Page 35 of I Dated the Lost Song

She went to the lift and headed up to the top of the building.

The boss’s office was the only thing on the floor aside from the reception desk that was currently unattended.

She walked toward the office door, and the door opened. That wasn’t creepy at all.

Leska walked into the office and smiled at the owner of the company. “Hello, boss.”

Zera made a face. “So, why won’t you go for the physical?”

“Why do I need one?”

The woman’s face tightened. “We would like to change your job designation from accountant to companion so that your friend Cadence doesn’t have to be by herself when Raek returns to duty.”

“So, I need a medical check to have a friend? Or to be one?”

Zera winced. “No. We want her to remember that she’s Aksallan over all.”

“Oh, you don’t want her leaving.”

“Yes.”

“Even if her breeding partner asks her to go.”

“Yes.”

“Which is why you contracted her through the BDC. You wanted to control her movements.”

Zera paused, her long, dark hair looking shiny, and her age was impossible to see. “How do you know all of this?”

“I am always in the background. Folks talk freely around me.”

“Are you sure you aren’t an active?”

Leska laughed. “I am sure that I have no registry. As for my true origins, they are dark and mysterious and landed me in the same group home as Cadence.”

Zera cocked her head. “You were assessed when you were a teen?”

“I think so. Pretty sure. There was an incursion at our school during assessment day, so I am pretty sure it happened.”

Zera looked at the screen on her desk. “You are human presenting. That is frustrating.”

“You seem sure something else is going on.”

“I have an instinct for these things, and you have all the attitude I associate with actives.”

“Naw, I am just cocky.” Leska smiled.

“Why?”

“Survival. It makes me smug. I also know that Cadence will be fine and that she has a lot to work out.”

“Will your being there help or hinder?”

“I think that I can stay with her when she wants me to. And the occasional slumber party with her partner’s authorization.”

“Her pregnancy has been advanced to the fourteenth week.”

“Oh. Wow. Unexpected.”

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