Page 31 of Broken Arranged Mate
Now, one of the guys hoots as they rip the massive, wiry things out of the floor. I’ve cleared them to throw them off the side of the tower, rather than carrying them down, and that’s enough of a reason for them to be in a good mood.
“You must be whipped,” Wyn mutters, sidling up next to me. I turn and glare at him, but he just grins back at me, unfazed by the expression that usually gets other people to leave me alone.
I mean to say something sarcastic, but instead I say, “I just want her to be happy.”
It catches Wyn by surprise, and me, too. I swallow it down and turn away from him, already berating myself for being so careless, not watching the things I say.
But why? It’s good for people to think Ash and I are besotted with each other. When the shifters in these packs see the affection between the two of us, it will alter their thinking, soften their aggression toward one another.
That’s the entire point.
But maybe the problem is that Wyn can see through me—without me telling him, he knows the truth about what’s going on here. Which means there’s something inside me, right at the core, that’s unguarded when it comes to Ash.
“Alright, man,” Wyn says, eyes wide, his hand swinging up to clap me on the back. Turning, he surveys the room, a hammer in his hand. “That’s all you had to say.”
Chapter 18 - Ash
It has officially been a week since I’ve seen Oren, and a full week since I’ve worked on the watchtower.
At this pace, there’s no way I’m going to get it finished in time. Our wedding is in a few days. I’ll just have to be okay with the way it looks now.
Aidan and Emin are busy with their families, my brother is busy with the pack business, and Oren has turned down every single time I suggested we work on it. I’m not allowed to go on my own, which means the best I’ll be able to do is finish painting before the big day.
So, once again, when the girls show up at my door, I’m distracting myself with something Icando.
“Okay,” Veva says, crossing her arms and looking up at me on the ladder, where I’m measuring the space for a shelf above the entryway. “What are you even building now?”
“It’ll be a shelf,” I explain, splaying my hand out and gesturing to the wall. “I can put hats here, and hang coats from it, and it will be up high enough that…” I trail off when I look at them again, realizing they’re all dressednice.
Kira is wearing a simple black dress, her copper hair spilling around her shoulders. Veva is in a dark green pantsuit and smokey eye shadow, and Emaline is in a soft purple blouse with a skirt, paired with a pair of black pumps. Their perfumes mix together and float over to me.
“What…are you guys doing here?” I ask, eyes narrowing at the guilty look on Kira’s face.
“I know you said you don’t want a bachelorette party,” she says, biting her lip, “but…surprise!”
“Surprise?”
“We’re doing something special,” Veva says, crossing her arms. “So come down from that ladder and put on something slutty.”
Emaline laughs, and I shake my head. “Don’t think Oren would appreciate that.”
“Who gives a fuck what he wants?” This time, it’s Kira, and it’s a shock to hear her talk like that. Since becoming the luna, she’s been a lot gentler, avoiding swearing around the boys. “Ash, you deserve a party for what you’re doing. Now, come on.”
To my surprise, it works. I get down from the ladder and the girls doll me up, putting me in a tight dress from the back of my closet—a gift from Kira that I never had a reason to wear.
I think that we’re going to the same place we always do for half-priced margaritas, but Emaline turns right out of town, following a road we don’t go on much.
“Uh,” I mutter, turning to her and raising an eyebrow. “Where…are we going?”
“Surprise,” Emaline says, connecting with my eyes in the rearview mirror. “But we are not taking you out to the middle of nowhere to murder you. I promise.”
“That hadn’t crossed my mind until you said it,” I laugh, and Veva laughs, too, throwing her arm around me and leaning into me.
We drive a bit longer, then pull up into one of the little satellite towns outside the larger capital of Ambersky, with the pack hall. I stare out the window, mind whirring.
Gramps used to take us on trips out to these towns to speak with the different farmers, those who lived near thecliffside, those who were more affected by the conflict on the border than those in town.
Now, though, we’re not here on business. Emaline steers the car onto a side road, and we start to climb, eventually finding ourselves at the top of a plateau.
