Page 38 of Cryptic Dreams
My gaze snaps to his before it narrows. “Excuse me?”
“I can scent her, son. Not in the way you do but I can smell the female and I can smell you on her. She is clearly your mate, and my informant was right.”
Of course.
I should have accounted for that.
I mean, I did in the beginning but not beyond that. No one has said anything to me about my gorgeousroommatebut I knew I was being watched and figured this would come to light eventually. I just didn’t really think about how all of that would look to outside perspectives.
A female sharing my home. One that increased my various orders from different merchants. One that would be scented from outside as a female. One that hasn’t been seen since moving in with me.
My god, my parents probably assume we’ve mated and have been holed up here having all of the sensual, beautiful, dirty filthy sex I imagine having with Zephyr. Oh god and if that’s the case then—
“We need to meet her,” Father says as his grin widens. “Need to make sure she’s a good match, that she won’t dishonor our line.”
“Bollocks.” Mother hiccups as she swings back and forth on the rack. “If the Gods of Old chose a mate for our son then she is his equal in all”—belch—“all the ways. I merely suggested we meet her so I could see for myself if her hips were wide enough to carry the likes of you.” She flaps a hand in my general direction as my brow arches.
“You expect my mate to carry me on her hip, yeah? Tote me around like a babe? Is that it?”
She shakes her head emphatically as she produces a flask from somewhere amongst the down of her coat. “You know what I mean, son.” Mother takes a long drink then hiccups again, almost chokes and coughs so hard she nearly topples over the entire coat rack. “You were an enormous babe.Enormous. Your head alone was like trying to piss out a watermelon. You tore me up one way and down the other, you did. There was a reason your sire and I never wanted more young.”
My face twists in disgust. “Thank you for that,Mother. I shall add it to the list of things I never wanted to know but will never forget.”
Another flap of her hand. “You know what I mean, don’t be daft.”
“Anyway... ” I turn back to my father. “Now isn’t a good time, it was a long day and I’m afraid she currently sleeps. I’d like to allow her to rest—”
“Dinner then.” Father looks back to the staircase, his curiosity making my hair stand on end. “You will bring her to dinner at the nest. Formal attire.”
Shite. “Dinner? At the nest?”
He nods. “She will need to see where it is she’ll be spending a good portion of her nights, get familiar with the coven and how the Counsel does things.” Then Atticus turns back to me with a knowing look so full of evil it makes even my stomach churn. “After all,son, once your mother and I retire, the position of High Elder passes to you, your mate falling into place beside you as your equal in power. It’s rather vital the two of you come to dinner, don’t you agree?”
Vital my arse.The onlyvitalpart in all of this for him is meeting my mate, identifying her as such, and making sure she’s someone he can either manipulate or eliminate easily. This dinner is just an excuse to feel out how much of a threat my mate will be to his position of power and everything the Counsel stands for, nothing more. But I nod.
This is a disaster in the making.
Several actually, and my mind can’t help but race with all the ways I will go down in flames, crash and burn right along with my heart if anything happens to Zephyr because of me.
Dinner—human food—indulgence in its highest form. Formal attire, a big bloody production no doubt. Phony conversations laced with poison, feigned sincerity in order to get every bit of information on my mate as possible. Talks of young that will never come to be if my sire has anything to do with it, since he plans to eliminate me from the picture entirely at some point. And that’s all pending whether or not I can get my gentle breeze to actually speak to me, let alone agree to this absurd and false attempt to make nice with my sweet mate. God and that’s not even including the improbability of actually mating her. My parents may be oblivious to most things right under their noses but they will know when they see us together that we have not mated, and that will be all the incentive Atticus will need to make sure it never happens.
This is going to be a bloody fucking mess.
“Right then,” I say before I clear my throat and try to remain calm. “When shall I tell my mate we will be dining with you?”
Father walks over and unhooks my mother from the coat rack. “I will check my schedule and get back to you. I’m sure we are free at some point in the next few weeks. We will stop by to drop off a proper invitation when the time comes.”
“Smashing,” I grit out.Another uninvited visit from these two.How lovely. “I’m sure my mate will be thrilled.”
“Do tell her we are sorry we missed her this evening.” Mother sags against my father as he tries to right her posture. “I should have liked to meet her before dinner, perhaps discussed gowns and shoes as one does with their daughter-in-law.”
I barely fight the urge to roll my eyes.Daughter-in-lawis a human term and the simple fact that my mother didn’t refer to my mate as herdaughter bonded by bloodproves she’s just as skeptical as my father.
Oh bloody well.
We say our farewells, my slightly panicked arse locking the door behind them and when I’m alone in the foyer, I sigh.
I’ve my work cut out for me, that’s for bloody sure.
