Wolfen (17 page)

 
"Well ... uh.... “Danika tried to jostle her tumultuous thoughts into some sort of order. Reluctance was strong in her to have anything to with the man, regardless of how polite he seemed. Beyond that, she didn't actually feel up to any company, and she wasn't even certain she wanted dinner any more. On the other hand, she certainly had no desire to high tail it down the street again past the bikers.

 
He shrugged. “The diner's full, but I have a table...."

 
The bell over the door tinkled, drawing Danika's attention. Balin stepped inside, his face taut. Con was directly behind, making no attempt to hide the fact that he was furious and directly behind him was Dakota, Jared, and Xavier, their faces rigid as they glanced around the restaurant and then focused on Danika and Claude.

 
"She's with us,” Balin said coldly, slipping an arm around her waist and drawing her away from the stranger, whom she hadn't realized until that moment hadn't released her.

 
Claude's smile faded. He glanced from Balin to Danika and back again. “Is she, Prince?"

 
Balin's hand tightened convulsively on her waist. “She is."

 
Claude drew in a deep breath, almost seemed to sniff the air. “Strange, but I didn't detect that she'd been marked."

 
"Just the same...” Balin said tightly.

 
"So she isn't?"

 
Balin's eyes narrowed. “Is that a challenge?” he asked, his voice a low, threatening growl.

 
Claude stiffened. He flicked a glance around at the others before he met Balin's cold gaze again. “Another time."

 
Balin studied him for a long moment and then pushed past him, carrying Danika along with him. Still too bemused and unsettled to fully grasp what was going on, she glanced at Balin's hard profile and then away again, scanning the faces of the people they passed. They reached the table in the back that they'd shared before. A couple was occupying it but when the group stopped, the man glanced up and then jolted to his feet. “We were just leaving."

 
Several emotions flickered across his companion's face, but she got up and followed him without a word. Danika's knees buckled as Balin pushed her toward the seat. With an effort, she slid across the seat at Balin's urging, stopping when she encountered Dakota, who'd slid in from the opposite side.

 
"I'm glad you decided to join us,” Balin said coolly after a pregnant silence.

 
Danika turned her head to look at him blankly when he spoke. She had no idea what was going on but the tension, both at the table where they sat, and seemingly throughout the entire restaurant, was taut, the air virtually crackling with it. “I decided I was hungry after all,” she finally managed to say.

 
The tension in Balin, who sat directly beside her, eased slightly. He grabbed a menu and shoved it into her hands. Con and Jared swiped a forearm across the table, shoving the dishes from the last occupants to the edge of the table. Xavier grabbed the other menus and passed them around.

 
Danika glanced at the men around the table and finally leaned toward Balin. “What's going on?” she asked in a low voice.

 
"Later,” he said shortly, his expression so grim she decided not to ask him anything else.

 
She hadn't noticed how utterly quiet the restaurant had become since they'd entered until, little by little, like the first pinging drops of rain that are followed by a shower and then a downpour, sounds arose around them—the clink of a spoon against china, the scrape of a shoe on the floor, the tinkle of the bell over the door, low voiced conversations that gradually increased in volume. Letting out an easy breath for the first time since she'd entered the diner, Danika relaxed fractionally.

 
Her thoughts were still chaotic. Distress, overshadowed by the strange behavior of everyone after they'd entered the diner, flowed back to join her confusion and lingering uneasiness. She might've been inclined to think Balin and the others had fabricated the strange confrontation to distract her, except she couldn't understand why they would. She was upset, but she knew damned well she had no right to be.

 
The confrontation, she didn't understand at all, but there was no doubt in her mind, despite the almost exquisitely polite way they'd spoken, that it
was
a confrontation. Nor did she doubt that the dangerous undercurrents she'd felt were real, not imagined.

 
Balin had made it clear he didn't want to discuss it while they in the diner, but she found it unnerving to feel as if she was in danger and have no clue why or from what direction.

 
"Do you know him?” she asked quietly when she decided there was enough noise it wasn't likely anyone would overhear.

 
Balin slid at narrow eyed glance at her. “No."

 
She frowned. “Why did he call you prince?"

 
"Because he.... “Xavier broke off abruptly, glaring at Dakota, who'd elbowed him in the ribs. “What the hell did you do that for?” he demanded in a low growl.

 
Dakota rolled his eyes. “It was an accident."

 
Danika studied the two men curiously, but before she could think of anything else to ask the waitress appeared. Grabbing the dishes, she wiped the table down and told them she'd be back to take their order.

 
"What are you having?” Balin asked.

 
Danika glanced at him and focused on the menu. She didn't actually want anything. Her appetite had vanished before she'd even gotten to the diner.

 
Visions of the scene before the bar arose in her mind's eye as her thoughts connected with it and a wave of nausea hit her as the images of the women, coiled seductively around Balin and Con, flashed through her mind. They'd been dressed for bear—half naked up top, skin tight jeans below. Dakota had been sandwiched between a blond and a redhead, Jared flirting with a brunette, and Xavier wedged between a blond with boobs nearly as big as his head and a tiny Asian looking girl with long black hair.

 
She might have been amazed at the details of her memory at any other time, but her eyes had stamped the vignette on her brain like a photograph and she not only wasn't amazed, she wasn't pleased about it.

 
She thought if she tried to eat she might throw up. It seemed absolutely imperative that she pretend it hadn't bothered her at all when she'd seen those
slutty teenyboppers
mauling them in the parking lot, though. That she hadn't given it a thought, didn't care, couldn't even remember it because she hadn't actually noticed that girl's hand on Con's crotch. She hadn't been aware of the girl stroking her hand along Balin's thigh. She hadn't caught the vacant, glazed look in Xavier's eyes or the taut expression on Dakota's or the way Jared had gripped that brunette's arms as if he was thinking about throwing her down on the ground and having her right there. “I think I'll just take the special,” she managed to choke out, wondering if she could manage to eat it to save her life—or at least her pride.

 
Balin summoned the waitress with an imperious flick of his finger and ordered the special all around without consulting with any of the others. They bent baleful glares at him, but merely tossed the menus toward the center of the table.

 
"I expect they have the special ready,” he said pointedly.

 
"Good thought,” Xavier said, the look of irritation vanishing from his face immediately.

 
The others relaxed fractionally, settling more casually on the bench and flicking a glance around the diner from time to time while they halfheartedly discussed their bikes. Danika wasn't particularly interested in the subject but welcomed it for the simple reason that it wasn't something she would be expected to take part in. As Balin had predicted, the food wasn't long in coming. Danika was glad for that, too, mostly because it meant there was an end in sight and she really wanted to be done and head back to her cabin.

 
Despite her churning stomach, she managed to eat enough, she thought, to appear interested in the food. She was heartily glad, though, when she set her utensils aside and dragged a bill from her bag to cover her meal.

 
Balin eyed the bill she put on the table, sent her a speculative look and finally merely dropped a bill on top of it, but a muscle in his jaw was working as he slid out of the bench and helped her from her seat. Bent on escape, Danika felt a flicker of anger for the first time when Balin very casually slipped an arm around her waist and escorted her out the same way he'd escorted her in. Con and Jared preceded them to the door. Xavier and Jared brought up the rear.

 
"Well ... thanks,” Danika said the moment they cleared the doors of the diner. “I guess I'll see you guys later."

 
"We'll walk you to your truck,” Balin said implacably.

 
"That isn't necessary,” Danika said through gritted teeth bared in a facsimile of a smile.

 
"We're going that way to get the bikes anyhow,” Con pointed out.

 
Danika flicked a look at him and frowned. “Oh yes!” she said in pretended remembrance. “You were at the bar. We might as well walk together that far."

 
Con and Balin exchanged a speaking look. Danika noticed it out of her peripheral vision but pretended not to. She also pretended to be unaware of the way the five men surrounded her, glancing alertly up and down the street as if they were a military escort or something of that nature.

 
The tension she sensed in them unnerved her all over again. She'd put it down to the confrontation in the diner earlier. For whatever reason, they didn't like Claude and the tension thereafter had been a residual reaction to nearly coming to blows, and maybe also to the hostility emanating from the other diners for whatever reason—probably because they were all strangers and there'd been a hint of violence barely restrained that had disrupted their meals. There didn't seem to be a simple explanation for their behavior at this point.

 
They split up as they reached the bar. Jared, Xavier, and Dakota went to retrieve their bikes. Con and Balin stayed with her despite her protests that it wasn't necessary to walk her all the way back to the parking lot. Jared, Xavier, and Dakota joined them there as they reached her truck. “Wait here,” Balin said grimly, waiting to make sure she meant to comply with his order before he turned to follow Con back to the bar to retrieve their bikes.

 
Danika turned to glare at his retreating back and discovered when she turned around again that Jared, Xavier, and Dakota had strategically placed their bikes to prevent her from pulling out of her parking space. She studied them in tight lipped silence for a moment but decided not to make an issue of it when she recalled she was supposed to be pretending she wasn't thoroughly pissed off with them. Unlocking the door, she got inside and sat fuming while she waited for the rest of her escort to join them.

 
It occurred to her for the first time that the entire gang had come charging after her the moment they'd spotted her. They had to have done so to have arrived at the diner right behind her.

 
Just how interested had they been in all that feminine adoration if they'd broken off immediately and followed her, she wondered?

 
Why
had they, for that matter?

 
It would've been highly flattering to think they'd been more interested in her, maybe even trying to convince her they had no interest at all in the pack of young women fawning over them. She found, though, that with the best will in the world, she couldn't swallow that possibility for their behavior. They'd behaved as if they were protecting her, but from what? It was a tiny town, not big enough to have much of a crime rate, and she hadn't been threatened. As upset as she'd been she would still have noticed if she had been.