Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 129756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 519(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“I want to support you,” he said. “I just can’t support you shortchanging yourself. Just because you can’t be with your true mate doesn’t mean that an arranged mating is your only option. It doesn’t mean you can’t find real happiness with someone else.”
“I know that. But who says I can’t find it with Maksim?”
“That is not your father’s point.” Valentina dried her hands on a dish towel and tossed it aside. “You can do better than an arranged mating, Mila.”
“It was more like your brothers did a little matchmaking than it was a business transaction,” said Mila.
“But your mating the Alpha’s son would solidify an alliance; that makes it business.” Valentina pointed at her. “You deserve better. You can do better. You have a life here, Mila.”
“I enjoy my jobs, but they’re not jobs I can’t do elsewhere.” She’d miss this place, though. She’d worked at Blade and Spice Barbershop since she was a teenager. She loved it here. Loved its rustic charm and relaxed atmosphere. Loved that each day was different and that she could help others feel their best. Offering cuts, shaves, facials, and other services, it was a popular place.
The barbershop belonged to her uncle Vinnie, just as all the other nearby businesses did. Unlike most species of shifter, pallas cats kept the existence of their breed secret from humans and didn’t claim territories. They did, however, often group together for protection. The pride owned every store on both sides of the street—some they used themselves; others Vinnie rented out.
Her pride mates didn’t work in every store, though. Humans ran the bookstore, and a shifter-witch hybrid ran the herbalist store. The pride hired humans and even lone shifters.
Vinnie also owned two nearby apartment buildings, where many members of the pride lived. The cats working and living so close together was similar to a pack hanging out on its territory. The pride might not have claimed the land and segregated themselves from the public, but they liked to stay near each other.
“What about us?” demanded Valentina, returning dishware to cupboards. “You would leave us—your own parents?”
Ah, here came the emotional blackmail. Her mother could wield it like a pro. “You’ve been globe-trotters ever since I turned eighteen. If I leave here, I’ll still see you about as much as I do now.”
“What about your brother? He is your twin. You cannot leave your twin.”
“Alex is always roaming, and he goes to Russia a lot.”
“And what about your friends? Hmm?”
“If they’re real friends, they’ll get off their asses and come visit me.”
With a little growl, Valentina mule-kicked a cupboard door, slamming it shut. “I blame Adele and Joel for this. I will make them pay.”
Mila held up a calming hand. “I don’t begrudge them what they have, nor do I resent them for what they’re building. But my cat does, and I don’t know how to help her.” Even hearing Joel’s name was enough to make her cat curl back her upper lip.
James scrubbed a hand down his face. “I can understand why you’d want to put space between you and them if your cat’s struggling so much. But moving to Russia? That’s a hell of a distance.”
“Like I told you, it’ll depend on how things go between me and Maksim,” Mila reminded him. “He seems like a nice guy. You’d like him.”
James snorted. “No, I won’t. Not if he takes my baby girl from me.”
Valentina planted her hands on her hips. “And if things do not work out between you and this Maksim, you will come home. Yes?”
“If my cat manages to work through her shit, yeah.” But Mila didn’t see that happening in a hurry.
“Honey,” began James, his voice gentle, “it’s unlikely that she’ll ever forgive Joel.”
“I know.” Mila swallowed. “But if she found happiness with someone else, she might be able to look at Joel without wanting to slit him from throat to sternum.”
James winced. “That bad, huh?”
Mila nodded. “That bad.”
A stream of Russian curses flew out of Valentina’s mouth, her voice so loud that it bounced off the walls of the small room. “He should be the one to leave. Not you.”
“Joel hasn’t done anything wrong,” said Mila.
Valentina’s nostrils flared. “But he was not born in this pride. You were.”
“So was Adele,” Mila pointed out. “She has just as much of a right to be here as I do.”
“Bah,” scoffed Valentina. “She is too weak to be pallas cat. Sweet. Delicate. Needy. Eager to please. Your kind are fierce and strong. She is like lost puppy.”
In some ways, yeah, she was. Mila’s cat thought of the other female as weak too. But. “She’s Joel’s choice.”
“Then he is stupid and does not deserve my girl.” Eyes shiny, Valentina turned away and shut a drawer so hard the cutlery rattled.
As her mother worked to close the crooked drawer that seemed determined to remain open, Mila said, “Watch that drawer, Mom. It’s stuck and—” But it shut easily for her mother, as if it didn’t dare risk her wrath.