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)
Nothing from my beast.
I wondered how long it would take for the sedative to wear off and was tardily thrilled Aleksei had thought to call a doctor.
Maybe there was a reversal.
I opened my eyes and stared in the mirror, feeling the warmth of my skin under my hand, and such gratitude, such profound gratitude, it was unreal. I had to tamp it down, or I’d be overwhelmed and unable to function.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re not gone,” I whispered.
Still nothing from my beast, but she was there.
Praise Hecate, she was there.
Another deep breath while I pulled back my shoulders, then I ran my fingers through my hair to bring some semblance of order to the windswept mess.
With that, I decided I was ready for whatever else was going to happen that night.
Or at least as ready as I would get.
I headed out to the landing.
I stopped there when I heard voices.
And at what those voices were saying, I rested a shoulder against the wall of the alcove around the double doors, and I listened (okay, eavesdropped).
“Son, you incinerated a man in an art gallery for Beelzebub’s sake,” a man stated hotly, and I could tell it was over a comm. “We have due process in this realm!” he nearly shouted. “This is a PR disaster.”
“We need to spin it. Immediately. I’m calling Germaine.” That was a woman’s voice.
“And then you destroyed said art gallery and flew over the city with an untethered female on your neck.” The man’s voice was back and going at Aleksei like the woman hadn’t spoken. “The safety issues you ignored with that alone are going to dog my reign, and yours, until our deaths. I can’t even begin to imagine what got into you.”
I jumped guiltily when Aleksei appeared on the lower level, just beyond the edge of the upper landing, where I could see him, but more to the point, he could see me. He was holding a tablet, but his attention was on me.
He lifted a hand, crooked a finger, and I had no choice but to leave my eavesdropping spot and join him.
“Are you listening to us?” the man demanded from the tablet.
Aleksei met me at the bottom of the stairs, guided me back to the freestanding kitchen bar, slid an arm around my shoulders and turned us both to the display.
I gasped and then immediately dropped into a clumsy half-curtsy that was hindered by Aleksei’s arm around me when I saw King Fillion and Queen Calisa scrunched together on display.
Her famed burnished-brown tresses were arranged in an elaborate updo, and she was dripping in jewels at ears and throat. His black hair was swept back, and I could see the ends of an untied bowtie dangling at the sides of the opened collar of his pristine white shirt.
Unlike any time I’d ever seen them before, when they were always collected and completely put together, now, they both appeared wildly harassed.
Then again, their son’s life had been threatened, and he did indeed commit a number of rather alarming felonies that night.
Aleksei sounded amused when he told me, “You don’t have to curtsy over a comm.”
I straightened.
“As delighted as we are in this time of strife to know you are not alone,” Queen Calisa began crisply, “perhaps we can speak to you without your female present.”
At this juncture, with no warning (to me!), Aleksei landed it on them.
“Mother, Father, it is with great pleasure I introduce Laura Makepeace. My mate,” Aleksei announced.
Oh boy.
Both the king and queen froze so completely, I thought there was a glitch in the comm.
And then Queen Calisa crowed, “Dear Lilith, this is brilliant! Germaine will make a meal of this. All is saved! It’s perfect.”
“Your mate?” the king asked.
“My mate,” Aleksei confirmed.
The king’s eyes narrowed. “How long have you known you had a mate?”
“I believe we met five days ago.”
The queen focused in on the important matter at hand (or, the other one).
“And you were going to share this with us…when?” she queried.
“When we got to know each other better.”
The queen studied the ceiling like it could deliver her from her independent-thinking and living son.
“Excuse me…but let me get this straight. The assassin took aim at my son’s mate?” the king inquired.
“Strictly speaking, she put herself in the line of the stream to protect me,” Aleksei drawled.
Red instantly infused the king’s face to the point I grew concerned he was going to have a stroke. It wasn’t common in shifters, but it wasn’t unheard of.
“Where is this cretin?” King Fillion demanded in a tone I could only describe as kingly.
The queen looked at her husband. “Fillion, calm yourself.”
He snapped his head around to face her. “He’s found his mate, Caly. And she was in the line of fire,” the king retorted, looked beyond his display and asked someone in the room with them, “What’s that? The Hold? I’m going there promptly.”