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)
Makepeace inclined his head. “What I’m saying is, there’s no excuse for what I did. But I understand I did it. I take responsibility for the ramifications of it. I know I harmed my own daughter to the point she wants nothing to do with me. And this is what I must live with. Cetra does not take responsibility for her actions. I’m no danger to Laura, not anymore, but I know I also am because of our history.” A look of agony flashed through his expression before he could control it. “Now, I hurt her just by existing. Cetra doesn’t understand she does the same.”
“You think she’ll eventually attempt a reconciliation,” Aleksei summed it up.
Makepeace nodded. “For what she can get out of it, yes.”
“You must know, in order to protect my mate, I’m paying attention to you both.”
The male dipped his chin. “Of course. But you must understand, I know how I hurt Cetra. I take responsibility for that too. I’m relieved about this dissolution, for myself, but also for her. She needs to be free of me. So this isn’t me being bitter and trying to get one over on her. I fear, if she’s given half a chance, she’ll connive her way back into Laura’s life. And Laura may be taken in by her. There are two in each couple, your highness. You are here and she doesn’t know. Laura can do things too that she doesn’t want you to know. You were angry when you caught her speaking to me. What might that bring if her mother reaches out to her?”
That muscle jumped in his cheek again, and it cost him to say what he said next.
But it was the truth.
“I’m an adult, so is my fiancée. She can do as she pleases. But in the end, whatever comes of it, rest assured, I have her heart safe in my hands.”
With that, Aleksei turned to leave.
“Your highness,” Makepeace called.
Aleksei blew out a breath and turned back.
“I’m selling the bot, to pay back taxes,” he shared. “And the brownstone. I don’t need this much space anymore.”
Not that he’d tell the male, but Aleksei was grateful he’d extended his warning about Laura’s mother.
But he wasn’t doing this.
“My coming here is about Laura speaking to you two weeks ago. It’s because I wanted to assess what that might have communicated and reiterate that you are not to seek her out for any reason. What this is not is your opening to me or your opportunity to try to win me over.”
“I would have made the same decision about my Laura,” he murmured.
“So, we’re done,” Aleksei stated.
“Keep her safe,” Makepeace replied.
Aleksei felt a vein pulse in his forehead and growled, “You do not have to say that shit to me.”
Makepeace dipped his chin again, but he did it watching Aleksei closely…and fighting a smile.
Aleksei moved out of the greenhouse, into the garden, and he and Set walked through the house and to the craft.
Once he was inside, had requested a course to Spikeback, and as he waited for approval, he pulled out his Palm because it was vibrating.
He had a pic comm.
He opened it and it was a selfie of Gayle, smiling at the cam, with Sirk in the background, throwing a grin over his shoulder while he was cooking.
It was from Laura.
And the only communication she attached to it was !!!!!!!!!!!!
He smiled, even if he didn’t want to get involved.
He really didn’t.
But Mac had broken Gayle’s heart, regardless that they barely knew each other.
And now Sirk was involved.
Aleksei had lived with the idea that Laura might not choose to be his mate for five hours, and every second of those five hours was wretched.
Gayle had been living with it for nearly two weeks. In the meantime, she’d hooked up with Sirk, likely for the same reasons Laura’s father had found her mother.
Once you found your mate, the void of them was agony. Aleksei could understand moving swiftly to fill that void, even if it never felt anything but empty.
This brought him back to Tern Makepeace, a place he didn’t want to be.
And with all of that, he felt compelled to forward the pic to Cormac, with an attached text comm that said, Advice. Don’t let this get any more fucked up.
He received course approval and lifted off, and in that time (or after it), Mac didn’t reply.
But his dash comp told him he had an incoming video comm from Tanyn.
“Accept,” he said.
Tanyn’s face filled the screen on his dash.
“How are things, your majesty?” Aleksei joked.
A ghost of a smile flitted over Tanyn’s lips before he replied, “The trolls have been successfully tallied, contained and are ready for transport to the habitat that’s been created for them in the Center.”
“Final count?”
“Five hundred and seventy-three.”
Aleksei was surprised. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Tanyn confirmed. “I’ve been reading through centuries of reports on these creatures, Lex. It’s horrifying at the same time fascinating, though I’ll admit that fascination is morbid to extremes.”