Page 92 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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If Meredith had thought she hated playing the pretty, vapid socialite at her mother’s parties, it was nothing compared to how she felt circulating a room showing Jensen off like he was a well-trained German Shepherd. Everyone wanted to touch him or pet him or look at his teeth. They wanted him to roll over or shake hands, derisive laughter in their eyes at seeing the two-hundred pound wolf act like a puppy.

“He’s so pretty,” squealed a brunette with big doe eyes and the alluring blush of youth. She turned said doe eyes on the man she was hanging off of. “Baby, I want one. Can I have one?”

The girl was nineteen if she was a day, too young and too pretty to be on the arm of a man more than twice her age. Aldrich Weston was an Elemental Aspecter Meredith knew by reputation if not by personal association. He specialized in earth ores, and his mining operations were worth billions.

Billions easily bought too young and too pretty, and Meredith thought the girl ought to be careful. Aldrich had the irritated expression on his face that indicated he might have forgotten how tiresome the exuberance of youth could be, and was considering upgrading to a mid-twenties model.

“We do have one wolf shifter in the auction,” Julian said silkily, “though its coat is black, not white.”

The girl—what had her name been? Trixie? Trudy? Trina—widened her eyes like a five-year-old in a candy store. “They come in black?”

They’re people, you vapid little brat, not sports cars.

“Can I have the black one, baby?” Baby was Trina’s favorite word. It made an appearance in every sentence she spoke, sometimes twice.

Aldrich looked like he was calculating which would be less detrimental to his hearing: Trina’s whining over wanting a Shifter, or her excitement at getting one.

“Perhaps. Why don’t you be a good little girl and fetch me a scotch?”

A good little girl? Ugh.

“Okay.” Trina bounded away. Considering the number of thralls in this room whose sole purpose was to provide guests with any and every drink they could possibly want, Trina’s retrieval of one wasn’t even a badly disguised attempt to get rid of her for a minute. Not that she seemed to have picked up on the fact.

“You disapprove,” Aldrich said.

Meredith snapped her eyes from Trina back to Aldrich. “Your personal taste is just that—personal.”

“You know, your mother offered you to me once.”

Meredith’s brain screeched to a halt. Her mother had what?

Aldrich smiled. “You were seventeen or eighteen at the time, I think? I’d expressed an interest before then, but—” he shrugged “—she had better uses for you then. The later offer was a clear attempt to salvage the situation with the Winters, and I dislike other men’s castoffs.”

Fury coiled in her gut. So when she’d broken things off with Jace, dear old mum had tried to sell her off to a man twice her age. She shouldn’t be surprised. But it irked her that Savannah Townsend could still cut her from beyond the grave.

Outwardly, she telegraphed bored indifference. “Devastated though I am by your lack of interest, I’ll manage to go on somehow.” She looked over his shoulder to where Trina was coming back, drink in hand. “Your date’s returning. Be a good sugar daddy and buy her a puppy tonight, won’t you?”

Meredith turned on her heel and walked away. She circulated the room for another ten minutes, keeping her smile on her face by sheer force of will. The energy radiating off Jensen told her he worked just as hard to control himself.

When a woman whose name she’d already forgotten pinned Julian down with questions about one of the displayed items, Meredith broke for the exit. Three steps outside the room two thralls moved in, blocking her path. She stepped sideways. They moved with her.

Meredith threw her shoulders back. “Ana?”

“A moment of your time, Ms. Townsend.” The thrall turned and Meredith followed them down the hall to a sitting room. Analisa stood by the room’s far window, the curtain held back with her index finger. She let the fabric fall and faced Meredith. “I must admit, you work a room well. Truthfully, I didn’t expect much out of you. From the way your mother used to talk about you, I thought you’d be an empty-headed thing with too much Aspect and no idea how to use it.”

“Then why did you bring me here?”

“For the wolf, and for Julian. As tedious as Julian can be, he walks where I cannot anymore.” Her gaze dropped to Jensen. “And he does have a knack for finding me the most interesting things. Do you know how long I’ve been searching for a Shifter?”

Not long enough. “No.”

“One-hundred and twenty-three years.” Analisa waited for the number to sink in. “You don’t seem surprised. Or skeptical.”

Meredith shrugged. “Julian spoke of your thralls a couple days ago. I went looking and found a mention of the term in some old book. I’m not sure I believe you used to be Life, though. You’re nothing like Siren.”

Darkness flashed in Analisa’s eyes. “That is because your pet Life Aspecter has had a charmed existence so far.”