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21: Compromised
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2020-10-09 07:15:30Jack
I hate alliance negotiations.
But compared to Mom’s daily freak-outs over my mates’ ceremony at T minus three days and counting, they look like child’s play.
Let me say this in her defense: she did not lie to me.
Not in the least.
I remember distinctly her warning at the Luna’s induction into Candlewood, that she would make my triumvir mate’s ceremony twice as large as she had for Darby, and she has lived up to that times two.
Because that’s really the problem, right? I have two mates.
And this triumvir mate ceremony has gone from being a downright shitshow to being a legendary downright shitshow.
“We can’t change the date,
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Ian Even with the rain, the triumvir mates party is still raging in the plaza, but Sean, Jack and I, along with our mates and Anna’s family, retreat to the packhouse after Anna’s astounding reveal. Though the medicine man declines, returning to his room to meditate on the coming of a thunderbird, the rest of Anna’s family socializes in the dining and family rooms, Townsend’s staff attending to everyone’s needs unobtrusively and efficiently as usual.Sean disappears briefly after sunset, and I suspect he’s checking in with our malodorous vampire contact who has turned out to be remarkably reliable and resourceful. When he does turn up again, he avails himself immediately of my best Oban, and on the same pretense, I approach him at the wet bar, leaving Darby chatting with Anna’s sister on the sofa.
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Jack Jack? It’s Darby’s voice, soft and quiet, reluctant to disturb.I struggle out of the vestiges of sleep, glancing at the illuminated dial of the clock. 4AM. What is it, Luna? What’s wrong?Ian’s gone. He’s been gone for hours and doesn’t answer through the link.Shit. I’ll be right there.Extracting myself, careful not to wake either Anna or Lili, I throw on some clothes and pad out into the darkened hallway, heading for the alpha addition to the packhouse. Darby’s waiting for me outside the door.“Did he come to bed with you?” Of course he did. I can smell him on her—she smells strongly of sex. “Nevermind. Did Tessa go to bed with
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Sean For as small as this town is, I have to hand it to the medical personnel and non-medical allied health staff in Candlewood. They take patient privacy and protected health information seriously. Not a peep, or a rumor or a whisper anywhere in town gets back to me about Ian and Darby visiting Dr. Myers for a fertility consultation. In fact, by the time I start wondering about Darby’s recurring atypical headaches and mood swings, and the subtle but potent change to her scent, then use Big SIS to hack into the hospital’s information system again, she’s been taking the medication for over two weeks.It’s an estrogen blocker Darby’s taking, a drug to stimulate ovulation. “I should have known,” I whisper to myself in my office. After Ian’s medical visit, it was only a matter of time.
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