Page 58 of His Atonement

Beautiful.

Goddamn perfect.

All I needed on top of every other fucked up thing in my head was worrying about that asshole too.

And right now I just want to punch him in his stupid hot face.

“Look..." Allie rolls her bottom lip over her teeth and takes a deep breath. "There's probably some shit you need to know about since you're living with us now, stuff you should definitely know if you're interested in Zan. Shit about the boys, about Grace and Posey, about damn near everyone that lives on Dragovihk land."

"Okay… " I pull a blunt out of my clutch and light it. "Is this shit I should have known before I uprooted my life and moved up here? Shit that's going to make me want to leave?"

"I don't think so. I mean, I didn't want to once I found out, but I had Andrej so that made it easier."

I frown as I inhale and hold the smoke in my lungs. "Thanks. Please, add a little lemon juice to the salt you're rubbing in the open wound."

Allie flaps her hand dismissively. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. You mean you were already in love so it didn't matter what he told you, and since I don't have that I might want to bolt when I find out."

"Frankie, I didn't, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant—"

"It's fine." I exhale. "I get it. I'm alone with nothing to lose. It's fine, Al. I'm aware of where I'm at in life."

She frowns. "Hopefully not for long cause you obviously need to get laid at the very least, but once I tell Zan—"

I slam my hand over her mouth. "You will tell him nothing! Just like you won't tell Cora or Vok or anyone else what I just told you. I know you're going to tell Andrej and, quite frankly, if he wasn't so damn quiet I'd make you swear on Granny's porno collection not to tell him either, but I don't want you to breathe a word to anyone other than him."

"Why?" she asks from behind my fingers.

I remove my hand and sigh. "Because I have no idea if Zan likes me at all and I feel like I should probably figure that out first. Especially if Zan doesn't want anything to do with me. As much as I'd love to have the whole fucking compound in on my rejection, I'd like to experience it myself first."

Allie rolls her eyes. "Zan would be an idiot to ignore the chemistry between you, Frank. You're the whole package."

A package that is going to bereturned to sendersooner than she thinks.

But I just force a smile and change the subject.

Or I try to anyway, because Allie asks, "You'd want everyone to know if you guys were dating though, right? Wouldn't want to keep it a secret or anything?"

"Of course not. If Zan and I were officially together I'd want everyone to know." Then I arch a brow. "Why?"

She shrugs. "It's a cultural thing. The men at the compound are alpha-holes when it comes to stuff like that. Possessive, territorial. They take pride in claiming what's theirs and Zan is no different. Why do you think he's allmy gemthis andmy dear sweet sisterthat?"

"Well, if Zan was crazy enough to actually date me, then there wouldn't be a problem." If we just bang or something though, I might decide to keep that on the down low so no one gets any ideas. If he doesn't want more than that from me there's no point in telling everyone, especially when it's all temporary.

"Good. You think maybe you'd be up for a little family meeting after dinner then?"

"You mean you're not going to tell me the deep dark Dragovihk secret now? Gonna make me wait in suspense until after dinner?"

Allie grins and throws open her door. "Yep. This is some shit you have to see to believe." Then she slides out of the truck and starts heading toward the animal shelter.

* * *

Two hours later, Allie drops me and my new baby off at my cabin with explicit instructions to not get so high I forget to come to the main house for dinner and to make sure I bring Thor—yes, his name is Thor—with me.

"And this is the inside of your new home,” I croon as I push into my house, nuzzling the teacup potbelly pig that I fell in love with instantly. "This is the living room and that's the kitchen. I know it's not much yet, but I'll make it a good home for you before I—"

I stop by the fridge as I hear a thump come from my bedroom, so I set down the bags of stuff for my new baby, hold him a little tighter to my chest and take a few cautious steps down the hall.