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“Good to finally meet someone from around here with a sense of humor,” Mad Dog said, standing and crossing to the princess. “It’s wonderful to meet you. Your brother speaks highly of you, Princess Seraphina.”
“He does?” the young woman said, her eyes as wide as saucers.
“Aye. Anyway, what brings ya here to our little corner of the palace?”
“Oh, right. I wanted to take Darla and Ayla’s measurements to get some lovely dresses fitted for them.”
“That’s awfully sweet,” I said, genuinely surprised. “But why would we need them?”
“For my mother’s grand ball, of course. I can tell my uncle is going to try to use the event to force Felicity into Kai’s orbit, so I figured I’d play my own game.”
“A ball?” I squawked like a parrot.
“Yes. It’s going to besomuch fun now that I know you’ll all be there. Usually, I’m all alone at these things, unless someone’s especially desperate to try and social climb with me.”
I swallowed hard as I imagined about a dozen different ways this could go wrong. “I, uh, I don’t really know if ’s my scene. But Darla would no doubtloveto go with you.”
“Ayla, no, youhaveto go. Please. It’ll be so nice to have people who want to dance with me.” Her expression dropped a bit. “Forgive me if I’m off, but I get the impression the lovely Officer Khan will likely have many people who’ll want to dance with her throughout the night.”
“Ah, and I’m not the type who worries about that?”
I was teasing, but the princess paled, anyway. “Well, it’s just… you usually have a ‘fuck off or I’ll bite you’ aura.”
I instantly broke into a grin. “Aww,thank you.”
“Also, I think we made an impression in the training yard,” Mad Dog said, chuckling. “Between this and your healing fan club, most people won’t want to mess with you.”
“See!” Princess Seraphina said. “Youhaveto go. Please, Ayla, be my plus one. Nothing would make me happier.”
“All right, fine. I’ll go, but I’m gonna complain about it a lot, and you can’t be mad about me being a wet blanket.”
“Perfect,” the princess said, clapping. “I can send for the palace tailor immediately. Now we just need to collect Darla, and we’ll be ready to start.”
I remembered how Mad Dog had said Darla was occupied and cleared my throat. “You know what? Why don’t I go get her,and you can send a servant for us in a half hour or so. Darla can, uh…”
“Be cranky when she first wakes up,” Mad Dog cut in, saving my hide. Why was lying about small things so difficult when I’d successfully pulled off hiding half of my nature and pretended not to have a fated mate? “It’s better if her friends fetch her.”
“Ah, I understand. Not everyone is meant for the morning. Well, I will do just that. Oh, Ayla. You’ve made me so happy.”
She flounced out, and Halle followed.
“I can manage the Darla sitch myself,” I said to Mad Dog once I was sure Seraphina was far away enough not to overhear.
“I figured as much. Think I’m gonna go on a bit of a run, stretch my legs on my lonesome, ya know. Got a lot of thoughts rattlin’ around in this tin can of mine.”
I nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder. That was enough of a goodbye for either of us as I headed out, making my way to my best friend’s quarters.
I wasn’t quite sure what, or rather who, I was going to find once I got there, but as soon as I was a few feet down the hall, I smelled the particular scent of sex. It was a relatively complex thing—pheromones, sweat, other secretions—yet my mind knew it instantly.
Except it wasn’t coming from her room.
That was when I remembered she wasn’t the only one staying in her quarters. Two other women in our entourage were bunking with her. So, if she wasn’t there, then…
Turning, my eyes zeroed in on Oren’s quarters, and I marched over there to knock.
Sure enough, a few moments later, the door opened to revealed a happy-looking Darla, dressed in what looked like an oversized shirt.
“Is that Oren’s?” I said, blinking at her. Darla had a great set of legs most people would be happy to ogle, but I couldn’t quite get over her wearing our superior officer’s clothes.
