Page 148 of Destined Dawn

Seven hours was a long time to be talking, hands to myself, my fated mate all the way on the opposite side of the table from me.

However, I don’t get a chance to show her just what I like because Renzo returns with the parcel. The box jiggles slightly in his grasp and there are scuffing sounds from inside. He places it on the kitchen table and Rhi looks at us all with suspicion, reaching forward to undo the big bow and draw back the flaps. She leans forward to peer inside. Then shrieks so loudly we all jump a mile off our chairs.

“A kitten?!” She dips her hands inside and pulls out a wriggling black ball of fluff with a pair of big round eyes. “Oh my goodness, he’s adorable.”

“She,” I correct.

“We didn’t talk about this,” Azlan says.

I shrug.

“I don’t like cats,” Spencer says, leaning away from the thing.

“What?” Rhi says, thrusting the fluff ball in his face. “How could you not like an adorable little thing like this?”

Spencer grimaces and the kitten swipes at his nose.

“Feisty,” Tristan observes.

“You’ll get used to it,” I tell the others.

Rhi hugs the kitten tightly to her chest and kisses its little head. “I’m going to call her Coco.”

“Is it litter trained?” Azlan asks.

“Probably,” I say.

Rhi jumps to her feet. “I have to go call Winnie. And Ellie. They are going to want to come round for kitty snuggles.”

I catch her around the waist.

“Invite them round tomorrow,” I tell her.

“But–”

“Tomorrow,” Tristan confirms. “We want some time alone with you, Piglet.”

She nods and then scurries away to find her phone.

“Are these talks really going well?” Renzo says, scratching at his neck. “Little rabbit likes to look at the world through rose-tinted glasses and all that shit. There are plenty of fuckers who won’t want to hand over the power they have.”

“Several of those fuckers are locked up.” I say. “And you know Rhi. She can be pretty damn persuasive.”

“Pretty damn insistent,” Tristan says. “It was only her pleas to the special tribunal that prevented Summer from being sent to the Northern Labor Camp alongside my dad and all the rest of his supporters.”

“I still think she should have been sent there too,” Spencer mutters. “That girl will always be trouble.”

“She can’t cause a lot of trouble under permanent house-arrest,” I point out. “And without her powers.”

Rhi’s special gift has been pretty useful. Removing the powers of those that have abused them. It’s seemed a particularly fitting punishment.

Tristan looks like he might argue once again that Summer will always be a danger, with or without her powers, when Rhi returns, the kitten now curled up in her arms and snoring peacefully.

“She’s asleep,” she whispers.

“Yeah, she spent most of the day doing that,” Renzo says, peering down with curiosity at the cat.

“I know she’s not Pip. Or a dragon …” I say.