Beatrix
Although Beatrix had felt intimidated by the closed bar door, she was relaxed and engaged now that they were inside. She’d be forever grateful to Briar for opening the door, and Mila for drawing her into the conversation.
Briar wandered off, leaving her and Mila and Titan to talk about dogs in peace. The only thing that would’ve been better was if Mila had brought Babette with her. But of course she had a ton of pictures of the little dog on her phone to show Beatrix.
Beatrix was able to match her with all her pictures of shelter dogs on her phone.
Then a small woman was there, pushing Titan aside so she could stand next to Beatrix. “I’m Cora! It’s nice to have another human around!”
“Oh, you’re human?” Mila asked. “I thought you were a new wolf joining Mikey’s pack.”
“Really?” Beatrix asked, looking around. How many of the individuals around her were shifters or vampires? Everyone looked human to her. She focused back on Mila. “Do I look like a wolf?”
“No, you look human,” Mila said with a shrug. “But I’m human so I can’t see auras like vampires can.”
“And we don’t have the sense of smell that the shifters have,” Cora added.
Beatrix looked up at Titan. “What do I smell like?”
“The sweetest dessert I’ve ever had,” he answered without hesitation, then blushed when the other two women giggled.
“So I smell edible?” she teased.
He leaned over and put his mouth to her ear. “Delicious.”
That one word made her shiver.
“Titan? Can we talk?”
They all turned to see a man at the back of the bar waving Titan over. He looked at her and then back at Mikey with obvious anxiety.
“That’s Mikey,” Titan explained. “He’s Alpha of the Lobo Gris pack. That basically means he’s our leader. He’s a really nice guy.”
“Go on, see what he wants. I’ll be fine,” Beatrix said. Titan gave her a quick kiss, made her promise to shout if she needed him, then walked off to talk to the Lobo Gris Alpha.
The moment Titan was gone, Cora spoke up. “Ask us anything."
Beatrix let out a sigh. “How did you know I have questions?”
“How could you not? Most of the humans here were thrust into this world, not introduced. Briar found out gradually and never got the shock, but I was kidnapped by an evil vampire. Mila rescued her wolf mate from an attack of magical creatures. It’s too bad Imani isn’t here, she was kidnapped and turned into a vampire against her will. She could give you a lot of insight on vampires.”
Beatrix was shocked by Cora’s words. Kidnapped? Attacked? Forced? “Those sound like nightmares.”
“It wasn’t pretty,” Cora agreed.
“I guess I got lucky,” Beatrix said. “Nothing violent happened. I watched Titan shift and then I got to pet him.”
“I think it’s supposed to be gentle,” Mila said. “Unless they’re forced, vampires like to court their flock for however long it takes to make them feel comfortable. At least that’s what Gio said once. They want to make sure their human is ready to hear the truth long before they tell them.”
Beatrix almost laughed. “I kind of forced them to tell me. I threatened to take Arthur to the hospital because he wouldn't wake up this morning.”
Mila gasped. “You only found out today?”
Beatrix nodded, Mila’s reaction making her feel better. “It still feels surreal.”
Cora snorted. “That never entirely goes away. At least it hasn’t yet. Especially when Pike is in his bear form and tries to feed me grubs.”
Beatrix and Mila burst out laughing.