Zoey And Stark

First Meeting

Untamed - Chapter Three

"Well, uh, are you hungry?" I asked Stark after Neferet and the rest of the vamps had glided out of the cageteria.

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

"If you hurry, you can eat with us, and then Damien can show you to your room before we have to go to the Council Meeting," I said.

"I think your dog is pretty," Jack said, leaning around Damien to get a better look at Duchess. "I mean, she's big, but she's still pretty. She won't bite, will she?"

"Not if you don't biter her first," Stark said.

"Oh, eew," Jack said. "I'd get dog hair in my mouth and that'd be nasty."

"Stark, this is Jack. He's Damien's boyfriend." I decided to get the introductions and the possible Oh, no! He's a fag! issues out of the way.

"Hi," Jack said with a really sweet smile.

"Yeah, hi," Stark said. It wasn't a hugely warm hi, but he didn't seem to be giving off any homophobe vibes.

"And this is Erin and Shaunee." I pointed to each of them in turn. "They also answer to Twin, which will make sense once you've known them for about two-point-five minutes."

"Hey, there," Shaunee said, giving him a very obvious look.

"Ditto," Erin said, giving him an identical look.

"This is Aphrodite," I said.

His slightly sarcastic smile was back. "So you're the Goddess of Love. I've heard a lot about you."

Aphrodite was looking at Stark with a weird intensity that didn't seem particularly flirtatious, but when he spoke to her, she automatically executed a truly spectacular hair flip and said, "Hi. I like it when I'm recognized."

His smile widened and got even more sarcastic as he gave a little laugh. "It'd be hard not to recognize you - the name's pretty obvious."

I watched as Aphrodite's intense look instantly dissipated and was replaced by her much more familiar public expression of snobby disdain, but before she could verbally begin to slice up the new kid, Damien spoke. "Stark, I'll show you where the trays and stuff are." He stood up and then stopped in front of Duchess, looking more than a little confused.

"No worries," Stark said. "She'll stay put. As long as no cats do anything stupid."

His gaze had shifted to Nala, who was the only cat left close to Duchess. Nala hadn't started growling again, but she was perched on my lap, staring unblinkingly at the dog, and I could feel the tension in her body.

"Nala will be good," I said, hoping she would. I really had no control over my cat. Hell, who actually had control over any cat?

"All right, then." He gave me a quick nod before telling the dog, "Duchess, stay!" Sure enough, when he followed Damien over to the main line, Duchess stayed.

"You know, dogs are a lot louder than cats,"Jack said, studying Duchess like she was a science experiment.

"It's all the panting they do," Erin said.

"And they're more flatulent than cats, Twin," Shaunee said. "My mom has those ginormic standar poodles, and they are some gaseous creatures."

"Okay, well, this has really been not fun," Aphrodite said. "I'm out of here."

"Dont you want to stay around and make eyes at the new guy?" Shaunee asked in a too-nice voice.

"Yeah, and he seemed to like you so much," Erin said sweetly.