Henri - 7

 

Although he was still tense—always watching everyone who came to close to him in case someone might be one of Xavier's people—Henri did manage to enjoy himself in Taegan's company. The man was clever, witty, and truly seemed to like talking to his guests about whatever interested them. Taegan introduced Henri to several people that he told Henri were real friends, not clients. Some of them looked at Henri knowingly, as if figuring he might be Taegan's…most recent conquest, I suppose. The majority of them, however, treated Henri as yet another one of Taegan's numerous friends, who happened to be accompanying him at the moment.

 

Eventually, the barbecue wound down. Guests began dispersing as the sun lowered behind the trees, each thanking Taegan for a wonderful afternoon before heading to their cars. The caterers were already beginning to clean up as well.

 

"Alone at last," Taegan said with a grin when it was just him, Henri, and Miranda and company. "I'd like to suggest we go to my place, if it's all right with everyone. I want to know more about what happened to you." He put his hand on Henri's shoulder. "And what's being done to find your captor, before he finds you again."

 

"Why are you interested?" Ransom asked him.

 

"Because, as with the rest of you, I have a vested interest in stopping this man before he does something we all regret."

 

Ransom nodded. "I can accept that."

 

Taegan shot him a look. "I take it you're the one in charge, so to speak."

 

"Not in charge. We're all in this together. But I am a cop—a detective—so I have resources the others don't."

 

"Makes sense to me. Do you know where I live?" Taegan got nods from the others. "All right. I'll see you there in, say…twenty minutes."

 

"He's unquestionably a take-charge guy," Henri commented as he, Miranda and John walked to the car.

 

"He's definitely an alpha," Miranda agreed, "both in his human and wolf forms. He's also been around a lot longer than the rest of us."

 

"How old is he?" Henri wanted to know. "Like us, he only looks in his twenties."

 

"He tells people he's twenty-eight. From what I understand, he's actually at least a hundred and seventy."

 

Henri pursed his lips in thought. "That's not bad."

 

Miranda grinned. "Only fifty years older than you, in case you didn't do the math."

 

"I did," Henri replied before getting what she was implying. "Uh-uh, not why you're thinking. I just like to know what's what."

 

"Right."

 

"Mandi, quit teasing him," John said.

 

She arched one eyebrow, but did as he asked, much to Henri's relief.