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“Those of my people with the potential to be leaders and protectors of the main family.”
“You’re the main family, I’m assuming.”
He took her hand when the car stopped and helped her climb out. “And you, Sophia. You may have heard me mention that I need to arrange for Guard for you.”
“I don’t want anyone watching me twenty-four seven. I can take care of myself. Thanks.”
“Not acceptable.”
She put a hand on her hip. “Excuse me?”
He touched the small of her back, propelling her toward the house. “We’ll talk when we’re alone.”
She tried to stop, but he wouldn’t allow her to. “We can talk now.”
He pushed his next words out with a clenched jaw. “You can give me your opinion and protest all you like when we are alone.”
Sebastian looked away from her to Alex but said nothing. Alex nodded and said, “Got it. I’ll get them together and send them in.”
Sophia forgot her anger at his high-handedness for a second. She knew damn well Sebastian didn’t say anything out loud, but it seemed like he and Alex had a conversation. Maybe Alex just guessed what Sebastian wanted, or they talked about it earlier.
Her curiosity and confusion distracted her enough that she ended up in the bedroom she had shared with Sebastian on their wedding night before she knew she was climbing the stairs to the mansion’s second floor. The door shut behind Sebastian as he left, and she found herself alone.
“What happened to we can discuss it in private?”
She sighed and stood there looking around the gigantic bedroom. The place was the lap of luxury, so unlike her previous apartment. She had felt so proud of herself when she rented it eight years ago because the rent was a step up from what she was used to paying and in a nicer neighborhood. She’d improved her credit and saved to be able to handle it the first year. After that she had gotten a raise and pinched her pennies because she didn’t have formal training to push her into a higher income bracket. Sebastian’s king size storage bed with a butterscotch finish and cute drawers in the footboard alone made her furnishings look like a joke.
When he first brought her to his place, she didn’t think she could be comfortable with so many rooms. She still felt like that, but now she realized Sebastian wasn’t being vain as a single man by living in a mansion. His men, the ones he called Guards must also live with him since they stayed around him night and day.
“I’m not sure how long I can deal with this.”
When something thumped outside the door, she slapped a hand over her mouth. No more thinking out loud. Who knew how far away the shifters could be and still hear her words.
She strode over to the door and opened it. The woman from the other night stood there with her hand poised in the air as if she were about to knock. She frowned at Sophia. “I have your luggage.”
“Thanks.” Okay, here was one person who openly disliked her. At least the woman was honest. Sophia would keep her distance, and they could stay out of each other’s way. She moved to pick up the nearest suitcase, but the woman slapped her hand aside and grabbed it herself. Sophia’s own dislike grew. “I can get that.”
“I have my orders, and you’re not going to get in the way of them. Please move.”
“Wow, you added please to it. So polite.” Sarcasm dripped from Sophia’s words. “Let’s see how well you can do by telling me your name.”
The woman flushed, and her eyes, which were brown when she arrived, changed to a yellow tint. “It’s Ava.”
“Oh, nice to meet you, Ava, and thanks for helping me with my bags.” The false friendliness wasn’t missed on the shifter. She pressed her lips together and edged past Sophia to carry the bags into the room. Once she was done, she didn’t waste time hanging around but disappeared down the hall. Sophia shut the door and collapsed onto the bed.
First rule: don’t tick off the female shifters. Probably not wise.
Sophia’s next goal was to go exploring the mansion and look for an empty room that would suit her better than sharing with Sebastian. He was stubborn, but so was she. There would be no falling for his seduction while she was here. Of course, that would be difficult because it was seduction she needed to use to lure him away from the others.
A tinge of guilt touched her. Was what she planned wrong? The shifters were people, weren’t they? She recalled all the information Jack shared before she agreed to call Sebastian to pick her up. He had said shifters were good at imitating people. That was their lure, but they were beasts.
“Magical beasts, if you want to call them that,” Jack had said. “But make no mistake about it, they think humans are inferior. In a shifter’s eyes, they are the top of the food chain.”
She shivered when he said that. “They eat people?”
He took his time answering, which drove her insane. “Not usually.”
In the end, Jack had said the shifters wouldn’t eat a person, but the way he said it made her feel like he was lying. Did he say they wouldn’t only to soothe her fears so she could go back to Sebastian? She was nobody’s fool. Jack didn’t care about her. He wanted to do his job, and that was to kill all shifters. She wasn’t even sure he would keep his promise not to hurt Sebastian. After all, Sebastian was the strongest of them all from what Jack said. It didn’t make sense to keep him alive.
