“Stay,” Abel declared. “It’s populated, and my guess is my kind are hidden. They attacked in the night, not broad daylight. They don’t want attention. But we also can dig in. More cameras on the restaurant and alley, patrols with me to see if we can sniff any out, give a heads up to those in town who owe the Jin boys a favor to keep their eyes open for new players in the city and let us know who they are so we can take a look at them.”
“Think that’s smart, bubba,” Dad grunted.
“I also think we make a meet with The Biltmore supernaturals,” Abel continued, and my body went solid.
His arm around me got tight, his fingers digging into the flesh of my hip.
“Like Jian-Li said, one of them, all of us,” Abel concluded.
“Agreed,” Xun put in. “Ma isn’t stupid. She trusted them. And if they agree to that kind of meet, that’s more trust.”
“Little girl?” Dad called, and I looked from Xun to him. “You don’t look convinced.”
“The only time I’ve been around supernaturals, they’ve been trying to kill us,” I explained.
“See your worry,” Dad muttered.
“We’ll be safe, Lilah,” Abel said, and I turned my head to catch his eyes. “Promise, bao bei. We’ll take every precaution we can.”
“We need to take Lilah out, teach her to shoot, if she doesn’t already know,” Chen announced and all eyes turned to him. “Teach her self-defense moves.” He lifted his hand and shook it in a way that it was obvious someone was preparing to negate him. “I know a bullet doesn’t stop vamp or wolf, but it might slow them down. And not much she can do without proper training, which would take years. But something is better than nothing.”
I totally agreed with that.
And, luckily, my father had taught me to shoot.
Before I could share that, Dad did.
“You think I didn’t teach my little girl her way around a firearm?” he asked with mild affront.
Chen might have responded, but I didn’t hear him because, all of a sudden, I felt Abel’s entire body tense.
Then, in a flash, he was out of his seat, me with him, his arms squeezing me so close it was like he wanted to absorb me. His head was turned sharply, ear to the back wall, beyond which was the front door.
He was sniffing.
“Wolf,” he whispered.
The room went wired at the same time it filled with activity, everyone heading toward the door.
“Stop,” Abel growled. Everyone stopped and turned to him. “It’s the female.”
“What?” I asked.
“Warn Jian-Li,” Abel ordered, and Wei shot out of the room.
Abel sniffed the air again.
“Okay, crap, okay, crap!” I wasn’t proud, but I started panicking. I mean, a wolf was descending! “Abel, are there more?”
“Only her,” he murmured, then pushed me toward Dad. “Hold tight. I’m gonna check.”
“What?” I asked. “No!” I cried when he was gone in a blur.
Dad grabbed hold of me.
“Cool it, little girl,” he warned.
I stared at the door.
Thirty seconds later (I counted), we saw a blur, then we saw Abel, his eyes to my father.
I leaned against Dad in relief.
“No more. Just her,” he declared. “You want different scenery for lunch?”
“Sit down with a female werewolf?” Dad asked, brows high, eyes dancing with the promise of adventure, the crazy biker. “Number one on my bucket list.”
“I’m going,” I stated.
Abel looked to Snake, Jabber, Moose, and Poncho. “She’s in here with you. Xun will be at the door.”
“What?” I snapped, and Abel looked to me. “I’m going.”
“No, you’re not,” he returned.
“You said she wasn’t a threat,” I pointed out.
“Doesn’t mean one isn’t at her back,” Abel retorted.
“You didn’t smell him,” I reminded him.
I could sense him digging in as he started, “Lilah—”
I sought compromise.
“Bring them back here. The men can stay. We won’t hurt them, and if they want to establish trust, they’ll accept that, sit, and break bread with us. They’ve come here for a reason, but this is our turf. We make the rules. They eat in the war room with you, with me, and with our family.”
Abel narrowed his eyes. “Fuck, you’re like a biker bitch guru.”
I raised my brows.
Abel shook his head, giving me another new look, this one saying my-woman-is-adorable-but-also-a-pain-in-the-ass-and-a-big-one-at-that.
I didn’t like it as much as the other, but I still liked it.
Then he looked to the door where Chen was standing and ordered, “Bring them in here.”
Chen took off.
We all waited, and when they showed at the door, I was super glad I did the shower and primping thing.
The first one through was a classy, beautiful blonde with gorgeous blue eyes. The one who came after was a lush, sophisticated brunette with lovely green eyes. The blonde was in jeans, but the kind of jeans (with all the rest—fabulous blouse, kickass spike-heeled designer pumps, etc.) that they’d put in the pages of Cosmopolitan. The brunette also was in jeans and had on kickass high-heeled boots, but her thin sweater would be on the pages of Cosmopolitan for the Outdoorsy Woman (if they had that, which they didn’t, but looking at her I was thinking they should).
“Yay, we’re having a party,” the blonde stated as her eyes fell on the table groaning with Jian-Li’s food.