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 mean it,” I say seriously. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“I would always come for you. Now. More important, we need to start planning your wedding,” Laura says, beaming. She’s bouncing around as if she has a reason to be excited, but I really can’t see why.
“He hasn’t proposed to me.”
“Of course he hasn’t, but he will. You know he will. You’re probably already pregnant with his baby. So we should be thinking about venues, and themes, and promotional opportunities. Would you consider a branded sweet bar?”
I can’t think about any of this, much less a branded sweet bar. Branded with what? Our Runaway designs? That would be tacky. Or maybe it would be cool.
“What kind of sweets?”
“Well, I was thinking we could do what those ladies on the reels do and buy a lot of sweets in bulk and then set up sweet tables and have them be branded at like corporate events and things? We could do themes. Like yellow, or silver, or red, white, and blue. Basically, you get the candy and it’s in these colors…”
She keeps talking and I listen because it’s so good to hear someone talk about something that isn’t my dad eating people, or me running away, or even the alleged wedding, because even that has been lost in her enthusiasm in the concept of a sweet bar.
“Are you going to wear a veil?”
“What?”
“A veil. Are you going to wear one? Because there are some amazing ones, but if we need to find lace, then I think we should do that soon because we could get something custom made, but lace takes like a year to make, maybe three years…”
“I could have had like three kids by then. Maybe four.”
She frowns. “Okay, and what does that matter?”
“I don’t know.”
My life is shifting around me. I thought the most profound change that would happen to me would be turning into a wolf. I was terrified of that, and then it happened and I found power and freedom and horror in it.
Laura snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Where did you go?”
“Huh?”
“You get this faraway look when you’re not paying attention, and you have that look now.”
“I don’t know. I was thinking about what it was like to shift, I guess.”
“What was it like?” She is curious now. “Did you eat that guy?”
“No,” I sigh. “I didn’t eat the guy.”
“I wonder who ate the guy,” she says. “They really thought you ate the guy.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t sit around and wait to see what came out of the forest to eat him.”
“Are you sure you didn’t?”
I look at her. “What are you saying?”
“You might not remember,” she says. “You might have thought you didn’t, but…”
* * *
Rex
I have barely left the girls alone together when I hear a commotion. Fescue and I were going to attend to some pack matters while the guard kept watch, but the second I sense the energy shift, I spin on my heel and go back to the bedroom.
“Don’t say that!” I hear Nicky’s voice raised. She sounds furious, almost feral. Her voice has a shaking, growling note to it that can’t possibly fit the circumstances in which she finds herself.
When I enter the room, Laura is backed up against the wall, eyes wide, shaking her head.
“I didn’t mean to suggest, I just thought that…”
“Well, don’t think!”
I go forward, take my mate by her shoulders, and draw her back. I do not think she understands the force of the energy she is emanating at this point. Her fury has taken over, and a shift may not be far away if she does not calm down.
“What’s wrong?” I turn her to face me, and gesture behind her back for Laura to leave. The girl takes the direction without further prompting, scuttling out of the room as quick as she can.
“People think I ate that man!”
She sobs against my chest as I pull her close and wrap my arms around her. “It doesn’t matter what they think,” I tell her. “You are above speculation. You are my mate.”
“But… what if I did?”
I lean back a little, put my thumb and forefinger on her chin, and tilt her head gently up so she has to look at me.
“Frankly, my dear,” I say, pulling a line from an old classic. “I wouldn’t give a damn. A frightened, hungry, freshly shifted wolf on the run does many things. That’s why we tried to contain you. But you didn’t want to be contained.”
“So it’s my fault,” she sniffs.
“Not what I am saying. You have already been punished for what’s your fault. Remember?” I slide my other hand down her back and pat her ass gently to help jog her memory.
“Oh,” she says. “Yeah.”
“But you will have to learn to keep your temper around those who question you, because being questioned is a big part of running a pack.”