“Desiray,” my little demon says, and I can hear the confusion in her tone. I, too, am feeling the same. This Shifter could’ve ran to the closest town and we wouldn’t have even gone after her. At this point, she’s minuscule, so beyond what we need to worry about right now.
Her gaze meets Xera’s as she whimpers, “I didn’t leave, they took me. I’ll go back. I’m sorry…”
My girl’s heart picks up, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Run along,” I bark out the order. “Head south to?—”
“Why did you stay?” Xera cuts me off.
I look down at her. She has her gaze shifting between Mister and Desiray, stopping on the Shifter. I’m unable to make out her expression, but I can tell there’s some conflict going on.
As I move to watch her continue to approach us, I truly question her survival instinct. There is no point in keeping her alive, and why she thinks otherwise is a testament to her stupidity.
“I’m dead anyway.” She wraps her arms around her belly that has yet to begin to swell from the baby she carries. “I know he won’t believe anything I say.”
Xera then tears away from my grip, and takes the several strides to her.
“Please, just make it quick,” Desiray mumbles through her sobs.
I’m unsure what to expect. My girl’s been very unpredictable lately, and to be honest, that isn’t a bad thing. If I can’t figure out her next move, most likely everyone else will struggle to do the same.
When she grabs hold of the Shifter’s cheeks, squeezing and causing her lips to pout, I look down at Mister. He is pulling his gaze to me, and I have a silent conversation of my irritation with him.
As if he can hear my thoughts, he sits, and smugly tilts his head.
I narrow my eyes. “I’m telling her you licked her butt plug.”
“I’ll tell her you’d enjoy said toy up your ass.”
“I’ll put a collar on you.”
“As long as it matches the one you wear.”
Rolling my eyes, I look back to see Xera, who has her fingers pulling from Desiray’s mouth.
“Did he tell you what he did to me?”
“No,” she says, not blinking, and keeping her attention completely fixed on my little demon. “He never brought you up, though… I never see him but a few hours at night.”
“Then why are you with him?” she presses. “It isn’t like you don’t have enough power with the Ansford Hause.”
“Not everything is for power in our world.” Desiray swallows roughly. “It was asked of me, and as a woman—” She sniffles, and stops dead in her sentence.
I think we all know the reason. Xera doesn’t care, at least she never didbefore.
Not before her mother.
Not before everyone tried to make hertheirs.
Stepping away and releasing the Shifter, Xera sighs. “Controlling assholes. I can’t even saymenanymore. Not with my own cunt of a mother doing the same fucking thing.”
Desiray tightens her arms around her waist, looking past my girl, to me. I’m just as perplexed. “Yeah… my… father…”
“Tell me,” she demands.
“He told me for the betterment of our Hause, I had to. It’s a hierarchy thing. Hause Sidence controls the southern tip of Calysera. They are looking to do the same to all of the state. Build strong?—”
“I get it,” Xera huffs. “That isn’t my problem to fix. I won’t send you back. However, that” —she points down to Desiray’s stomach— “is a child of a rapist, murderer, and narcissist. How far along are you?”
