Page 52 of Collared Mate

He turns and looks at me, his handsome face settling into an expression that’s a little hard for me to read.

“Back in the day, when I first met the very rich, I thought they were better than me,” he says. “Then, the more time I spent around them, the more obvious it became that they’re just the same as me. There’s nothing special about them.”

“Ouch, thanks,” I deadpan.

“What makes you special isn’t how much money you were born into,” he says. “It’s the fire you have. It’s how you never gave up, never assumed the role you were groomed to have. By all rights, you should have been married off, and…”

“I was married off. Christian died, or was killed. Who fucking knows. But whatever it was, he’s gone, and that’s the only reason I’m free.”

There’s a long pause. Henry looks at me with an expression of curious intensity that I don’t quite understand.

“Did you do it?”

“Did I kill Christian?” I laugh. “No. I didn’t even know where he was most of the time. He got himself killed doing something arrogant, would be my guess. And then I was able to work some things through.”

“By hunting down men…”

“By taking out shitty low-level predators who had no right to be hunting,” I say. “I don’t regret what I did. I only ever hurt men who wanted to hurt me. It was self-defense.”

“But you took some pleasure in it.”

“The fuck is this?” I stand up, but Henry grips me by the arm.

“There can’t be any secrets between us, Fiona.”

“Really? Then why aren’t you talking to Rick?”

He drops my arm immediately. I let out an embittered little laugh. “God, it must be so much fun to be so self-righteous you can actually say things like there can’t be any secrets, while having all the secrets. Do you get off on being a hypocrite, Henry?”

He gives me a flashing look that is somewhere between annoyed and accepting that he’s just as fucked up, if not more.

“Anyway. What’s your dad’s favorite food?” I change the subject. “I assume someone’s setting the menu? Or do you want Tinker to whip up one of her specials again?”

“Hey!”

The exclamation comes from deeper in the house and reminds me that this conversation is not even pretending to be private. We are as exposed as it is possible to be right now.

* * *

Evening comes far faster than it has any right to.

I have to pick out a dress. I am tending toward something demure, not too low cut in either the front or the back. I want to remind people that I am Fiona Swale, and as much as I might be a terribly dangerous wild animal, I am also a beautiful woman.

Tinker and Hades and Jacob are out, so we have the house to ourselves. It has a decent dining room in which they have decided we will dine. It’s not very nice, but good enough for this kind of affair.

I miss Chef. She would have had everything in order. Instead, Henry’s cooked a roast lamb, which does smell delicious. My job has been limited to what it’s always been: going up, getting dressed, looking pretty.

I end up choosing a black dress for the dinner. Long, elegant, with a snatched silhouette. Very Hepburn in cut and feel. After rolling around naked in the dirt yesterday, I want to create a more refined image for my future father-in-law.

As I put my makeup on in the bathroom mirror, I try to center myself. Everything is going well, I tell myself. I’ve finally met my fated mate. It’s Henry. He’s perfect. He’s handsome. He’s sexy as hell. He knows how to handle me. I could live the rest of my life being very happily ever after with him.

But before that happens, so many awful things have to come to pass. I know Henry is trying to create a peaceful solution, but in my experience, this is how people die. My mother, my father, Christian. They were all close to me one way or another and each of them has been removed from the world.

What makes Henry any different? I can’t trust that he’ll keep himself alive. I don’t know that I even believe that’s possible. Seems to me that when your time comes due, that’s it.

I am caught between love, lust, and the deepest, most profound sense of fear. I don’t know what safety is, because I have never been safe. Some people think that money makes you more protected, but it doesn’t. It puts a target on your back. Once people know Henry has me as his mate, it’s only a matter of time until…

A light tap at the door interrupts my dark reverie, and I realize I’ve just been standing here, staring into the mirror with one eye lined and one not for about fifteen minutes.