Page 67 of Dozer

“And Gen can’t,” Duke said, “or she’d be right in there with the rest of them. Bethany, too.” Right, because humans are under a different kind of blood oath. Also, it wasn’t their secret to tell, while the ol’lady werewolves would be telling their own secrets and not someone else’s.

“I’d never planned to tell Matty,” Razor said, “but it worked out okay when I did. He’s chomping at the bit for you to tell her, but you’ll get no pressure from me.” He sighed. “Or from him, but only because he knows he’ll have an appointment with my belt if he does.”

“Gabby won’t tell her,” said Horse, “but she’s on board with the other women doing so.”

“Several brothers have approached me about talking to you,” Duke said. “We don’t allow members from other chapters to transfer in unless their ol’lady knows, but that doesn’t resolve the issue of established members who gain an ol’lady.” He shrugged. “Subject’s closed for now — we’ve talked about it in Church, you know our feelings. You and I will talk again in a few weeks, because it stifles conversation in the clubhouse when it’s only us and we have to avoid topics that could get us in some serious hot water with the ruling vampires here and in Europe.”

He moved to the next topic, a discussion of upcoming road trips and where we were with the planning, and I had to concentrate to keep up with the conversation because I kept going over the pros and cons of her knowing.

When the meeting ended, I didn’t get up, and Brain moved to sit in front of me while everyone else made their way out of the room.

“I think it’s possible I’m not convinced she’ll stay with me,” I told him.

“You think she’ll leave you if she knows what you are?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t really gotten that far, because I’m not sure the society girl isn’t just slumming it for a while.”

If she was chained up in my basement with no access to the outside world, this wouldn’t be an issue, but once I realized she had a serious goal in life, something she’d thought through and wished for, I hadn’t wanted to do that to her. I’d wanted to make her dream come true.

“I love her,” I told him. “And it feels like I need to keep everything to the status quo and not complicate things. Also, I like her as a human. What if she wants to be a wolf?”

“And what if she thinks it a breach of trust to wait a year or more to tell her? You’ve taught her not being completely honest is the same as lying. She thinks she knows who you are, but you’ve kept this huge part of yourself from her. I’ve seen it happen so many times — when a human girlfriend realizes how you’ve always known they’re lying, it pisses them off if you’ve waited too long to tell them. She’s your wife now, and it seems to me, you should tell her sooner, rather than later.”

My heart fell into my stomach because I hadn’t considered that. At all.

“Well,fuck. When you put it that way, I should’ve told her between our wedding and her piercings.”

“I can be there, if you think it’ll help.”

I nodded. “It might. Angelica and Harmony, too.” I sighed. “And then I can put her in Razor’s martial arts class for the ol’ladies.” I couldn’t send her until she knew about us because I know he has to split them up into human and not when they spar with each other, and he has to teach the shifter ol’ladies how to deal with a human attacker without accidentally killing them.

“You need me to contact Moira?”

Technically, Etta was supposed to be the liaison with the local vampires, but we all preferred to call Moira, who’d been the liaison before Etta had come to town.

I shook my head. “I’ll call Julian and set a time to talk to Marco.”

“That works, too. Let me know where and when. If you want me, I’m there. Harmony too, if you think her presence will help.”

“The boarding school had horses, and young Daisy was required to learn to ride. She wasn’t a fan, at first, but grew to love one of the horses,” I told him. “I’m sure you know Harmony had her over once I started letting Daisy have more freedom to spend time with her new friends, and when my Daisy showed interest in one of the horses, Harmony told her it would be a big help if she could come ride him a couple of times a week. I know there are therapists who use horses to help people emotionally, and I never understood how that might help, but Daisy’s energy is better when she comes home from riding. I’ve thanked Harmony for it, but I want you to understand why I think having Harmony there will help. The two bonded over the horses, and it’s grown from there.”

“I’m aware, but I’m glad you think it’s helped. Harmony wishes she could share some of her own history, but I’ve counseled her not to. It’s best we leave the past where it belongs, where she’s concerned.”

Right, because Harmony was doing okay under her new identity, but it would be catastrophic if the government figured out who she really is, and we never know when someone might be listening in to our ol’ladies.

As far as Marco was concerned, I’d kept up with our monthly appointment, where I shared a young man with him, until the month after Daisy and I were married, and then I’d had to tell him I could no longer do so.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with him, and I have to admit, fucking a young man’s ass who absolutely didn’t want to be fucked in the ass kind of did it for me, but the wolf saw it as a betrayal. In my mind, it had nothing to do with my relationship with Daisy — it was a bonding thing with the most powerful supernatural in America. The young men meant nothing to me,at all. However, the wolf insisted, so once we were married, I stopped.

Marco had invited me to come help him punish a young man a few times, and I’d done so after talking it over with Daisy. I’m still Master in most things, but in this, she needed a say. No way was I going to do anything to break trust with her ever again.

Chapter 52

Daisy

Wedding plans were coming right along, and I was beyond shocked when my mom invited me to New York for a shopping trip to buy my dress. She wanted to pay for it, and she offered to send the family’s private jet to pick me up.

But Gen was taking me and several of the other ol’ladies to Atlanta. I already had special plans to shop for my dress.

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