Chapter Six #2
“Pfft, none of that. You are not a shifter. Just call us by our names, like your mother does.” One of the women approaches me.
She’s about the same height as me but slim with blonde hair.
She reaches out and puts her hands on my upper arms, giving them a squeeze.
“Thank you for making sure our grandson was looked after. We are forever in your debt.” She pulls me into a hug, and her perfume engulfs me like a warm embrace, slightly spicy.
Before I can get my stunned self to react, she pulls away.
“I’m Evie, and that’s Mia.” She points to the tall black woman who has the same kind of figure as my mom, like a former fashion model but with undeniable shifter strength.
My mom is in the middle, showing her some fabric samples.
“And that’s Layla.” This woman looks like a goddess.
She’s slightly taller than the others but has curves in all the right places, and her mid-length red hair has a slight curl in it.
She’s fucking gorgeous, and I may have a slight crush on her.
To be honest, I have never paid much attention to the royal family before.
I’m a human, so I am not under their rule.
“You made quite an impression on our boy. He has declared you are the love of his life.” Layla’s voice is husky, and all three women chuckle at her words. When I look at my mom, her eyes are just about bugging out of her head.
“You did what?” She forgets about the samples in her hands and looks at me with a panicked expression.
“When I went to work on Monday, I found a tiger cub huddled under some boxes near the dumpster in our alley,” I explain. “I took him inside, called the night watch, and looked after him.”
Three rumbling growls reverberate around the room, and my mom takes a step back from the three women, a hand going to her chest in surprise.
“Yes, we heard all about how badly you were treated by the watch operator. She has been dealt with,” Mia says darkly.
My mom gapes at me, and I shrug. “I only did what any decent human being would have done.” I don’t need any praise for doing the right thing.
“Please pour us all a glass of champagne—don’t forget yourself and your mother—then come and join us,” Evie suggests, waving at the bottle and glasses in my hand.
My gaze slides to my mom, and she gives me a small nod before holding the samples up once more.
“I recently got these fabrics on a trip to the witch kingdom. They are spelled specifically for shifters, so you don’t have to worry about ruining them if you shift,” she explains, holding out the swatches for the three women.
I pour all three queens glasses of champagne as they discuss their requirements with my mother. “We don’t want to overshadow the new queen,” Layla explains. “The previous one did that to us, and it made us feel small.”
“She was a horrid bitch. She didn’t want to give her power up at all, but all the extra magic drains from them as soon as the goddess does her thing.
She kept her shifter form, but her extra abilities went straight into Lucas when he was chosen,” Mia says, giving Mom and me an unprecedented glimpse of the whole process.
“If she couldn’t upstage us with magic, then she wanted to upstage us in appearance. ”
“But if you’ve been queens for the past forty years, you must have been babies when you were selected.” I speak before thinking and then wince at my mom’s glare. All three women break into peals of laughter.
“Oh, sweetie, you’re good for our self-esteem.
Shifters age very slowly. All three of us were in our twenties when we were marked as potential mates for Lucas,” Mia explains, taking a sip of her champagne as she studies the samples Mom handed her.
Holy shit, that means they are in their sixties but don’t look older than their late thirties.
“And so you basically competed with a whole heap of other women to catch his eye?” My mouth gets the better of me, and again, I’m subjected to one of my mother’s glares. I wince. “I’m sorry. Forget I asked. It was rude,” I apologize, but Layla waves my apology away.
“We trust you won’t share this information with others.
The royal family will forever be in your debt, so we are happy to answer your curiosity.
Aramis marked a number of potential shifters that would be compatible with Lucas.
They all presented themselves to the palace, and he got to know each of them.
He wasn’t forced to pick a specific number or any really, but man and animal need to be in agreement.
The three of us clicked with him instantly as well as with each other. ”
“You’re all in a sexual relationship?” I ask, and this time, my mom doesn’t just glare, she snaps at me.
“Colbie, that’s enough!”
Evie laughs and reassures her. “It’s fine, Malina, we invited the questions. No, but when you’re in a four-way relationship, boundaries become a thing of the past. It helps that we all get along like sisters.”
I wrinkle my nose. “There would be nothing worse than sharing a mate with someone you hated.”
“You have no idea. One of the potentials was a former high school rival of mine, and I thank the goddess every day that she was one of the first to be dismissed.” Evie shudders.
“What about the marks on the ones who are not chosen?” my mom asks, and I gape at her. She blushes sheepishly. “What? I’m invested now.”
“They fade, and only the marks on the chosen ones remain.” Layla lifts her dress shirt and shows me a mark on her hip that looks like a tiger.
“Are you all tiger shifters?” I ask. “Archie is one too. Is that a family thing?”
“A shifter child will take after one of their parents. Lucas is an orange tiger, which is what we were all marked with. Mia is a black panther, Evelyn is a lioness, and I am a white tiger,” Layla answers, and my eyes widen with all the new information.
“All cats,” I murmur, and they nod.
“Yes, I think that’s why we probably all clicked so well with him. Archie takes after his mother, Gracelin, who takes after her father instead of a lioness like me,” Evie tells me.
Something she says triggers a memory in my mind. “Gracelin… That name is familiar. Didn’t I used to have a friend named Gracelin?” I look at my mom, and her eyes widened slightly.
“You remember that? I thought for sure you had forgotten them. You were maybe seven or eight when they used to come around.” My mom sounds surprised.
“We used to bring our children when we would visit your mother. You would all sit under that very table and have tea parties.” Mia points at Mom’s workspace where she has a couple of machines set up as well as cutting mats.
“I used to bake for them,” I murmur, more memories assaulting me. “I was so sad when they stopped coming.”
“Yes, you cried for days,” my mom says, smiling sadly. “I had to send you to my parents whenever the queens were due to arrive because you were inconsolable for days after each visit, but eventually, you forgot.”
I think about my visit to my grandparents in the human sector. They are two of my favorite people. Granny and I would flip through her extensive collection of recipe books, and I would get to pick something new each time. It’s no wonder I forgot my friends, because I found my soul mate—baking.
I shake off my memories and find the queens looking at me with guilt. “Shifters gain the ability to shift back at will around the age of twelve. We were worried they would show you their new skills and frighten you, so we stopped bringing them.”
There’s a weird kind of lump in my throat when I think about those three children.
Gracelin, Gretchin, and what was the boy’s name?
Try as I might, I can’t remember it, although I remember the way being near him made me feel, like I was safe and loved.
Weird, right? They were my first friends, and since them, I haven’t really tried to make any kind of lasting friendships.
I wonder if deep down I did remember the hurt I felt when they stopped coming and decided I wasn’t ever going to feel that way again.
“Well, I’m just happy I could help one of my old friends with her son.
I’m going to leave this here” —feeling all kinds of weird and awkward, I place the remaining champagne off to the side so I don’t risk getting it on Mom’s fabrics— “and head up to my apartment. It was nice meeting you again after so many years, and congratulations on your retirement. I hope you get to do all the fun things that being royal may have hindered in the past.”
I don’t wait for a response and bolt for the foyer with the elevator, which will take me to my level. I pull my keycard out of my pocket and tap it over the sensor, telling the elevator where I need to go.
I half expect my mom to run after me and yell at me for some reason, but she doesn’t, and I heave a sigh of relief when the doors shut.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the elevator wall as it moves up two levels to my floor.
What a clusterfuck. How fucking awkward am I, and I just made myself look like a fool in front of the current queens.
Thankfully I probably won’t ever see them again, so I just need to forget it ever happened, though whether my mother will ever allow me to or not will be another story.