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I chuckle and watch Echo’s face turn even pinker. Her freckles look like they’re darkening along her cheeks. Her shoulders curl inward. My bark turns into a full laugh, “Shut the fuck up, Sierra. Ignore her, baby.”
“Baby?” Echo scratches the seat between us. I reach over and take her hand.
“Yeah, baby. You want one?”
She rubs the space between her eyebrows with her free hand, unable to stop fidgeting. “I don’t know. I…never thought about it. Do…” She swallows. “Do you?”
“Only if my wife decides she wants one. Eventually. Maybe, she and I can talk about it again when we don’t have a horde of zombies on our heels.”
She laughs at that and pulls her hand out of mine. She reaches for the doorhandle again and rolls her eyes, tension sloughing off of her at talk of the undead caused by talk of creating life. “Sounds good,baby. Can we get this over with?”
I look up and see the row of fancy-ass boutiques in front of us and nod, but my mind and heart have both stalled over what she called me. I clear my throat and have to force the words out, “Uh, yeah. Gotta get outfitted for this shit.”
“Oh golly gee, I can’t wait.” Her voice drips with sarcasm like venom that makes me choke.
“Sierra, the door. Echo, get the fuck out.”
“Aww, aren’t you two cute?” Sierra says as I slam the door behind me and usher Echo out of the car, across the sidewalk and to the glass door of the luxury storefront, out of the path of prying eyes. Dunno why, but I’m feeling sensitive about her bein’ out in my city. Not just because I don’t like Alphas sniffin’ after my Echo, but because I worry she won’t like it and I want her to like it. Want her to be prouda this place. Her new home. Prouda me.
She digs her heels into the sidewalk and physically reaches out to try to block her way forward on the glass doorway as she looks left and right. “Do we have to do the dress thing? Just pick something out, I don’t care.”
“You actin’ like you’re late to somethin’.”
The wind ruffles her hair. Her curls. They don’t look quite silken yet. Needa cut. But they look a helluva lot better than they did when they were tangled with twigs and leaves and mud out in Paradise Hole. Paradise Hole. What fucker named it that?
I comb my fingers through the softer curls that frame her face. She jerks away from me before looking up and meeting my gaze. “What are you doing?”
I smirk, “Touchin’ what’s mine.”
Her skin glows just a little brighter when I say that. She shuffles between her feet, looking uncomfortable, before cocking her chin down the sidewalk. “I want to explore. I’ve never seen a city before.”
Hm. “Hm.” Don’t know what to do. Don’t wanna deny her, but I don’t feel like sharing her, either. “Dress first, then we’ll grab a coffee.”
“Grab a coffee?” she says, turning to face me. Her face is a picture of incredulity and laughter. Still, she acquiesces and lets me push her backwards through the automatic door. “Graba coffee?Did you really just say that?”
The air conditioning washes over me, blasting my hair around my face. I tuck it back behind my ear and Echo surprises me by reaching forward with both hands and untucking it. “The fuck are you doin’?”
“Touching what’s mine, Berserker.”
“Cheeky fucker. And yeah, what? You don’t like coffee?”
“Grab a coffee.” She turns from me and scoffs. “Sounds almost as ridiculous as this place looks.” She wanders to a rack of dresses and pulls out one covered in black sequins. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. It must weigh like thirty pounds. How are you supposed to run for your life in this?”
“Don’t think you are.”
A throat clears to the left. “I can confirm that.” The sound of clicking confuses me at first. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the sound of heels against marble. This whole place is fancy as shit and Echo looks so outta place beneath the lights, amidst the velvet settees and the racks of glittery dresses and silky suits. Gilded mirrors reflect Echo’s annoyed expression back to me a thousand times over, and also paint a vision of a well-dressed woman approaching with her hand outstretched.
“My name’s Pri. I’m the designer.” Her black hair is thick, silky and long. She wears a sleeveless tunic in white that contrasts against her darker brown skin. “Nice to meet you. Welcome, welcome. I take it by the look on your face, you aren’t into dress-up. I can get you outfitted quickly if you come with me.”
Echo follows the woman after a beat, almost surprising me with how quickly she acquiesces. And the fact that she doesn’t look back at me at all. I miss her when she’s out of sight, taken away from me into a dressing room. Don’t fuckin’ like it. Don’t fuckin’ like it at all.
I take a step to follow her when a soft voice says, “Berserker Dragnovic. If you could follow me.” A younger Alpha who looks an awful lot like Pri stands before me in a suit tailored to the nines, reminding me of why I’m here. “We have your suit prepared. We just need to finalize your measurements.”
“Let’s get to it, then.”
True to his word, the kid — actually, a man with a young-lookin’ face — gets me in and out in less than half an hour. By the time I’m finished changin’ into and then out of my suit, Echo’s ready, as well. “Where’s the dress?” I say as she bolts to the front door.
“Uhh…”
