King Cave (44 page)

Cahal blinked. “Pet her and see.”

Elder Jacobs rubbed his chest, acting nervous. “Alright. I’ll test the theory.” He moved down the table and reached a hand out to the female cub.

I jumped when she attacked. I didn’t even have time to make a startled noise before Elder Jacobs shouted and jerked his hand away. Two of his fingers were sliced so badly from her bite that bone was showing, and he had long, deep scratches on his wrists that were bleeding profusely because she had caught him under his wrist at the veins.

“Mother-fucker!” Elder Jacobs hissed, holding his hand to his chest protectively. He glared at the female cub, which was licking her bloody chops and hissing at him. “She’s fucking viscous.”

I could have sworn the female cub grinned and made a chomping motion in his direction.

King Kincaid’s chest rose. Stayed that way. “Of course she is.”

My eyes about crossed. “What the hell am I missing here?”

Ezra was actually chuckling at the female cub, and with a quick glance at me, then back to her, he asked, “Didn’t you pay any attention in history class?”

Um, no. I had slept through most of it, only passing the class because Pearl had provided me with study notes. “It went in one ear and out the other as soon as I took the tests.”

Ezra sighed and carefully placed on the table the male cub, which appeared to have listened to his direction. He didn’t try crowding the female again, only squatting and watching her. “When Prodigies are in times of war, or when there will be a war during their ruling, they receive an animal of protection.” He gestured toward the cubs. “Vizoacs.”

I eyed the cubs, which would currently be lunch meat for any Shifter. “Vizoacs?” Ezra nodded, petting his cub, and I muttered, “I don’t remember anything like that.”

Ezra grunted. “They magically recognize where to find us. No one really knows where they come from, since they appear before the Prodigies are crowned. They’re only loyal to their owner. Anyone else who touches them will get an ugly surprise.” He blinked, and amended, “Well, they’re supposed to, anyway. That’s why it’s remarkable that he let you touch him and she let me touch her.”

King Venclaire interjected. “He’s forgetting to tell you a crucial detail.” He grinned, patting his full pocket. “Whichever of the four Prodigies is the powerhouse of the group is how the Vizoac is determined.”

Ezra explained at my blank expression, “If the Shifter is the most powerful, the Prodigies receive wolves. If the Elemental is, they receive hawks. If the Mage is, they receive eagles.” Ezra’s lips twitched as he glanced at Cahal. “A Vizoac lives as long as its owner, so Dad’s still got his eagle. And he’s a crafty, mean bastard.”

Huh. That meant Antonio was the most powerful of their four.

I deduced the rest. “And if the Vamp is, the Prodigies get lions.”

Ezra nodded once and shrugged.

I barely withheld rolling my eyes. It might have worked for him to underplay being the ‘powerhouse’ if his eyes weren’t gleaming with satisfaction. As if the man needed anything else to be cocky about. A bit irritated, I crossed my arms. Just once, I would have liked to have been the best at something.

He watched me as I processed this, and like it couldn’t be contained, a smile of smug delight lifted his lips, and he drawled, “Was there ever any real question?”

I scowled, instead of pouting like I really wanted to.

King Kincaid rubbed my back. “Who needs another wolf when you can control them all?”

I blinked. “Good point.” A quick glance at him, smiling gratefully. “Thanks.”

He kissed my forehead, giving me a quick squeeze before backing away rapidly when the female cub had a hissy fit on the table.

“What are you two going to name them?” King Nelson asked.

I chuckled, jerking my head at Ezra. “He’ll probably name his something barbaric like Zeus.”

Ezra grunted. “I know what I’m going to call him.” He glanced at his dad. “I’ve had the name picked for years in case we got one.” He chuckled as his dad’s eyes narrowed. “I had to come up with something better than,” he coughed, “Bastard.”

“The name he picked isn’t much better,” Cahal grumbled, eyeing my clothes.

“It wasn’t always such,” Antonio said quietly.

“Bastard?” I asked, ignoring his dad and Antonio.

Ezra jerked his head toward Cahal. “That’s what he named his eagle.”

Hmm. I was betting Cahal had been miffed that he hadn’t been top dog.

Eyeing the little lioness, I picked her up. She immediately stopped hissing and rubbed her cute head against my face, peering at me with the most beautiful golden eyes. I smiled. “Bonnie. I’m going to name her Bonnie because she’s so pretty.” I wasn’t going to be mean and name her something horrible because I was upset Ezra had more power than me.

She licked my cheek. Guess she liked it.

Ezra made that funny noise in his throat, and he sputtered, “Seriously?”

“I know it’s not a tough name, but,” I kissed her nose, “she’s gorgeous.”

Cahal snorted, coughing over it, and turned his back to everyone.

“Well, what’s this name you’ve had forever?” King Nelson persisted.

Ezra cleared his throat, staring hard at his cub and rubbing the back of his neck. His dad glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. Ezra cleared his throat before sighing and saying quietly, “Clyde.”

I blinked.
Clyde was the special name he’d had picked forever?

King Venclaire laughed outright. “Oh, that’s perfect.”

King Fergus and King Nelson nodded, chuckling hard.

King Kincaid raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Lord help me, not Bonnie and Clyde.”

Huh?

I blinked slowly as comprehension dawned.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it now. I had already named her. And I guess it fit.

“Clyde?” Elder Merrick asked, his nose wrinkling in distaste.

Ezra’s hooded gaze snapped to him, but before he spoke his dad murmured softly, “We adopted a tabby cat when Ezra was a toddler. He ended up with cancer and died a few years later. The shelter had named him Clyde and we never changed it.” His dad’s lips lifted in a soft smile, making me stare again. “Ezra called him ‘Tide’ for almost a year because he couldn’t pronounce it right.”

“Dad,” Ezra grumbled, his jaw hard and cheeks pinking.

Cahal shrugged, unrepentant about embarrassing his son.

Elder Merrick’s lips twitched. “Little putty tat make a lasting impression?”

Ezra’s eyes flashed. “He was a protective animal that died too soon.”

The male cub, newly named Clyde, peered up and growled at Elder Merrick.

I stepped forward into Ezra’s line of sight, since the furious vampire appeared like he wanted to rip the Elder’s throat out. And damn Elder Merrick for taunting him, especially when he knew Ezra was already out of sorts with regard to him. Tilting my head, I asked, “What else should I know about our Vizoacs?” I held his infuriated gaze when he looked my way, and I could tell he was barely holding it together by the squint to his eyes.

He inhaled sharply and his free hand, which wasn’t petting his cub, fisted, but he said evenly, “They understand when spoken to and do exactly as the owner says.” He glanced at the cubs. “Normally, they hate each other, but work together when needed.”

Antonio walked past me, whispering, “And they’re said to have a touch of your essence.”

Ezra’s eyes darted to him. “That, too.” Green eyes met mine.

Oh! No wonder they didn’t mind each other.

Glancing down at Bonnie, I watched as she sat when the Kings and Elders began talking amongst themselves. And pretty much fluttered her eyelashes at Clyde. I choked and quickly snatched her off the table. “You know, I think I’m going to have a talk with her.” If she could understand me, she and I needed to have a conversation about discretion. Now.

Ezra’s lips lifted, not missing Bonnie’s antics. “That would be wise.”

Rejoining the group after my ‘talk’ with Bonnie in the hallway about restraint, I sat at the long conference table and placed Bonnie on it. Jack and Pearl had finally joined the group. They had been late because their cubs had found them, both of them immediately knowing what the animals were since they apparently paid better attention in history class than I did. I nodded toward Pearl’s lioness cub, which was almost blond in color and larger than Bonnie. “What are you going to name her?”

She grinned as everyone began to seat themselves around the table. “Buttercup.”

I smiled at the lioness, who was grooming herself on Pearl’s lap. “It fits.” My grin grew. “I’ve always loved that name.”

Antonio rolled his eyes, understanding.

“Thank you,” Pearl nodded, giving Buttercup a quick kiss on the forehead.

“What about you, Jack?” Ezra asked, sitting directly across from me.

Jack sat next to him holding his lion cub, which was a perfect tawny color, close to his chest. “I’m going to name him after the direction of my element.” He chuckled when we stared at him. “West, people. West is my element’s direction.” He held the cub in front of his face, and spoke softly, “West is your name.” He got a lick of gratification on his chin.

My jaw dropped at the same time Antonio chuckled hard.

“What?” Jack asked, pulling the cub back to his chest protectively. “It’s a good name.”

Antonio glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.

My gaze darted back and forth between Jack and Pearl as I sputtered, “Have you two never seen
The Princess Bride
?” It wasn’t completely the same, but it was close.

“No,” Jack answered slowly, his eyebrows coming together.

Pearl shrugged, shaking her head.

Antonio jerked his head toward me. “It was her favorite movie growing up.” He rubbed his forehead. “I think I can probably recite the whole damn thing, we watched it so many times.”

I continued looking back and forth between Jack and Pearl, but they were waiting for clarification, so I fluttered a hand. “Never mind. Probably a fluke.”

Antonio snorted, then his lips quickly thinned.

Or not.
Oh, my.
I was sure my eyebrows were almost in my hairline.

Jack’s eyes narrowed as he watched me.

Again.
Oh, my.
Now I understood what Jack had been saying this morning when helping me with my clothes. A quick glance at Pearl told me she had no clue yet. I swiftly averted my gaze to Ezra, who was staring at me with an arched eyebrow.

He murmured quietly, “I’ve seen the movie.”

I pressed my lips together as his head cocked to check out the other two.

Jack flipped his hair out of his eye and stared Ezra straight on when their eyes met.

“Interesting,” Ezra whispered.

“And shut up and butt the fuck out,” Jack whispered, just as quietly, fully comprehending that his little secret was no longer secret.

Ezra and I both nodded once.

“Jack, grab West before he attacks Buttercup,” Pearl blabbered quickly, her attention fully caught on West, who had snuck across the table and was lying on his belly with his head hanging over the side right in front of Pearl, staring avidly at Buttercup. He didn’t really appear like he was going to attack, just staring, but Pearl didn’t understand that they were ‘friendly’ yet.

And as I quickly snatched West up when Pearl started to squawk when he reached a paw out to Buttercup, Jack didn’t understand either. Jack’s jaw hung open in blatant shock as I set West next to Bonnie, who was staring across the table at Clyde, who was returning the favor. West bent and sniffed Bonnie, and she pulled her attention away from Clyde to sniff at him curiously.

Clyde didn’t like this so much.

I don’t think any of us anticipated the level of hostility Clyde had in him as he had behaved ever since Ezra had talked with him. West wasn’t a small lion cub, but he was about an inch shorter than Clyde and had a little less muscle definition. You wouldn’t think that would have been a big deal, but add in Clyde’s instant fury, and it made for a bad situation for West.

Clyde gave a furious hiss and pounced straight on West, using his big paws and claws against the cub’s chest to knock him onto his back, snarling and batting at him.

“Shit,” Ezra muttered, jumping to his feet.

“Stop him!” Jack shouted, smacking the back of his hand against Ezra’s chest. “West didn’t do anything wrong.” His chair fell over as he got to his feet.

“Now that’s more like it,” Elder Jacobs stated, watching as the cubs rolled and fought each other, not playfully at all.

“I got a hundred on Clyde,” King Venclaire stated instantly to King Kincaid, who shook his head, not taking the bet.

“Clyde,” Ezra yelled. “Stop that right now.”

Clyde paused, glancing up at Ezra. He had a dab of blood on his nose from a nasty bite to West’s ear. And that moment of distraction caused him to get raked across his face by West’s claws. Demanded or not by his owner to behave, Clyde still growled at West, his ears lowering.