Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“P…,” Z begins with a teasing grin, “that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“It isn’t.”
“Unless you’re auditioning for a Sweeney Todd remake, yeah, big bro.” A.D. beams so wide it somehow physically hurts my own face. “You’re fucking nesting.”
“And what in the hell is nesting?” Cameron interjects, forcing my focus back to her. “Is that what you all call awkward flirting?”
“I’m not awkward.”
“Extremely.”
Shamefully.
Shut the fuck up! You’re the reason I’m evidently coming off like a goddamn serial killer!
“Nesting is what a dragon shifter does when they’ve found their Fated Mate,” Dae answers to our surprise. “It’s meant to be affectionate. Sometimes they give gifts. Sometimes they focus on particularly caring for one area in odd ways.” She peers over her shoulder at the woman beside me. “It’s similar to the aspect of giving you a nickname. It’s meant to be loving even when you might not appreciate the nickname at first.”
Cameron’s mouth twitches—undoubtedly to ask more questions—yet is thankfully cut off by the doctor in the room.
“So, there’s a slight reactionary delay in several of her responses to stimuli changes,” my fate-in-law announces at the same time she steps away from the glass. “That combined with the eye-twitching to certain words leads me to believe that there is a level of chemical coercion at work; however, I need to do a full round of diagnostics—including labs from a blood or hair sample—to be certain.”
Z’s first to reply, and the word is crassly barked, “No!”
“Your tone nor your volume are helpful, but they’re noted,” Dae nonchalantly brushes him off to continue to speak to me directly. “You’re not going to get any real answers out of her like this. You’re simply going to get a pre-programmed response that was either part of her preparation for a captive scenario like this or is the only one she can create due to whatever might be prohibiting her from actually thinking. At the very least, she needs to be detoxed. She needs a chance for some of whatever is in her system to be flushed out. Once I have an idea of what that is, I may be able to speed up the cleansing process.”
I nod my understanding while my youngest brother shakes his head in refusal. “We need to get her transferred to one of the secure facilities on the property.”
“Wait, we have dungeons at the estate?!” Ana gleefully squeals. “How have I not found those yet?”
“It’s a big estate,” Dae casually retorts. “I’ve been there for months and am still discovering things. Like did you know there’s an entire room devoted to playground slides?”
“What?!” She squawks even louder.
“The room is also fireproof.” The two Fated Mates turn their wide-eyed gazes back to me. “Look, tiny shifters are overly active, especially those that are dragonborn. You think Sleeper toddlers are intense? Wait until my niece or nephew is learning to walk, shift, fly, and breathe fire all at once.” I kick my chin A.D.’s direction. “He’s the reason that area was built in the first place. Dad was tired of Gene having to repair a hole in the ceiling when someone discovered a direct path from his room to the kitchen.”
“Would’ve been easier to just put a fridge in my room but no one wanted to listen,” A.D. grumbles on a shoulder shrug.
“The estate has many, many amenities including multiple holding areas for worst case scenario situations like this one.” My stare locks onto Dae’s at the same time I announce, “We’ll get her tranquilized again for transporting, which I’ll personally do to ensure your safety and my brother’s sanity.”
“We’ll personally do,” Cameron chimes in much to my anticipation.
Perhaps I don’t know her that well; however, I do know her well enough to know she’s not about to let this female out of her sight.
There’s no hesitation in my correction, “Which myself and Miss Pennington-”
“Cami.”
This amendment manages to pleasantly catch me off guard resulting in a small grin to occur. “Pint-Size and I will handle the transfer.” My Fated Mate’s grunt of objection over the nickname causes the smile to deepen. “We’ll meet you there.”
Mother of Dragons, I can barely believe how much I like the sound of “we” rolling off my tongue.
Same.
Sounds good though.
Very.
Natural…
Perfect.
Yeah, Platinum. For some reason, saying we, really does feel fucking perfect.
Cameron
And here I thought our initial meeting was uncomfortable.
It turns out that having him stare at me while I blatantly lie to my overhead on speakerphone with my previously thought of as dead mother—who happens to be a mythical creature?—bound, gagged, and almost tranqued to death in the backseat of his SUV takes the cake.
The. Whole. Fucking. Cake.
Good, heavy cake, obviously.
You know like Bundt or pound.
None of that carrot shit that somehow manages to show up at every office potluck in spite of the fact not a single person ever eats it.