Page 235 of Primal Bonds

“Just get me the backpack, please. Unless he’ll be angry at you.”

“He will.” Jewel shrugged. “But it won’t be the first time.”

“Fine.” Marjani stuck out her hand. “I’ll wear the damned thing.”

“You’ll need this, too.” The other woman produced a bra-and-panty set of gossamer gold.

Marjani couldn’t help a purr of pleasure as she put them on. The silky material felt so good against her skin.

Next came the dress. It was simple but elegant, with spaghetti straps and a scooped neck. As she dropped it over her head, it fit itself to her curves as if it had been sewn just for her.

“I’ll be right back with the shoes,” Jewel said.

While the other woman was out of the room, Marjani stashed the switchblade and quartz in her bra. It wasn’t easy finding a place where they didn’t show under the dress, but she managed.

Jewel returned with a pair of gold satin pumps with tiny crystals scattered across the toes and a big bow on each heel. Marjani eyed them skeptically.

“Do I look like a high-heels-and-bows kind of female?”

“You don’t. But you do look like one who knows that camouflage can be a good thing. Do you want them to see you as you are—or as a high-heels-and-bows kind of female?”

Marjani sighed. “Hand them over.” She stepped into the heels and turned to look at herself in the floor-length mirror.

A stranger stared back at her. A classy stranger with long, toned legs and surprise in her dark eyes. The aqua-green was a pretty contrast to her skin, and when she moved, the gold thread caught the light so that she seemed to shimmer.

Yeah, she still had a few bruises, but she barely recognized herself. “Damn,” she whispered.

“Don’t you look beautiful?” Jewel’s eyes swam with tears.

Marjani bit her lip. “You okay?”

“Don’t mind me. It’s just that my daughter is around your age. It’s been so long since I last saw her. She was a little girl when—” She pressed her lips into a line and shook her head.

“I’m so sorry. Is there something I could do—take her a message, maybe?”

Jewel clutched Marjani’s hand. “Could you?”

At a rap on the door, they sprang apart. A golden-skinned elf with big green eyes stuck her head inside. “The king requests your presence at dinner.”

“She’ll be right there,” Jewel replied, and the elf nodded and shut the door again.

“Here goes nothing,” Marjani muttered.

Jewel squeezed her shoulder. Suddenly, her blue eyes deepened to a navy that was almost black, and her face went dead white, so it looked like those scary midnight eyes peered through a mask.

“Jewel?” Marjani gulped. “You all right?”

The other woman seemed not to hear. “Make the wrong choice,” she replied in a toneless voice, “and you’ll never get home.”

Marjani’s nape prickled. Jewel was a Seer. Suddenly, the pieces snapped into place.

This must be Ula Gallagan, and the black-haired guard her mate, Nisio do Rio. Nisio and Ula were Dion’s parents, and Nisio had been alpha until the couple disappeared about fifteen turns of the sun ago.

“What is it?” she whispered. “What do you See?”

Jewel/Ula looked right through her. “The end of the game is the beginning,” she said in that low, eerie voice, “and the heart wins over strategy every time.”

Marjani’s hand went to her chest and the quartz she’d stowed in her bra. “I don’t understand.”

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