Page 91 of Truthfinder’s Promise
Gods, if mythology could be trusted, were often bored. They had lived it all, seen it all, and they desperately wanted someone to surprise or entertain them, frequently to their detriment. Here was to hoping Analisa ranked among them.
Meredith tilted her head back and laughed. Analisa blinked.
“Here is a truth I can make for you,” Meredith said. “You can take my little Monster from me. You obviously have the manpower to do so. But I regret to tell you his…docility isn’t training. I rescued him, and now he’s mine.”
“Is that so?”
“Monster—” she leaned toward Jensen, as if the two were in on an elaborate secret “—do you like the pretty lady?”
Jensen bared his teeth and snarled.
“Do you like me?”
Jensen quit snarling and bumped his face against her stomach. Meredith rubbed behind his ears, her gaze fixed on Analisa. “As I’ve said, I have no doubt you can take him. But you will lose quite a few more of your ‘lovelies,’ and I suspect he’ll make you kill him before he lets you have him.” Meredith shrugged, as if it didn’t much matter. “But you can try.”
Analisa’s eyes narrowed. “What makes you think I can’t simply make him one of my lovelies?”
Meredith’s chest tightened. The thought of Jensen, vacant and hollow-eyed like the thralls, made her want to vomit. Her brain caught up to her gut reaction, and her smile never wavered. “If you could do that, you would have already enthralled every Shifter in your possession. And I truly doubt you would be selling them at this auction.”
Tense silence stretched between them. Julian was looking at Meredith like he’d never seen her before. That’s right, Julian. You aren’t the important one here.
“Or,” Meredith said, when the tension had grown so taut it was in danger of snapping, “you can accept that Monster is mine, and we can come to an arrangement.”
“An arrangement?” She sounded amused. “As in, I get him on the weekends?”
“As in, point us toward what you want and we’ll get it for you. Monster stays with me and, in return, if you call, we jump.”
“An interesting proposal.” Analisa’s eyes roved over the two of them. She wanted Jensen, that much was obvious, and he’d hardly snarled enough to be truly terrifying earlier, but— “What do you get out of it?”
“Respect. You have it. I want it. I’m tired of being tolerated like I’m a silly little girl.”
Analisa narrowed her eyes. “I’ll consider it. Go circulate among the guests and show them how desirable a tame Shifter can be. I don’t want to see a single specimen go for less than a million. I’d like to make my money back on them.”
It was too easy a capitulation. Meredith didn’t hold out a single iota of hope that Analisa had even the smallest trust in her. But for now, Ana was letting her play the game.
