Page 53 of Auctioned Mate

Juriah grinned. “He hasn’t the faintest idea.”

“How do you know?”

“I can see his aura, Macy. They’re all stumped. Their colors are totally confused.”

I took a deep breath. “And the witch?”

“She’s still in training. Her colors aren’t as confident as they were when she was waving.”

Both men returned to our windows but with their positions switched. Percy leaned causally against the open window, tipping his head back like we were old friends about to catch up at a diner.

“You wouldn’t happen to know this girl, would you?” He showed me the photo.

I made a face. “Good golly, is that how women act these days?Yuck. I wouldn’t be caught dead looking like that anywhere.”

“You sure you haven’t seen her?”

“Nope. I would know that face anywhere. Looks like an angel. But her clothes, my god. Get some manners, mister, before you go around flashing things like that to sensible people!”

Percy tucked the photo calmly into his pocket and patted the door. “You take care now, ma’am. Be good to your husband.” He glared at Juriah. “Good men are so hard to come by these days.”

For a tense few seconds, the two of them stared each other down. I thought Juriah was going to launch across the seat and sock Percy in the face. Energy billowed like a cloud of locusts traveling the sky. I held my breath for a bit, trying to keep myself under control, making sure to bite down on my tongue as hard as I could.

Percy nodded. “Alright, go on then. Enjoy that park.”

Rick and Percy went back to the car behind us with their entourage. Within a few minutes, the two cars pulled away, leaving us in a dusty shadow. I had to keep blinking, keep breathing, keep hanging on to Juriah.

He hadn’t sold me out.

He hadn’t betrayed me.

He hadn’t handed me off to Rick and Percy.

I was safe—and so was our child.

I buried my face into my hands and sobbed. His arm circled my shoulder and yanked me into him, shushing me while he rubbed my arm. Frustration from that encounter broke me open like a dam, and I couldn’t stop the flood. I couldn’t stop the words leaving my mouth.

“I was so scared. I thought you were going to abandon me. I thought you were going to leave me with them and then…and then just…”

Juriah crammed me against his chest. His heart beat so hard in my ear that it sounded like a bowling ball rolling across a wooden porch. “Little wolf, you’re my entire universe, and never in a million years would I give you back to those disgusting men.”

“The woman…that witch…thatwoman…”

I was worried.

Maybe she was in the same boat as me. Maybe her powers were her only saving grace. Juriah claimed her to be a young pupil. Had Percy replaced me that quickly? My head spun with question after question as my paranoia grew to new heights.

Juriah squeezed me harder. “Stop thinking, Macy. You’re hurting my head.”

“You’re hurting my heart.”

He rubbed my chest gently. “I’m sorry. I’d never sell you out. Never ever. I promise.”

I let him hold me. I let him cradle me the way nobody had in the past. This man had faked a relationship with me just to save me. But I didn’t want these things to be fake. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life not knowing how good it would feel to proudly announce how long we had been married.

Thirty years.

Was that how long he pictured a life with me? How long did Elderlings live?

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