Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
It wasn’t just because pallas cats kept an emotional distance from others by nature. It was because Madisyn’s reflexive response to “change” was to reject it, and a whole lot of changes would come with accepting Bracken as her mate.
For one thing, she’d have to join his pack. That meant she’d have to answer to people, which she didn’t do well with at all. She’d been a lone shifter all her life, couldn’t imagine having Alphas whom she’d need to heed, support, report to, and even seek permission from to do certain things. She liked Shaya and Nick and could swear loyalty to them. But answer to them? That would be one fuck of a struggle.
She’d also have to move onto Bracken’s territory, which would be difficult. She’d not only have to share living space, she’d have to deal with his pack mates turning up day and night. She’d also be expected to eat with them at least once a day. To add to that, she could say goodbye to privacy. Living on pack territory would be like living in a small town—there were no secrets, everyone knew each other’s business . . . much like it had been at the shelter.
Privacy, peace, and quiet did not exist in shelters. Madisyn liked to have all three—maybe because it reminded her that she was no longer there. She didn’t even like having people in her lair; needed that little haven that was hers and only hers. Living on pack territory would mean giving all that up.
If she took Bracken as her mate, she’d also be expected to welcome him totally into her life, and Madisyn didn’t really know how to share her life with someone. She’d been on her own since her parents died when she was twelve. The human authorities had passed her from foster home to foster home like a parcel. No one kept her around for long. Apparently, people didn’t like it when you started fires for the sheer fun of it. Shocking.
Looking back, she realized now that the display of deviant behavior had been her way of testing people, of seeing how committed they were to keeping her before she let herself get comfortable. She wondered if her past efforts to annoy Bracken had been her subconscious way of testing him.
Social services had eventually dumped her at the shelter. It had taken a while before Madisyn truly believed that Dawn would allow her to stay. Before that, she’d been constantly on edge, thinking it was only a matter of time before Dawn forced her to leave.
Makenna had turned up at the shelter not long after her, and they’d immediately clicked. Over time, Madisyn had also developed a bond with Dawn. But they were really the only people she had a true attachment to. She’d never developed any attachments to the males in her past. Those relationships had been simple and fun. None of those males had dared look at her with the possessiveness that Bracken had. They hadn’t expected anything of her. Hadn’t laid any demands on her. Hadn’t questioned her actions or interfered with her decisions. But Bracken would. He’d be, by his own admittance, a pain in her ass. And as a matter of fact, she’d be a pain in his.
Nope, what lay ahead wouldn’t be easy on either of them. But now that the shock had worn off and she was no longer feeling off-balance, she could think just fine. Could breathe without panicking. Could even smile at the idea that the guy she’d been craving for years had turned out to be her mate. Plenty of people would think her fortunate.
Hugging her pillow, Madisyn sighed. Like the rest of the bedding, it was soft and luxurious. Nothing like the beds she’d slept in at the shelter. She could still remember the feel of bedsprings poking into her back. Still remembered how the bed squeaked with each move she made. Still remembered huddling under the bobbly, threadbare blankets, trying to stay warm. There were times when the shelter was so full, she’d been forced to sleep on a thin sleeping pad so that the elderly residents had something comfier to sleep on.
Now that she had her own home, she enjoyed her comforts. No cheap shampoo and soap. No rough, secondhand clothes. No coarse towels or thin, lumpy pillows. Best of all, she had her own space. A space she might soon lose, she remembered, but she’d stop thinking about that now. She had other things to concern herself with, like the Maverick Clan situation—something that Makenna and Dawn needed to be warned about.
She peeled back the crisp rose-gold coverlet and edged out of bed. For once, she didn’t feel groggy. Probably because it was the best night’s sleep she’d had in two weeks. There was no restlessness. No cold sweats. No itching. Nothing. Which, of course, was thanks to Bracken’s very skilled fingers—that was another thing she wouldn’t think about now.