Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“Good morning, Roni,” said her aunt with forced affection.
Roni’s greeting was just as falsely sweet. “Hope you slept well, Janice.”
Kathy placed a plate piled with pancakes on the table, which her brother Eli practically attacked. “Roni, eat. You need to build up your strength.” Kathy talked as if Roni was an undernourished eight-year-old. They had one of those mother-daughter relationships where they loved each other but got along better when they had plenty of space between them. Like oceans, for example.
Roni took a seat between Derren and Eli and loaded her plate with food. Nick’s dog, Bruce, appeared at her side, panting and licking his muzzle. As Roni did every morning, she threw him a slice of bacon.
“When are you going to play a proper role within the pack, Roni? It’s not usual for females to have the position of enforcer.” Janice didn’t hide her disapproval.
“It’s more common than you’d think.” Shaya shot Roni a supportive smile. “And Roni’s excellent at her job.”
“Hmm. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you have a masculine role. You never grew out of the tomboy phase. It just supports my theory that you want a sex change.”
A shocked laugh burst out of Zander, almost causing the hot, sharp-witted blond to choke on his coffee. An equally stunned Kent patted his back while Caleb gawped at Janice.
“Some people just don’t like skirts or dresses.” Shaya’s agitation had leaked into her voice.
“Hmm.” Janice sniffed. “Maybe it’s for the best, since you can’t flaunt what you don’t have.”
Roni shoved a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth to stop herself from cursing at her aunt. Roni was happy with who she was, with her style, with how she lived her life. She wasn’t going to defend any of that to anyone.
Kathy had always tried to change her, like Roni needed “fixing” or something. When she was younger, Kathy had forced her to spend time with Janice’s daughters, hoping their girly ways would rub off on Roni. The bitches had teased and taunted her rather than played with her. So she’d pulled all the heads off their Barbie dolls. As such, her aunt thought of her as a lost cause.
“She makes an effort for special occasions.” Kathy was defending her? That was new. “When it was Nick and Shaya’s mating ceremony, she even wore a little makeup. She looked so different. So pretty.” Ah, a backhanded compliment.
At that moment, Jesse entered the kitchen with his on-and-off girlfriend, Eliza. She was an attorney who represented shifters, which might have made her likeable if she wasn’t so shallow and superficial. Seriously, the female was like a coin—two-faced, mostly without value, and regularly handled by different people. She had even slept with a few of the Phoenix wolves, including Marcus. Roni refused to believe that the feeling in the pit of her stomach was jealousy.
According to Jaime, Eliza had originally tried befriending the Beta female, Jaime, and Taryn, dropping hints about moving to their pack. When Taryn had made it crystal clear that it wouldn’t happen, Eliza had moved on to Jesse. Roni suspected the female was now trying to get herself a place in the Mercury Pack.
Sitting at the table, Eliza pleasantly smiled at everyone . . . except Roni, who received a snarl. Yeah, the dislike was mutual, since Eliza was threatened by Roni’s level of dominance. In addition, she believed Roni took no pride in her appearance—unlike Eliza, who was primped from head to toe—and was also whimsical and easily distracted. In actuality, Roni was an extremely focused person . . . when she found the subject stimulating. If she didn’t, she had a tendency to either zone out or walk away.
“I’m guessing by your good mood that you won the case yesterday,” said Kathy.
Eliza smiled cockily. “Of course.”
“Do you get many cases?” asked Janice.
“Unfortunately, more and more shifters are needing representation against humans. The anti-shifter groups continue to make false accusations that are so far-fetched and unfounded that they’re thrown out of court. But it always has the desired effect—causing upset to the shifter community.”
Janice shook her head. “After what happened not so long ago, you’d think the extremists would keep a low profile.”
The extremists had previously appealed to have restrictive laws put into place that would confine shifters to their territories, place them on a register like child molesters, and prevent them from mating with humans—claiming they were too violent and dangerous. The extremists’ opinions, however, were discredited and dismissed when evidence came to light that these supposedly nonviolent groups were part of a hunting preserve that allowed humans to hunt, torture, and kill shifters.
“They’ve begun a campaign to restrict shifter couples to having only one child in order to stop the population from becoming too widespread.” Eliza turned to Nick. “You had a major run-in with extremists in Arizona, didn’t you?”