Page 109 of Tail, Dark and Handsome: Celestial Mates
This was pointless. She was playing Chase’s game, and it had to stop. If anything, it helped to drive home the fact that her feelings for Tomas were over. What she had felt for him, if she could call that love, was for a façade, not his true self.
“You’re right,” she said. “I was desperate to not be alone. Scared. I’m sorry you felt trapped, like you had to appease me. I wish we had been strong enough to talk to each other when we were unhappy.”
He looked surprised, his mouth open to speak.
A hand lightly touched her shoulder. She recognized his presence at once. “Introduce us, please,” Winter said in a voice as cold as the temperature outside.
She knew how this must have looked, hidden away in a corner from prying eyes, faces flush and eyes bright. She searched Winter’s face for a clue to what he thought, but found only ice.
“This is nobody,” Mari said, walking away.
Winter
Winter pulled Marigold down a hall and into a quiet room. The door was locked, but Winter guessed the code on the first try. Chase always lacked creativity in that regard. The lights flickered as he pushed open the door.
He blinked at the harsh light before adjusting it to an acceptable level.
The room was richly furnished, with a grandiose desk crafted from highly polished wood parked in front of a wall of books that looked as if they had never been read. Ornaments designed to showcase wealth more than taste were arranged about the room on side tables. Thick carpeting, plush draperies, and a leather sofa that appeared more fashionable than comfortable completed the room.
Behind the desk loomed the portrait of a stern Tal male, his hair silvered with age and a mouth looked incapable of smiling. Thankful Cayne, his father.
This was Chase’s home office, and it looked as if it had never seen a day’s work.
“I should have saved the rose bouquet to shove up his butt!” Marigold paced the room, then she perked, as if struck by inspiration. She strode directly to the desk. She picked up a crystal ornament, a pyramid filled with a milky fluid and golden flakes. The flakes stirred into a flurry as she thrust it out for Winter’s inspection. “Is this valuable?”
“Possible. My cousin has expensive tastes.”
“Are those real flakes of gold?” She gave it a shake, creating a whirlwind of swirling gold inside the pyramid.
“Again, he has expensive tastes. I would assume that bauble to be ludicrously expensive.”
“Good.” Marigold raised the bauble and smashed it to the ground.
She stared at the broken glass at her feet, appearing a bit shocked, as if she had not expected it to break so easily. Then, a satisfied grin spread across her face. “What else is pricey?”
“This.” He picked up a white glazed animal figurine. It was a predator from another planet with a long, thin face and a bushy tail that seemed impractical. They hunted in packs. For whatever reason, Chase felt a kinship with the creature.
“That wolf?”
“You know this creature?”
“It’s an Earth animal. Is it rare?”
“Not particularly. The expense is that it came from Earth.”
She held out her hand, rapidly opening and closing it in a gesture he knew meant a request to hold the item. He complied, relishing the delight on his mate’s face as she hurled the figurine into the wall.
“More,” she said, spinning on her heel to face him. The narrow heel of her shoes wobbled. Grumbling, she bent to undo the buckle, but the catch did not cooperate. “Stupid shoes. I have so many flats but no, I had to wear the sexy shoes.”
He enjoyed the way her legs looked in the heels, but he found his mate aesthetically pleasing no matter what she wore. Especially if she wore nothing. “Do you wish to save the shoes?”
“Fuck no,” she said, the force of her words stunning him.
He crouched at her feet and used his claws to slash the strap roughly.
“You cursed,” he said, rising to his feet.
“I curse.” She kicked off the shoes, then removed the jacket. A flush decorated her bare arms and collar.
