Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
“Catla,” Zyra admonished softly.
I pointed at Cormac and reminded her, “He just told her to change clothes. He hasn’t claimed her, but even if he had, he cannot tell her to change clothes.”
Cormac ignored all this and said to Gayle, “This isn’t going to work on me.”
“It’s not intended to work on you,” she replied. “It’s for Sirk.”
Oh shit.
Laura, Aleece and I shot looks at each other as the temperature in the room became sweltering.
“He’s here. Now. To be with me,” Gayle said as she folded herself cooly (and sexily) in an armchair, like she was the only one in the room who didn’t feel the heat.
Did you know about this? Laura mouthed to me.
I did, at the same time I didn’t, so I shook my head.
Cormac’s deep voice was scary-gravelly when he warned, “This was foolish, Gayliliel.”
“And what in our brief history makes you think I give a shit what you think of me or my decisions, Your Highness?” Gayle retorted.
At this untimely juncture, Tanyn joined us.
With Sirk.
I didn’t know whether to cheer or groan.
Clearly, somewhere along the line, with no word to anybody, Gayle had contacted Sirk to instigate the current play. For some mad reason he’d agreed, and now…what?
Over the king’s dining table, Sirk was going to transform into his shifter bear and go at Cormac, who could conjure weapons from thin air?
I was seeing the error of my ways, letting everyone go this afternoon for private chill time and so they’d have plenty of it to get ready for dinner.
As I worried over this, Sirk, who had obviously been given his script, went right to Gayle, dipped in to brush a kiss on her lips, and he murmured (but loud enough for everyone to hear), “Hey, baby.”
At this point the room erupted and all in it were in motion.
The males, to block Cormac from jumping Sirk.
The females, just to get out of the way so our dresses wouldn’t accidentally get torn, or we wouldn’t break a heel.
That said, Gayle and Sirk kept their places, like all of this was happening and they played no part in it.
It was Aleksei who warned Cormac, “You need to calm down. This was your choice. You’ll remember, I told you not to fuck this up. You fucked it up.”
Sirk calmly sat on the arm of Gayle’s chair and goaded, “Yeah, bud. Your loss, my gain.”
“Oh my gods,” Laura muttered, horrified.
“This is mega,” Aleece muttered, thrilled.
“I thought you said you were going to deal with this,” I called to Tanyn.
He scowled at me and asked, “Did you want me to turn away a guest invited by one of your dearest friends?”
“No. But I heard there’s a dungeon in this place. Maybe you could have thrown Cormac in it before you brought Sirk up for dinner,” I suggested.
“You’re not helping,” Laura whispered urgently to me.
“And what should I help?” I asked, then something hit me, and my focus shifted to Gayle.
Cool, calm, collected Gayle.
“You’ve taken it,” I whispered.
“Yes,” she confirmed.
I closed my eyes.
“Taken what?” Cormac asked.
“I’ve spelled myself so I won’t feel our ties,” Gayle told him.
“You what?” Cormac bellowed.
And if I thought the room was sweltering before, I didn’t know the true meaning of what it felt like to swelter.
“You can hardly be upset by this,” Gayle retorted calmly. “You don’t want me. And now, I don’t want you.”
“You allowed this?” Cormac demanded of Sirk.
“Unlike you, when my female makes her mind up about something important, I don’t interfere,” Sirk replied.
Cormac turned to Aleksei. “You allowed it?”
“I have no control over Gayle,” Aleksei replied.
“Who did you source the spell from?” Cormac asked Gayle.
“It’s none of your business,” Gayle didn’t answer.
“My mate took a bespoke potion concocted from an unknown witch, it’s my fucking business,” Cormac returned.
“I don’t see how,” Gayle said casually.
“I think you need to give him that ten second breathing strategy, Nayden,” I suggested.
Nayden’s eyes lit with humor, but he pressed his lips together so it wouldn’t be audible.
“I claim you,” Cormac stated, directing this to Gayle, and we all went still. “You are mine.”
“Too late, Your Highness,” Gayle replied.
I wasn’t the only one who saw the white-hot sparks sizzling from Cormac’s fingers.
Tanyn did too, because he said, “You need to walk this off, Mac.”
I wasn’t a fan of the focus Cormac had on my male when he demanded, “And you tell me you could walk off witnessing another male paw at your mate.”
“I didn’t fuck around in claiming mine, my friend,” Tanyn said calmly. “Now, we need to figure out how you can live with this situation, and feel Gayle’s safe, and how she can live with it, and her emotions are safe. Gayle made the first move. You can figure out how to work with her on that, or I’m going to have to intervene, and you’re not going to like how I do that.”