Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Dante’s hand slaps at the table. “Motherfuckers! I told Meg. I came up with that. I totally came up with that.”
Alana shrugs and orders a wine from the beverage dispenser. She smacks it when it asks if she really wants the calories. “Well, CVN news is claiming to have named the new species. And more.”
Dante’s eyes light up. “Was bestiality mentioned?”
His mother sighs but ruffles the top of his head as though she knew he would ask. “Yes. You’re being called a pervert of the first order.”
“Nice.”
Now his mother slaps his perfectly coifed head. “It isn’t nice for Kaja.”
I watch their byplay with growing curiosity.
Dante shrugs. “I’m not worried about it. Something new will happen, and the fact that Kaja’s also a wolf will totally blow over. Maybe I should give them a photo op of me and Kaj playing with a Frisbee in a park.”
“You will not,” Alana says, giving her son a stern look.
“I am very good with a Frisbee. I catch it every time. I am also good with rubber balls,” I add. Dante taught me several games. I like them. They are fun. And they allow me to run when every other time I seem to be forced to walk.
“Dante! Don’t you dare do that with her,” Alana nearly shouts. “What are you trying to do?”
Dante’s eyes narrow, and he sits back. “I’m trying to find our way. She isn’t a properly bred Fae consort. She’s different. I won’t force her into some mold because that would make it easy. I like Kaja the way she is.”
But the way I am will get us all in trouble. Even I can see that. I learned enough about Dante’s home to know that personal lives affect the stock market, and the stock market is the most important thing on this plane. I still do not quite grasp how a list of valuations make the world go around, but it seems to be the way here. I am going to cause Dante’s company trouble.
“I will try harder.”
Dante holds out a hand. “Kaja, don’t listen to them. You’re fine. And I won’t allow the press to define our marriage. Now, I got a call from Julian Lodge. I’m supposed to meet with him in an hour. It’s something supersecret.”
Alana goes very still. “Have you done something you shouldn’t? Maybe we should send you in with a guard.”
Dante frowns. “Julian Lodge isn’t calling me in to have me killed. He sends that Taggart fellow out for that sort of work. I have a suspicion it’s about Beck and Cian.”
“You’re leaving?” I only see him at night, and now I will not even get that?
Dante’s expression shutters. “I won’t be gone for long. Well, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. And I should tell you now that I have to leave for DC in a couple of days. It’s a business trip. A week or so.”
My heart feels too small for my chest. “I will go with you.”
I do not fit in here. I fit in even less if Dante is not around at all.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dante says, his voice tight.
Alana pats my hand, a sympathetic look on her face. “You don’t want to go to stuffy old Washington. We’ll have fun, dear. We’ll go shopping and see a show. But for tonight, I’ll keep you company. Colin should be here soon, and we can all have a nice dinner.”
More shopping. Less Dante.
I am an inconvenience. Like I was with the pack. These people might be nicer about it, but I am being relegated to the back of the room again. It hurts even more this time since, for a while, I believed I might belong.
I will never belong here.
I stand. I know when to retreat. “Thank you, Alana. I believe I will skip dinner this evening. I would rather go to my room.”
And figure out a way to contact Meg. Meg will be able to tell me how to leave this place.
Dante is on my heels as I walk from the room. “You need to eat.”
I continue on my path. “I am fine.”
He grabs my elbow. “Kaja, go back to the dining room and eat your supper.”
He is using that voice on me, the one that usually has me panting after him. Now it simply makes me a bit angry. He is pushing me aside. He brought me to this place where I do not belong, and now he is leaving me to languish. He taught me what I want and then took it all away.
“I am going to my room. I will stay there. I will not leave the house again. Now, let me go.” If he wants to leave me, then I do not have to obey his commands. That is another thing I learned. I will not mindlessly follow someone else’s commands. I am the only one who will ever truly look out for myself, so I am done being meek.