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It was another normal day at Club Lunix.

After the initial shock, Eli had gotten used to working there. He couldn't say it was a really hard job, given the circumstances. They never had an overwhelming amount of clients and most of them were considerate enough for Eli to feel comfortable around. They even tipped generously, although it wasn't as if that was really necessary with Lucian's more than acceptable salary. If any customer was being rowdy or unreasonable, then the black wolf would walk down from his office and... give them a change of mind. That only happened when Sam wasn't around to calm things down themself, though.

The friendly lizard had always been there for Eli, especially when it came to keeping Rebis on his tracks. The sheep had tried talking to the other waiters in the club, but experience had proved that they weren't entirely there to begin with. Eli had approached one, a handsome blue tiger with a dreamy look in his eyes, during his second day at work. When the sheep had asked if he enjoyed working at the club, the tiger had asked what he meant with a goofy smile on his face.

By then, Eli knew a bit more about the mysterious powers Lucian and Sam - and perhaps even Rebis? - seemed to hold over other people's minds. He'd concluded that it must be some kind of mind control or hypnotic skill, and identified it as what Lucian had done to him during their first interview.

It wasn't as if he was opposed to the idea. In fact, he'd found himself wishing it'd happen again more often than not, fantasizing about those purple eyes and a loud snap next to his ear, sending him back into a deep, dark abyss. The sheep had rarely felt as good as he had when the handsome wolf had been freely manipulating the threads of his conscience, after all.

Fortunately for him, the chance to find himself in that situation arrived much earlier than he had expected.

It had been a slow day at the club and Eli was taking a break with Sam, sitting on one of the stools near the counter. He'd been reading the newspaper for the past five minutes - it felt more respectful than simply taking out his phone and browsing for the news there - when a weird movement caught his eye.

Lucian had just sat down on the other end of the counter. When the sheep looked at him, surprised, the black wolf just smiled back at him. By then, Eli was used to seeing his boss down there only when the situation required it. Given that nobody had been particularly troublesome that day, Eli had no idea why Lucian had decided to leave his office.

"You look tired," Sam mentioned, turning to the black wolf.

"Do I?" the wolf asked, still smiling.

"Oh, come on. Don't play dumb with me. You know that I'm the clever one downstairs, am I not?"

Lucian chuckled.

"I guess you're right. I'm simply bored, though."

Eli had a feeling he wasn't invited to the conversation, and even though his eyes remained fixed on the page in front of him, he decided to eavesdrop. There were still many things he didn't know about that place - for instance, what was making Lucian feel so exhausted? As far as he knew, the only thing the wolf did was sit at his desk every hour.

"Purple Rain?" the bartender asked.

"Yes, please."

Sam began preparing the cocktail for the wolf. When they'd finished mixing things on the empty glass, they offered it to Lucian, who accepted it with a thankful smile.

"Let me guess. Is it our friends again? They have a tendency for being annoying when you least expect them to," the lizard noted.

Friends?, Eli thought. In spite of the word, the way Sam had mentioned it seemed to indicate they were closer to enemies.

Lucian sighed.

"They do, yeah. Untimely, as you said. I have a feeling they're up to something, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Perhaps you're just too stressed," Sam said as the wolf took a sip from the glass and looked at him raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, don't look at me like that. It wouldn't be the first time you're being paranoid out of exhaustion, right?"

Lucian seemed to think about it for a second.

"Perhaps you're right." He tapped the glass with a pointy claw, deep in thought. "What am I supposed to do, though?"

"Well, if you're asking me, you should definitely take a break," Sam suggested, leaning closer to the wolf and giving him a warm smile. "You're not invincible, Lucian. You should know that by now."

"I'm not that tired," the wolf complained.

"You know I've never seen you like this."

Lucian groaned softly.

"I appreciate your concern and value your opinion, but I seriously think you're overreacting."

"Well, perhaps I am," the lizard said, their voice falling to a soft, gentle tone. "But tell me one thing - would it be so bad to take a break for once? To just rest so you can be more refreshed when the moment to fight comes?"

A silence followed those words. Eli only realized then that it was a silence that had also settled in his mind, as if his thoughts had decided to stop functioning. He still felt like himself, sitting there, staring right into the newspaper - but as if his whole body had somehow been made lighter and more tingly, enclosed in cotton. Like some kind of guided disassociation.

After a few seconds, Lucian chuckled.

"Sweet. Very sweet. Did you really think that was going to work on me?"

Sam cleared their throat and shrugged, moving away from the black wolf and looking slightly embarrassed.

"It worked on Eli, didn't it?" the lizard muttered.

What? What worked on me?, the sheep thought sluggishly. What are they talking about?

"He's not a demon. Of course it'd work on him," Lucian reminded Sam. He stood up and stretched. "Well, I'll think about it. I don't want to have you worried and you may have a point, who knows."

Sam smiled, apparently relieved.

"Who knows."

It wasn't until Lucian walked up to him and snapped his fingers next to his ear that Eli felt his consciousness climbing out of the shallow trance.

"Huh." The sheep scratched the back of his head, confused. "That was... unexpected."

"And kinda adorable, if you ask me," Sam pointed out, prompting Eli to blush. "I'm starting to see why he's kept you close."

Lucian chuckled softly and began walking back to the door that led to his office. Eli followed him until he disappeared, trying to hide the red on his cheeks.

"Don't worry," the lizard reassured him. "I bet you'll know from him soon enough."

"Why?" Eli asked.

Sam just giggled and picked Lucian's empty glass to clean it.

"Turns out this lizard can still be convincing when they try to," they said, still with a smile on their face.

It took Eli a few days to understand what Sam meant by that. The next time Lucian called him to his office, the least the sheep was expecting was to get a week of paid vacation.

At first he felt like refusing - he hadn't been working there for so long, he thought - but then the black wolf mentioned he'd be taking the week off as well and Eli was invited to spend the time at his house, with him. The sheep barely had time to pretend he didn't enjoy the idea before Lucian looked straight into his eyes and asked him to speak the truth.

So there he was. Spending quality time with Lucian in the wolf's apartment. And his Boss had brought the absent-minded blue tiger, too. They almost looked like some kind of family. A weird kind of family in which two of its members were subject to another's will, but still.

The first two days went in a haze - and quite explicitly, as Eli couldn't remember what they'd been doing except there'd been a lot of purple involved and he could still taste his own drool dripping down his chin.

He was pretty sure Lucian would let him remember at some point, of course, but the wolf was keen on keeping a firm grip on his memories, at least for the time being. Eli enjoyed the feeling of helplessness. Plus, he would've never thought of complaining. Lucian was his Boss, after all.

The wolf did look more relaxed, too. Eli had a feeling they had participated in more mundane activities together when he hadn't been drooling his brains out - such as watching a film or playing board games - but then again, it wasn't as if he could remember. For all he knew, Lucian could have made him watch the same film five times without him noticing.

"I'm going to take a shower," the wolf told him on their third day together, right when he was still finishing his coffee. "Do you think you'll be okay?"

Eli glanced at the blue tiger sprawling on the couch. He had a tendency to wake up late.

"Sure," he said. "I'll let the cat know where you are in case he wakes up."

Lucian chuckled and his eyes gleamed for a second. Eli felt a tingle go down his spine that only got more intense when the wolf muttered the two magic words: "Good boy". He sat there and waved Lucian goodbye as the wolf stepped into the shower.

The sheep was aware that he was being conditioned. He was also extremely aware of how much he was enjoying it.

He was pretty sure that he would've been fawning over Lucian even if the wolf hadn't used those mysterious powers of his on him. He had chills whenever he listened to his voice, shivers whenever those purple eyes met his. The fact that Lucian could simply unravel his mind with a snap was a plus, too, but even if they had met in other, more normal circumstances, Eli was certain he would have found it hard to think of anything other than the black wolf.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ring of Lucian's doorbell.

Slightly startled, Eli glanced at the blue tiger, who kept sleeping on the couch, and then turned towards the door of the bathroom. He thought about getting in to let Lucian know someone was calling - but then thought the wolf deserved some privacy. In fact, judging by the conversation he had overheard, it was likely Lucian wanted to enjoy some time alone.

That seemed to be enough for Eli. He stood up and walked to the intercom.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Lucian? Is it you?"

The voice Eli heard was strident and unknown. He had been hoping it'd be either Sam or Rebis, but the voice didn't seem to belong to any of them.

"Uh, no," the sheep answered. "He's busy at the moment. Who's this?"

"Akihiko," the voice answered. "I'm delivering something for Lucian. Do you think you can open the door for me?"

Eli hesitated.

"It's important that Lucian gets it before tomorrow," the voice insisted. "It's just a parcel though, so I can give it to you and then you can give it to him whenever possible."

There was a feeling of urgency in whoever was speaking at the other end of the line and Eli didn't want to let Lucian down in case he was expecting a parcel.

"Alright," he agreed, pushing the button to open the door downstairs.

"Thank you," the voice answered. The next thing Eli heard was the sound of the door closing down - and then, he stepped away from the intercom and closer to the apartment's door.

He hoped he was doing the right thing. What if the wolf didn't like the idea that he was opening the door of his apartment to strangers? He didn't seem like that kind of person, but Eli was kind of treading blindly there. In any event, he was certain the wolf would know he'd done it just to save him some trouble.

When someone knocked on the apartment's door, Eli opened it and gave a professional, practiced smile to whoever was behind. It turned out they were two people - a white-feathered peacock with a long, white coat and a snake with electric-blue scales who was wearing something more akin to a red robe.

The aesthetic of both people's clothes seemed to be directly conflicting, so Eli stood there, confused. He had only heard one person through the intercom.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked shyly.

The peacock smiled. Eli didn't like it.

"I told you it'd be this easy," he said. Eli recognized the voice he'd heard before.

The snake chuckled softly and raised a hand. A deep-red pendant hanged in the air just in front of Eli's eyes, which couldn't help but be immediately glued to the jewel.

"Don't worry about a thing, sssheep," the snake said. "We'll take care of thingsss from now on."

Eli only realized then that his body was heavy.

Very heavy.

Lucian sighed and got out of the shower, clouds of steam swirling around in the bathroom. In spite of that being the third day of his self-imposed vacation, he still felt like he'd needed that shower.

As much as it pained Lucian to admit it, Sam had been right. He'd been tired for some time, and perhaps he'd made things worse by pretending that he wasn't. It hadn't been until the bartender had tried and influence him with their powers that Lucian had realized how much he actually needed a break. Sam's powers shouldn't affect him in the slightest, yet he had been able to perceive them with some intensity.

Oh well, he thought. The solution is easy. I spend a week here with these two cuties and then I go back to working, strong as ever. He told himself those words while looking at his reflection in the mirror, drying his wet fur with a purple towel, and they almost felt reassuring.

He decided to think about Eli instead. The sheep had been a joy to spend time with. Perhaps they should do that more often. Maybe not a week-long vacation, but a weekend or something. And they didn't have to worry about their job schedules overlapping or something - after all, he was the Boss.

The wolf left the bathroom chuckling and walked back to the living room, wearing only a pair of sweatpants and the towel on his shoulders. It wasn't until then that he realized something was wrong.

Eli wasn't there. His cup of coffee was still on the table, half-full, but the sheep was nowhere to be found.

"Eli?" the wolf called. He received no answer.

As he began to get slightly more nervous, he tried to consider the situation. It was unlikely that Eli had walked out of the apartment on his own without letting him know. And whatever had happened to him, it must have been pretty silent - Xyln was still asleep on the couch, and he knew he was prone to being woken up by strong noises.

He opened his apartment's door and took a look at the other end of the corridor, where he could see the lift. The lights that warned that somebody was using it at the moment were blinking. Driven by a hunch, the wolf walked to the nearest window and waited impatiently as he gazed to the streets outside, one of his paws tapping on the floor. After a few seconds, his eyes caught a glimpse of three figures walking to the street from his building - one of those figures was Eli.

Unfortunately, he also knew the other those two figures.

Now, really?, he thought as he rushed to the stairs and began running as fast as he could. Did they really have to choose this particular moment to show how clever they are?

He opened the door to the street and ran towards the small group. It was then when the snake noticed Lucian following them and turned to his partner with a hiss. The peacock looked displeased and thought just for a second before he grabbed Eli's wrist and pulled him towards an alley. The sheep's feet moved slowly and mechanically, and Lucian could only imagine why.

After a short moment of hesitation, the snake swiftly followed them. Lucian did the same. He had been expecting them to keep running after that, but the wolf was surprised to see that they were waiting for him there in the alley. They had probably just intended to get themselves shielded from curious bystanders.

"Oh, hello," the wolf greeted them with a cold smile. "So you two have resorted to kidnapping people, now? That's low, even for you."

He tried not to display any emotions that could betray his otherwise collected attitude. Lucian knew those two would cling to anything to feel like they were at an advantage - which they really weren't.

"We might have gotten tired of fair play," the peacock admitted. "It's not fair anyway - not when the other player cheats his way to victory every time."

"Is that your way of admitting I always win, Aki?" Lucian asked calmly.

The peacock's face turned red.

"It's Akihiko, you disrespectful dog! I've told you a thousand times already!"

"Perhapsss you ssshould be reminded that we have your preciousss sssheep under our control," the snake intervened.

Lucian turned to him.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Sta'karr," the wolf admitted. "I never thought you'd become Aki's friend."

"We're not friendsss," the snake hissed, narrowing his eyes. "We've jussst decided to ssstart a fruitful partnerssship to defeat you."

"Obviously. Because how else were you two supposed to win, hmm?" Lucian asked, knowing fully well that those words would be enough to make them lose their temper.

Akihiko was looking redder by the second, but Sta'karr remained perfectly calm. Lucian didn't consider it a good sign, although he wasn't too bothered about it either. Neither Sta'karr nor Akihiko posed a threat big enough for him to worry.

The only thing he was worried about was Eli's wellbeing, but he was certain he'd sort that out, sooner or later.

"So what are you going to do with my waiter?" Lucian asked, pointing at the sheep with his chin. "Do you intend to take him with you as if he was some kind of trophy?"

"Kind of," Akihiko replied. "I've decided to make him my drone. Just out of spite."

"Fascinating," Lucian answered. His blood boiled at the idea, but he made sure to hide it from those two. "What about you, Sta'karr? What do you get out of this?"

The snake chuckled softly.

"Why, assside from the chance to sssee you deliciousssly humiliated? That'sss enough of a reward for me."

"And for me," Akihiko admitted. "The sheep's just a bonus, you see."

Lucian held their gazes. He waited a few seconds, as if trying to give them one last chance to back down, and then chuckled.

"Humiliated?" he asked, a pointy grin appearing on his face. "Would you guys like me to give you a lesson on humiliation?"

Akihiko frowned and seemed to hesitate - and then, he placed a wing on Eli's shoulder. The sheep remained motionless and absent.

"Go on, if you dare."

Lucian's smile grew wider. It was a good thing Akihiko was the one who was closer to Eli. That made things easier.

"Oh, I dare alright." The wolf turned to look at Akihiko and cleared his throat. Then, he simply said "Bye bye, birdbrain."

Akihiko opened his beak at first and a wave of confusion washed over his face - before his expression softened and his eyes rolled up, eyelids closing down as his body grew limp and relaxed. Lucian chuckled as the peacock dropped into a deep trance, the wing he'd placed on Eli's shoulder slipping down and dangling loosely at his side.

Sta'karr looked at the transition in horror.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "What isss the meaning of thisss?"

"Oh, good old Aki and I go far back," the wolf explained with a grin. "He's been bothering me for years. And the good thing about having met someone for so long is - well, you have time to leave all kind of impressions on them, if you catch my drift. So smart and yet he never learns..."

"You triggered him?!" the snake asked, his eyes wide open.

Lucian shrugged.

"Some years ago, yeah. He's always been an easy one to deal with, even if he isn't allowed to remember it. And his fortune's been bloody useful to pay the fees of my respectable, well-established club."

"Now you're kidding me, wolf," Sta'karr muttered under his breath.

"Of course I'm not. Now, enough of this - Aki, please restrain the snake so I can make him forget what he just heard, too."

"What?!"

Sta'karr tried to react, but Akihiko was faster. The peacock moved to the snake's side and grabbed his wrists expertly, placing them behind his back.

"Thisss is outrageousss!", he hissed as he tried to break free from Akihiko's grip.

"Hey, you're the ones who tried to kidnap one of my employees, not me." Lucian got closer to the immobilized snake, grinning. "Oh, look. That's a pretty jewel you got there. Why don't we take a closer look at it, hmm?"

The wolf's purple eyes gleamed enigmatically.

"W-what?" Sta'karr asked, confused.

Lucian chuckled and unclasped the pendant's chain from around the snake's neck. He then let the jewel hang right in front of Sta'karr's eyes, who got pale as he understood what the wolf was about to do.

"Thisss isssn't fair!" he complained. "Let me go! I promissse you'll never sssee me again."

"You mean it?" Lucian asked, raising an eyebrow. "For real?"

The snake scoffed.

"Well, of courssse not. What do you expect me to sssay in thisss sssituation? I'll come and haunt you, time and time again, until I ssshow you the true might of Sssta'karr, the magician!"

"I figured that much," Lucian admitted, smiling. "Until next time, I suppose. Perhaps then I'll be the one... how was it, deliciousssly humiliated? Been making you fall under that category for quite some time now, and frankly, I'm getting bored."

Sta'karr hissed.

That was the last sound he made before his eyes got lost in the swinging jewel in front of his eyes.

"It's a fun thing I made you more susceptible to this pendant, eh?" Lucian asked. Nobody answered by then.

A few more seconds and the brain of the snake in front of him was as dead as Akihiko's.

"Good riddance, both of you," the wolf muttered, relocating the towel on his shoulders. "You couldn't be more inconvenient even if you actively tried."

When Eli woke up, the first thing he noticed was that they were in a lift. He was still wearing his pyjamas, sneakers and a weak fog inside his head that he had learned to recognize during the last weeks.

"Uh," was the first thing he muttered, as he noticed Lucian by his side. The sight of the wolf bare-chest would have probably made him blush in any other situation, but he was too confused at the moment. "What happened? I remember opening your door to a deliveryman and then..."

His gaze slowly moved to the right and he recognized two other figures. His heart skipped a beat when he realized it was the same two people he'd seen standing in the doorway before everything faded into some sort of reddish glow, inspired by that swinging pendant...

Lucian noticed this and chuckled.

"You don't need to worry. They're harmless now."

"Are they?" Eli asked.

He wasn't entirely sure of that after seeing what they were capable of, although he had to admit they were, at least, motionless. Nothing seemed to be actually moving behind their dull, glassy eyes.

"I can't believe they used such a weak excuse to get you. Their determination to ruin the day will never cease to surprise me."

Eli rubbed his temple, trying to regain full control of his mental processes. They seemed to have been dulled for a while.

"I... I'm sorry," he said after a few seconds. "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have opened the door for them."

"It's okay," Lucian answered. "I never told you I have... uh, let's say... enemies that could pose a threat to you."

"Enemies?" Eli asked, glancing at the two standing figures.

Lucian nodded.

"Nothing your pretty wooly head should worry too much about," Lucian reassured him. Eli felt more relaxed as he heard those words - had the wolf triggered him to feel that way or was it just a natural reaction? "I think they're just jealous of my skills. Sam and Rebis are usually enough to keep them at bay, but they weren't here presently. It seems I was the one who got to rescue you today."

Eli frowned.

"Wait. Have I been in need of rescuing before?" he asked.

"No," Lucian chuckled. "This was your first time, I promise. But it's okay. I've made sure they don't remember this poor attempt at kidnapping you. In fact, I've conditioned them not to get too close to you in the future."

Eli lowered his head. He had never thought that being Lucian's employee could be so dangerous - in fact, nobody had mentioned his job would come with any dangers at all. What else had the wolf still not told him? What kind of threats did Lucian have to face on a daily basis? He noticed the wolf was looking at him and assumed he knew he was thinking about it.

The lift reached its destination and both walked towards the wolf's apartment. Lucian beckoned the two other figures with a quick gesture and they immediately followed, their movements automatic and rigid as if they were some kind of programmable robots.

Eli hoped they'd remain like that for long. What if they woke up suddenly and attacked him again?

The blue tiger was still sleeping on the coach - apparently, everything had happened without him waking up. Eli secretly envied him. Was the tiger aware of how dangerous being there actually was? He wished he could sleep as soundly, oblivious to everything he'd just seen.

Yet at the same time, he hoped Lucian wouldn't make him forget. He wanted to remember that happening so that he could make the right choice in the future. Sam and Rebis had told him he was one of the few employees who had walked into Club Lunix willingly, which meant he could also walk out whenever he wanted.

A noise interrupted his train of thought.

Somebody was fumbling around behind the couch. It was then when Eli noticed the curtains had been ripped and there was an unknown figure trying to untangle themselves from them, squirming on the floor. Had someone else really broken into the apartment? Well, how many people are going to try and kidnap me today?, the sheep asked himself.

Lucian appeared at his side.

"I can't believe it," the wolf muttered, bringing a paw to his forehead. "You too?"

He kneeled in front of the bundle of ripped curtains and untangled them to reveal a feathered head. Eli was surprised to recognize the features of a black raven, only his beak was covered in gold.

"And what are you doing here?" Lucian asked, staring straight into the raven's eyes.

The raven looked confused.

"You... you weren't supposed to be in your apartment!" he squawked. "They said you'd be distracted rescuing the sheep!"

Lucian tilted his head.

"Your plans to steal things from me will never cease to surprise me. Three in a day. This must be a record."

"Who is he?" Eli asked.

"This is Corvus," Lucian explained. "I'm guessing Akihiko and Sta'karr promised him some gold in return for helping in their poor attempt at kidnapping you. I'm not surprised their plan went wrong, but I have to admit they're getting more creative as time passes by."

Corvus looked at him and frowned.

"What do you mean their plan went wrong?"

"I'm too tired to deal with this," Lucian sighed. He grabbed Corvus' beak with one paw and stroke it with the other, moving the raven's head in slow circles. "There, there, birdie. Look at that beak of yours, gleaming and shining, shining and gleaming..."

"Hey! Stop that!"

Corvus tried to break free from Lucian's grip, but only before his eyes focused inevitably on the shiny beak between them. His movements became less and less energetic.

"He's easily mesmerized by gold," Lucian explained to Eli. "Aren't you, sleepy birdie?"

A soft chirp escaped Corvus' beak. Lucian smiled.

Eli watched as the wolf easily subdued the raven's mind with those slow motions, getting lost in the pleasant movement himself. After a few minutes, the raven was completely out of it and Eli shook his head, trying to snap out of the light trance.

"Is it always like this?" he asked.

Lucian chuckled.

"You mean this easy? Well, this time it actually felt like a challenge. It was three of them, which usually doesn't happen."

"Usually?"

"I've known them for quite some time now. I don't remember all the times we've clashed in the past and I'm not one hundred percent sure this is the first time they've partnered to get me." The wolf stood up. "Still, yeah. They're never even close to getting to me. Why? Are you reconsidering staying by my side?"

Eli thought about it.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "You see, not being able to see what had happened before was making me a bit anxious. But if you say it's always this easy..."

"It really is," the wolf reassured him.

"Then it doesn't look like I'm in so much danger," Eli conceded. "And I'm guessing I would be safer by your side than I'd be on my own, right?"

Lucian smiled, satisfied.

"I'm really happy to hear that, Eli."

The sheep's gaze moved to Corvus. The raven was perfectly still, his mind shattered in a million pieces after being forced to stare at his gleaming beak for such a long time.

"Has his beak always been like that?" the sheep asked.

"Oh, he gilded it," Lucian explained. "Top three bad ideas he had."

"What should we do with him?"

Lucian placed a hand on Eli's head. The sheep felt some of the tension that had been building in his body melting down towards the floor. A sigh escaped his lips.

"Well, whatever we want, really." The wolf grinned. "Shall we keep him, too? If you think we could use some more company, I can always make him stick around, you know."

"He's rather cute," Eli admitted.

Lucian chuckled.

"You'd know."

"But first, I'd like if you told me more about this 'enemies' of yours," the sheep said, standing up and looking straight into the wolf's purple eyes. "I'm willing to stay, but only if you tell me more about what I'll be facing."

Lucian held the sheep's gaze. It had been a long time since he'd given the explanation and he wasn't entirely sure where to start.

"I think it makes sense that you'd want to know," he murmured. "Good. I can tell you about them over a cup of coffee."

Eli nodded and gave the wolf a kind smile.

"I'll make some more, then."

Lucian raised an eyebrow.

"You sure? You must be tired from all that... uh, being kidnapped."

"Nonsense. It felt like sleeping, for the most part. Plus, you wouldn't happen to know but," Eli winked an eye at the wolf, "I work as a waiter in a pretty exclusive club."

Feeling warm inside for the first time that day, Lucian chuckled.