Right now, she’s shadowboxing, glass in hand. “Girls!” She swigs her drink and performs a high kick. “Who runs this motherfucka?”
“We do!” Emma and I chorus back from our places on the couch.
“Then drink!”
I take a sip of my margarita. Emma, caught up in the excitement, takes a huge gulp and chokes.
“Whew, that’s strong,” she sputters, and I pat her on the back. “I’m okay. It was just a lot to swallow.”
“That’s what she said!” Kim cries. The girl has two volumes: loud, and extra loud.
“What’s this flavor again?” Emma asks me with a hiccup.
“Hima, but I added somekiktufor the tang.”
Emma licks her lips. “It’s good stuff.”
Kim agrees, collapsing on a couch opposite us. “So I have a question,” she says, then lets out a burp. “Excuse me.”
“You’re excused.”
“Thanks. That wasn’t my question.” She points at me. “You, Rose, and Haley got Omega-ized by the same group of rogue magicians. How did you all end up in different kingdoms, and at different times?”
“Rose and Haley arrived around the same time,” Emma corrects. “But Rose had already been here for months by the time we heard about her—”
“Yeah, yeah. But you,” Kim points at me with her glass, “show up now. What is that, like two years later? Three?”
I shrug. I have no idea.
“Stasis?” Emma suggests. “They could’ve been put in stasis pods and dumped at different times. To avoid an influx of Omegas?”
“Don’t look at me,” I say. “I know less about all this stuff than either of you, and I can’t remember anything that happened before I woke up. Still, better late than never, I guess?”
“I’ll drink to that.” Kim toasts me. “All’s well that ends well, right?”
“Exactly,” I say.
“We can ask Rose and Haley what they think at the next girls’ night. Where are they, anyway?” Kim asks.
“Rose sends her apologies. She’s busy with affairs of state,” Emma says.
“Girl boss,” Kim crows.
“Good for her,” I add. Rose sounds badass.
“And Haley never RSVP’d. She’s probably gone off the grid with her Alpha again. They’re all about nature, and like to disappear for weeks at a time. You know, living off the land,” Emma explains to me.
“Yeah, they love that life.” Kim wanders over to the bar to top up her drink. “Word is they’ve got a sweet sex cave.”
“You have a one-track mind,” Emma says.
“And I’m proud of it. But anyway, speaking of couples’ secrets… I want to hear about Renee’s guy.”
“Since we recently broke up, there’s not much to say,” I mutter.
Beside the bar floats the skimmer, still piled high with the gifts Krav sent me. The only things I touched were the flagon ofhimajuice and thekiktu—for the cocktails. Kim pauses to peer at the boxes. “You didn’t want any of these things?”
“Nope. It’s all just more of the same. I want evidence he’schanged.” Emma and Kim both blink at me, so I explain, “He used to give me stuff like that all the time. Gifts. Called me hispet… and treated me like one.”
