Chapter Four #2
Gem wears that ever-present smirk as he watches his friends argue.
“He’s pissed because Gianna lost her job for cutting off the call when Colbie called the watch.
No more after-work booty calls for him. She’s been asked to move out of the watch apartments.
” Gem looks like the turmoil amongst his friends is amusing him.
Hunter’s mouth drops open in shock, and it’s the first time he hasn’t looked formidable. “You’ve been fucking Gianna?” He sounds surprised, like it’s the first time he’s hearing about it.
“What the fuck, man? Why would you do that? Our bond is supposed to agree on who we want to be with!” Brodie’s blue eyes blaze with fury, and I step back a little.
“How about I give you all a few more moments to decide? I’ll come back.
” I turn and flee, but I don’t even think the shifters notice, so caught up in their own drama.
There are a few coffees at the counter, so I take them to the tables they belong to before returning to the counter.
They seem to have things under control, so I decide to check on Violet.
That scene with the shifters was way too intense, and my stomach feels funny.
It’s weird, kind of like I feel jealous about a woman I’ve never even met having sex with a shifter I only literally met and who was kind of an asshole.
How ridiculous. Maybe I’m just nervous to be in the presence of four huge shifters.
“How’s it going?” I ask her, slightly breathless, and she looks up from the bowl she is drying and tilts her head to the side quizzically.
“Are you okay? Your heart is racing.”
I wave a hand, trying to make light of the situation. “I’m fine. It’s been a long week. As good as this whole retirement and coronation stuff has been for business, I won’t be sad to see it go back to normal. I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah, it’s ridiculous. All the shifters are edgy too, and a lot more fights have been occurring. I’m almost done here, though, since you just about finished everything yourself anyway.”
“Yeah, I want to go see my mom this afternoon, so I was super organized today. I haven’t seen her for about a week, and we live in the same building.”
Her eyes light up. “Olivia was telling me your mom is Malina Karridge. She’s my hero. She designs such beautiful clothes. I hope I have half the amount of her talent after I finish design school.”
“You want to be a designer?” I ask, surprised. I don’t think she mentioned that before, or maybe she did, and I’ve been so busy this week it kind of just slipped past me. She puts down the pot she was drying and folds the towel over the rail on the oven, nodding enthusiastically.
“Yeah, my family isn’t poor, but we don’t have extra money for designer clothes, so when I saw something I liked and couldn’t afford it, I taught myself to sew. I got a scholarship to Aramis University, and I’m studying both business and design classes. I read somewhere that’s where your mom went.”
Aramis University is located in the neutral zone and is attended by both humans and shifters. I attended some business classes there while I was doing my apprenticeship with a human baker in the human zone.
“Yeah, she did, and how she tells it, it was some of the most exciting times of her life. I’ll have to introduce you to her when she’s not so busy.
She’s fully booked at the moment because of all the shifter celebrations,” I tell my new friend who squeals and jumps up and down, clapping.
It makes me wonder what kind of shifter she is, but I’m not going to be rude and ask.
She will tell me if she wants to, and it really doesn’t matter to me.
I hope she doesn’t regret meeting my mom though.
You know that saying, never meet your idols?
My mom is a lot, and to be honest, she could probably do as much to destroy Violet’s self-esteem as she could to boost it.
She’s not callous and mean, but she can be selfish and thoughtless.
“Oh, I wonder whom she’s making dresses for. I read somewhere that she used to regularly outfit the queens. Does she still do that?”
I frown, thinking back to when I was little and spent time hanging out in my mom’s studio on the weekends.
“Um, I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t remember her outfitting queens, but I was a child and didn’t really pay attention.”
“Oh well, it’s still exciting. Now tell me, is Watch Team One yummy or what?” she asks me, abruptly changing the subject, and it takes me a moment to get my thoughts into order. I don’t want to admit that they are the reason I’m feeling slightly off-kilter.
“Yeah, they are gorgeous, but I already met two of them at the beginning of the week. I found a lost cub in the alley, and they eventually came and returned him to his family.”
I didn’t think her face could hold any more expression, but her eyes widen even further, and she waves her hands around in agitation.
“You’re the human who found Prince Archie?
Holy crap, how did I not know this? There are so many rumors about what happened, but nobody knows the truth, and the royal family has been tight-lipped.
I’m sure they tried to keep the fact that he was missing quiet too, but one of the night watch operators has a big mouth, and when she got fired, she blabbed it everywhere. ” Her brow creases in a frown.
My mind goes back to the conversation the men at the booth were having. “Are you talking about Gianna?”
Violet’s nose scrunches up, and she purses her lips like she tasted something sour. “Yes, you know her? Ugh, I go to school with her sister Liana, and she’s a witch.”
“Like a real witch?” I ask, and Violet chuckles, shaking her head.
“No, just a regular shifter bitch witch, but she’s awful. She thinks she’s better than anyone else and is going to find herself a powerful bond.”
We fall silent as I work up the courage to ask what I desperately want to know. “Violet, do you mind if I ask a question?”
She shakes her head, smiling at me. “Normally you probably shouldn’t if it’s a shifter thing, but I want you to trust me as a friend and worker, so ask away.”
“What’s a bond?”
“Ah, yeah, okay. So a bond is a group of shifters who have been brought together by the goddess Aramis to share a mate. They are all marked with a matching tattoo above their heart on their seventeenth birthday. They then move into one of the parents’ houses and learn to work as a team.
It doesn’t happen to all shifters, and there are some one-on-one matings, but for some reason, there aren’t as many female children born as males, and bond mates sharing a mate makes it so no one misses out.
I’d love to be fated to a bond, but I don’t think I’ll be so lucky.
” I can hear the disappointment in her tone, even as my eyes widen at the thought of having a relationship with more than one man.
Hell, I can’t even keep the attention of one, let alone multiple.
“The females don’t get a tattoo?” I ask.
“Only when the goddess thinks she and her fated bond are ready. It can happen at any time for females, which is why Gianna keeps hoping she will be blessed with Watch Team One’s symbol.
It hasn’t happened yet, though, and now that she’s been reprimanded by the king, she’s certainly not going to be welcome at any royal functions for a while. ”
“Thank you for sharing. I won’t tell anyone,” I promise her, and she smiles at me.
“I know you won’t. You’re a good person, Colbie Karridge, I can feel it.”
“Listen, do you think you could take that team’s order?
They were arguing, so I gave them a few more moments, but I really want to go visit my mom.
” I pull the apron over my head and pray that Violet doesn’t notice how nervous and unsettled I feel after seeing those shifters.
It’s weird, they are all gorgeous and most of them have been nothing but cordial, but there’s still something that puts me on edge.
I really don’t want to go back and have the black-eyed growly man grill me about my involvement with Archie.
Nope, it will be better if I steer clear.
I do feel a little guilty knowing they are going to smell Violet’s attraction, but if it’s a shifter thing, then I’m sure they are used to it.
She swallows nervously but nods her agreement as I hang up my apron and grab my bag. “Yeah, okay, but you owe me. If Talon ever comes in, you’re going to have to serve him for me.” I’m assuming that’s the brother she spoke of earlier.
“Agreed,” I promise. “Please tell Olivia and Justin where I went. I’ll probably be back later to do some prep, but tell them to lock up when you all leave.”
Tomorrow is the day of the retirement party.
There will be a parade through the streets of the shifter zone that is being televised, as is the party, so I’m hoping it might be quieter tomorrow.
Then, at the point when the full moon is high in the sky, the next shifter king or queen will be chosen by magic.
I will be well and truly tucked up in my bed by then, but I wish the human who gets chosen much luck.