After she got the blood she needed, she turned to process the sample, but continued talking to Kaiser. “Remember my mate?”
“The Dragon idiot that didn’t chase you down after it clicked into place that you two are mates?”
“Yep.”
“I can’t believe you’d even allow him to come up here after renouncing you. And I’ll go one step further, why do you care what he says or does enough to let it upset you so much you didn’t eat today, and what did you call it, have a mini nervous breakdown?”
“A lot to unpack in that question, but let’s just suffice it to say that he’s here, it wasn’t my idea, and part of my mental breakdown is resentment toward my father because he’s the one that gave him sanctuary.”
“Oh, shit. Well, that sucks.”
“Doesn’t it, though?” Cristie asked.
“Doesn’t he know the male renounced you?”
Cristie looked back at Kaiser. “To be honest, that is apparently a matter of contention.”
“What does that mean?” Kaiser asked.
“It means that he didn’t actually speak the words. He just didn’t come see me before I left regardless of the fact that I told him I wouldn’t be there forever and when I planned to leave.”
“So you took his silence as renouncement.”
“Wouldn’t you?!” she demanded.
“I don’t know. I took you throwing me off the top of your castle as an invitation to marry me when we were six or seven. What do I know?”
“You were six, I was eight.”
“Okay. Still broke my heart when you refused,” Kaiser said, with a smirk. “You ruined me for other females. It’s why I have flavors of the week.”
“Bullshit,” Cristie said with a chuckle.
Kaiser laughed, the sound of it echoing through the exam room and out into the hallway. Fortunately it was well after closing time and the patients were all gone, otherwise there would have been a crowd of people at the exam room door waiting for a chance to see Kaiser. Voted sexiest athlete in the division he and his Major League Baseball team played in, along with being a notorious playboy, women never missed a chance to smile at him and flutter their lashes in an effort to be the one that might happen to change his wandering eye.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on it now and send the Dragon running back home to his own shifter clan.”
“Yeah, go ahead, get me roasted by the Dragon. This one does breathe fire, right?”
“He does. And you might look even better with a slightly seared tone to your skin. You’d definitely probably smell better, like when you arrive at a cook out and they’ve got steaks on the grill. Yummy!” she said dramatically.
Kaiser laughed even harder. “Yeah, you’re definitely hungry if you’re equating my flame roasted body with the scent of a grilled steak. So, what do you say, want to have dinner with me? I honestly did miss you. And believe it or not, you’re one of the only people I know that treats me like I’m just your cousin instead of something special. I find I really need that about now.”
Cristie looked him up and down, quickly giving him the once over. “You good?” she asked, when she picked up on a slightly unsettled aura coming off him. He hid it well, though.
“Good enough,” he said, winking at her.
“Pick me up at 6:00?” she asked.
“Cristie, baby, it’s 6:30.”
“Oh, well, let me finish this, and make sure Buster Bee is okay, and then run me home to change real quick and it’s a date.”
“You got it,” Kaiser said.
~~~
Twenty minutes later Kaiser paused at the front gate of Riley’s home and pressed his pass code into the security panel. He looked over at Cristie sitting in the passenger side of his Ferrari Portofino. “You alright? You went quiet on me.”
