AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You could change the world.” I was walking a fine line between inspiring and overloading her. I knew this and yet I couldn’t keep the words from tumbling out. It wasn’t desperation, per se, but I needed her to understand how important she was—to us, to our world.
She smirked but didn’t look at me. “That’s a little too heavy for me before breakfast.” As if to punctuate her words, her stomach rumbled.
Right.I’d failed in my first duty to a mate. Keep her fed.
“I can whip up a mean omelet.” In reality, I could ask the cook to make her whatever she wanted. I’d just never really loved the idea of staff doing all the things we should do, especially now when I felt like I should be wooing my mate…our mate.
She looked at me, and for the first time all morning, she smiled. “Maybe after food I’ll be ready to embrace my legacy.” I knew she was trying to make light of it all, so I eased my natural tendency toward a serious reply and instead smiled back.
“At the very least, vindication and revenge are best discussed over bacon and eggs.” Maybe I had my own kind of charisma. I motioned toward the door. “Kitchen is that way.”
* * * *
“It would be very satisfying to kick Sal in the nuts.” She had a piece of toast slathered with avocado halfway to her mouth when she spoke, her fangs poking out just beneath her lips. It was both endearing and vicious at the same time. I couldn’t make out if the fangs were for ravishing the toast or Sal, but it was obvious that she had some control over when she showed them.
“We’re offering a bit more than that.” I pointed to her cheek where she had a glob of green smeared.
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure I’m taking-over-the-world material.” She smiled behind a napkin.
“We’ll start small.” I forked a load of omelet then shoved it into my mouth. “I was thinking we’d pay our respects to your uncle first.”
She froze mid-chew, her eyes locked on mine.
“He deserves a reckoning, don’t you think?” Ultimately, I’d follow her lead, but I felt like she might need a push to see the possibilities of what we were offering.
She chewed then swallowed before scooping up another forkful. “This is actually a delicious egg concoction.”
Avoiding the subject. Interesting.
“I might be considered the brains of the clan, but I have other talents as well.” I hadn’t meant for it to sound sexual, but somehow her expression told me that was how it landed for her.
She put her fork down gently so it didn’t clatter.
“You really think that on some subconscious level, my werebeast is calling you guys into my dreams because it knows I need you?” There was no teasing in her tone. She was all business now.
“I think you’ve been suppressing your beast, and you’re not comfortable with that side of yourself.” I put my fork down, too, and matched how she was leaning closer to the table. I’d love to dig into her history more, learn what the masters had taught her. I suspected it was their idea to separate her entities, so she thought of herself as three instead of one. It would be an ingenious way to hobble her if she felt that she had to cage the parts of herself that were the strongest together. “I think embracing your beast would be a step toward understanding her. I think doing that would stabilize the power potential you truly have.”
“And having a mate will balance me further?” She scoffed, but it didn’t hold as much heat as I’d expect. “Sexist much?”
“According to the documents, the connection between mates is give and take. For what the mates bring to you, you give to them as well.” I cocked an eyebrow, like I was challenging her, a gesture I used on Johnny all the time to make him believe in what I was saying, even when I was full of shit. “It’s like a symbiotic relationship. The bolstering flows both ways.” I think. According to my research and the very limited information I’d been able to dig up, biting a female formed a link of some sort, and power seemed to flow back and forth along that thread. “Think of it like a spider tending to her webs. Once a female is bitten, the web grows between her and her mate.”
“A lot of female spiders eat their mates.” She deadpanned this, and I didn’t know if I should laugh or run.
“I promise, I’ll make sure you’re well fed.”
“You better.” She picked her fork up again. “You don’t want to see what happens when my werebeast gets hangry.”
