Chapter 317

Chapter 317

Chapter 317

KAEL

Jordan pulled me away with the speed of a man who had correctly identified that I was about to do something that would start an international incident.

Specifically, I was about to laugh at a visiting alpha.

Not just smile. Not just the quiet internal amusement of a man watching a situation unfold with appreciation. Full, actual, physical laughter the kind that came from somewhere deep in the chest and was not going to be subtle about its existence. I could feel it building the moment I’d gotten close enough to hear Ivory’s voice carrying the words *impotency consultation* with the serene professionalism of a healer offering a genuine medical service.

Jordan had grabbed my arm and turned me bodily in the opposite direction, which was the right call. The only call. He’d steered me toward the edge of the gathering grounds near the eastern fire pits, away from the main crowd, away from Dan, away from any visiting alphas who might look over and see the Host Alpha of Shadowmere completely failing to hold himself together.

“Don’t,” Jordan said, his voice low and extremely firm.

“I’m not,” I said, which was a lie. My voice was already unsteady.

“You are. I can see it. Do not laugh at that man p>

“I’m not laughing at him,” I said. “I’m laughing at the situation. That’s different p>

“He won’t see the difference,” Jordan said. “He’ll see Shadowmere’s Alpha finding his humiliation funny and he’ll go home and tell every pack within three territories that you p>

I made the mistake of glancing sideways across the crowd. I could see Dan’s retreating back from here, the specific posture of a large man trying to exit a space quickly while also pretending he wasn’t exiting quickly. The posture of a man who’d walked into a conversation expecting an easy target and had instead received a detailed assessment of his domestic situation and an offer of specialized medical support.

I looked away immediately. Found something else to focus on. Gamma Toris, standing near the refreshment table with what appeared to be five small children clustered around him in various stages of managing their plates and cups. Five. Last I’d counted it had been three. He’d been busy. His mate looked simultaneously proud and exhausted in the way that parents of

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large numbers of small children consistently looked at events like this.

That was interesting. I’d need to send something for the new arrivals. You didn’t let your Gamma expand his family by what appeared to be two units without official acknowledgment.

Klaus was near the eastern fire. Klaus, who’d joined the pack eight years ago from a northern territory and had been one of the most reliable fighters in the third rotation for as long as I could remember. Klaus, who was currently standing very close to a man from one of the visiting delegations and was doing a particular thing with his shoulders that I recognized as the specific posture of someone engaged in flirting they were fairly committed to.

I stared for a moment. Klaus. Huh.

And then the thought arrived completely unbidden: *Ivory cannot see this p>

which I

Not because there was anything wrong with it. But because Ivory’s reading habits now had extensive and permanently lodged knowledge of, thanks four apparently redefined certain expectations she had about what was recreatable in real life

meant that she would absolutely clock Klausad about wat was

O

recres

that had

situation immediately.

Would file it away.

Would, in the fullness of time and with the particular pettiness that she applied to things she

found amusing, decide that eone should recreate the energy for applied to things she

her benefit.

person

And because Ivory was petty in the most affectionate and specific way possible, the she’d choose would be Jason. She’d do it with a completely straight face. She’d frame it as a reasonable suggestion, me recreating the sex scene with Jason, just for her amusement. Jason would stand there being professionally patient while Ivory explained the request and I would have to be in the same room as all of this because I’d apparently read books that meant I understood exactly what she was referring to.

The thought was so specific and so predictable that it almost derailed me from the laughter that was still building about Dan.

Almost.

Jordan was watching Dan’s exit path and I could see him tracking the moment when Dan fully cleared the immediate area and moved into a section of the crowd where he was no longer close enough to observe us directly.

Jordan looked at me. Gave a single, small nod.

I laughed.

It came out harder than I’d intended. The kind of laugh that had been compressed under pressure and then released all at once, that started somewhere in the chest and moved upward with a force that made staying upright complicated. I grabbed Jordan’s shoulder for support

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+5 Free Coins

because the alternative was physically bending forward, and Jordan made a sound of profound suffering while also trying to keep his own expression from doing anything compromising.

“Subtly,” Jordan hissed. “Laugh *subtly*, there are people looking p>

the image

I could not laugh subtly. That ship had sailed. The subtlety had departed the moment Ivory had used the phrase *full plate* in reference to a man whose domestic complications she’d just fully catalogued in front of a crowd, and everything that had been building since of Dan’s face, the timing of it, the absolute calm with which she’d offered clinic services assembled into something that was not compatible with subtlety.

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had

People were looking. I was aware of this in the way you were aware of things that you couldn’t actually do anything about, because stopping was not currently available as an option. Jordan had one hand on my arm and was doing something with his body that was probably meant to shield the visual from the widest possible angle, which was a solid effort from a loyal second, but the sounds were still happening and those were harder to block.

Someone nearby – one of my own pack members, I could tell by the way they moved made a sound that suggested they’d correctly identified what was funny and were now managing their own version of the same problem.

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