Harper looked at him and paused with her drink nearly to her lips.“Well, aren’t you clever?”
“I only know that because my beast is trying to take over and sweep you away.”
“That wouldn’t go over well.I have secondary adaptations, and they aren’t skin-friendly if I don’t want them to be.”
She sipped at her drink.“So, what are you?”
“Forest lord.Nearly extinct.If you were back home, the Department of Conservation would be at your door and sending you for a checkup.”He smiled.
“Uh-huh.But we are not home.I am here, and they don’t have that department, and I have citizenship on Emerald and am a business owner in good standing, so there is no reason to deport me.”
He blinked.“You knew.”
“I knew that eventually someone would come calling.I wanted to make sure that any links would be on my terms or, at least, negotiated equally.”
Tez paused.“What?”
“I have met Dell.I have met Honey, and I have met Mickey, though she is a little young.Honey is servicing a lot of the dark elite shifters, Dell has her dire wolves, and she’s looking to dabble with a forest lord that doesn’t make her vomit.So there are two active and operating wildlings.”
He blinked.“I don’t want to get near the wolves.”
“Uh-huh.It isn’t a switch I want to flip with someone who travels as much as you do.”
Tez stared.“What?”
“I have heard about forest lords and their wandering.Wildlings are touch-sensitive.We need it once we activate and certainly while we are pregnant.I am not going to be pining for a missing mate and losing my child because he has better things to do.”She sipped again and set her drink down.
She looked at her friend, and for the first time, she saw his beast in his eyes.“Oh, wow.When did you learn about me?”
“Your brother mentioned it.”
She curled her lip.“Were you fucking him, too?”
He shook his head.“No.We were in school together and ran into each other at your aunt and uncle’s anniversary party.”
“Oh.Sorry.I have issues.I love him, but they both betrayed me, and I am not going to be moving past it.If you have a close relationship with them, you might want to surrender the idea of pursuing anything with me.I do not forgive betrayal.”
His gaze flickered.“What about if you have multiple mates?”
“Well, I have been betrayed by friend and family.Being betrayed by a straying lover who might bring home a disease to harm my body and anyone that I am carrying is enough to make me want to murder someone.I am not an omega.I don’t have to be handed over to someone.I make my own choices, and I don’t trust any swinging dick.If they are interested in me, there must be something wrong with them.”
She finished her drink and set the glass down.She looked at him and smiled.“So, how is your mother doing?”
