Page 7

There was a long, quiet moment. The room had descended into stillness.

“Bianca!” Damen called, his anxious shout breaking the tension.

My eyes popped open, and I realized my cheek was plastered against a sculpted chest. My perusal trailed upward to my rescuer's attractive—and angry—face.

For some reason, I was shivering. I touched my fingertips to my lips, unable to speak. But Titus wasn’t looking at me anyway. His green eyes were dark with fury, focused across the room.

“Can’t you keep things under control for ten minutes?” he snarled, his arms tightening.

Damen peeled to a stop beside us. “What took you so long?” he asked, reaching toward me. Before his hand touched mine, Titus stepped back.

“What happened?” Titus held me out of Damen’s reach.

“I didn’t want to leave any lasting damage.” Damen frowned at Titus, lowering his hand. “I was about to step up; she wouldn’t have been hurt.”

“It never should have gotten to this point!” Titus retorted. “You should have left after you called me. This is your fault.”

Damen narrowed his eyes. “Watch yourself.”

Guilt knotted my stomach as I glanced between them. Titus and Damen were fighting. And worse, it was because of me.

“Please stop arguing.” I shot them my best no-nonsense look. “Damen tried to get me to leave,” I told Titus. “But I decided to stay. I didn’t want him to be eaten. I—”

They stopped glaring at each other and turned their attention to me.

The air rushed from my lungs at their expressions. Damen’s face was red, and his features strained, but Titus’s blank look was even more frightening.

Now that I had their attention, I didn’t like it.

“I was trying to help…” I sounded pathetic.

“I told you to run.” Damen’s voice was deep with disappointment. “You could have died. What in the world possessed you to stay?”

My insides twisted, and I looked away.

I’d messed up an opportunity to help—to have him trust me. I should have known better.

But I would have been okay, had it not been for my stupid brain.

“I’m so sorry…” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. There were no words to cover the depths of my shame. “I was in the way.”

Damen cursed. “That’s not what I meant, Bianca.”

This time, Titus didn’t move as Damen gripped my fingers. “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have shouted.”

I couldn’t look at him. Of course, he noticed. He touched my chin, urging me to raise my face. Once our gazes met, I was trapped.

“I was scared,” he continued. “You could have been killed. This was nothing for me to handle by myself. But you…”

I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. It made me sad that he believed he was indestructible. “Where’s Kasai?”

“I sent it away.” Damen let out a breath. He released my hands and addressed Titus. “We’ll need to finish things here.”

Titus’s heartbeat had begun to slow, and he gracefully set me back on my feet. Yet, his expression was still difficult to read as he touched my arm and stepped away, following Damen.

They were tense as they conversed, but I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. I probably could have figured it out—neither one was covering their mouths—but my attention drifted to the rest of the room instead.

The hyenas had been corralled at the opposite end of the room and a lioness paced between my group and theirs. She growled—low and threatening—any time a hyena looked in our general direction, and they remained subdued.

Considering the circumstances, it was safe to assume that the lioness was also a shifter. Who might she be? Surely not the legendary Mar—

“Maria,” Titus called, breaking his conference with Damen. “Ada will have sensed this. She’ll probably be here soon.”

I stepped back, my pulse skipping as the lioness crouched her front legs and hissed at Titus. However, he wasn’t perturbed.

He sighed with a forced patience. “You don’t have to talk to her. I want you to take Bianca and leave.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could utter a word, the reverse process of a shifter transformation captured my attention.

Golden fur retreated. Bones twisted and reformed. Suddenly, there was a perfect, naked, long-haired blonde crouching on the floor.

So, this was Maria. It figured that she looked like something from a modeling magazine. It was a good thing Titus was celibate because there was no way I could compete with her perfection.

Not that I cared, honestly. The last thing I wanted—or needed—was that sort of relationship. I wasn’t even sure why these thoughts were crossing my mind. It might be an aftereffect of my near-death experience. I was worn out. I should have stayed home with Miles. He was the best at making lattes.

I held my forehead and groaned. “I need a drink.”

“I like you already,” a perky, feminine voice said as red-tipped, manicured fingers wrapped around my hand in a surprisingly firm grip. My gaze snapped up, locking with Maria’s soft brown eyes. A slight grin touched her pink lips. “I’m Maria; Titus has told me a lot about you.”

I looked at Titus, who, suddenly, was studying the quivering group of hyenas. What in the world had he told her?

“I’m craving a Jack and Coke myself,” Maria continued with a nod. Something had been decided, but I wasn’t sure what. “Just give me one second, and we’ll head out of here.”

“What?” Was she going to take me to a bar?

Without answering, Maria—still naked—released my hand and strolled toward the front door.

Even though it was improper, I couldn’t stop staring at her. She was utterly flawless in every way. My heart sank as my self-confidence plummeted to negative one million.

I’d been subtly doubtful of their chaste lifestyle, but nothing could have made it clearer than this. Damen and Titus had not even blinked in her direction. It was almost as if they didn’t even care that a goddess was prancing around the room.

Or that she was going outside… Was that allowed ?

Besides, it was chilly out there.

“Titus…” I inched toward the boys. “Is that okay? Shouldn’t she… get dressed?”

Titus made a confused sound. I glanced at him, wondering if his reaction might change now that he knew. Perhaps he hadn’t realized she was naked before.

But he didn’t appear affected at all. In fact, he and Damen exchanged a bored look.

“Nakedness isn’t that important to us,” he said, and then he and Damen returned to their conversation.

Yes, they were definitely dedicated to their celibacy. This was reassuring.

“Maria,” Titus suddenly called after her. As she stopped and glanced over her shoulder, he placed his palm on my shoulder. “Just take her back to Damen’s. It’s getting late.”

“Um…” I shook my head, my skin flushing. Why was he trying to tell me what to do? I wasn’t a child. Plus, this was no way to impress Maria—and for some reason, I really wanted to. “I’m fine,” I told him.

However, it was sweet that he cared. So I smiled at him.

He and I had come a long way from the old days when I thought he was an axe murderer.

“Thank you, though,” I told him.

“Yeah.” Maria was suddenly at my side. “ Thank you ,” she said to Titus, grabbing my hand once more. I tried to avert my gaze from her ample bosom—which was difficult seeing as her boobs were eye level for me. My face burned.

“But I don’t need you to babysit us. Until you can make it to a meeting on time, you’ve no right to lecture me. Come on, Bianca,” she said as she began to leave once more, this time dragging me behind her. “Let’s ditch the dead weight.”

I thought she was bluffing when she refused Titus’s order, but apparently, him being the Xing meant little to her, and she proceeded to take me to what appeared to be a high-class drinking establishment.

Either she was brave, or the boys had an inflated sense of self-importance. I suppose time would tell which was right. I hoped it was the former, though, and that some of her confidence could rub off on me.

But while she was quite clearly enjoying her alcoholic beverage and rebuffing the occasional pick-up line from various admirers, I was wallowing in guilt.

Of course, it was my luck that upon my first outing with another female, I was in a less-than-ready state—both mentally and physically.

I frowned into my coffee while rubbing my arm. My clothing had been mussed from the fight, and while I’d tried to brush it off earlier, honestly, I really had been scared when the hyenas had come after me.

“Do you think they hate me now?” I asked, interrupting Maria’s spiel about Titus skipping work for the Hello Kitty convention. To be honest, it sounded rather nice, if a bit irresponsible. But that wasn’t important right now.

Despite Damen’s reassurances, I still couldn’t control my insecurities.

Maria paused her tirade, and focused on me. “I doubt it,” she said, pursing her lips. “I’ve known Titus my whole life. Hate is far from what he is feeling right now.”

“But he was so angry,” I said, blinking back my blurred vision.

“Sure, he was angry,” Maria replied with a shrug.

Her silver, sparkly top glittered under the bar lights as she leaned back in her stool and crossed her legging-covered legs.

Next to her, I was plain in my simple, pink A-line dress.

“But that’s to be expected. You were about to be eaten when we arrived. ”

Eaten .

I stared down at my drink as I tried to control my racing heartbeat.

“You should have let Damen handle things,” she told me. “As a Xing, he’s more than capable.” She took another drink from her glass.

“But…” I protested, although I had no idea why I was arguing with a shifter who surely knew more about shifter things than I did. “He was being attacked.”

“They were attacking him to get him away from you,” Maria answered. “Hyenas are pack hunters who isolate their prey. You were the intended target from the beginning.”

I… was? My skin grew clammy.