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)
Aleece didn’t either.
They were doing so because Tim was making an effort.
He had lapses to the punk he used to be.
But evidence was suggesting the loss of his allowance and much of his freedom gave him time to think on things (they’d had to put him back into rotation for royal appearances with the absence of Errol—they hadn’t quite agreed yet how they would explain that, but fortunately, no one seemed to have noticed he was gone).
Not to mention, it was clear Tim was still smarting from all that had happened with Rol, and he’d turned that into an attempt to rehab his relationships with his other two siblings.
“Crabcakes,” Aleksei ordered. “And a lemon parfait.”
“Oh! I want a parfait too. Make mine chocolate,” Laura ordered.
“I want a lime tart,” Aleece said.
“Hold it, hold it, bloody hell,” Tim groused. “One at a time.”
“That’s all for me,” Aleece said.
“Me too,” Laura added.
Tim nodded, got up and moved out of the seating area so he could speak into the Palm.
“While you’re up, open another bottle,” Aleece called after him.
He waved at her and left the room.
“Please tell me you guys got a bungalow out on the water on Anubis,” Aleece begged.
Aleksei blew out an annoyed breath and looked to the ceiling.
“Wait. What? We’re going to Anubis?” Laura breathed.
“Yes,” he muttered to his mate and shot a killing look to his sister.
“Whoops. So that was a surprise?” she asked.
It was.
He returned his attention to Laura. “Your vid starts shooting in a week. We won’t have long there, but we leave tomorrow morning, and we’ll be back two days before you have to be on set. Allain arranged everything with Nata.”
Laura sent Nova scampering since she’d thrown herself at her mate and was kissing him all over his face.
“You keep missing my mouth, love,” he teased.
She stopped fucking around and laid one on him.
He wrapped his arms around her, cocked his head and took over.
“See what happens when you don’t pay attention, Tim?” Aleece shouted. “They get out of hand.”
“Gods, I can’t unsee that,” Tim, obviously returning to the room, griped.
Aleksei ended their kiss with a quick one on Laura’s nose, and she turned and cuddled into him, nestling her head under his jaw.
“You’re constantly so cute, I’m going to have to do a warp trip to the Six Realms so I can visit one of their ancient vomitoriums,” Aleece joked.
She then reached between her thigh and the cushion of the chair she was in to pull up her Palm.
She looked at the display, said, “Engage,” and then, “Hey, Mom.”
“Where are you?” his mother’s voice came from his sister’s unit.
“At Spikeback for drinks with Lex and Laura,” Aleece answered, then turned the display around to circle the company as she carried on, “Now we’re going to have Shape’s with them.”
When the display hit her, Laura waved.
Gods, she was adorable.
“I take it this means you and your brother won’t be at pre-dinner drinks in ten minutes?” their mother asked.
“Sorry, Mom. Lex mentioned Shape’s and we were all in. That just happened or I would have commed.”
“Fine. I’ll tell Cook. Love to all.”
The last she called out to the room, and he knew she disconnected when Aleece tucked the Palm beside her again.
Aleksei let Laura go before he pushed himself up to get a drink, and as he moved to the drinks cart, they lapsed into general chitchat.
Understandably, it had been a busy time since the attack at Celestial Palace.
But now, things were settling. Laura had broken the seal on her first appearance. She was going back to work. They were ensconced at Spikeback.
This was their life. Busy. Steady. Together.
But no one was plotting their murder.
So it was good.
On this thought, his creature snapped to attention so fast, Aleksei had to let out a sharp breath as he turned swiftly.
This was because Laura was alert on the couch, her eyes to the door, and the beast in her chest was alert too.
And they were because Catla was bursting through it.
She was carrying what appeared to be a large, framed, wrapped canvas.
And her eyes were wild.
“Oh my gods! You will not believe what Dad has done!” Cat cried to Laura as she raced to the sofa, resting the canvas against the side.
Laura slowly stood, asking, “What’s he done?”
“He arranged a marriage for me.”
“Holy fuck,” Tim muttered.
“By Lilith,” Aleece whispered.
Bloody hell, Aleksei thought.
This was a demon thing. It used to happen all the time, but now, only occasionally. And that occasion was usually when the patriarch decided his daughter had dallied too long in finding a match.
There were no laws that forced any female into a marriage. And there were demon females who refused the matches. But if they did, they were usually excommunicated from their families.
Cat was a together female.
But he saw how close she was to her parents, he doubted she’d do anything to break ties with them.