Page 3 of It Varies
“Well, you are receptive, and you were with him for hours.I would guess your connection is going to be successful.I just get that inkling.”
Jenn lay back.“Of course.That is my luck.”
“If you want actual luck, I can call Ivy.”
“No.Definitely not.Did you get my stuff?”
“Yes.I used your phone location to get a better bead on you.Really glad I put that on your phone.”She smoothed the bedding over Jenn’s shoulders.“Rest, and I will get everything sorted.You have three days until you are back at work.”
“The ache should have finished by then.”
“Painful?”
She snorted.“No.Thorough.He was careful, precise, and while I felt his rut, I wasn’t destroyed by it.”
“Good.Get some rest.”
“Yes, Sable.Thanks for coming to get me.”
“No problem.Glad we made the plan.”
Jenn settled in her bed and relaxed for the first time since Annika had contacted her.She hoped the dark blood alpha was doing okay.He didn’t deserve to be mixed in her mess.
* * * *
Xiroth dressed andwent up to speak to his host.The woman at Loriman’s side looked like Xiroth’s lover, but the scent was wrong.
He walked through the court and stood in front of Loriman.“Thank you for the hospitality of the woman last night.I hope she is not too fatigued.”
Annika blinked.
Loriman took her hand and kissed it.“She recovers quickly, but I am surprised she is not marked.I remember you being creative in placement.”
“Ah, I was.That, however, is not the woman I was with last night.The woman I was with last night had been given an aphrodisiac and knew it.We did not exchange names, but I am wishing to correct that oversight...now.”
Loriman looked at his beta.“What is he talking about?”
Annika swallowed.“My sister was here helping with the party, and I thought he wouldn’t notice as we look the same, so I gave her something to help things along and sent her down to him.”
Loriman said, “Where is she now?”
“She left.”
There was a clatter at one of the sideboards.Xiroth raised his head and caught his lover’s scent on the man.“You were in prolonged contact with her.Why?”
The man was shaking.Xiroth raised his hand, and the man was pulled into his grip.He looked at him and used the scent trail to get into his memories.What he found disgusted him.
“Loriman, I need to tear your beta’s throat out.”
Annika shrieked.“What?”
He paced toward her.“Or should I take the woman out to the cliffs and throw her toward the rocks below?That was the fate she gave to her sibling.”
Loriman grabbed Annika, and she was on her knees with his hand around her throat and his eyes blazing.“Your own blood?”
Annika was babbling, and Xiroth turned to leave.“I do not bless your house.I do not defy your shadows.You are on your own, Loriman, for having such a treacherous mate at your side.”
He flared all of his wings out and left through the front door, taking all the luck of the house with him.
