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He nodded at their guards in the other vehicles and walked Ashley into the lab. She checked in for her appointment and they waited only a moment before they were escorted back, and she had her blood drawn.
She pressed her fingertips to the cotton ball and asked the tech, “How long for the results?”
“Twenty-four hours. It could be a little shorter, but it won’t be more than twenty-four.”
“Great, thank you.”
A piece of tape was placed over the cotton ball to hold it in place. Romeo told them to charge the ambush for the lab fees and gave his authority as second-in-command. He left his cell as the contact for the test results since he expected to destroy her phone once they’d decided what to do about Brent, and then they left.
“On to the rental house.”
“Are you sure it’s safe to go there?” she asked.
He looked at her and she was chewing her bottom lip. “I promise we won’t just go waltzing in there. We’ll ensure it’s safe for you. You want to grab your bag anyway, right?”
“I didn’t have much stuff with me. I like to travel light and not check a suitcase. All my stuff is in LA.”
He paused for a moment and then said, “We can go get your stuff. And you could see your parents.”
“I don’t know if I want to see them. I mean, I kind of do? But I’m still feeling raw about everything. As far as my things, I can just have a moving company pack me up. I have a small apartment that came furnished, so it’s just my clothes and stuff.”
“Whatever you’d like to do, sweetheart.”
“You haven’t mentioned your parents. Are they still around?”
“Way to change the subject,” he said with a laugh.
She chuckled. “So youdon’twant to talk about your family?”
“No, we can. I was just pointing out that you weren’t really subtle with the topic change.”
“Same topic, different family.”
“You’re silly. Well, there isn’t much to tell. My parents weren’t mates. They were arranged by their kings to have a child together to further our kind. They’d decided if I was a girl, I’d have stayed with my mom, but since I was a boy, she gave up custody and my father raised me. My mom was mated pretty quickly after that, and I lost touch with her once she had cubs with her mate. He wasn’t interested in her past coming around for attention.”
“That’s sad.”
“It is, but it’s the way of a lot of shifters, especially males. They don’t want any of their mate’s romantic past thrown in their faces.”
“What about your dad?”
“He passed away a few years ago. He was a steelworker and had an on-the-job accident, falling from a couple stories up. He never woke up.”
She made a soft sound. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. He was a great guy. You would have loved him and he would have loved you.”
“I wish I could have met him.”
“Well, honestly, if you and I had met when I was still part of the other ambush, I would have had to leave anyway because they didn’t allow humans to mate their people.”
“I didn’t know shifters could be like that. Humans sure can be.”
“Yeah. People can suck no matter if they can or can’t shift.”
He eased off the gas and looked in the rearview.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
