The Shadows

“No,” Selena said as he went to head by her. “Stay.”

Like she wanted him available to fill things in if she felt her male wasn’t being straight with her.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

Even though Trez had been rip-shit only moments before, the guy looked as composed as an inanimate object: “It’s not important.”

“That’s not what I just heard. And before you accuse me of eavesdropping, the two of you were yelling so loudly, I could hear it next door.”

Trez rubbed his short-cropped hair and walked around. “Selena—”

“Are you going to be mated?”

“This doesn’t affect us.”

“It most certainly does.”

When there was a tight silence, iAm decided, Fuck it. “He was sold by our parents when we were infants to the Queen of the Territory—as a mate for the heir to the throne. It was decreed by his astrological chart. He’s done everything possible to escape from it, and the reason he’s pissed at me is because I’m his Achilles’s heel. He’s just freaking out at a close call, probably because the real thing he’s worried about is you and he can’t do anything about that.”

As they both looked at him, he shrugged. “Whatever. I’ve been watching Dr. Phil with Lass downstairs when I can’t sleep.”

“Is this true?” Selena asked.

“Yeah.” Trez went over and sat on the bed. “I didn’t talk to you about it because, honestly, like he said, no matter what they do in three days, I’m not going to mate some female I don’t know and don’t care about and give her the second in line for the throne. It’s just not going to happen—and that’s true whether or not you’re in my life, and whether or not you live a hundred more days or a thousand more years.”

He clapped his hands together as if he were closing a door. “And that’s that.”

Selena was quiet for a time. “You should have told me.”

“I don’t like to think about it.”

iAm rolled his eyes. “Truth.”

“And, Selena, I’m serious. I’m not going to do it in seventy-two hours or seven million.” Trez glanced over. “Did you see our parents while you were there?”

iAm shook his head. “I was only in the palace.” In a cell. “And they’ve lost their station so they were on the other side of those walls. I sure as shit didn’t look them up. They’re dead to me. I couldn’t give a fuck about them.”

“Me, too.” Trez looked back at Selena. “This is my life here. Here is my life—these people, this place, my businesses . . . you most of all. I’m not going to let anyone take it away from me, especially not because some astrologist looked at the stars in the heavens and decided they meant something.”

Selena wrapped her arms around herself. “I really wish you’d told me.”

“I would have if it meant anything to me.”

“And these businesses . . . do you still sell females through them?”

iAm stared at the door. Started inching his way to it.

“They sell themselves,” Trez countered. “I give them a venue to do so, but they are in charge of themselves. They choose who, how much, how often. My job is to keep them safe.”

“While you earn money off of them.”

“They pay the club. Not me.”

“But you own the club.”

“iAm,” Trez said sharply. “I want you to stay.”

He closed his eyes. “That’s not what I’m thinking.”

“No,” Selena spoke up. “If he has nothing to hide, let him say it in front of an audience.”

Great. Just what he was looking for. A job as mediator.

Not.

And maichen was still at the condo.

“Actually, I really do have to go.” iAm glanced back and forth between the two of them. “I’ve never been in a relationship before, so I don’t have any advice for the pair of you. But, Selena, I think you should be aware of two things. One, his entire life has been defined by rebelling against the s’Hisbe and our parents. And two, he has not been with a single female since he got with you last year. He has been faithful to you even when you two weren’t together. So don’t crucify him because you think that the human women who work for him are somehow with him. I’m out.”

He didn’t give them a chance to reel him back into their drama. He had enough of his own. He’d left maichen buck-ass naked in his bed and he was worried she was going to take off without his getting back.

Rushing down to the foyer, he bolted through the vestibule, broke out into the night, and dematerialized to the Commodore.

As he assumed form on the terrace, he yanked back the glass door and rushed across to the corridor that led to the bedrooms.

“maichen,” he called out.

Just as he rounded the door to his bedroom, she said, “Yes?”

He took a deep breath as he saw her reclining against the pillows, her bare shoulders emerging from the cover of the duvet.

“Oh, thank fuck,” he said.

“Are you all right?” She sat up. “iAm?”

Kicking off his shoes, he didn’t answer her. He couldn’t. There was too much to say about things he couldn’t change and hated.

Instead, he pulled back the sheets and got in fully clothed. Her body was warm and naked and yielding as he brought them heart-to-heart.