This was a surprising opener and I looked to Abel.

“Where should we sit?” the brunette asked like they were indeed at a party and had assigned seating.

“Show them their seats, Chen,” Abel ordered, and Chen moved, showing the women the seats that Jian-Li and I never took.

They followed Chen like they hadn’t a care in the world.

The other men drifted to their own seats, doing this cautious and alert.

Abel went to his and pulled me back in his lap.

The women watched this, and the minute my ass was settled, the brunette, smiling enormously, looked across the table at the blonde and declared, “Told you wolf traits would win out.”

The blonde shrugged, grinning. “It seems you’re right. Lucien will be disappointed.”

“Perhaps you’ll tell us who you are, then you can explain what the fuck you’re talkin’ about,” Abel growled.

They looked to him, appearing not offended in the slightest by his less than stellar hosting skills. The blonde spoke first. “Sorry. Very rude. I’m Leah, Lucien’s wife. He’s a vampire. Like a superhero one.”

“And I’m Sonia,” the dark-haired one stated before I could process the idea of a superhero vampire. “Queen Sonia, but no one calls me that unless Callum is feeling kingly, which is a lot since he is king. That being King of the Werewolves.” Her shoulders straightened and her eyes locked to Abel as she stated, “And I’m a she-wolf.”

Holy shitoly, female werewolves were hot.

Leah followed this with a quiet request. “Are you going to tell us who you are?”

Abel apparently wasn’t because next he demanded, “Explain what you meant about wolf traits winning out.”

“The lap thing,” Sonia shared, tipping her head to me. “Wolves hold their mates close in every way. To their hearts. In their minds. And when something like this is going down, even if it’s just lunch, they hold them on their laps.”

Wow.

Well, that explained that.

I looked to Abel, who I was surprised to see was looking at me and doing it like he didn’t even know I was in his lap.

This I took as him putting me there but not really paying attention to the fact he did. He just did it.

Out of instinct.

“You’ve been raised as human,” Sonia said softly, and both Abel and I looked to her.

“I have,” Abel shared.

“I was too. It’s a lot to take in when it all starts coming at you,” she replied.

“You were raised as a human?” I asked.