Feeding time at the pack. Darcy had never dined with an entire crowd of Lupines. The closest she’d come was eating at a restaurant or a mall’s food court, and those were strangers.

Public dining made her uncomfortable. Even when she lived with Ella, her last charge, as a house cat, Darcy never ate in front of Ella. Instead, she’d wait for Ella to leave for work and then gulp down her meals in complete privacy.

Table manners weren’t her skillset. Never knowing what fork to use, how to eat certain foods like lobster in her human/Skin suit. Devouring a lobster when she’d shifted into a bear—now that was more like it. Tear, pierce, gulp.

Belch.

Lupines required raw, fresh meat to shift. Surely that would be on everyone’s plate, perhaps with a few vegetables and bread. Maybe she could beg off eating with the excuse she was anorexic.

At the door of the enormous dining hall, which looked as if it could seat three hundred, a handsome Lupine with a gray streak in his dark hair met her. Dressed in a tuxedo, he could have been the host at an executive’s meeting. Muscles moved beneath black silk as he offered her his arm.

“Miss Darcy? I am Marcel, one of Adrian’s lieutenants. He will arrive shortly and asked me to escort you to his table.”

She nodded, glad she’d worn the red cocktail dress Glenda had found for her. All the others in the dining turned to stare at her as she passed the round tables. Each table sat about ten and was covered in white linen, with a small arrangement of fresh freesia and roses in the middle. Linen-draped chairs had white bows in the back.

Overhead, crystal chandeliers glowed with a soft light, making the room seem even more elegant. Every Lupine in the room, even the young ones, was attired in formal wear. Darcy felt as if she attended a wedding, not dinner.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked Marcel as he guided her over to the smallest table, where seven other males sat. Three places where empty, two of them side by side.

One for Adrian, she guessed.

Marcel raised his dark brows. “I beg your pardon?”

“Why all the formality? Or do you get all snazzy for dinner every night around here?”

He considered. “It is not every day our alpha brings home his future mate for us to meet.”

Temper snapping, Darcy struggled to hold her tongue. She thanked Marcel as he guided her to the empty chair on the right. He sat at the empty chair between two younger Lupines and made introductions. The seven males were, as she’d guessed, part of Adrian’s security team. So polite, so distinguished. Yet she knew each male at this table was capable of ripping out her throat if Adrian ordered it.

Not even two minutes later, Adrian strode inside. Dressed in an elegant black tuxedo, a day’s growth of beard stubble shadowing his jaw, he looked sexy as hell. No male had the right to look that delicious.

Everyone stood, except Darcy. She folded her arms and glowered as he took the seat next to her.

Adrian flicked out his linen table napkin and placed it on his lap. “You look lovely. Angry, but lovely.”

“Future mate? That’s what you’ve been telling everyone, Adrian? I agreed to stay here for two weeks, as part of your bargain. Nothing more!” She pushed back her plate.

“I did not say a word,” he told her. “This is like a small town, Darcy. Everyone talks and makes assumptions. We have these dinners once a month to bond, talk and gather as a pack. Your presence was noticed from the moment you walked into the door of my house.”

Disquieted, she fisted her hands in her lap. Well, she wouldn’t eat. Not with all these people staring at her as if she were on display.

A female in black dress trousers, a white shirt and a black apron came over with plates of hot food, setting them down on the chargers. Darcy’s nose wrinkled as she realized the plate contained fresh, raw steak as well as a serving of seasoned lamb with potatoes and vegetables.

“You like having people wait on you?” she challenged him.

“We all take turns serving each other.”

“Even you? Right.”

“Even me. A Lupine cannot lead if he is unwilling to serve his people.”

Adrian picked up his fork and started to eat. Darcy reached for her water.

“You’re not hungry?” he asked.

“No. I’m not eating, and you can’t make me eat…” She pushed at the plate. “This.”

Seven sets of forks went down. Seven pairs of eyes stared at her as if she’d slapped their leader.

Adrian considered. Saying nothing, he stood and plucked her off the chair as one would pick up a sack of sugar. He lifted her in a fireman’s hold. She beat at his back with her hands, but it was like striking solid rock. Darcy saw the pack watching with avid interest, much as a crowd would observe the aftermath of a car wreck.

A car wreck, all right. And the wreck was her life, and what he did to it.

Adrian marched her out the door then over to his house, up the stairs to the bedroom she’d been assigned. He deposited her on the bed, dumping her gently on the mattress. A gleam ignited his gaze.

“If you will not share dinner with myself and my pack and treat everyone with respect—and especially myself—then suffer the consequences.”

“Which are?”

Bracketing her body between his strong arms, he leaned over her. “Dessert. You. Naked.”

She inched away. “Fine. You want me naked? Nothing but skin?”

Magick flowed through her veins as she summoned her powers. Later, she’d pay the price, but right now she needed to display her incredible abilities to outsmart this wolf. She was no meek, malleable female he could take to bed and command.

A second later, she transformed into a hissing, writhing snake. There. Let him try to seduce her now. You didn’t specify which skin, Adrian.

No fear showed on his face, only amusement. Well, time to wipe the smirk off his handsome face. Hissing, she reared her head back, the snake’s instinct to strike overwhelming her. She’d chosen this form to intimidate and make a statement, not hurt him. The black racer’s bite was painful but not venomous.

Adrian chucked her beneath the chin as one would a baby. “So cute.”

Darcy went to sink her fangs into Adrian’s skin, but to her shock, her fangs did not pierce. It felt like biting pure steel. Jaw aching, she reeled back. He did not flinch. Fear and rage clouded her as he seized her midsection and then held her head, staring into her beady yellow gaze.

“You could turn into a cobra, and you would not harm me, my sweet. Remember your words in the snow? ‘I give of my life so you may live.’ ” He released her, placing her back on the bed.

Darcy inwardly cursed. She’d given him her magick to pull him from the brink of death. The damn wolf was right. No matter what form she assumed, she could not hurt him. Such were the rules of the selfless sacrifice she’d made.

All because the goddess ordered her into the snow, to organize the rogue pack of Lupines living in the cave and save Adrian’s sorry ass.

Even if it was a rather nice, tight ass.

She shifted back to her human form, instantly regretting the move. Too weak to conjure clothing, Darcy lay naked on the bed.

Now he had her exactly as he’d planned—nude and helpless. Darcy curled into a fetal position, fighting the bone-wrenching pain that accompanied such a swift and brutal transformation from warm-blooded mammal to cold-blooded reptile. Damn, she hated shifting into reptiles, but the snake was the first form she could conjure that she’d imagined would strike fear into Adrian.

As if this proud, strong alpha feared anything.

Shivering, she cared not if he seduced her or what he did. Fierce hunger gnawed at her stomach.

She had not had adequate sustenance in more than twenty-four hours, and if she didn’t eat soon, she’d risk falling into a deep sleep. Or much worse.

But Adrian made no move toward her. Instead, he went to the chair near the window, fetched the red velvet throw draped over it.

He covered her with the soft blanket. Warmth pulsed into her veins, relieving the ache. . “I’ll have a tray sent to your room. All the food you enjoy—fried chicken, fresh green vegetables. You may eat in private and not worry about others observing you.”

Adrian left, closing the door behind him. Such consideration. So different from the proud, arrogant alpha.

Hell, this was the kind of man she might even fall in love with.

She stared at the door, wondering what the hell she’d gotten herself into.