“You two can stop pulling faces,”Catlasaid into our exchange.
We both looked to her to see her attention on us.
“Okay, soImessed up,”Catwent on to explain, and her gaze moved to me. “Iwanted to make a big thing of it, us finally talking you into going out after…what happened to you.”
I was attacked.Randomly.Viciously.AndwhenIwas, my beast was murdered inside me.She’sstill inside me, part of my soul, there but gone forever.I’malive, butI’mstill only one half of a whole.That’swhat happened to me.
ButIcould see how they couldn’t say it.
I remembered their faces whenIwoke up in the hospital.They’dhad the news beforeIdid.Iremembered the weeks after.Theconcern.Thecare.Thesadness.Thepowerlessness.
I remembered all of it.
It was like what was done to me was done to everyoneIloved, even if they weren’t shifters and couldn’t really understand.
They were my friends, and any friend feels the pain another friend is experiencing.
“And it was going to be my gift, you know, like a celebration, the three of us going out again.Yougoing out withGayleand me again,”Catcontinued.
Aw.Shewas so sweet.
“So you got us into theBlackRoomto make a thing of it, and then your dad got the credit notice,”Gaylededuced.
Oh dang.
Part ofMr.Truelock’sdispleasure was manifesting in him tightening the reins onCat’sspending.He’dalready decreased her allowance.Nowit looked like he was aiming at her credit line.
“Did you tell him you were takingLauraout?”Gayleasked.
At the question, abruptly,Catlost it.
“You know,Ishouldn’t have to explain myself,” she bit off. “Thatmoney,Truelockmoney,ourmoney, he didn’t toil and break his back to earn it.We’reaFirstFamily, for the gods’ sakes.Yes,Dadworks, but the vast majority ofTruelockwealth was inherited.It’salwaysinherited.”
She was not wrong.
She was also not done ranting.
“And he didn’t have to rush out and make a connection.Hehas a penis.Therefore, he could decide when he’d find his mate and he could wait until he was a hundred and twenty if he felt like it.Imean, he didn’t even get married toMomuntil he wasforty-two.”Sheshook her head and those coppery locksIenvied slid gloriously against the pale skinIalso envied. “Thiswhole thing is bullshit.Demonpatriarchalbullshit.Imean, it’s not like we’re driving around incarsanymore.We’veprogressed!Atleast the humans, fae and shifters have.Butoh no.Notus demons.”
Gayliliel andIexchanged a glance, because we both agreed this was very true.
Shifters had their patriarchal bullshit as well, and it could get extreme, even more extreme than the demon kind.
But fortunately, they didn’t push a female to wed before her thirties like she couldn’t get on with her life without a mate attached to her.Andmore fortune (at least for me),I’dcut ties with my patriarch, soIdidn’t have to worry about it.
Fae and humans, they tended not to get mired in all of that crap.
“You know what?”Catasked, and she didn’t wait for our answer.Shetold us what. “Screwit.DadadoresLaura.Ifhe knew what tonight was about, he wouldn’t have jumped my shit about it.SoI’lltell him and he’ll back off.AndthenI’lltell himI’llfind my mate whenIfind my mate and he can just live with it.”
Gayle gasped at this proclamation.
KnowingMr.Truelock,Igot worried and instantly reached forward to grabCat’shand. “Don’tdo anything rash,”Iadvised.
“He’ll totally cut you off,”Gayleput in.
He totally would.
Cat pulled her hand from mine and waved it in front of her face angrily. “Screwthat too.Ifhe does, he does.Ihave a job.I’llget by.”
