“It’s awful what hate and greed did to your people,” she murmured as she released him.“But here, you have a chance for something better.”She pulled back further to meet his gaze.“We both do.So let’s make the most of this life we havenow.”
Otto nodded, dashing away a stray tear.“Yes.New start.”He managed a tremulous smile.
“Would you mind telling me more?About how you all came into our realm?”She didn’t want to cause any more pain, but she also wanted to understand everything she could about the Damarians.
“Yes,” he said simply and then continued to talk in his odd way.
She’d heard bits and pieces of this same story Otto was telling from Lola, Callon, and Roan.But now she was getting the entire director’s cut, with a slight language barrier.Deciphering some of the stuff Otto said was seriously difficult, but the story was fascinating.
“So you’re telling me your entire species came through a portal in China in the 1500s?”
“I bite you.”Otto growled.
The little lizard had taken to saying that any time she asked a question too many times.But good grief, there were just some things that were hard to grasp.The 1500s!When he said he was old, he wasn’t kidding.
“How do you age?I mean, you do age?Right?”
“We die.”His answers were all just as clear as that.Mud.
“Okay, so…” Katy leaned forward, resting her arms on her thighs.“The ten kingdoms had been at war because of the blood diamonds, but they were destroying the actual realm itself.”
Otto huffed.“No bloody diamonds in realm.”
She waved him off.“I’m using that as a place holder for all the commodities and resources they wereactuallyfighting over.Not to mention the words ‘blood diamonds’ just sound cool.That’s beside the point.The pointis they were destroying your actual realm, not just each other.”
“If I yes, you stop?”
“I’m just getting clarification.It’s called communication, Otto.It’s what people do in a relationship.”
“Stupid,” Otto grumbled as he gently kicked the phone across the carpet.
Katy smiled at him.Despite what he said, she could tell he was enjoying sharing his story from the way his face lit up as he spoke.And he missed his home.He yawned and rubbed his big, yellow eyes.She picked up the phone and realized it was midnight.“Dang, I’ve kept you talking forever.”Then she looked at the screen and saw there were almost fifty missed texts.All from Gage.Ooops.Then, like a dumb ass, Katy realized she had a freaking phone!She could have been in contact with Lola and Maddie this whole time.
She opened the phone keypad.She had Lola’s number memorized.They’d each made it a priority to have at least one of their numbers memorized in case they’d ever lost their phones.But then she hesitated.Azure was a bad dude.She’d already learned enough of that in Otto’s story.Azure had been terribly cruel to his enemies during the war.Now, he was abducting innocent females, but there was still more going on.Katy could feel it.And she thought Otto was the key to figuring out what thatmorewas.In her gut, Katy thought she might be able to help somehow.Yes, she knew she was just a pizza waitress from New York City, but heroes came from the unlikeliest of places, didn’t they?So don’t count me out just yet.
“So, um, you know that dire wolf dude,” she said, slowly.
“Hmm.”Otto sighed and curled up on his side on the thick rug.
“He sent like fifty texts.”
Otto’s eyes snapped open, the bright yellow startling against the dark carpet.“You text.”
“Me?”She frowned.“Why me?”The last time she’d texted, she’d tried teasing him a bit.He’d ignored her.Katy had a one-time rejection rule.And in her mind, the lack of response to a gentle teasing was rejection.Shut up.It made sense in her mind.
Otto muttered something, but Katy only caught the tail end of the word and it sounded like “late.”To be fair, itwaslate.So maybe she shouldn’t bother with responding.She started to put the phone down, but just as she did, it vibrated again.Her face scrunched up as she looked at the screen.It was another text from Gage.Did he want to talk to Otto?Were they to her?
“Good grief, Kat,” she muttered, pushing to her feet and marching to the bed.If the lizard wanted to sleep on the floor, he could have at it.“Why would he want to text you?”She went back to her questions about Gage.He obviously had Otto’s number for a reason.Yes, he’d asked Katy’s last name, but maybe it was to tell the Alpha of the Kingdom of Fangs.After all, she was supposed to be in their kingdom.If he wasn’t actually working with the KOV, then he was probably going to attempt some sort of coup to rescue her, which she did not want.“Well, crap.Now I have to text him.”
She touched the screen and opened up the texts.All the messages said the same thing, but they were written in a language she didn’t recognize.
She looked at Otto, who’d rolled onto his back and now had one hand flopped over his face.She didn’t want to wake him.But surely a person wouldn’t send this many texts if it wasn’t important, right?
The phone vibrated, and another text came through.This one she could read.
Gage: Katy Dire, give the damn phone to Otto.Now.
Katy frowned.Then her eyes darted around the room.Were there cameras in this room?Surely not.They wouldn’t violate privacy in such a way.Would they?No.He was just making an educated guess that if Otto hadn’t answered then perhaps it was because Katy had the phone.To be sure, she lifted her hand and flipped the bird, spinning in a circle around the room, then looked at the phone.Gage didn’t seem like the type to not comment on such a ridiculous behavior.
