I looked up into Rafael’s face, dark brown skin to match the hair and eyes. He couldn’t hide what he was, and I didn’t try to hide, I just didn’t think about it until something made me think about it. Planning the wedding with Jean-Claude had made me have to think more about my family; so far my father wasn’t going to walk me down the aisle because I was marrying a vampire, which meant I was damning myself for all eternity in the eyes of the Catholic Church. My family were devout Catholics.
“So many serious thoughts going through your eyes,” he said.
I shook my head. “Nothing worth sharing.”
He gave me the look that all my semiserious people got eventually, the one that said they didn’t believe me when I said it was nothing. “It’s okay if you love Asher. I don’t see what any of you see in him, but I don’t have to, he’s not my boo.”
“He’s not my boo either,” I said, and wondered if I was protesting a bit too much.
Rafael gave me a look, as if he was wondering the same thing, which pissed me off and made me draw my face back, so I wasn’t resting on his hand.
Benito said, “If he is so unimportant to you, then why do you risk Rafael’s life because of the mess Asher has caused with the local werehyenas?”
“Benito, it is not your place . . .” Rafael started to say.
“If not mine, then whose, my king? It is my sworn duty to keep you safe, but I cannot fight your challenges for you. If Anita would make you her rat to call, you would gain enough power to win against any challenger.”
“Why did you get another challenger this soon?” I asked.
It was Rafael’s turn to look away from me as if he wasn’t sure what I’d see in his eyes. I grabbed the tank top and used it to pull him toward me. “You just fought a duel out of town two weeks ago. You’re a good king, a great leader, why is this one challenging you again so soon?” I’d learned that any challenge for rulership among the wererats, the rodere, had to give a reason for it, and the reason had to make sense to enough of the wererats for them to vote on it. If a challenger had a bogus reason for the fight, then they could just vote that the reason wasn’t good enough to risk their king.
“Tell her, Rafael,” Benito said.
“I am king here, not you!” His anger brought his beast like a line of heat across my skin. I had to let go of him and step back so I could do a few deep, even breaths. I couldn’t change shape for real, but I still carried the beasts inside me, and one of those was rat.
“You are my king, but she needs to know what is happening.”
“One of you tell me, because it’s starting to make me nervous.”
Rafael motioned at Benito. “You want to tell her, tell her.”
Benito looked startled as if he hadn’t expected that, but he recovered quickly, and gave me very serious eyes. Whatever he was going to say, he didn’t expect me to like it. “The reason given for this challenge is that they are afraid that once you make Rafael your rat to call, all the wererats in the United States will be slaves to the vampires through Jean-Claude’s ties to you as his human servant.”
“The local clan here would know that’s not true,” I said.
“But I am no longer just the king of the St. Louis clan. I am king to all the wererats in this country, so they are all voting.”
I frowned at him. “How are all the wererats voting in time for the fight tonight?”
“Online, we created a poll online,” he said.
“How’s the voting going?”
“I am losing.”