Chapter 76: Sheep at a Wolf’s Dinner Table

Blair walked slowly down the expansive, heated hallway, leaning heavily on Clarice to favor her sprained ankle.

But then suddenly, Clarice stopped.

She turned to Blair, quickly and aggressively fanning at the side of Blair’s neck. Blair didn’t say a word, but her brows furrowed together in deep confusion.

Noticing Blair’s confusion, Clarice chuckled lightly, dropping her hand. "A pesky fly," she excused herself with a warm smile.

Blair blinked. She hadn’t seen a fly. She hadn’t heard a fly, either. But she didn’t question it, beastmen had keener senses than humans after all. Clarice’s fluffy dark blue ear twitched. The older beastwoman’s head snapped forward, her gaze locking onto the double doors not too far from where they stood.

"Hurry now," Clarice urged, her grip on Blair’s arm tightening as she suddenly began dragging her forward.

Blair was completely bewildered, forced into a hurried, painful limp to keep up with the older woman’s sudden burst of speed.

Not too long after, the doors Clarice was staring at, opened.

---

Clarice and Blair stepped into a breathtaking, glass-enclosed indoor garden. Exotic, blooming flowers and lush greenery lined the walls, but Blair barely registered the scenery. Her focus was glued to the dining table set perfectly in the center of the room.

Luna, the imposing Wolf King of the Wintercrest Mountains, and three unfamiliar wolf beastfolk were already seated.

Blair felt a very strong urge to turn around and sprint right back the way she came. Is this Kyana? she panicked, her eyes darting to the young ginger-haired beastwoman sitting across the table. Then she looked at Daemus’s father, her heart racing even faster as she internally panicked. Should I curtsy? Do I bow?

Every pair of eyes in the room was locked onto her. The hostility in the air was so thick it was practically suffocating. It was painfully obvious in their hard, unblinking glares that she was not welcome here.

Surprisingly, the terrifying, raven-haired King stood up from his seat at the head of the table. He pulled a chair back for her.

"We are glad you are awake and well, Blair," Beralt said smoothly, his deep voice carrying an undeniable authority.

Blair didn’t want to move anywhere near that table, but Clarice nudged her firmly in the back.

Stumbling forward, Blair kept her gaze glued firmly to the grassy floor. She shuffled awkwardly to the seat, dropping into the chair as fast as she possibly could. "Thank you," she mumbled out quickly.

As she sat down, Beralt paused. He very subtly sniffed the air around her. His dark eyes darted across the table to his wife, silently asking an unspoken question. Clarice merely offered a single nod in response as she took her own seat.

Blair pressed her arms tightly to her sides, doing her best not to take up a single inch of space beyond the cushion of her chair.

She was seated between an empty chair and a lean, slender wolf beastman with bright ginger hair, whom she assumed had to be Kyana’s father. On the other side of the empty chair sat Kyana, and between her and Kyana was that single empty chair. Daemus’s seat, Blair noted grimly.

Blair could feel Kyana’s stare burning a hole into the side of her head. Her mother’s glare was just as intense. Blair snuck a quick, terrified glance at the two women. They were both incredibly muscled, imposing figures. Kyana shared her father’s ginger hair, while her mother was a towering, broad-shouldered blonde. They were absolutely terrifying.

"Are you wearing my dress?"

Blair jumped slightly at the sudden question. She looked across the table. Luna was staring at her. There was a polite smile plastered on the young beastwoman’s face, but Blair could clearly see the strained, irritated tension hiding just beneath the surface.

Too scared to speak, Blair only offered a small, hesitant nod.

"You can’t talk?" Luna pressed, her smile slipping just a fraction.

Blair desperately wished in that moment that she had actually been born mute.

"That’s rude, Luna," Clarice scolded her daughter sharply, picking up her napkin and draping it across her lap.

"I was only asking a question," Luna grumbled, crossing her arms and sinking back into her chair.

Clarice turned her attention to the blonde beastwoman sitting across the table. "Everyone, this is Blair. Daemus’s breeder mate."

Kyana’s mother let out a harsh, incredulous scoff. "You mean the human bitch who my precious daughter’s mate betrayed her with?"

Blair clasped her trembling hands together tightly in her lap. She had put two and two together: Kyana was Daemus’s ex-girlfriend. Her mind raced with questions. Did they reconcile? Did he want to get back together with her?

Blair didn’t even bother trying to defend herself against the cheating accusation. She knew she and Daemus had done nothing that night, but there was no way these angry beastwomen would believe her.

King Beralt spoke up, his booming voice instantly silencing the brewing argument. "Guests in my home will not insult my son’s mate."

"But what about the insult to my daughter?!" Kyana’s mother, Yennifer, argued hotly, her hands slamming down onto the table. "As per our pack’s agreement, she is Daemus’s true mate! What even is a ’breeder mate’? I have never heard of such a ridiculous thing!"

"Yennifer, please calm down," Clarice said, her tone dripping with polite condescension. "Just because you have never heard of something does not mean it doesn’t exist."

Blair scooched her body just a fraction of an inch to the right. She had noticed from her peripheral vision that Kyana’s father had slowly shifted his chair just a bit closer to hers.

"The Moon Goddess sent Blair to save our family with her genius genes," Clarice explained smoothly to the table.

"My daughter’s genes are more than enough!" Yennifer shot back, gesturing proudly to Kyana. "She finished in the top twenty of the academy entrance exams!"

Clarice smirked. "Blair finished number two. Only a single point behind Crown Prince Killian."

Yennifer’s mouth snapped shut. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. She looked at Blair, then back at Clarice, and then stared hard at Blair again.

"She... is that human?!" Yennifer finally breathed out, the sheer shock momentarily overriding her anger.

Clarice smiled warmly, nodding her head. "Yes. And I am certain her genius genes could be incredibly useful to both our families in the future."

Blair, however, was no longer paying attention to the debate. Her focus was zeroed in on the ginger-haired wolf beastman sitting to her left.

He was staring at her. But he wasn’t glaring at her like his wife and daughter were. He was looking at her the exact same way a starving man looks at a juicy steak.

Blair swallowed hard, her eyes darting nervously toward the silverware set beside her plate. She weighed her options. The butterknife? Or maybe the fork? If she grabbed the fork, she could aim for his eye and then make a run for it. Run where? her brain screamed back.

Future Blair’s problem, she decided frantically, her hand trembling as it hovered near the napkin. She was so very scared right now. How could this man be staring at her so shamelessly with his wife sitting right across from him?

"We shouldn’t be having this discussion without Daemus present," Yennifer argued, drawing Blair’s attention back to the conversation. "Where is he?"

Clarice smirked, turning her gaze toward the entrance.

"How long are you going to stand out there, Daemus?" Clarice called out.

Blair glanced up just as Daemus sauntered into the indoor garden.

He looked out of place as everyone else was dressed in pretty semi-formal dresses and suits. He was shirtless and barefoot, dressed only in his loose gray sweatpants, his dark blue hair a tangled mess. He narrowed his silver eyes into a fierce glare directed at his smiling mother.

"Thank you for joining us, son," Clarice said pleasantly.

"Hey, Daemus," Kyana greeted softly as he pulled out his chair and sat down next to her.

"I thought we both agreed to end things," Daemus stated bluntly, looking at his ex-girlfriend. "Why did you let them talk you into this?"

Kyana offered a small smile. "I thought it over, Daemus. And I decided to forgive you. Everyone makes mistakes, after all."

Blair sat perfectly still, keeping her mouth clamped shut as the tension at the table skyrocketed. Daemus hadn’t even spared her a single glance when he walked in. Was he upset that she was here? Did she ruin his chances of getting back together with his ex? Blair really, really wanted to leave now.

"Let us leave the heavy talk until after we have eaten," Clarice announced smoothly, waving a hand to signal the staff.

It was only then, as the smell of roasted meats hit the air, that Blair realized just how hungry she actually was.

A line of human servants hurried into the room, expertly placing massive platters of food onto the table. Everything looked and smelled absolutely divine. It was a feast fit for a king, looking nothing at all like the cheap, flavorless cafeteria or church food Blair was used to eating.

She had never seen so much tasty food in one place before.

But unbeknownst to Blair, a certain wolf beastman sitting to her left was thinking the exact same thing as he continued to bore a hungry hole right into the side of her face.