Two Wolves and a Candy Seller [Werewolf Castle 1] (13 page)

“I can’t imagine not loving you. I want to mate you so badly I can scarcely think of anything else,” said Grigori.

Jairus nodded. “I feel exactly the same. We aren’t fickle people. I’ve never felt about anyone else like I feel about you. From the moment I first saw you when Grigori pointed you out to me I’ve wanted you. How about we go look at the rooms. It’ll take a couple of months to renovate them for us to live there, so the sooner we start work the better.”

“All right. Let’s go look. I’ve never been inside that area so it’ll be quite exciting for me.”

“Since you aren’t a wolf and aren’t mated to us, or even promised, you can’t go wandering around. We’ll take you to the tower and look at the vacant areas, but that’s all,” warned Jairus. He hoped that didn’t sound cruel and mean but it was fact. Until she agreed to mate them she couldn’t be allowed the privilege of being treated as a pack member.

“That’s fair. I agree.”

Good.

* * * *

Grigori was content to walk behind Damask for a lot of the way down the mountain. Jairus was reasonably sure he could navigate though the orchard to the gate and Grigori was content to let him lead. Besides, it was absolutely no hardship watching Damask’s ass move from side to side as she marched ahead of him. He rather thought the longest walk ever would be no problem if he had her by his side to hold her hand, or in front of him to watch her lithe body move.

Jairus did indeed lead them straight to the gate. There was nothing wrong with his best friend’s sense of direction. Grigori had always assumed it was above average or he’d be constantly getting lost on his travels instead of completing the task and reporting promptly back to their Alpha.

Lower down the mountain Damask started to hum a catchy little tune. Grigori whistled along with her. The music had an olde-worlde flavor to it, but it made him want to clap his hands, or stomp his feet, or dance. “If that’s the tune to the ballad, I like it,” he said.

Damask stopped and picked up a couple of sticks, then crossed to a tree. She stood behind the tree, totally confusing Grigori, until her arms came around it and she tapped the sticks on the wood as if it were a drum. The beat she tapped fit the tune perfectly.

Jairus took off his backpack and found the notebook they’d been using. He started to read the words of their ballad in time to the music. Grigori whistled the tune and Damask drummed on the tree.

“I like that. I really do.” Grigori smiled at Damask, his beautiful, talented woman.

“Yes. I think it’ll work,” said Damask.

“All we need to do is write the next one hundred verses,” teased Jairus.

Damask dropped her sticks on the ground and they all laughed and began walking again. But Grigori was thinking that what Jairus had said was correct. He and Damask would be back at work tomorrow, and Jairus had a banquet to organize. He wasn’t sure when they’d find time to write the ballad as well. Then Damask had to learn to play the lute and the drum plus sing the song. It sounded like a hell of a lot of work to him.

They passed through the barbican and swiped their cards at the turnstiles. Alexandre was still on duty at the customer service desk and both Grigori and Jairus waved at him on their way past.

“That’s Alex, right?” asked Damask.

“Yes. Alexandre Novak. He’s in charge of customer service,” answered Grigori.

“He’s a good man,” added Jairus.

They kept walking thought the inner courtyard, past the maze and the village traders. Grigori noticed Damask look over at the candy store, where Piotr was alone. There was a line waiting to be served but it wasn’t a long line. Piotr seemed to be managing it all right by himself. Grigori didn’t know the exact hours Henry worked on a Monday, but it was just the center of the day when the castle was at its busiest.

Jairus led them into the castle and to the staff entry. He swiped his ID card and held the door as Damask and Grigori followed him inside. They had to walk almost the entire width of the castle to reach the door which accessed the east wing. Again Jairus swiped his card and held the door, before walking to the south tower. For the third time he had to swipe his card and Grigori wondered if Damask was impressed by the security. What she couldn’t know was that different ID cards opened different things. While almost any card would open the door into the staff area—although probably not hers since she was a human casual worker—very few people could access this tower, and only the resident of an apartment could open their own apartment door.

Damask hadn’t said anything since they’d entered the castle. Grigori wondered what she was thinking. She didn’t seem nervous or awed, but perfectly normal.

“How were you planning to look at the tower? Top to bottom? Best to worst?” he asked Jairus.

“I thought start at the top and work down. That will give us all a feel for how many stairs we’d be constantly walking up and down.”

“Realistically it’d only be a couple of times a day. We’ll all be at work during the day, won’t we? I mean, I’d be expected to get a job, wouldn’t I?” asked Damask.

“No one is forced to work, but for fit and healthy people it’s encouraged. That’s one of the changes our existing Alpha made. Until then few people actually worked apart from at harvest time or on crafts like building furniture, or making clothing. That was something that’d gradually developed over the years. Originally everyone had needed to work all the time. Then as the pack got some money and started buying things people didn’t have to work anymore and it’d gradually gotten so that most people didn’t have to work. That system couldn’t continue because the money had to be earned to pay for things like electricity and additional food supplies which everyone decided they wanted,” Grigori explained.

“Winter there’s far fewer tourists and we only open weekends and holidays, so that’s our quiet time. Of course it always used to be a quiet time anyway as the crops are gathered by then,” added Jairus.

“I like the idea of having a job. I’d be happy to keep working once the season is over. I’d always intended to use this job to help me get a permanent job somewhere.”

“Between candy store worker, musician, and ballad writer, I think you’ll be kept busy,” said Grigori.

While they’d been talking they’d been walking up the steps. The steps went straight up the tower on the castle wall side. Rooms opened off on the other side in all sorts of odd places. Grigori knew Damask couldn’t see from here, but some of them then opened into other rooms and some didn’t. She’d get the idea on the way down though. One room was no use to them as they needed a living space, a more private bedroom, and a bathroom.

The second top floor had two large rooms looking over the castle wall. Jairus pointed out where the upstairs family had their bathroom and kitchen so they’d need to put their bathroom underneath that. From there they walked down each level, stopping and peering into every room.

The first time Damask saw a room carved into the castle wall itself she was excited. “Was this originally a hidden room?”

“I don’t think so. I guess the wall just never was as thick here,” replied Jairus.

Grigori really liked the rooms about halfway down the tower. Being halfway meant there was still an excellent view out over the outer courtyard and the road leading to town, but it wasn’t so much climbing to get there. Also they had no neighbors immediately above or below them, and wouldn’t, as there were no other rooms either exactly over or under these ones. On the other hand, that meant the plumbing might be more expensive he supposed. Although the entire tower was going to be refurbished eventually, so the issue would have to be addressed sooner or later.

Damask went backward and forward through the three rooms several times. Grigori noticed she stood well back from the windows even though they had wood planks nailed across them.

“I like this apartment the best so far. It’s going to be more private from other people in the tower, there’s plenty of light coming into it through the arrow slit windows and the room layout is good. Ideally the room we enter into would be our living room and kitchen, then our bedroom, and finally the bathroom, but I guess it’ll depend on where the pipes have to come from for plumbing and I suppose the kitchen and bathroom should be next to each to make it easier. If the first room has to be our bedroom perhaps we could make a narrow hallway through to the living room so we could shut the bedroom door and visitors couldn’t see in.”

Grigori nodded. As always everything Damask said was sound logic. “And opaque window glass so people can’t see in,” he added.

Jairus said, “That’s all fine by me. Do you want to see the last apartment or should I go and talk to our plumber?”

“Oh I want to see the rest of the tower first. Maybe the next one will be even better. But so far this is easily the best option.”

They’d just entered the apartment on the lower floor when Grigori’s cell phone beeped. Less than a second later Jairus’s cell phone beeped too. Damask laughed as both men reached for their phones, only for her own cell phone to ring. “Is this some kind of a prank?” she asked.

“Mine isn’t,” said Grigori, staring at his screen.
Why has the Alpha summoned me?

Chapter Five

Damask stared at her cell phone screen and wondered if she was going to be sick. The message read
Come to the Alpha’s office with Jairus and Grigori now.

“Oh shit! I never should have come in here without permission. Now he’s going to send me home in disgrace. I’ll never see either of you again.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Grigori.

He must have seen the anguish on her face because in an instant both men were gripping her in a double bear hug.

“The Alpha is never unreasonable. He can be stern and even angry, but he’s never unfair. You’ve only been with us and we haven’t imposed on anyone’s privacy. I don’t think he’s going to complain about our visiting the tower,” said Grigori.

“However, he said
now
, so we’d better get moving,” added Jairus.

Grigori led the way out of the tower and down the last flight of stairs, then into the east wing hallway. They walked almost to the far end stopping at an outer office. The woman there, a middle aged person with iron-gray hair, glanced over the top of her spectacles at them, then smiled. “Jairus, Grigori, and you must be Damask. Go straight in. He’s waiting for you.”

Despite what Grigori had said, and despite the woman’s smile, Damask felt as if she might be ill. Or faint. Or possibly both. The thought that she’d annoyed such a powerful person was almost enough to send her running home to hide under her bed. Only the fear of never seeing Jairus and Grigori again gave her enough strength to swallow down her fear and stand up straight and tall.

He didn’t look all that frightening. The Alpha of Werewolf Castle, Yerik Vulf, had a full head of pure white hair and shrewd black eyes. His forehead was lined but the creases beside his eyes spoke of a man who smiled often.

There were three hard wooden upright chairs in front of his solid wood desk. “Sit,” he said.

Damask was glad. She’d straightened her spine but wasn’t sure how long her courage would last. At least if she fainted from a sitting position she wouldn’t disgrace herself quite so much.

The woman followed them into the room, a notepad in her hand and a pen tucked behind her ear. She closed the door then came and sat on a chair beside the Alpha. A chair Damask hadn’t even noticed until right then.

But why the fuck was she here? Her gut was churning and she was ready to apologize for whatever she’d done wrong. She truly hadn’t meant to disobey anyone.

“The Supreme Alpha of Europe died two days ago. His funeral is in Vienna at noon tomorrow. I expect the speed of the funeral and the late notice of his death is to try to prevent too much grandstanding by various packs and interest groups. It’s made it pretty damn challenging for the other Supremes to get there, though. It’s what a fifteen, sixteen hour flight from America?”

“The new Alpha of Vienna is a very clever man. He may have booked airplane tickets for the various Supremes as soon as he knew.”

“Ah, Odette, that’s why I love you. You think of everything I miss.”

So that’s who she is. Mrs. Alpha. Um, Odette Vulf. But why am I here?

“Jairus, you know Vienna and will recognize many of the people I need to know about. Skype is all very well in its way, but everyone will be dressed in a black business suit and I’ll struggle to distinguish one from the other. Grigori and Damask, you are coming as well. Interspecies and ménage matings are the only way we werewolf shape-shifters can survive. Already we’ve seen the birthrate return to almost fifty percent females in the new generation of wolf and human matings. It’s time these dinosaurs got their heads out of their asses and into the twenty-first century and started solving problems instead of causing them.”

Damask’s own head was reeling. She was going to a funeral? A very important funeral of one of the most important werewolves in the world? Her? A human and not even mated to Jairus and Grigori yet? The Alpha trusted her so much he’d take her with him?

“Have both you men got black dress suits, white button-down shirts, sober neckties?”