You’ll be taking over the pack from your father one day?”

She picked up her spoon, but I noticed her hand wasn’t entirely steady. “That’s right. Unless, of course, I find a…powerful mate.” Her eyes slid toward the king.

I felt my temper rising like someone had twisted the dial on a gas stove. “As the Alpha Heir, don’t you need to know how to defend your pack from…” I moved my gaze to her father. He glared back at me with eyes full of resentment and suspicion. “All kinds of dangers? I don’t think it would be in your pack's best interest for you to stay cloistered away in a palace while they struggle against… well, whatever has your father so worried.”

Pilar’s spoon clattered against her bowl. “I am perfectly capable of defending my pack!” She sucked in her breath and composed herself again. She attempted a smile, but her nostrils were flared open. “My father is just being… over-protective.”

Louis spooned soup into his mouth, watching the exchange with keen interest. On the other side of me, Daphne was ripping a piece of bread to shreds.

“But surely you must understand, your highness?” Larkin pleaded, “A father’s need to protect his daughter? You are a father, you almost lost your daughter. Wouldn’t you do anything to keep her safe?”

A low growl erupted from Louis’s throat, subtle, but threatening. I don’t think he took kindly to Larkin speaking of his daughter. He placed his spoon slowly and deliberately on the table, his eyes seemed to cut into the Alpha.The gold in his eyes was gone, and they were dark, almost black. “I would kill for my daughter. I would slaughter anyone who threatened my family.”