Page 32 of Furever Loyal
“Why him?”
“Huh?”
“Krawll. Why did you have me look him up? What did he do?”
Ah.Kincaid was silent, contemplating how to explain the situation to her.
“See, I told you, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s okay, I don’t need to know! Turn right up here.”
He chuckled softly, following her directions. “It’s not that, Haley. I was just trying to think about how to explain it. I guess to answer that, I need to know how much you know about House Ursa.”
“About its finances? Lots and lots,” she said quickly. “That’s about it though.”
“Right. Well, you’re going to need a bit of background to understand I guess.”
Haley jerked. “No, it’s okay. Seriously, I’m fine. I don’t need more shocking revelations. I’m still trying to accept the fact that you can turn into a bear, and that other people can change into a wolf. I’ve seen it happen, both of them, right in front of me, and I’m still half-convinced it’s not real. So, I’m okay without knowing anything more.”
“We call ourselves a company for legal reasons only,” he explained, ignoring her protest. She may as well know, it wasn’t going to do any more damage now. In fact, it might help her do a better job, either her own or a better job of looking at him more objectively if she knew the real story. “In fact, we’re organized around certain bloodlines.”
“Yeah, I get it. House Ursa, Ursa Major the constellation, it’s the bear. Canis, I suppose, is derived from canine, or vice versa. Wolf.”
“Precisely.” He smiled at her, appreciative of her intellect. True, it wasn’t the most impressive thing in the world to make the connection, but it showed she was actively thinking about it, instead of just freaking out over the whole shifting part of it.
“Everyone in your House can shift?”
“No,” he admitted. “Children born to a male shifter have the DNA and will learn to harness their power. I’m not aware of that evernothappening. The children, however, are overwhelmingly male. Females are few and far between, and we have no idea why.”
Haley nodded. “So, you find human women instead.”
“Basically.” He didn’t want to go into discussing how mates worked. She didn’t need to know about magic. Not yet. One massive revelation at a time.
“What does this have to do with Krawll? That’s the restaurant by the way.” She pointed to a place on the corner with a baby-blue sign, sporting big black lettering that simply read: Family Restaurant. There was space in front of it like there should have been another word, but it was blank, just freshly-painted blue, stolen right from the sky.
He smiled, looking around for a parking spot on the street nearby.
“Now that you know we’re not actually a company, at least, not in the way we govern ourselves, you should know that our “board” of directors also isn’t elected. The Queen, Kaelyn, rules us. Like a true monarch. She appoints whoever she wants to fill the positions, and anyone else in the House is free to challenge their appointment, either by showing that the person is unfit or by a trial of strength. Recently, I was nominated by her to fill a position.”
“Strength? Like ritual combat? That sort of thing?” She looked at him now, mildly horrified by what he was saying.
“Yes. To first blood. It’s not supposed to be anything serious. Not anymore at least.” He fell silent, focusing on parallel parking the big SUV, something he wasn’t particularly good at.
Haley was nodding now as she followed the logic. “That was a really long-winded way of telling me that Krawll tried to kill you. You could have just told me that and been done with it.”
Kincaid dropped the transmission into park and gave her a tired glare. “I was trying to give you context,” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation at her shortness with him. “If he just came up to me and tried to kill me, people would be looking into him. But he did it when he wasn’t supposed to, yet in a legal way.Thatis why I explained it all to you.”
She shrugged, unbuckling her seatbelt. “Shame he didn’t win.”
He stared after her as she got out, shocked at the apparent viciousness of her barbs.
“What the hell did I do?” he asked the empty car, not getting a response.
16
A handwritten sign in chalk at about waist level told them to choose their own table. Haley was already headed toward one when she felt Kincaid’s arm slide through hers, guiding her toward a different one.
“What are you doing?” she hissed, keeping her voice down so they didn’t attract attention to themselves.
“Better view of the restaurant and the kitchen entrance from over here,” he said in an equally low tone. “Easier to watch everything.”
