Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
She frowns. “Meaning?”
I shrug. “I’m plain. And look at him.”
She laughs. “You’re not plain, Stacy!”
I roll my eyes.
“Girl, you’re model tall. You’ve got gorgeous hair. Pretty eyes. There’s nothing plain about you.”
“I’ve got small boobs, zero sense of style, and I’m … awkward,” I add.
She shakes her head like I’m being silly. “I guess we’re all our own biggest critic,” she says, “Jase looks at me like a little sister. An annoying one at that. It doesn’t help that he’s gone after what happened last night with me and him.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“He left the town hall with a bottle of wine and Danica Young last night.”
“Ah,” I say.
I did see what looked like some flirting with them.
“I want to hate her, but I can’t.”
“Oh,” I whisper. “Yikes.”
“Erica saw me pining for him like I’ve been doing way too long as he waltzed off with yet another woman to notch into his bedpost. But Erica texted Danica and asked her not to go there with him because it would hurt me. I didn’t know about the text until after the fact. But Jase saw the text, reamed me out, crushed my heart, and stormed off. Then all the drama started with your brother and now…Jase is out of town.”
“Oh,” I repeat.
“So, where he and I left things last night and now he’s left town to go track down his sister and your brother and it’s his turn to mate and he’s going to a shifter village with how many mating-aged women? A dozen at least?”
I blow out a breath. “I can see why you’re concerned.”
“Ugh!” She dramatically drops her forehead to the kitchen island.
“But if he’s meant to be with you, it’ll be you, right?”
“What if he’s not meant to be with me?” she asks.
“Then maybe whoever you are meant to be with is just around the corner?”
“Not all shifter females have a fated mate though, do they? Alphas aren’t the majority, they’re the rarity.”
I shrug. “I guess.”
“My parents are fated. You and Grey are fated. A lot of people around me have it or will eventually get it. I don’t know what I’m gonna get. Maybe I’ll just be the town librarian forever and that’s all I’ll be.”
“Is it an awful thing to be?” I ask.
She stares into her teacup. “No.”
I lower my voice so Luke and Grey will hopefully not hear. “Most of the people in my pack live a hard life of strife with not even a fraction of the blessings you’ve gotten. I’m not trying to be insensitive, I’m just saying, if you saw where I come from you’d realize you’ve got a lot of wonderful things in your life, Bailey. Maybe not absolutely everything you want, but you’ve got everything you need. And there’s no reason to think you won’t have more wonderful things coming your way including a partner to spend your life with. You’ve got a loving family, a wonderful pack, an amazing place to live. You’ve got a great role in your pack, and I saw how many people you interacted with last night – people around here care about you. You don’t go to bed hungry, nobody is physically or sexually abusing you, and you don’t even have to think about whether the water that comes out of the tap is poisoning you. Plus your pack has a council of leaders who care very much about you as well as the well-being of every single person you care about. That’s a lot of good.”
She’s frowning. “How bad is it where you come from, Stacy?”
The concern on her face has me realizing just how much I’ve word-vomited about my own existence.
My face goes hot and I whisper, “Bad.”
She reaches across the island and squeezes my hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you,” I say, returning the squeeze but not letting go. “Thank you for being so welcoming to me since I’ve gotten here. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”
“I’m sorry if I sound like an entitled princess over here, especially after all you’ve been through.”
I jiggle her hand a little. “You don’t sound like that. I’m sorry you had an argument with Jase. I’m sorry if your love is unrequited. I hope it works out exactly how you want it, but if it doesn’t, I just want you to know you’ve got a lot of things to be thankful for. But I get it… I think. Though I’ve never loved anyone before your brother that way and it’s very much reciprocated, to imagine how awful it would feel to not get it back… I feel for you. I hope Jase comes back and identifies you as his mate. If that doesn’t happen and he comes back having chosen someone else, I hope your true mate is near and ready to light you up as much as Grey has done for me. He’s changed my life. Everything about me is slowly becoming more… me…it’s really quite incredible.” I smile and let go of her hand.