Lola’s face lit up.“Awesome idea.I’ll see if we can find any books on dire wolves.The library is huge.”
Callon kindly didn’t point out that Kingdom of Fangs most likely had their own library with all sorts of books.He let her have her “helpful” moment.And she appreciated it.
As she and Maddie headed out of the large office, Lola felt eyes on her.Callon and Roan both followed behind them.“You could have just said you would take us,” she called back to Callon.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.Roan and I just happen to be going in the same direction.”
“Right.Like you happen to be going the same directions the fifty times Lola went to the bathroom,” Maddie muttered.
Lola laughed, “Shut up.It was only, like, twenty-five times.”
“Does it ever feel smothering?”Maddie leaned in close as she spoke.
Lola knew Callon would be able to hear unless she pressed her mouth right against Maddie’s ear.She also knew he wanted to know.“No.I figure if I do ever start to feel that way, I’ll just start talking about cramps.”
“Doesn’t bother me,Sazzi.I’m not a weak, human male.”His voice carried forward to them.
“Of course it doesn’t.”She sighed, rolling her eyes.
“Just tell him you need space,” Roan suggested.
“Will that actually work?”
“No,” Roan and Callon said in unison.
Lola snorted.“Then why suggest it?”
“Just trying to be helpful.”
That seemed to be all anyone wanted to be.Being helpless was seriously the worst feeling.“Okay.”Lola pushed the door to the library open.“Then you help Maddie find Gage as many books on healthy communication as you can.And Callon and I will try and find Katy as many books on dire wolves as we can.”
Roan and Callon both smirked and shook their heads at her.
“What?”Lola held up her hands.“You can’t tell me he’s not stunted in his ability to communicate.He mostly grunts.”
“Good plan, Lo.”Maddie clapped her hands and rubbed them together.“If Gage wants to have a fighting chance in a relationship with a linguistic expert, he’s going to have to do more than grunt.Although he’s sure pretty to look at.Katy might give him a pass for that reason.”
Roan grabbed Maddie’s hand, muttering under his breath about grunting idiots as Lola waved at her friend.
She turned to Callon.“Ready?”
Callon cupped her face and pressed his lips to hers.He didn’t deepen the kiss.Instead, he simply held her, breathing her in and seeming to soak up her warmth.So she did the same, pressing her body into his.Then he stepped back and ran a thumb across her cheeks.“Now I’m ready.”
Lola prayed for Katy, and for Maddie and whatever was going on between her and Roan.She wanted both of her friends to experience the type of relationship she was building with Callon.The bond between them was intense, real, and precious.It was worth fighting for; it was worth protecting, and even the small taste of the bond she’d already experienced had made her long for a lifetime of it.Fight, Katy.Don’t you dare give up before you’ve even actually started.
* * *
Azure looked out his office window to the small courtyard behind the mansion.It was a little sitting area with flowers, bushes, and a large magnolia tree.But he, and a select few others, saw beyond the glamour that had been put in place months ago.He saw the black, metal building, hidden from passersby.Though it wasn’t large, it was big enough to hold what he needed it to.At the moment, it currently housed the most valuable female to him, besides his mate.He seriously wondered if she would live through the next six or so hours as the voodoo priestess, Marissa’s spell sucked the magic from Katy’s body and wove it into the bodies of the human females.It was a process they’d tried twice before and nearly succeeded.But both animi they’d used had been too weak to complete the spell and had died before the magic had bound them all together, which had meant the human females had also died.“What a waste that had been,” he whispered.If Katy survived, she might even be used again to make more.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.He pulled it out and glanced at the screen before swiping his thumb across it.“I was beginning to think you were backing out of our deal.Kingdom of Tides and Kingdom of Silk have already contacted me and verified that they are in.Now, King Wolfgang, what say you?Are you with us or not?”
“I don’t trust you,” said the leader of the Kingdom of Chaos.His gruff voice sounded like sandpaper being rubbed across the speaker.“But my kingdom suffers the most from lack of mates.Queen Tal is pissed with me over this.She’d just as soon stab you as look at you, so you probably shouldn’t be in her line of sight, ever.”
“I always did like Talulla’s spirit.”Azure chuckled.“She doesn’t take shit from anyone.I respect that.”
“You might not respect it so much when there’s a knife buried between your eyes,” the Chaos King pointed out.
“Fair enough.Thatwouldput a damper on things.I’ll avoid Queen Talulla until she realizes that our alliance will benefit you more than it will hurt you.”
