Page 68 of Taming the Beasts

What?I looked up at him.

“Normally the courting process takes more time. And I am old-fashioned. But technically I’ve been thinking of nothing but you for ten years. That counts toward courting, don’t you think?”

I knew nothing about courting. But I found myself nodding along.

“And all I want is for you to officially be mine too. Let’s move the wedding up. Besides we’re already living in sin.”

I laughed through my tears. I was pretty sure living in sin was the least of our concerns. “Are you serious?”

“What’s the point of waiting when we both know what we want? I want forever with you. Whatever length of time that means. Why not start that forever right now?”

“You mean today?”

He shook his head. “I want to give you everything. The white dress. The flowers. The party reception afterwards to celebrate. It’ll take us a few days to plan, I think. What about next weekend?”

As in one week from today? I didn’t even hesitate. I threw my arms around him. “A thousand times yes.”

He groaned.

“Sorry.” I pulled back and stared down at his stomach. “Are you okay...”

“I’m perfect.” He pulled me into a searing kiss. “I’m about to have everything I’ve ever wanted. You. And a cure.”

I liked the first part of that much more than the second.

Chapter 16

Friday

Zoey

As I helped the guys clean up the destruction at the bank, I did my best to overhear the voicemail Bennett was leaving one of his contacts in Egypt.

Bennett seemed to believe the coin would work. Or else he wouldn’t have even bothered to reach out.Right?

“Call me back when you get a chance,” Bennett said and ended the call.

I wanted the cure to work for them. I truly did. But the more that Kebe spoke about it and being a vampire, the less I believed a word out of her mouth. She was up to something. Even though she flirted with Huxley and a bit with Titan too, it still seemed like she looked down on werecats. So...why was she willing to help them?

And she’d hung around the bank for ages, talking to Huxley about Egyptian architecture. I hadn’t breathed easily until she’d finally left a few minutes ago.

I wasn’t sure what the guys were thinking. Did they believe everything Kebe said? Were they only double checking with Bennett’s contacts because I seemed wary? I swept up some more broken marble pieces.

Titan emerged from the second vault and closed the huge metal door. He’d insisted that they needed the coin back for safe keeping. And I was a little worried that he’d just meant safe keeping from me.

My fingers tightened around the broom. I really needed to talk to Titan privately. I felt bad for lying about stealing from the vault. But our last private conversation was seared into my head. I was worried if we were alone he’d shift. Otto was supposed to have the least control, but I was pretty sure Titan took the title for that.

I felt awkward standing in the middle of the bank alone. I was starting to worry that they all hoped I’d leave too. I kept my head down and finished sweeping. Not that sweeping was going to help fix this mess. I leaned the broom against another column and was relieved when Bennett walked over to me.

“My contacts will get back to me as soon as they can.” Bennett gave me a tight smile.

“I’m really sorry about lying about taking the coin. I just wanted to surprise you guys so badly. And then Kebe got in my head and...” I shrugged. “I’m just really sorry.” I’d trusted them with my secret. They’d trusted me with theirs. We’d been on the same page, and I’d messed everything up.

“I don’t like being lied to, Zoey.”

I’d never seen him look so intense before. It looked like he had more to say, and I didn’t need him to waste his time. I knew I’d fucked up. I knew he wanted nothing to do with me. It was all over his face. I thought this was how he’d react to the MyFanatics thing. If only my lies had stopped there.

“I know,” I said. “I really am sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. But I understand.” I cleared my throat. “Please just be diligent with what you ask your contacts. I still don’t trust Kebe. I know you guys seem to like her, but please be careful. And as for this...”I gestured toward the broken column. “I don’t know how much this costs, but you can just take it out of my account, okay?” I hated everything that I was saying. I’d only just started dating them. I couldn’t believe I’d messed it all up so quickly. I really had just been trying to help. “I guess I’ll see you around town?” I forced a smiled onto my face and stepped around him to leave.