“You like discipline?”
Lorien paused, not quite understanding the question.
“You mean in general?”
“I mean personally. Are you a disciplined person?”
“I’m still not sure what you mean,” Lorien said apologetically, lying through his teeth. He had some idea what Henry meant; it was just far too intimate a question to be answering.
“What I see when I look at you is a lot of guilt. And a lot of acting out going unchecked.”
“We weren’t talking about me.”
“I’m talking about you,” Henry replied. He nailed Lorien with that stare and Lorien’s mouth went dry.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not… I’m not someone subject to… that.” He couldn’t even say the word. It was a lie. He’d left Maddox’s house because Maddox put him over the desk and spanked him like a brat. His ego had been bruised. His ego was in danger again now.
“I think the king isn't giving you what you need. That’s why you ran off with the scum. You hoped he’d come for you, straighten you out.”
“I did not! I was tired of watching William being fawned over as if he were the last creature in the city while I meant nothing, except as someone to blame. I went to stay in another house belonging to the royals. I had every right to be there…”
His words were cut off when Henry put his big, tattooed hand over his mouth. Henry leaned forward, eyes intense as Lorien backed instinctively up against the wall.
“Shut up,” Henry growled. “You’re too good to whine like this.”
Lorien did not know how to take being manhandled this way. He was not entirely sure what was happening, if the pack master simply did this to everybody around him, or if he’d taken some interest. The latter option seemed unlikely. Nobody was interested in Lorien. Not for anything more than what he could do for them, and he already knew he offered Henry nothing.
He stayed where he was, not bothering to test his strength against Henry. He was still too busy being befuddled and more than a little turned on. It had been a long time since he’d let anybody put hands on him like this. To be fair, most of the time when people were trying to put hands on him, they were trying to kick the shit out of him. This could still go that way, he figured. But Henry seemed more concerned with getting through to him than hurting him.
“You understand?”
Lorien nodded beneath the palm. He could smell Henry so strongly, that rich animal human musk, the smell of raw muscular power.
“You’ve got class. When you keep your mouth shut. When you’re not talking, you’re the most elegant guy in any room. There’s something about you that makes it impossible to take my eyes off you. But the second you open your mouth, you sound like a whiny little whelp.” Henry pulled his hand away to let Lorien speak.
“You can’t take your eyes off me?” Lorien smiled.
He got a shrug in return. “You’re a good-looking kid.”
“I’m older than you by at least three times. I should be giving you the speeches about being a good-looking kid.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Henry said. “Including how old I am. Age doesn’t matter. You can be a thousand years old and be an immature brat.”
“True,” Lorien admitted. “Anyway,” he said, changing the subject to avoid what was starting to feel very intense. “We’re here. This is the Library. You should be able to find anything you need here.”
“Thanks,” Henry said. “I can take it from here.”
“Sure you can,” Lorien said. “Do let me know if I can be of service again. I’ll wait. In case you need any help getting back or want to go elsewhere.”
While Henry looked at books, Lorien was trying desperately to keep his cool. There was something about Henry he found absolutely magnetic, and he was not usually into wolves, or dogs, as he privately referred to them. Henry had a natural dominance. That made sense, he was an alpha after all. He probably couldn’t help dominating everybody he came across. Lorien was not going to make the mistake of thinking Henry was interested in him. Henry seemed like the sort of guy who wanted to straighten everybody out around him — probably because he thought having out of control creatures around reflected poorly on him. Or maybe because he just couldn’t tolerate it. Lorien didn’t know, because the last five minutes represented the most interaction he’d had with Henry since they met.
Henry was a long time among the books. Lorien was surprised. Mostly because of his own preconceptions that people who were covered in tattoos didn’t read, which he now realized was a fairly stupid prejudice. Just because Henry looked like he’d rather rip a book in two than read it didn't mean he wasn’t intelligent.