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To end it all, he dropped down in his wide squat with a release of breath like a hiss while his arms curved in front of him. Muscles popped out everywhere. Abs, arms, thighs, calves.

For the few first seconds after he finished, I was almost numb. Then, I stood, my hands coming together in a clap. “That was so…beautiful, Kai.” There really was no other way to explain it. Sure, I understood it was threatening and meant as a war cry, but it had beauty too.

Everyone else around the table stood too. I glanced over at my mother who had tears shining in her eyes.

At least I wasn’t the only one.

Kai caught his breath, still standing in front of everyone. After a few moments of us clapping, he finally returned to himself as if he’d just released the warrior spirit who’d claimed his body during the dance. He smiled at us all and started to walk back to his seat. Papa Christian stopped him and patted him on the shoulder.

Phew. Okay. The decision was getting closer. To me, Kai was pulling out all the stops to win me over… What to do?

Chapter Nine

After dinner, we all broke apart to retire to our rooms. For myself, I wanted to take a long shower to get the pond funk out of my hair and then veg out in bed. I wasn’t going to lie; I missed my house. I missed its normalcy and routine. I said goodbye to my parents who were all heading back to the house, most likely to watch TV together or something else as a group. Despite missing that, a part of me wanted to be separate. All of this was about going out on my own, so why not start now? That didn’t mean I couldn’t still want to be there too though.

When I let myself into the room, I didn’t have a guard yet. Papa Nic probably wouldn’t play guard again because he would need to catch up on sleep. Maybe one of my other fathers would do it, or Mom herself. That wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. Or, they could just transfer one of the trusted guards to sit outside my room all night. The only thing I knew for sure was that someone would be there. What happened today wasn’t going to be taken lightly. Even though we were all caught up in the dinner and other mate choosing things, everyone behind the scenes was mobilized. I caught glimpses of it as Alexei had too.

I wondered if he’d actually ask Papa Nic about staying in my room…

I went right for the bathroom, turning the hot water on until the room was filled with steam. I loved hot showers. The hotter the better. I wouldn’t come out until my skin was red from the heat and puckered from prolonged exposure.

Tonight wasn’t any different. I washed my hair first, then just stood there, thinking about all the important decisions I had yet to make. The mates were a big decision, but nothing seemed bigger than figuring out what to do about my visions. I had to crack them to stop things before they started. The fate of the clans depended on it.

When I had thoroughly stressed myself out, I turned the water off and stepped from the shower, taking care to towel myself off before slipping on my pajamas. The thin tank top and shorts clung to my body. I wrung my hair out and then brushed it back. It was getting pretty long. Almost too long.

A creak sounded in the main room behind me. I whirled, the bathroom still thick with heat and fog from the shower. Grabbing my hairbrush from the sink, I turned the doorknob quickly and threw it open. I marched out, my hairbrush raised while searching for the source of the noise.

“Whoa, hairbrush killer…” Alexei chuckled. He waved the steam that came billowing out from the bathroom away from his face. “I see you’ve good and roasted yourself again.”

I lowered the hairbrush and put my hand on my hips. He was on his knees, blowing up an air mattress. “Are you kidding?” I asked, gesturing toward the mattress.

His forehead just wrinkled as I stared at him. “What? Would you rather me sleep in the bed with you?”

Ignoring him, I asked, “Did Papa Nic approve this?”

“He did, actually,” he smiled smugly. “I had to swear on my life that I wouldn’t touch you inappropriately.” He rolled his eyes. “But apparently they’re more worried about your safety than your virtue.”

I gave him a short smile which fell off my face immediately as I searched for my cell phone. Alexei chuckled in the background as I pulled it out and checked for any messages. Sure enough, there was a group text in which Papa Nic stated he was allowing Alexei to stay in my room for my safety only, coupled with a threat to Alexei’s personal parts if he tried anything. I wasn’t so sure Alexei knew he’d shared that part with me and my other fathers and mother.

Papa Connor only responded in laughter.

Papa Christian texted:He knows better than to cross us.

Papa Stephan sent me a personal text asking me to be careful.

My mother, however, put all of them in their place.Izzy’s old enough to make her own decisions.

I smiled at that, briefly thinking that I could kick Alexei out of my room if I was old enough to make my own decisions. But the truth was, having him around was filling up the void of not being home. As much as I hated to admit that.

“Wonderful,” I said, putting my cell phone down and not bothering to answer them.

“Oh, come on,” he said, “how many times have we had sleepovers?”

I made my way to the bed, making sure to step right on his air mattress as I did so. “A lot, but not for a few years.”

He gave me a death glare after I plopped down on my own bed, then returned to blowing up the mattress.

“Who do you think this guy is, anyway? Did Papa Nic say any more to you about it?”