Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I did not expect to be so charmed. The first time we met she was rather charmless and artless. This time she is, well, I suppose she is being more herself without the bravado. Hard to keep up pretense of being a bad ass when you’re sitting in a man’s bed wearing pink pjs.
“Why did you take me?”
“Why did you think I took you?”
“Why don’t you just answer my question?” she whines, running her hand through her hair in a way that suggests she probably has a headache. Some men drug women and carry them off. My mate took care of the drugging part herself. Not that I would ever sedate her against her will. I like her aware of everything that is happening to her. I want her sensitive to it.
“I took you because you belong to me, and because I wanted to finish what I started with you. Unfortunately, by the time I found you, you were in no position to do anything.”
“I need toast,” she says. “And something else to wear. And a shower. And coffee.”
I smile and pull on a pair of pants.
“You’re getting dressed?” She sounds slightly distressed by losing her view of my cock, and everything else besides.
“Fescue prefers not to encounter me nude.”
“You talk about him as if he’s the leader of this pack.”
“I talk about him as if he’s the one who runs the household, which he is. The first thing any good leader needs to learn is how to delegate.”
“Do you have a little bell to summon him?”
I laugh at that, imagining what Fescue’s response to being called with a little jangling bell would be.
I press the button that turns on a light in his private study. In that room there is a map of the house. A corresponding light will light up representing my room, so he knows where to come.
“He won’t be a moment,” I say.
Less than two moments later, Fescue comes sweeping in. His first action is to hurl the curtains apart and heave the windows open, as if the stale air in the room is offensive to him. I am sure it is. I enjoy the scent of my mate, but there is no doubt she also smells like a party in a vape factory.
“How can I help you, sir?” he says, standing by the window, clearly endeavoring to breathe in only the fresh air coming from the outside. His expression indicates he is not succeeding in this endeavor.
“Some alternate clothing for the lady, some coffee and some toast, please, Fescue.”
“And for you, sir? A shirt, perhaps?”
I hear Nicky snort with laughter. “I like him,” she says. “You’re right. I’m glad you delegated your authority to this guy.”
Fescue looks faintly scandalized. “What manner of clothing would the young lady… never mind. I will find something suitable.”
* * *
Nicky
And that is how we end up breakfasting on the balcony. I am wearing a light blue sundress with an A-line skirt that billows whenever I try to walk about, as if there’s a constant unseen breeze blowing specifically for me. It’s very dramatic. It’s not my usual style, but I do quite like it.
“Where did he find a dress to fit me so quickly?”
“He sent out to our tailors and dressers,” Rex explains. “They are more or less on standby for the pack. Fescue finds it distressing if anybody is dressed inappropriately.”
We can look out over almost the whole city here. We are at least twenty stories up, much higher than the loft I went to sleep in last night. Of course Rex has the best of everything, including an incredible height to fall from if anything were to happen to the balcony.
I don’t know what it is about very tall buildings that give me almost endless intrusive thoughts, but I don’t know that anybody should ever be up this high unless they’re in an airplane and then they shouldn’t be in a plane either.
I try not to show that being all the way up here is making me feel faintly ill. Besides, it could be the alcohol that did it. A bird flies past, because of course it does. We are at the same level sparrows soar.
“Once I mate you, all this silliness will be over,” he says.
“What?”
“This silliness with your little rebel splinter pack. It’s time you all came home.”
“We are home,” I say, immediately defensive of course. He really doesn’t take us seriously. I guess given he has walked into the heart of our pack twice now and done what he wanted, he probably doesn’t. “We are our own home.”
He gives me an indulgent look.
“I am sure you think that,” he says. “But the truth of the matter is, you are not equipped to lead a pack, and they need a firmer hand than someone like you is ever going to provide.”