Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Bear? Wolf?
Those eyes landed on Theo right then, and the woman nodded a polite greeting before murmuring something to Yakov at such a low volume that Theo had no chance of picking it up. Yakov responded back as quietly, then waved to the guard before driving on.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “Silkie wasn’t being rude. Personal matter she wanted to update me on.”
It took all of her hard-won calm not to jolt in reaction. No one ever bothered about insulting or offending Theo. The ones who knew Theo’s place at Pax’s side pretended they did, but it was blindingly obvious that it was Pax they didn’t wish to offend. The powerful twin. The one who held their life or death in his hands.
At times, she fantasized about showing those individuals exactly what she was capable of . . . but the desire for petty revenge never lasted long. She could be far more useful to Pax as a vicious weapon unknown and unseen.
Hidden from even her twin himself.
“I didn’t take any offense,” she said, and it was the truth; she’d assumed the guard was asking about why Yakov had a Psy in the passenger seat. “Does your clan know you’re working with me?” It was far easier to deal with Yakov Stepyrev if she kept matters surface level and related to the business at hand.
“My senior clanmates, yes,” he said, turning out of the airport area to join the flow of traffic. “I’m sure word will get around—damn nosy bears.”
Theo had no idea how to take his last words even though she was much better than most Psy at understanding subtleties of emotion; her Silence had never exactly been perfect. She was almost sure she’d heard affection in those apparently harsh words, but his face gave nothing away.
“My research on bears states that you’re communal by nature.”
“There’s communal,” Yakov said darkly, “and then there’s bears. A man just going about his business, and suddenly ten babushkas are on him about a little public disorder that never harmed anybody.”
She was certain now that he was amusing himself by playing up to Psy perceptions of changelings being violent by nature. The irony of her murderous people judging anyone else would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.
It was a long second later that she realized she was staring at his profile.
Waiting for the dimple to reappear.
A flush creeping up her neck, she jerked her attention to the large purse in her lap. “I need to go over some details of the facility before we arrive,” she said to him, her voice too thin to her own ears.
A playful bear either (a) likes you or (b) is messing with you.
Despite everything, Theo had forgotten Aunt Rita’s astute warning and fallen into a stealthily placed bearish trap. If she kept on going with this conversation, she had the distinct feeling she’d reveal far more than she’d gain.
Pretending she was acting normal and that she hadn’t already memorized all the information, she pulled out her organizer. And tried not to breathe in the rough heat of him with every breath. She’d never realized heat could have a scent until she was inside a vehicle with a changeling who pulsed with a wild energy that made the hairs on her arms prickle and her skin tighten.
“Sure.” Deep, relaxed, his voice felt like fur over her already sensitized flesh. “You want me to turn off the radio?”
She clutched at the matter-of-fact topic. “No, you have it at a very low volume. I can hardly hear it.”
He tapped his ear in a silent reminder of his far more acute hearing. “Just tell me if you ever want it louder. With the various tonal corrections built into most audio media, it isn’t uncomfortable for changelings even at higher volumes.”
Though Yakov didn’t interrupt her with words after that, his mere presence continued to be a rough buzz against her skin, a pressure akin to a building cyclone. She turned the pages on the organizer without seeing the text and images, her heart a staccato beat and her senses full of him.
Her leg began to quiver from the built-up tension.
She didn’t understand her chaotic response, especially now that he wasn’t luring her into conversation. It wasn’t as if she’d never been around changelings. She went to most of Pax’s appointments with E-Psy Memory Aven-Rose, and Memory never came alone to those appointments. Most times, it was her wolf mate who accompanied her, but every so often it’d be another dominant wolf.
Once, it had been a sleekly feline woman with long black braids. Desiree. No one had mentioned her animal, but she was apt to be a leopard, since the wolves had an alliance with their feline neighbors. Desiree might’ve been cat rather than wolf—but her dominance had been as violent a pulse. A silent warning that Memory had deadly backup.