by Sophie Oak
“That’s a bit dramatic. I think I’ve always just been trying to live up to Dad’s expectations and failing spectacularly.”
“Only because you never understood what Dad really wanted. He wanted you to find something you were passionate about. He wanted you to be happy. I don’t think you’re happy, Dante. I don’t think you were happy when you were partying, and I don’t think you’re happy behind a desk.”
He wasn’t. And it was awful that someone saw it. He had everything a person could want, and he wasn’t happy. But you were. You were happy with Kaja in the woods. You were complete. “Maybe some people just aren’t smart enough to be happy.”
She huffed, a frustrated sound. “You are so slow sometimes. You are happy when you’re fighting for Beck and Ci. When you’re talking politics and how to help the masses, your eyes light up and you become this different person altogether. That’s your passion, Dante. Not numbers and spreadsheets. And I saw you the other night with Kaja. When you thought no one was looking, I saw your fangs and your eyes bleeding out. It was primal, something we try to hide. But you were happy, brother. And that made me happy.”
He tried to hide that. “If the press caught me like that, we would all be in trouble.”
“You think I don’t go a little crazy around Colin?” Susan asked. “I know royals try to hide the way consorts make them feel, but it’s stupid. It’s love. It’s how we love. The sharing of emotions and sensations is how we love. They don’t prepare you for it.”
Dante let a beat of silence slip by before he said, “I can see Kaja’s memories.”
Susan leaned forward, surprise clear on her face. “Seriously?”
He’d known he shouldn’t talk about it, but the temptation was too great. He didn’t have Beck and Ci to talk to. And he didn’t trust anyone else. “It’s like I’m there. It’s like I’m her. I live out her memories when we’re connected.”
“Wow. That must be her power.” Susan contemplated the situation for a moment. “It must be because she’s different. I don’t get anything like that from Colin. I get a lot of thoughts about how hot I am and how much he loves me, but I don’t ever become him. I’m kind of glad about that. I don’t think working on a farm would be an experience I’d look forward to reliving.”
Dante sat back, inexplicably tired. “Yeah, well, being an outcast in a wolf pack hasn’t been awesome.”
“Outcast?”
He hoped he wasn’t telling his sister something Kaja wouldn’t share, but he felt like Susan should know. They were getting close. “Her parents are dead, her siblings killed because her father tried and failed to be the leader of the pack. She was spared because she was a baby, but they treated her like shit. The pack’s leader’s son raped her and then threw her out of the pack when he was done with her. They expected her to die alone.”
“Gods, Dante, I had no idea. She’s so open.” His sister’s hand was over her heart. She wouldn’t think less of Kaja. Susan would love her all the more for how resilient she was.
“Yes, she’s strong,” Dante said. “She didn’t let it kill her heart. That’s why I cringe at the thought that she needs to be fixed. She could teach the people of this plane a thing or two.”
Susan nodded. “I understand. Just let me work with her. You’ll see. She’ll settle in. She’ll learn our ways.”
Dante had to hope so. “Just make sure the tutor is a kind woman.”
“I actually was thinking about a man,” Susan began.
“No.” He wasn’t leaving his lovely, strong, interesting consort alone with some man.
Susan smiled as though she’d been testing him and he’d passed. “Fine. I’ll find a very nice woman to teach our Kaja. Colin can help, too. He likes her. And mother wants to throw a big party for her next month. She’s inviting everyone, including the press. We’ll polish her up, show her off, and then she can go back to being herself.” Susan leaned over and hugged him. “But you should think about slowing down and really thinking about what you want. You know damn well Beck and Ci won’t run. I’ll do anything I can to help, but I’m strictly financial, brother. You could help them in other ways. Mom and Dad will try to tell you to be safe, but you’ve never been safe. It’s who you are. It’s why I love you.”
He was shocked at the tears in his sister’s eyes when she kissed his cheek and stood to go.
“And I need those reports tonight, Dante.”
The doors closed behind her, and Dante knew he had a lot to think about.
Chapter Sixteen
Kaja stared at the machine in front of her. Like everything else on this plane, she found it confusing and difficult.
“What would you like to drink, mistress?”
Though the machine had no face, it still spoke. It still asked her questions she wasn’t sure of how to answer. Everyone did that here. Everyone had questions. She could still feel the press of the people called reporters from earlier in the day. She’d been out with her mother-in-law shopping, and the reporters had found their car. When she and Alana had gotten out, there had been a rush to surround them. Kaja had changed out of sheer fear.
She could still hear the shocked shouts and see the flashes as the reporters took pictures and video.
Dante’s mother had been horrified. Oh, she’d pretended to be angry with the reporters, but Kaja had heard her calling someone known as a lawyer.
Kaja had caused this family an enormous amount of trouble. It was time to seriously consider moving on.
“Mistress? Have you changed your mind?”
No. She was still thirsty. She simply didn’t know what she wanted. It was very much how the last few weeks had gone. She was stuck in limbo, trapped between loving Dante and facing the knowledge that she did not fit in to his world.
“Tea.” Alana often had tea. Kaja had watched Dante’s mother speak to the machine.
There was a short hiss, and the machine went into motion. Kaja stared at it, but she didn’t really see it. She saw Dante in his perfect suit as he came home from work each night. He would come in and try to talk to her, but she didn’t understand half of what he said. He asked about her tutors and her classes and seemed very pleased that she was rapidly learning what he called academics. But the rest seemed to elude her.
Now, she’d utterly humiliated her new family. She’d heard the news of her failure reported on the DLs that everyone here seemed to watch. She was being called the Dellacourt Beast.
And Dante was further away than ever. He still made love to her, but he was always working. He didn’t have time for her anymore. Now that they were back in his home, he seemed to understand that he’d made a mistake.
She wanted to talk to Meg.
The machine finished. There was a lovely teacup with a saucer and steaming liquid sitting in the center of the machine. “Does my mistress wish for cream and sugar?”
“Yes.” She’d never had cream and sugar, but it seemed like something interesting to try.
“And where should I put it? Directly on your thighs and buttocks?” The machine’s voice became distinctly nasty.
“No.” Kaja took a step back and heard a chuckle.
Dante stood in the doorway, his jacket gone. He still wore his tie, but his hair was utterly perfect. He was cool and collected, and the very image of the modern vampire. He was a man who should be married to the perfect consort, not one the press reviled.
“Mom put the beverage dispenser on ‘weight management’ mode. It gets bitchy. You have to learn how to talk to it. You’re the boss, sweetheart.” He got down on the machine’s level. “Look here, you piece-of-shit machine. She said she wanted cream and sugar, and if you don’t give it to her, I will pull your plug, shove you into the recycling bin, and you’ll come back a toaster. Do you want that?”
Immediately a stream of white came from the machine’s dispenser followed by a cube of sugar. “I hope you enjoy your beverage. Please let me know if I can help you further.”
Dante reached in and grab
bed the delicate cup and saucer. He indicated that Kaja should sit at the table and placed it in front of her. He turned back. “Give me three fingers of Scotch. Single malt. Fifteen years.”
The machine seemed to race to do his bidding. In no time at all, he was picking up the glass and sighing as he sipped the Scotch. He’d been drinking a lot of Scotch lately. Still, he turned and sat down at the table in front of her. “I heard you had a rough day.”
The tea smelled lovely, but she suddenly knew her stomach wouldn’t accept it. She pushed it away. “I made a mistake.”
She waited for him to berate her. She would take it. She knew she shouldn’t have allowed her four-legged form to be seen.
Dante’s lips quirked up. “Not a mistake, Kaja baby. You were beautiful. I told you, I think you’re gorgeous any way you are.”
The doors to the small kitchen opened, and Alana Dellacourt walked in. Her face was lined with worry, but when she realized she wasn’t alone, she seemed to force a smile on her lips. “Oh, hello, Dante, Kaja.”
Kaja wanted to hide. She’d put Dante’s mother in a terrible position. She’d embarrassed the poor woman. She started to get up, to excuse herself like the etiquette tutor had taught her, but Dante’s hand came out and covered her own. He grinned up at his mother.
“I saw the DL story about your brush with the paparazzi today. Nice use of four-letter words, Mom.”
Alana actually laughed. “I also used my four-inch Louboutin stilettos on one of those jerks. He tried to touch Kaja’s fur.”
Dante’s fangs popped out. “Who?”
His mother waved him off. “I’m not telling you because I don’t want to bail you out of jail. I took care of it, son. He won’t be walking for a bit. Calm down. It was only natural. No one has ever seen a shanimal before.”
Dante’s hand slapped at the table. “Motherfuckers! I told Meg. I came up with that. I totally came up with that.”
Alana shrugged and ordered a wine from the beverage dispenser. She smacked it when it asked if she really wanted the calories. “Well, CVN news is claiming to have named the new species. And more.”
Dante’s eyes lit up. “Was bestiality mentioned?”
His mother sighed, but ruffled the top of his head as though she’d known he would ask. “Yes. You’re being called a pervert of the first order.”
“Nice.”
Now his mother slapped his perfectly coifed head. “It isn’t nice for Kaja.”
Kaja watched their byplay with growing curiosity.
Dante shrugged. “It will blow over. Something new will happen, and the fact that Kaja’s also a wolf will totally blow over. Maybe I should give them a photo op of me and Kaj playing with a Frisbee in a park.”
“You will not,” Alana said, giving her son a stern look.
“I am very good with a Frisbee. I catch it every time. I am also good with rubber balls,” Kaja added. Dante had taught her several games. Kaja liked them. They were fun. And they allowed her to run when every other time she seemed to be forced to walk.
“Dante! Don’t you dare do that with her,” Alana nearly shouted. “What are you trying to do?”
Dante’s eyes narrowed, and he sat back. “I’m trying to find our way. She isn’t some properly bred Fae consort. She’s different. I won’t force her into some mold because that would make it easy. I like Kaja the way she is.”
But the way she was would get them all in trouble. Even Kaja could see that. She’d learned enough about Dante’s home to know that personal lives affected the stock market, and the stock market was the most important thing on this plane. She still didn’t quite grasp how a list of valuations made the world go around, but it seemed to be the way here. And she was going to cause Dante’s company trouble.
“I will try harder.”
Dante held out a hand. “Kaja, don’t listen to them. You’re fine. And I won’t allow the press to define our marriage. Now, I got a call from Julian Lodge. I’m supposed to meet with him in an hour. It’s something supersecret.”
Alana went very still. “Have you done something you shouldn’t? Maybe we should send you in with a guard.”
Dante frowned. “Julian Lodge isn’t calling me in to have me killed. He contracts out that sort of work. I have a suspicion it’s about Beck and Cian.”
“You’re leaving?” Kaja asked. She only saw him at night, and now she wouldn’t even get that?
Dante’s face closed down. “I won’t be gone for long. Well, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. And I should tell you now that I have to leave for DC in a couple of days. I shouldn’t be gone long. A week or so.”
Her heart felt too small for her chest. “I will go with you.”
She didn’t fit in here. She’d fit in even less if Dante wasn’t around at all.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dante said, his voice tight.
Alana patted Kaja’s hand, a sympathetic look on her face. “You don’t want to go to stuffy old Washington. We’ll have fun, dear. We’ll go shopping and see a show. But for tonight, I’ll keep you company. Colin should be here soon, and we can all have a nice dinner.”
More shopping. Less Dante.
She’d become an inconvenience. Like she’d been with the pack. These people might be nicer about it, but she was being relegated to the back of the room again. It hurt even more this time since, for a while, she’d believed she might belong.
She would never belong here.
Kaja stood. “Thank you, Alana. I believe I will skip dinner this evening. I would rather go to my room.”
And figure out a way to contact Meg. Meg would be able to tell her how to leave this place.
Dante was on her heels as she walked from the room. “Kaja, you need to eat.”
She continued on her path. “I am fine.”
He grabbed her elbow. “Kaja, go back to the dining room and eat your supper.”
He was using that voice on her, the one that usually had her panting after him. Now it simply made her a bit angry. He was pushing her aside. He had brought her here to this place where she didn’t belong, and now he was leaving her to languish. He’d taught her what she wanted and then took it all away.
“I am going to my room. I will stay there. I will not leave the house again. Now, let me go.” If he wanted to leave her, then she didn’t have to obey his commands. That was another thing she’d learned. She wouldn’t mindlessly follow someone else’s commands. She was the only one who would ever really look out for her, so she was done being meek.
He took her by the elbow and began to walk with her. “Fine. We’ll go to our room. You seem to want a fight. We can do that in private.”
She dug her heels in, but he was so much bigger than she was. He simply hauled her along. “I’m not trying to fight. I’m trying to be alone. I want my own room. You have enough rooms that I should be able to have my own.”
He turned on her, his face a mask of irritation. “Now you want your own room? Really? Just a couple of weeks ago we had far too much space. Now I’m encroaching on yours?”
A few weeks ago she’d thought life would be different. “It’s only for a little while.”
His brows made a curious V on his forehead. “What is that supposed to mean? Is this some shanimal thing?”
And she hated that. She pushed away from him. “I am not a shanimal. I am Kaja. If you can’t use my fucking name, then don’t talk to me.”
Yeah, she’d learned how to curse, too. And it felt good.
His jaw hardened. “Kaja, do you want to explain what this is about?”
“I want to leave this place.”
He crowded her until her back was against the wall. The door to their room was so close. If she could reach it, perhaps she could bar his entry.
“Really? And where do you plan to go, consort? You don’t know how to drive. I doubt you could find your way around the house, much less the city. So, I have to assume you have a place in mind. Did I turn my back too soon? How have
you been spending your days, Kaja? Or, should I ask who you are spending your days with?”
He ground the questions out of his mouth as though each word hurt to say it. Kaja was very confused. “I have spent the days with your mother or Susan.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but now I have to wonder if you’ve met another vampire. If you have, you should know I’ll kill him before I allow you to leave me.” His eyes deepened to the rich green of the forest. She could feel his persuasion creeping in. He wanted her. It rushed against her skin like a wave, but she wasn’t buying it. He wanted to fuck. It didn’t mean he wanted her.
“I’m not meeting some other vampire.” Kaja nearly spat the words at him. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they don’t exactly want to welcome me. I’m the Beast, remember.”
It was what they had called her when they weren’t laughing. They had called her a beast, and humiliation had washed over her. All she’d thought about as they had taken her picture was getting back into Dante’s arms.
It was dangerous to forget he didn’t really love her.
His face softened. “Kaja, they’re stupid. Is that what has you so prickly? It will be yesterday’s news in an hour or so. They’ll find something else to pick on. Now, be a good girl and go have your supper and go to sleep early. In a few weeks, things will calm down, and we can take that trip we talked about.”
That was what he’d said weeks before. Their “trip” kept getting put off. And she knew her status as an outcast and beast wouldn’t blow over. “No. I want to leave. I wish to leave this plane. I want to go back to the forests.”
“No.” He turned and walked into the front room of their apartment.
“What do you mean ‘no?’” Kaja asked.
He walked toward the bedroom. “It means what I said, Kaja. You’re not going anywhere. You’re my wife. You’ll stay with me. Now, I’m done arguing with you. You can eat supper or go hungry, but you’re not going to leave.”
He dismissed her so utterly that Kaja felt something nasty start to kick around her brain. She looked around the apartment. It was so perfect. Perfect art. Perfect furniture. Perfect rug. Everything was in its place, and that was what Dante was trying to do with her. She had her place, and she wasn’t to leave it.
