The Wolf King (The Wolf Kings #1) (MLM)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

                Wyatt wouldn't let go of Jack until they were in the entrance hall. Jack had expected nonstop giddy chatter, but Wyatt's smile stayed resolutely in place and he seemed unwilling to speak at all. In Jack's experience, that usually meant people weren't willing to risk saying anything they shouldn't.

Everett was already there with Mira, the two conversing with each other. Everett wore a shimmering silver suit and Mira wore a metallic blue dress that stretched out at the waist with silver skirts underneath. Everett had glitter on his cheeks and was running a perfectly manicured hand through his hair.

"Looking for someone?" Wyatt grinned, and Everett deflated.

"Finally!" he shooed Wyatt away. "Where have you been?"

"Took a wrong turn. Wow, you guys look great."

"Thank you," Mira said, then, "Tiberius will die when he sees you."

Jack, startled, blushed.

"I seem to have frightened you." She looked to Everett. "Was that not a compliment?"

"It was, it was," Everett assured her. "Here, Jack, walk between me and Mira."

Wyatt pouted. "Why won't you let him near me?"

"Because you're creepy, Wyatt!"

The ballroom looked even bigger somehow. Maybe it was the countless orbs of lights hovering near the ceiling that gave the illusion of a starry night sky, or maybe it was the quartet's music echoing off the walls, or the throng of people gathered over drinks and buffet tables and laughing to one another.

Werewolves. A room full of werewolves, maybe an elf or fairy somewhere amidst the chattering groups, but all werewolves in fancy clothes eating fancy food and being fancy. Jack almost turned around and walked right back out, but his friends seemed to have expected that and their arms linked like vice around Jack's own.

"No, you don't," Everett muttered through a smile.

"You'll have fun," Mira told him. "You'll see."

At the sight of Jack, everyone turned to him, and either bowed or curtseyed with the same hand over their fist and the same murmured, "My King."

Jack could only press his lips together in an awkward smile, and nod his head in acknowledgment.

"You're getting better at that, Your Highness," Wyatt grinned.

"Well," Mira said, "he is wearing the crown."

"Crown?" Jack's face fell and he touched the circlet around his temples. He hissed at Everett. "I'm wearing a crown?"

Everett looked not the least bit guilty for this trick. "You had to wear it sometime, didn't you?"

Jack opened his mouth to argue when his eyes caught something. Standing with a glass of champagne of his own, Vivaldi at his side in a tight red dress with emerald beetles pinning one side of her hair down, was Tiberius.

He wore a more elaborate version of the gold circlet around his own temples, his curls framing his cheekbones. His suit was a charcoal gray, a red rose in his chest pocket, like his heart was bleeding. He held out a hand to Jack, gold rings on each of his fingers.

Jack hadn't realized he was already walking towards him until he was taking Tiberius's hand. He squeezed once and let go, though Tiberius only took advantage of their close proximity to wrap an arm around his waist.