Page 222 of The Queen’s Shadow

“What?” I asked her and she shook her head.

“Nothing.”

It wasn’t nothing. I knew she was going to want to talk to me about marking Kasha, and what that meant, but now wasn’t the time.

“We’re expecting the rest of the representatives to arrive tonight.” Koda said. “Rhyalla has suggested we dine with the community this evening to give everyone a chance to mingle. We can begin the more serious discussions tomorrow. I suspect it will take several days for us to work out the best path forward.”

I tried not to roll my eyes at that. It probably took Koda several days to take a damn shit. The bears were so slow to make decisions. They tended to hem and haw and deliberate until the rest of us were ready to murder something just to get the fucking conversation to end.

“What can I do to help?” Kasha asked eagerly, and I smiled at her. She was so much better than she had been since we got her back. The bounce was coming back into her step and life was returning to her eyes. She hadn’t flinched once around me today and had finished both her breakfast and her lunch.

“You can help us prepare dinner if you’re feeling up to it! It would be great for you to meet some other members of the community.” Rhyalla said with a smile. “There is tons to do, usually we set up a prep station over there for the veggies. I think some of the others have already prepared the roast, we just need to get it on the spit.”

“Okay, just tell me what you need me to do, I’m happy to help.” Kasha said with a shy smile, and I was overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her right on her cute little mouth. Something about her wanting to help out in the community was making me want to fucking purr.

“Alright, come with me.” Rhyalla beamed, before shooting me a look to see how I would react to her being taken away from me. I gave her a subtle nod, grateful that Kasha hadn’t seemed to notice our exchange. I didn’t think she would like the idea of Rhyalla asking me permission on her behalf, and until I could explain to her how things worked it would be easier if she just didn’t know about it.

Besides, since I had marked her, I was more than comfortable with her leaving to get dinner organized with Rhyalla. No one, especially within the walls of this community, would dare touch her now.

“I will see if they need help with the roast.” Koda said, getting heavily to his feet. I nodded.

“Make sure they don’t fuck up the marinade. Last time there wasn’t enough, and it was dry as fuck.” I yelled after him, but he just chuckled and kept walking.

Aiden kicked the ball to me, and I caught it with my foot, still watching as Kasha walked away with Rhyalla. My sister said something that made her laugh and her whole face lit up, making my chest feel tight.

Fuck, she was perfect.

“So, you marked her.” Aiden commented mildly, and I finally tore my gaze away from Kasha to face him, kicking the ball in his direction. He jogged back a few steps and we fell into an easy rhythm, taking turns shooting the ball back and forth.

“Yeah. So what?” I muttered, jumping up to catch his pass with my chest.

He shrugged, flicking his butt into the pyre. “Just never pegged you for a daemon fucker.”

I snarled at him, kicking the ball hard enough that he had to dive for it.

“Never pegged you as the type to give a shit who I fuck.” I snapped, and he chuckled, shrugging.

“I don’t care who you fuck. But you’re not fucking her, are you? It’s more than that.” He kicked the ball into the air and bounced it off his knees a few times before slamming it back toward me, forcing me to dive for it this time.

“So, what if it is?” I asked, ramming my head into the ball mid-air to serve it back.

He caught it with his chest and shrugged. “I don’t know, Chief. It’s not common for our kind to mate with daemons. It’s just… interesting.”

“I don’t really have a fucking choice, do I? If she’s my mate, that’s fucken it, isn’t it? I don’t get a say and neither does she.” I glanced over my shoulder, watching her from afar as she happily shucked corn with Rhyalla and a few other panthers who had gathered around to help. Seeing her happy and fitting in with my people made my heart squeeze so tight it almost hurt.

I turned back to Aiden, who was watching me carefully. I couldn’t figure out the look on his face. I couldn’t tell how he felt about what was clearly going on between Kasha and I.

“Trust me, McGregor. I know this isn’t ideal, but I can’t fucken help it. I wanted to kill you earlier for touching her. She’s all I ever think about. I worry about her night and fucking day. I would do anything she asks of me… except stay away.” I noticed my cigarette wasn’t even lit anymore. I had just been holding the burnt-out butt while we played. I tossed the thing angrily into the fire. Aiden watched me, his own face unreadable. Finally, I shrugged.

“I’ve made my peace with it. She’s fucking mine; I don’t give a shit who has a problem with it. If anyone does, they can try to pry her out of my cold, dead fucking hands.”

Aiden sighed. “See? That’s the type of shit that’s going to make this a problem. Does she know what it means to be yours? Is she going to be happy, having your dominating, possessive ass breathing down her neck for the rest of her life? There’s a reason why our species don’t often interbreed. She wasn’t raised with shifters. She probably doesn’t even know what that mark on her neck means.”

I shrugged. “We’ll have to figure it out, won’t we? This isn’t up for discussion.”

Aiden frowned. “So, she doesn’t know? Have you talked to her about any of this? Does she even know that you think she’s your mate?”

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. “No. Not yet. She’s been through a lot. I’ve been trying to give her space.”