Page 109 of Poet & Protector

Poor Ansel. He’d be perfectly content to sit at the table all night. Bryn would not. Five minutes into the show and she was impatient with being an observer, not a participant.

“Already?” Ansel objected. “I’d kind of like to listen for a while.”

Bryn did not appreciate that answer, but Shay came to Ansel’s rescue.

“I’ll dance.” He looked at Ansel, smiling. “If you don’t mind.”

Ansel did the smart thing.

“Ladies’ choice,” he told Bryn.

Shay’s suggestion caught her, and all of us really, off guard, but in the next moment she offered Shay her hands and a playful smile. She was even blushing a little bit. I didn’t blame her. Our new human companion was perpetually charming and undeniably hot.

“Let’s go then.”

Shay led Bryn close to the stage. Nev nodded and smiled, acknowledging their arrival. I could see he was as curious about this development as the rest of us.

Slipping his arms around Bryn, Shay deftly led her through smooth movements perfectly in sync with the music.

“Huh,” Ansel murmured. “He’s good.”

Make that really good. Shay had rhythm, grace, and style. He was using all three to impressive effect.

“Nervous?” Calla teased her brother.

“Hardly.” Ansel shot a grin at her. “She’s not the one Shay’s after.”

I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. Apparently, lack of tact was something Ansel and Bryn had in common.

“I wonder where you got that idea,” Ren said. His posture radiated a jealous possessiveness as he drew Calla closer.

“Sorry, man.” Ansel cowered. “I wasn’t thinking.”

He was accustomed to acting like Calla’s little brother, but he was going to have to recalibrate his behavior when our new alpha was around. That might be a significant learning curve. Hopefully, Ren would be patient with him.

“I suppose he’s a decent dancer,” Ren commented, suddenly looking quite dangerous. “But I think we should show him how it’s done.”

I tensed. This could get very ugly, very quickly. As much as I understood Ren’s instincts about warning off Shay, the scene at our lunch table the first time Shay joined us had been intense. Kind of fascinating, but also troubling. It looked like we were in for round two, but on the dance floor.

But Ren ignored Calla, turning to Cosette. “Feel like dancing?”

Shock traveled around our table. Cosette appeared as startled as the rest of us, but she happily took Ren’s hands and let him lead her toward the stage. Dax followed his alpha’s example, grabbing Fey by the arm and hauling her after them.

I looked at Calla. It was a pretty dick move on Ren’s part, and my alpha was not loving it.

“That was weird.” Ansel felt the same way. He frowned at his sister. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Calla was not okay.

I thought I understood what Ren was attempting to do, but he was making a mistake by sending any kind of mixed signals to Calla about his attachment to her. Judging by her current expression, she was more sensitive about it than he realized.

“Don’t worry about it, Calla,” I told her. “Shay’s a thorn in his paw and he’s trying to make you think he doesn’t care.”

“Never mind,” she replied, trying to deflect our attention. “I don’t need to dance with Ren.”

I hated how unhappy she sounded. Ren was pretending he wasn’t bothered by Shay and now Calla was trying, and failing, to act like she wasn’t hurt by Ren’s departure. It was a mess. I’d never been able to resist trying to fix my friends’ messes.

Drumming a quick rhythm on the tabletop with my knuckles, I said to her, “But you do need to dance.”