“You get to hang out with Paul, though, right?”
She flung herself back in the chair. “Ugggh, what are grown-ups even for? What is the point of you?”
I smiled her way. “I’m good at braiding hair.”
“Braiding?” She rubbed her chin. “Hmm…okay, show me what you got.”
“Come on over here then, sit next to me on the bed, and I’ll show you. Killian left me all these nice combs and scrunchies and other hair products in the bathroom. I’ll go get them.”
She heaved an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, he’s head over heels in love with you.”
“So he claims.”
“No, he is. You guys are going to have a good future together. Lots of kids.” At my skeptical look, she shrugged. “I see visions of the future, sometimes.”
“What about you and Paul?”
She shook her head. “I can’t see my own future. And I can’t foresee everything.” Her face turned cloudy. “It’s random and I miss important things.”
I had a feeling something painful had happened that she’d missed.
“I am sure that if you knew something important was coming, you’d tell people. Wait here.”
She obeyed and I fetched the hair products and sat next to her, quickly taming her silky locks.
When I finally finished, she leapt to her feet and hurried over to look in the mirror that sat behind the perfume display. “Well, you’re good for something, at least,” she admitted, admiring the crown of French braids I’d made for her.
The door to the room was pushed open farther, and a stocky, handsome man wearing hiking boots, jeans, and a blue flannel shirt let himself in. I was pretty sure I’d seen him with Killian earlier at the attempted kidnapping scene back in the human world. At his flank was an older woman with round glasses dressed much the same but with tennis shoes instead of boots. She had a clipboard in her hands and her hair done up in a bun.
“Good morning, Daphne,” he said and then looked at Sarah as she admired herself. “Did you ask permission to come in?”
“Nope. Don’t worry, she’s as lame as the rest of you,” Sarah shot him a look of annoyance. “She hates young love.”
The man ignored her. “I’m Gage, Killian’s beta.”
I scrunched up my face in confusion. “Beta? I swear, your pack should come with an instruction manual.”
“I’m his indispensable, highly valuable right-hand man.” He grinned at me. Apparently, all shifters were handsome and charming. Where had guys like this been when I was trying to find a date in the human world? Hidden away here, apparently.
“And this is Maeve, the pack’s secretary. She manages all the paperwork and helps things keep running behind the scenes.”
She approached and offered a hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Daphne. We’re honored to meet our new alpha heir’s mate.” And she did a little curtsey.
Then she straightened up. “Sorry. That was weird.”
“Only a little. I mean, I’m just not used to getting the royal treatment. I mean, I’m a waitress at a dive bar. I’m used to bad come-on lines and butt pinches.”
“Youwerea waitress at a dive bar,” Gage corrected me. “Now you’re our alpha heir’s mate.”
“Anyway,” she added brightly, “Killian just adores you! And so will we!”
I gestured at the closet, its doors still open. “I’m starting to understand that he fancies me a bit, yes. Only just a little though. Nothing too crazy,” I said wryly.
“Well, fated mates, and alphas, you know how it is,” she smiled.
No, I didn’t. But I wished I did.
“And yet you won’t let me marry Paul,” Sarah muttered under her breath. No one seemed to pay her any mind.
