The entire hall was more subdued than usual, and there was an awkward tension in the air. I could feel the weight of dozens of eyes staring at me.
I studied my plate.
Sadie held my hand under the table and squeezed three times in quick succession. I squeezed back four times.
We both knew what we meant.
I concentrated on the feel of her warm fingers against mine and her comforting presence beside me.
“I agree with Jinx about your performance during the competition,” Cobra said out of nowhere.
I choked.
The snake shifter leaned closer and glared at me. “I thought I was going to have to go back and rescue you because you were moving so slowly. You wasted a good minute just staring at your teammate.”
My jaw dropped. “Sorry that the lack of sound barrier made me slow,” I said sarcastically. “Not all of us are part snake.”
Cobra nodded. “Apology accepted.”
“I was being facetious.” I ground my teeth together.
He narrowed his eyes. “Well, you shouldn’t be. You should practice not wasting time in the middle of a life-or-death situation. It is—”
Sadie banged her utensils onto the tabletop and cut him off. “Everyone needs to start being nicer to Aran. It’s pissing me off!”
“I am being nice.” Cobra pointed his knife at me and scoffed. “I’m talking to her, aren’t I?”
The fact that he refused to talk to women because of what my mother did to him was a major character flaw.
Personally, it would be a deal breaker. But that was just me.
“Well, I wished you wouldn’t,” I snapped back at him.
Cobra bared his teeth, and his canines were elongated. “Oh, I won’t!”
Before I could say something else, a freakishly large hand smacked the back of Cobra’s head. A minor scuffle ensued as Jax overpowered Cobra and forcibly pulled him out of the seat next to me.
The much nicer bear shifter took his place.
He smelled like warm chestnuts and kindness.
Jax smiled down at me. “Sorry about Cobra. He was worried about you, and he doesn’t know how to express his emotions in a healthy way.”
“I do not care about her,” Cobra said as he leaned forward across the table so he could see past Jax’s large frame and glare at me.
Jax turned quickly, the chains in his braids tinkling as he put Cobra in a choke hold and whispered something in his ear.
When he pulled away, Cobra pouted in his seat and didn’t say anything else.
“Like I was saying.” Jax turned back to me. “Both he and Sadie didn’t sleep last night. He felt guilty for not going back to rescue you, so you didn’t finish last. He wasn’t sure if it would break the competition rules, but he’s mad at himself for not trying.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
Jax stared down at me with compassion and whispered, “He feels responsible for what happened to you.”
I pushed my pipe into my mouth with so much force that I accidentally stabbed my tongue. Shrugging with a casualness I didn’t feel, I said, “It’s not your fault, Cobra. It was all mine. Don’t worry.”
Cobra grunted.
“Everyone, stop talking about it,” Sadie ordered. She squeezed my hand and changed the subject. “What was the last fiction book you read?”
I smiled at her gratefully. “I haven’t read a fiction book in years.”
Sadie flopped forward like she’d been shot. After dramatically convulsing a couple of times for the bit, she sat up straight and launched into an in-depth analysis of the erotic romance plot from the last book she’d read.
The meal progressed.
Sadie explained that the male character’s crooked penis was symbolic of his imperfect love.
Straight women were so weird.
Yes, I was straight. I didn’t want to talk about it.
Truthfully, I tried not to let a single thought cross my mind.
Everything was going great until a student with a mohawk sitting nearby said, “So how much does it cost to fuck you, Queen Arabella? I’ll pay a small fortune for your services.”
Male laughter echoed.
Ten thousand credits, I thought. I refrained from saying it aloud because I didn’t have the energy to haggle for a good price.
Sadie stiffened beside me, and her mates sat up straighter.
I picked at the vegetables on my plate.
“Come on, babe, give me an offer,” he whined.
I rolled my eyes.
“Psst, Queen Arabella,” he said in a loud whisper, “I know you can hear me.”
Why did the legion tables have to be so close to the dais?
“That’s it.” Sadie pressed her steak knife into her finger, and a ball of blood floated in the air from the cut.
Her ruby eyes glowed.
“Stop it,” I swatted the blood down before she could do something stupid. “You don’t want everyone to know about your powers.”
The droplets I’d hit onto the table floated up into the air and recoagulated.
Sadie scowled. “He won’t know anything once I’ve made him into a mindless zombie.”
I turned to Jax and said tiredly, “Make her stop.”
He nodded, then reached across the table and pinched Sadie’s nose between two fingers.
Her eyes stopped glowing, and the blood dropped.
I shook my head. “I can’t believe that worked.”
Jax winked down at me. “You don’t want to know how we discovered it.”
“How about you just suck me off?” the douche at the other table said louder.
Excited to announce, I’m going to stop giving men the benefit of the doubt.
Sadie’s canines lengthen. Why was my friend so ridiculously overpowered yet unable to run for five minutes without asphyxiating? Truly a unique woman.
“He’s not worth it,” I hissed at her.
At the same time, the douche laughed and said, “Just one blow job, baby.”
I clenched my jaw so tightly it ached. If karma didn’t hit him, then I would.
Xerxes and Ascher pushed their chairs back and stood up, and Jax’s head snapped around. Sadie let out a low howl.
Jinx rolled her eyes and fed her ferret pieces of steak.
Before I could try to defuse the situation, the student let out a high-pitched scream.
Everyone in the hall turned to stare at the commotion.
I narrowed my eyes at Sadie, but she shrugged. “Wasn’t me.”
The jerk screamed louder.
It took everyone at the table a second to realize that the jewels embedded in Cobra’s skin were now slithering shadow snakes, and he had slit pupils.
“Oopssss,” he lisped and flashed two elongated front canines and a slightly forked tongue.
The tongue was new.
He smirked.
A single black shadow snake was latched onto the screaming student’s neck.
Cobra’s snakes emitted a painful poison. It was supposedly debilitating.
For a second, the air around the shrieking student also sparkled black, and his ruddy skin turned unnaturally pale.
The darkness disappeared when I blinked. I must have imagined it.
After a few moments, the other students became bored with watching the man scream. They turned back to their meals.
We did the same.
Sadie planned our next shopping trip in extreme detail, and even the men joined in on the conversation.