Khan scowled, but held his ground. “I’m glad to see you chose to return, Christina. Boulder was a pitiful excuse of a man when he moaned around, missing you.”
“Just because he had emotions doesn’t make him pitiful,” Pearl said. “I thought it was refreshing to see an Nman express how he felt about a woman.”
“Really?” Khan stared her down. “If you enjoyed that so much, I’ll be more than happy to express how I feel about you. You think that would be refreshing too?”
She actually rolled her eyes at him, and it made Christina and me look at each other. Khan was corrupting Pearl and she was driving him insane. The two of them together were like two chemicals that were fine when kept apart but explosive when mixed.
“We came to talk to you about us,” Christina interrupted them.”
“That’s right,” I took over. “Christina and I are staying together. She has moved in with me by her own free will and we won’t let anyone separate us,” I stated firmly.
In support of my words, Christina placed both arms around my waist and I instantly placed my arm protectively around her.
“Congratulations.” Pearl took a deep breath and finally her smile became more genuine and warm. “I hope you’ll be very happy together.”
“Thank you.” Christina sighed with relief. “I was afraid you would insist on my going back.”
“No, dear. I’m not blind; I see your infatuation with Boulder. It’s understandable, and now that he looks handsome with his haircut and clean shave, I can definitely see his appeal.”
Her whole body jerked from Khan’s sudden movement when he turned to give her an angry stare.
“Don’t you fucking say that in front of his mate.”
“I’m not offended,” Christina hurriedly said. “I agree that Boulder is very handsome with his make-over.”
My whole body was tense and I understood what the women were so blatantly missing. Khan’s male pride was hurt that Pearl preferred me over him. He was a vain man, and her praise of me was an insult when he’d given her so much of his time and attention. He might not like her very much but Pearl was a beautiful woman, and Khan would have to be dead not to be sexually attracted to her.
“Don’t worry,” I said and tried desperately to come up with something to restore his pride. “I’ll soon be back to looking like a real man again. This boyish look is for Momsiboys. I just hope Christina still likes me when I grow my hair long again.”
“I’ll always like you,” Christina said and smiled up at me, “but I might cut your hair when you sleep.”
“So I figure you didn’t meet Laura then?” Khan changed the subject.
“No, we didn’t know where to search and unfortunately we didn’t bump into her.”
The worried expression on Khan’s face grew deeper. “Magni is falling apart,” he said. “It’s hard to watch.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Maybe one day Laura will choose to return,” Christina said and looked at Pearl. “I tried to return, but my request was denied by the council. I hope that Laura is free to return at any time she should choose to.”
Khan made a strained sound in the back of his throat and faced Pearl. “You fucking better guarantee me that no one tries to stop Laura from returning.”
“Of course she’s free to return,” Pearl assured him. “I’m happy to send a message to my colleagues making that clear, but it shouldn’t be necessary.”
“No, it shouldn’t be fucking necessary since Laura is one of us, but with your people’s nonexistent logic, I don’t trust you – so yeah, send a message just to be sure.”
“Are you staying for lunch?” Pearl asked us, completely ignoring Khan’s little tirade.
“Nah.” I wrinkled my nose. “I think we’ll go back to the estate and work on increasing the population on Victoria Island.
Christina shot me a confused glance. “Children? Are you talking about children?”
I grinned down at her. “Uh-huh. A few girls would be nice.”
“You like children?” Pearl asked with a new interest in her voice.
“Yes, I do.”
