Chapter Nine
As Beth dematerialized away from Shuli’s, she had no conscious idea of where she was going, but some inner compass piloted her in the direction of the suite of rooms she’d been living in for so long. Soon enough, she was walking along the curving tunnel of the Wheel’s outer passageway, and not tracking much. The conversation with L.W. was a drain hole for every emotion and thought in her, to the point where she couldn’t even begin to process whatever Wrath was doing or where he was.
The act of ambulation did seem to be pulling her together a little, and she decided maybe she was just going to keep going, around and around, until either her heels got blisters or the soles of her shoes wore out—
The scent of something burning stopped her in front of a doorway.
Her doorway.
“Shit,” she said as she shoved her hand into her hip pocket.
She must have left the stove on or something.
Jabbing her key into the copper lock, she cranked the dead bolt free and shoved the door open. The nasty stench rushed out at her, and as she sneezed from the sting, she wondered how the night could get worse.
Burning the residence down was setting a high bar—
She skidded to a halt. “What the…”
As George hopped up off the floor and came forward with his tail wagging and his loose jowls peeled off his front teeth in a smile, she tried to understand why Wrath was standing in frontof the stove with the iron skillet she’d used for his bacon and eggs. He still had his full set of leathers on, even the jacket, and with his shitkickers and those wraparounds, he looked like the Terminator trying trad-wife on for size.
“Sorry about the smoke.” He pointed up at the vent fan. “I forgot to put this on before I started cleaning it.”
“You’re cleaning…”
Goals: Finish a sentence.
“Yeah, this is the way I learned. No soap or water, you just wipe it out with some salt and give it some heat.”
“Oh.” She looked around. “I…”
New goals: Work harder toward goals.
Wrath cranked the flame off. Killed the exhaust fan. Turned away with the pan and took three deliberate strides straight ahead. With his free hand, he patted at the counter and found the butcher block.
“Not that you were doing it wrong, mind you,” he said. “I mean, it’s whatever—”
“Wrath.”
He glanced over his shoulder as if he could see her, one black eyebrow lifting free of the wraparounds. “Hmm?”
It was hard to switch gears away from their son. But that got easier as she remembered what had happened before she got to Shuli’s. “Your Brothers are looking for you—”
“Hey, you want me to make you First Meal?”
“No. I don’t.” She rubbed her aching goddamn head. “I want you to stop fucking around and tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Okay.” As he turned to face her, he shrugged. “I want to make you food. That’s what’s going on. And we’re not that far out of First Meal timing, so I was going to go with pancakes and eggs.”
It was a struggle to keep her voice level. Then again, like father, like son, right? She wanted to boot both of them in the tail.
“Rhage asked me to find you,” she said through a locked jaw. “And I showed up at what turned out to be Shuli’s just after you told our son you’re stepping down from the throne.”
“Hmm.” There was a nod. “Yeah, that covers it. Now, about food—”
“Wrath.”
Crossing his arms over his huge chest, he shrugged. “I’m stepping down. Our son is old enough to take over. I’ll help him if he’ll let me, and that’s what’s going on.”
