“Now I know I don’t need to tell you guys your roles, because you’ve already been briefed,” Zara said, her arms folded over her chest as she gave us all firm looks. Rok, Enka, Savla, Rudgar and I blinked at her before nodding.
“Gabbi duty,” we repeated in unison.
“Good. We’ll let you know how everything goes,” she said, shooing us toward the elevator, already pulling potions from her pockets before striding back into the room.
“Thankfuckthey know what they’re doing,” Rudgar sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I’d do—” he looked over at Rok who had paled significantly. “No, no, man. Now’s not the time to faint—”
“Is it going to be like that for my Becca?” he demanded, grabbing Rudgar by his shirtfront and shaking it. The seams threatened to rip, but he didn’t even falter.
“She’s strong,” Rudgar said, gripping his shoulder, and we all nodded doing the same.
“One of the strongest females we know,” I agreed, even as the elevator doors opened. “It’ll be a breeze.”
The last was a lie because Rok was bigger than all of us, and Becca was a human. His youngling was going to take up all the space she had in her womb and then some. Still, as he gave a stiff nod and Rudgar had to walk the male through breathing exercises similar to Pen’s, I hid a smile.
I couldn’twaitto share this blessed news with my mate.
CHAPTER 28
Emma
The knock on my door startled me, and I bit my lip, smothering a smile as I wondered if it was Krusk. I hadn’t heard from him all evening and I was so used to seeing him now that I felt jittery not knowing where he was.
It was so odd. We werejust friendsafter all. I ignored the scoff that sounded in my head, beelining toward the door and pretending that I wasn’tecstaticto see him. Looking out of the peephole, though, I frowned.
A tall, beautiful female stood there in a fitted suit that accentuated her every curve and a crimson smile on her lips. She was looking around, and I felt heat flood my cheeks. This gorgeous, sophisticated female was standing in myshittyold apartment building and was probably ogled the entire way up by the ne’er-do-wells that frequented the stairwells.
I was fairly certain they didn’t actually live here, but I’d neverstopped to talk to them or anything, so I couldn’t confirm. The one time I’d tried to file a complaint about loitering to my superintendent, he’d asked me what I’d be giving him to deal with the problem.
The way his eyes had skimmed up and down my body had been enough to relay the message he was trying to give me. I’d given them all a wide berth after that and kept to myself. This was the only place I could afford and I’d installed a cheap security system and extra lock on my door in case.
I was certain the door addition would mean that my skeevy superintendent would be keeping my deposit, but now that I had some money in the bank, I was less worried about it. Glancing down at my outfit that screamedsecond hand, I cleared my throat, opening the door with a wide smile.
“Hi, there,” she said, her voice clear and beautiful.
A siren, then.
“Are you Emma?” she asked, tilting her head at me, but her expression was curious, not judgmental.
“Yes,” I responded, uncertainty lacing my tone.
“Good,” she laughed, reaching out to take my hand and placing a key fob in it. “I was worried I had the wrong address. I was certain Krusk would kill me if I did. I’m Molpe.”
“Krusk?” I asked, staring down at the fob even as every muscle in my body stiffened. How did this gorgeous female knowmy male?
Even as I had the thought, my brain tried to correct me.
Not our male.
But my body, my mind, and my heart weren’t listening to our bullshit.
“Yes, Mr. Everlock was kind enough to purchase a new car for you and he wanted to make sure that a female Sales Associate dealt with you,” she explained, winking at me. “And I totally get it. You’re gorgeous. I wouldn’t want any of those guys aroundyou either.”
I blinked at her, not sure what to say, but she hiked a thumb behind her. “Did you want me to give you the rundown? He got all of the upgrades and everything’s pretty intuitive, but just in case, I like to do a test run with our clients. Especially the ones who pay premium to have it rushed,” she added, with another wink.
Holy shit, holy shit, holyshit.
“A… car?” I gasped, shaking my head at her. “That can’t be right.”
