“Yeah?” His mouth twisted in a dismissive smirk. “Doesn’t look like that from here.”
“Well, then.” She gave him a cool look. “Then maybe you should hang around.”
Duke narrowed his eyes but before he could push for more info or move in to talk to Zee, a hush fell over the crowd. It gave him a chance to assess the situation and he took in the big, thickly built man who stood out like a sore thumb. Long, dark brown hair that fell in a sleek curtain to his shoulders, a face that was too fucking pretty to belong to a man and eyes the same color of blue as the little flowers that had decorated his mother’s favorite china towered over many of the others in the bar.
The big guy even had a few inches on Duke and at six feet three, Duke was not a small man. The other guy was built like a fucking tank, though, and Duke would have bruises to show it.
Save for the smiling bartender who’d been subtly teasing Zee when they thought he wasn’t paying attention, nobody in the entire building looked like they could hold their own against the newcomer.
The bartender, Donner, had his body between Zee and the other guy—Therian, Duke’s instincts whispered. A split second later, he pegged the man as a wolf, although he was damn far from home, a couple of hundred miles, easy. The only wolf pack of note for several hundred miles in any direction were the Wolves of Greylock, out near the Appalachian Trail.
Not all Therians lived in packs or dens, but most wolves did.
Everything he’d ever learned about Therian wolves indicated they didn’t do well separated from the pack.
Zee trembled again, her body all but spasming with the force of the tremors. Her nostrils flared as if catching the scent of something.
Fuck. He’d known she was Pretern—had thought she was some sort of Fae, hadn’t pegged her as a wolf. She didn’t put off quite that vibe, and why would a wolf be holed up in some Atargarian pub, so clearly part of the group?
A bad feeling settled in his gut but he didn’t have time to think things through any further as a coldly beautiful voice shattered the tense silence.
“Colby Winters, I hope like hell you have a good reason for causing trouble in my territory.”
The crowd separated to allow passage to a tall, trim black woman with skin that looked smooth and silken, a warm, burnished brown and eyes of a cool, clear blue that appeared to glow. Those eyes were living ice as she locked them on the Therian male who stood apart from all the others in the bar.
The man she’d called Colby a good six or eight inches taller than the woman. But he paled at the sight of her.
Duke bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling or drawing attention to himself in any way.
“Niko’s a fr—”
The sexy, lithe goddess with the unearthly blue eyes moved. It was like liquid lightning.
That was when Duke realized he knew who—and what—the woman was.
Meridia Blue. The Regnar of this territory—there was no word in the English language that fully described a Regnar. She was both princess and alpha, daughter of the Prime of the Atlantic Ocean, executioner when the need arose and basically somebody you did not want angry with you.
The speed of her attack was unlike anything Duke had ever seen.
And she smiled through it all. As she took the bigger man to the ground and shoved her booted foot to his neck, Duke studied her exquisite profile and found himself transfixed by the curve of her lips.
“Let me finish for you,” Meridia Blue purred, her voice haunting and pure, so beautiful and frightening, everybody in the building flinched. “You were about to say friend.”
Certain rules of engagement came into play when a Therian passed into lands controlled by others, ally or not. And while Meridia, the daughter of a Prime and next in line to rule, was an ally of the Therians, she was first and foremost a protector of those she called her own.
Colby stared at her, his gaze just off-center enough to make it clear he understood who was the biggest—and strongest—bitch here, not just in this room, but in this town, in this region. Even Colby’s acknowledged alpha, Phoenix, understood that.
Meridia was beyond him.
Her lids drooped low and she swayed lower with a grace not even a Therian possessed, hovering just a breath from his face.
“Let me tell you who is my friend. She’s cowering on the floor behind one of my strongest men, almost in shock, Colby Winters. Now... you, being a big, strong Therian wolf should be able to figure out just why she’s having that reaction.” She reached up and gave Colby’s cheek a quick, hard pat.
To his credit, he didn’t flinch.
But Meridia saw that her words had struck home and he hissed in a vicious breath.
“This is the last time one of that mangy wolf’s miserable sycophants will interfere in another’s life, Colby. At least... if the sycophant wants to leave my territory alive.” She smiled sweetly. “I think you’ll pass the message on, won’t you?”
Before he could speak, she shot out a hand and gripped his jaw, squeezing so tight the bones ground together under her fingers. “You are no longer welcome in any land belonging to the Atlantic Atargarians, Colby Winters. You’ve got one hour to remove yourself.”
She rose then. Every protective instinct inside her demanded she tend to her friend, she kept her focus on Colby.
He was silent as he rose to his feet, despite his injuries, linking his hands behind him as he lowered his head respectfully.
“I must give her a message,” he said in a stilted voice.
“No. You mustn’t,” Meridia replied.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, his body twitching in response to his need to get away from her. Meridia could feel how badly he wanted to get away and it was almost enough to take the edge of her anger.
Almost.
Because Colby didn’t turn away. Instead, he closed his eyes, then forced himself once more to meet her gaze. “It’s about her family. Phoenix sent me. He knew she wouldn’t want to see him.”
Meridia’s lip curled at the sound of that name but she gave the man a short, curt nod. “Do not move from this spot. Do not speak to her or look at her until I give permission and then you may only deliver the message.”
Colby’s lids lowered, then he bowed his head in acknowledgment, shoulders a rigid line.
She moved around Donner, stroking a hand down his arm in a gesture that was both thankful and understanding.
They loved Zee here. Unlike the miserable fucks in her pack, in her family.
Meridia cut the thought off, because she couldn’t help Zee if she let herself give in to the rage, even a little.
Hunkering down in front of Zee, she hauled the woman in for a tight, fierce hug. “Donner, have Chassy clear the bar. The Therian can stay—and live—for a few more moments.”
Briefly, Meridia glanced at the male human who still hadn’t relaxed his oddly protective stance where he stood, just a few feet away. Angling her head toward him, she looked at her second and added in a low, liquid language unknown to any of those outside the ocean they called home, “And find out who he is. If he’s solid, then he’s welcome in our territory. He has balls and a heart.”
He proved as much when he resisted Chassy’s first attempts to get him to leave, although he did go, reluctantly, after Chassy said, “The Regnar will care for Zee. She’s our family.”