Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
That night, I’d finally gotten my updates from them (Cat and Bash were still dating (yay!), Gayle and Sirk were not (boo!) and Monique was still working so hard in order to be able to afford to remodel her flat, she wasn’t doing anything (boo again! but also, good for her)).
I’d given my friends all the news, which was mostly about how I was falling in love with my awesome mate, with only a little bit about the rift and changes in the Royal Family and what I knew about whatever traitorous plot was unfolding.
I didn’t share not because I didn’t trust them.
I didn’t do it because family business like that should stay in the family, and I had a strong feeling that threats to the realm shouldn’t be discussed over bad poker playing and copious imbibing.
Aleksei had been with me when they arrived, and he’d checked in a couple of times during the evening, being his normal charming self, looking his usual gorgeous and making my gals oo and aah at how fantastic he was. But other than that, he’d left us to our gal time.
The night was just what I needed.
We were standing at the lift.
And the gals had been loudly discussing the fact I was imminently going to have tipsy sex with my mate (mm-hmm, I’d shared about how great Aleksei was at that too).
Now that our night was over, my friends were right. Aleksei would soon be giving me more of what I needed.
But the decibel level of our discussion caused me to emit the first “Shh.”
“This makes me want to quest for my mate,” Gayle said.
“You could quest Sirk, and jump on his big, bear shifter dick,” Cat suggested.
“Shh,” Gayle shushed her. “He’s Aleksei’s best bud, and Aleksei has shifter hearing.”
“I’ve been glad I missed the mayhem at the gallery,” Monique put in. “But the more I hear of this Sirk, the more I wish I’d risked being trampled in order to get a look at this male.”
Suddenly, my beast shifted in my chest, and it made me turn my head toward the stairs.
“Everything okay, Laura?” Monique asked me.
I came back to them. “I’m sorry. I need to—”
My beast shifted again, and my skin started tingling.
“I need to get to my mate,” I said earnestly.
Suddenly sober eyes lit on me, and I loved them even more because none of them had mates, but they still got it.
I received hugs, cheek kisses, and they loaded into the lift.
I waved at them until the door slid closed and then I hurried to the stairs.
I found Aleksei at the window in the bedroom, fully clothed even if it was late, and staring at the city lights of Nocturn.
Seeing him like that, instantly, I was sober myself.
When I entered, his gaze came to me.
I went right to him.
“Have a good night?” he asked, extending an arm.
I walked into that arm, and he curled it around me, pulling my front to his side.
“It was great,” I replied and tipped my head. “Are you all right?”
His eyes moved over my face.
Then he looked back to the window.
No.
He wasn’t all right.
“Honey,” I whispered. “Talk to me.”
“I just got a comm from the lead of the task force. Dr. Buildlore has been found. He’s dead.”
Oh farg.
“Blasted in the face?” I asked.
He shook his head before looking down at me. “He hung himself. The supposition is, he couldn’t run anymore or feel hunted or both.”
“Did he leave a note?”
“Yes. He apologized to his fiancée for being a weak male.”
“That’s it?”
He nodded.
“Please tell me his fiancée was the nurse he was showing favoritism to,” I begged.
“It’s my understanding she was not.”
Stellar fellow all around, it seemed.
“Laura, he knew Anna,” Aleksei informed me.
My body lurched at this news.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed.
“They had a short affair a few years ago when they met on Anubis. They were both there for a holiday. It didn’t last longer than that, but they kept in touch.”
Anna certainly did get around to all the fabulous resorts of the Four Realms.
I’d always wanted to go to Anubis Island with its pink beaches, sprawling platinum-crown hotel and bungalows built on stilts in the azure waters of the Dolphin Sea.
The island was small, the resort the only thing on it, and there was nothing to do there but sit in the sun, eat, drink, go to one of their many spas, yoga or meditation sessions, hit one of their nightclubs, or browse through their exclusive boutiques. I’d even researched it (and as such, found there was no way I could afford it). Seven restaurants, three of them fine dining. Ten boutiques. Four spas. Two clubs. Oh, and a dinner theater.
This was where my mind turned, because it needed to have that brief respite rather than allowing what he was telling me to settle.
But then, what he was telling me settled.