“You’re an easy man to hate.”
“As are you, Mr. Smith. Do have yourself a good evening.” Rob rose, picking me up as he did so. “Also, her name is not Collie. It is Alexa; Miss Daegberht to you. Address her appropriately in the future. She is not a dog for you to kick, and if I learn of you disrespecting her in such a fashion again, you’ll find out how far I will go to protect what is mine.”
Rob was laughing by the time he got me to his car. After setting me on the seat, he rested his head against my chest. “I wish you could have seen his face. It looked like he swallowed a beehive.”
“He wanted to kill you,” I whispered.
“Of course he did. I played his game better than he did, and he knows it. He’ll probably try to find some way to cross me, and I’ll take a great deal of pleasure in countering him. He’s not a stupid man, and I’ve stolen one of his prized possessions and challenged him on his own turf. I’d be very disappointed if he didn’t want to kill after that.”
“Was his dae there?”
“Yes, he was watching from the corner, thinking himself hidden away out of sight. That dae is a quiet one. Dangerous, too. I’ll have to do some research on his abilities. For now, I think you’ll be safe enough, especially when I approach the dean with a business proposal concerning you. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for Mr. Smith, and I look forward to playing my hand in full.”
“You’re a smug, egotistical asshole,” I informed him.
Rob laughed, circled the car, and got behind the wheel. “Why thank you, Alexa.”
I yawned, stretching my legs out as far as I could. “You need a bigger car. This one’s shit for leg room.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. It’s time for me to take you home so you can get some sleep. I have plans to make.”
“Mommy!”
Rob chuckled. “Yes, Colby, you can help.”
“What about me?” I demanded.
“Oh, so you can invite Colby, but I can’t? How is that fair? I suppose you can help, too, if you must.”
I cursed him the entire way to my apartment. The smug way he smiled intensified my fury, but the happy way he laughed pleased me. When we reached my apartment, Colby’s unicorn friend was playing chess with the incubus’s bejeweled dragon. Both took one look at Rob, who still had me cradled in his arms, and dove through my dae-spewing refrigerator, leaving us alone.
Before the Dawn of Dae, I had truly been alone. The world I had known had come to an end, but I had Colby, and for better or worse, Rob seemed determined to stay.
Maybe being an ordinary human in a world gone mad wouldn’t be too bad.
Dae Portals Novels
Dawn of Dae (December 1, 2015)
Unawakened (January 25, 2016)
The Hound and the Chameleon (TBD: 2016)
Unawakened
In order to restore peace after the Dawn of Dae, the United States has declared martial law. Enforcing the militant regime won't be easy, and a new policing force of dae and their bonded humans has been mustered to keep the populace under tight control.
Alexa wants nothing to do with the government, its army, or the special forces meant to keep rebellion at bay, but she has a choice: do what Kenneth Smith wants or die a quick death. As one of the unawakened, she has no chance of infiltrating the police on her own. Forced to partner with Kenneth's dae, who dislikes her almost as much as she dislikes it, her life hinges on how well she convinces others she's a big, bad monster just like them instead of an ordinary human woman.
Working for the police is no easier than dealing with Kenneth's work. During the day, she's a part of the law, but at night, she's a tool of crime and war. It's only a matter of time before she's caught--or fails her mission and is killed by her drug-dealing boss.
If she wants to live a free life, she'll need to take care of Kenneth once and for all. Since he won't listen to reason and let her go, she's determined to buy her freedom with his death.
Unfortunately, Kenneth isn't the only problem in her life, and unless she does something about Rob, she'll lose the independence she fought so hard for. Worse, unless she's careful, he'll make her like it...
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The Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals Book 1) Page 32
