Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“So you didn’t decide to take me because you were impressed by my dueling skills.”
“You’re cute with a sword.”
“I killed someone!”
“And it was adorable,” he smiles at me. He’s teasing me, and it’s hard to stay angry even though I very much want to.
“So why are you guys stealing all the shifters? We belong to the king, don’t we?”
An almost imperceptible shadow passes over Rafe’s eyes, but is gone as soon as I think I saw it.
“The king of Eclipse has always been a shifter. This city was built for our kind. Over time, normal people moved here, and the cardinal and the capital rose to power, but yes, in some sense shifters belong to the king. What’s currently happening is a kind of forced servitude. That’s why we are freeing as many wolves as we can. Eclipse was supposed to be a place we’d be free.”
“But Einar bosses me around like he fucking owns me.”
“Einar is an alpha, and your mate. So am I.”
“And Kirin?”
“Kirin’s a whelp,” he laughs. “But yes, actually, all three of us have the alpha gene.”
“Oh, it’s a gene, is it?”
“It is, actually.”
I don’t know why all of this makes me feel so incredibly sulky, but it does.
“I want the alpha gene,” I mutter to myself, under my breath.
“Oh, you have it too,” he laughs. “There’s no doubt about that. Why do you think you’re such a handful? Alphas are practically impossible to control when they’re female.”
“Why when they’re female?” I brighten at the news that I, too, get to be alpha.
“Because nature, in her wisdom, makes most female shifters some variant of beta or natural submissive. Doesn’t make them any less dangerous, but orients them toward kindness, compassion, and caretaking. Those types don’t like to rock the boat.”
“I like to set the boat on fire.”
“I know you do,” he smiles. “And that’s probably why you bonded with all three of us. Nature knows you need a small pack to handle you.”
I don’t know if he’s appealing to my ego on purpose, or if he’s just telling the truth, but whatever it is, I like it.
And then the morning gets even better.
“Pancakes,” Einar says, coming into the room with a stack of big, fat pancakes on a silver tray. There’s syrup, too, and rich butter.
Once it is all served, I take a dubious bite, and my mouth is instantly full of the most delicious flavor I’ve ever experienced. It’s rich and slightly crispy and sweet and fatty. It’s perfect.
“These are delicious,” I say, not quite making eye contact with Einar because I feel a little guilty now, like I’ve been acting badly in an unreasonable way. I’m finding out a lot about myself, and the world, and it’s hard to adjust when you’re used to being an asshole all the time.
“Excellent as always,” Rafe grins. “You never disappoint, Einar.”
At some point, Kirin drifts in, languid, beautiful, and wearing silk pajama bottoms and a robe that hangs open so I can see the bare lines of his chest. His natural elegance is so much at odds with the rougher ways I’ve seen him, like when I stole his burrito.
“Good morning,” he says.
I keep feeling shy all over again, and I don’t know why, and I kind of hate it, but it makes saying a simple good morning feel practically impossible. I watch him as he sits down, avoids the pancakes, and pours himself coffee.
He catches me looking at him and flickers me a little wink that makes me blush. What the hell is going on? Why is my body constantly in some state of erotic shock or tension around these men?
I know the answer, of course. They’re my mates. I am chemically addicted to them, basically. No matter what happens from this point on, we are bonded.
“We need to talk about your behavior,” Einar says to me.
Those words make my stomach sink. I don’t want a lecture right now. It makes me feel like I’m back at the academy, back being a disappointment.
“Can we just… not?”
“No.” He’s firm.
“Maybe that can be discussed later,” Rafe says.
“Maybe,” Einar agrees, with one sharp look at me.
I notice that Einar, in spite of being very much in charge, is letting Rafe call the shots in some respects. I wonder if this is how it always is. Seems to me that the dynamics are not as simple as they might first appear to be.
“I’m going to report you to the academy as being in my custody,” Einar says. “You can’t just disappear.”
“And they’re going to be okay with that?”
“Probably not, but I was an instructor there for many years, and it will at least assuage their concerns for your immediate physical safety.”
“You abducted me from there,” I point out. “You didn’t want them to know you had me. You didn’t care about their concerns for my physical safety.”