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“That’s a bit dramatic. I think I’ve always just been trying to live up to Dad’s expectations and failing spectacularly.”
“Only because you never understood what Dad really wanted. He wanted you to find something you were passionate about. He wanted you to be happy. I don’t think you’re happy, Dante. I don’t think you were happy when you were partying, and I don’t think you’re happy behind a desk.”
He wasn’t. And it was awful that someone saw it. He had everything a person could want, and he wasn’t happy. But you were. You were happy with Kaja in the woods. You were complete. “Maybe some people just aren’t smart enough to be happy.”
She huffed, a frustrated sound. “You are so slow sometimes. You are happy when you’re fighting for Beck and Ci. When you’re talking politics and how to help the masses, your eyes light up and you become this different person altogether. That’s your passion, Dante. Not numbers and spreadsheets. And I saw you the other night with Kaja. When you thought no one was looking, I saw your fangs and your eyes bleeding out. It was primal, something we try to hide. But you were happy, brother. And that made me happy.”
He tried to hide that. “If the press caught me like that, we would all be in trouble.”
“You think I don’t go a little crazy around Colin?” Susan asked. “I know royals try to hide the way consorts make them feel, but it’s stupid. It’s love. It’s how we love. The sharing of emotions and sensations is how we love. They don’t prepare you for it.”
Dante let a beat of silence slip by before he said, “I can see Kaja’s memories.”
Susan leaned forward, surprise clear on her face. “Seriously?”
He’d known he shouldn’t talk about it, but the temptation was too great. He didn’t have Beck and Ci to talk to. And he didn’t trust anyone else. “It’s like I’m there. It’s like I’m her. I live out her memories when we’re connected.”
“Wow. That must be her power.” Susan contemplated the situation for a moment. “It must be because she’s different. I don’t get anything like that from Colin. I get a lot of thoughts about how hot I am and how much he loves me, but I don’t ever become him. I’m kind of glad about that. I don’t think working on a farm would be an experience I’d look forward to reliving.”
Dante sat back, inexplicably tired. “Yeah, well, being an outcast in a wolf pack hasn’t been awesome.”
“Outcast?”
He hoped he wasn’t telling his sister something Kaja wouldn’t share, but he felt like Susan should know. They were getting close. “Her parents are dead, her siblings killed because her father tried and failed to be the leader of the pack. She was spared because she was a baby, but they treated her like shit. The pack’s leader’s son raped her and then threw her out of the pack when he was done with her. They expected her to die alone.”
“Gods, Dante, I had no idea. She’s so open.” His sister’s hand was over her heart. She wouldn’t think less of Kaja. Susan would love her all the more for how resilient she was.
“Yes, she’s strong,” Dante said. “She didn’t let it kill her heart. That’s why I cringe at the thought that she needs to be fixed. She could teach the people of this plane a thing or two.”
Susan nodded. “I understand. Just let me work with her. You’ll see. She’ll settle in. She’ll learn our ways.”
Dante had to hope so. “Just make sure the tutor is a kind woman.”
“I actually was thinking about a man,” Susan began.
“No.” He wasn’t leaving his lovely, strong, interesting consort alone with some man.
Susan smiled as though she’d been testing him and he’d passed. “Fine. I’ll find a very nice woman to teach our Kaja. Colin can help, too. He likes her. And mother wants to throw a big party for her next month. She’s inviting everyone, including the press. We’ll polish her up, show her off, and then she can go back to being herself.” Susan leaned over and hugged him. “But you should think about slowing down and really thinking about what you want. You know damn well Beck and Ci won’t run. I’ll do anything I can to help, but I’m strictly financial, brother. You could help them in other ways. Mom and Dad will try to tell you to be safe, but you’ve never been safe. It’s who you are. It’s why I love you.”
He was shocked at the tears in his sister’s eyes when she kissed his cheek and stood to go.
“And I need those reports tonight, Dante.”
The doors closed behind her, and Dante knew he had a lot to think about.
Chapter Sixteen
Kaja stared at the machine in front of her. Like everything else on this plane, she found it confusing and difficult.
“What would you like to drink, mistress?”
Though the machine had no face, it still spoke. It still asked her questions she wasn’t sure of how to answer. Everyone did that here. Everyone had questions. She could still feel the press of the people called reporters from earlier in the day. She’d been out with her mother-in-law shopping, and the reporters had found their car. When she and Alana had gotten out, there had been a rush to surround them. Kaja had changed out of sheer fear.
She could still hear the shocked shouts and see the flashes as the reporters took pictures and video.
Dante’s mother had been horrified. Oh, she’d pretended to be angry with the reporters, but Kaja had heard her calling someone known as a lawyer.
Kaja had caused this family an enormous amount of trouble. It was time to seriously consider moving on.
