Chapter 6
six
KAT
I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop and started with the news. There was a good chance I'd need to talk about something I read on there with Jonah.
Most of the headlines were about Callum. There was an equal balance of:
WEREWOLVES OUTRAGED AFTER BETA SIMON LOPE MURDERED BY CALLUM FROST
And:
CALLUM FROST ENGAGED TO WEREWOLF CAFE OWNER AFTER YEARS OF DATING IN SECRET
There was no announcement about when the Beta challenges would begin, but the Alpha & Beta social media pages for werewolves only already had a link to the challenge signup.
I scanned it for Jonah's name, but didn't find it.
Picking up my phone, I skimmed Merrily's messages first.
She'd sent me the schedule for the next few days.
It was Wednesday, and the wedding was on Saturday. If I guessed, I'd assume that Gwen would have to start the Beta challenges this weekend to avoid a full-on riot. Not having a Beta for a few weeks wouldn't really matter, but werewolves would get fussy if she didn’t get the challenges going.
That said, she probably had enough protectors left over from Simon's time as Beta that her life wasn't in danger. No one wanted the civil war that would occur if both the Alpha and Beta died. One of them had to stay alive to make the succession go smoothly.
Merrily had scheduled a hair, makeup, and nail appointment for me on Thursday, and a final dress fitting, facial, and massage on Friday. Saturday morning was another hair and makeup appointment before the wedding at 10 AM.
I made a face.
I'd never had any of those things done professionally. I rarely wore makeup, and usually just left my curls in a bun. For me, growing up on a farm as a shifter had meant spending that time running around in the dirt while ignoring what I looked like for the most part.
I wasn't opposed to the beauty stuff, but it all took time I didn't have, and I wasn't interested in changing the way I looked.
I texted her back.
Me
Can we cancel most of that?
Merrily
Why?
Me
I don't really want to do it
Merrily
We have to keep the dress fitting, but I guess you could do your own hair and makeup for the wedding if you want to, and you don't technically need your nails done
Are you sure? Most of it is supposed to be relaxing
Me
I'd rather not
Thanks though
Merrily
Of course
Me
What are the odds that Callum decides to cancel the wedding if I show up without makeup on?
Merrily
LOL
Callum doesn't give a damn about whether or not you paint your face
Me
Are you sure? He's always wearing a suit, so I assume he cares about appearances
Merrily
His parents were strict about clothing, and the habit stuck
When he gets comfortable enough with you, he might relax
Me
Might?
Merrily
We're all hoping, but it's not a guarantee
I sent a thumbs-up and went to my text conversation with Jonah. It was the only one I had pinned to the top of the list.
He'd messaged me earlier.
Jonah
Are you alive?
Hello?
Kat?
The last message was from about twenty minutes earlier.
Me
I'm alive
Jonah
How do I know this is you?
Me
There’s a freckle on your left ring finger, Gwen always went on about how adorable it was, so you bought her a ring for her left ring finger
Jonah
It’s you
What happened?
Me
Picked out a wedding dress. Got more confused about this whole mess. That's pretty much it.
Why didn't you sign up for the challenges?
Jonah
What are you confused about?
Me
You’re dodging the question
Jonah
So are you
Me
Callum stalked me for five years, and I think he killed Simon just so he’d have a reason to force me to mate with him.
Jonah
Damn
Did you ask?
Me
Tried
He doesn’t want love, and he doesn’t care about sex, but he won’t tell me why he wants me to mate with him
I feel like it’s more than obsession, or there’s a reason for it
Jonah
Just be a pain in the ass until he tells you
Me
I don’t know if being a pain in the ass is a solid plan when facing a group of ancient fae who could probably kill me with the flick of a finger
Jonah
Liv seemed normal
Me
Liv is basically a walking energy drink
She was playing with a fidget toy at the dress shop
I think it has something to do with her magic but I didn’t ask
Jonah
Just ask
Me
They’re not forthcoming with info, and they could kill me
Jonah
The icy bastard is forcing you to be his mate, so he’s not going to let anyone kill you
Especially if he’s stalked you for five years to make it happen
Me
That’s actually a good point
Jonah
You basically have a get out of jail free card with them
Me
Unless I come up with a way to get out of sealing a mate bond
Jonah
Yeah, right. Did you see that bastard? He wanted to kill me just for talking to you
Plus he owns your soul
Me
True
Jonah
You’d be better off making him your bitch
Me
How does one make a deadly fae king their bitch?
Jonah
You make him fall in love with you
He already wants you as his mate, love isn’t that far off
Me
He specifically said he’s not interested in love
Jonah
That doesn’t mean a damn thing
He wants you for some reason, so there’s a crack already, you just need to worm your way in
Me
I’ll think about it
Why aren’t you signed up for the competition yet?
There was a time when you’d give anything to be my sister’s bitch if I recall correctly
Jonah
She already rejected me
Me
We both know Simon was behind that
Jonah
She let him control her
Me
You love her anyway
Jonah
I don’t
Me
Don’t lie to me.
Jonah
I’ll think about competing
Me
Don’t think too long, it’ll probably start this weekend.
Jonah
Fine
Don’t think too long about the king thing either
He’ll be most susceptible to your charm now, before he gets used to you
Me
What charm?
Jonah
Haha
Ask your king to find someone to handle some of your work while you’re there, you might as well get an easier life out of being mated to him
Me
I don’t trust other people with it
Jonah
I know
You sold your soul for it. And possibly your future now that you’re going to have to mate with him. I get it. But your life isn’t sustainable right now.
Me
Sign up for the competition
Jonah
Hire someone to do some of your work
Me
I will if you will
Jonah
Liar
Me
I vow it
Jonah
Save your vows for your torture king
Me
Fuck you
Jonah
No thanks
I sent him an eye-rolling emoji, and the talk was effectively over.
I put my phone down and pulled up my spreadsheets, but the conversation lingered in my mind.
Make him your bitch.
The concept wasn’t terrible.
He was his own person, and he was a hell of a lot older than me, so he wasn’t just going to become a mindless follower. But if he fell in love with me, I would have sway with him.
I would have some amount of power in the situation. He would need me.
If I was going to be stuck with him for the rest of our immortal lives, I didn’t want to do it as the pretty little wolf on his arm and in his bed, which was all he apparently wanted.
At the very least, I wanted us to be equals. Friends would be better. Love was ideal.
But how was I going to make him fall in love with me? That was the question.
Sex and companionship were all I could come up with, and he didn’t seem to have any desire to spend time with me. Even though he had seemed to want that with my wolf.
Guess I was going to have to go with sex.
Maybe I could seduce him. It wasn’t like I didn’t already want him. If it worked, maybe he’d relax enough to tell me the truth.
With that decided, I focused on my spreadsheets.
AKA my arch nemeses.
I managed to work for all of thirty minutes.
Which was about the time a moving crew showed up.
Callum led them stiffly into the living room. "Take the couch."
I watched in stunned silence as the crew picked up the couch and carried it out of the mansion, piece by piece.
"What the actual fuck?" I asked Callum.
He had the audacity to smirk at me. "It's a good thing there's a bed in our room, isn't it, Kitten?"
My eyebrows lifted.
"He's terrible," my wolf purred.
"You're way too happy about that."
She licked her paw.
Callum walked back into his office, and I once again couldn't stop myself from staring at his ass.
"Forget the seduction plan," I said to my wolf. "If he's going to be this much of a dick, I'm not going to fuck him. I'm going to give him balls so blue he begs me to stop teasing him."
"You're going to be as terrible as he is." She licked her paw again.
Hell yeah, I was.
And I was going to be absolutely shameless about it.