Page 39 of Thrilled By Her Protector

“Wait, Conny,” she said, moving in front of him with tears in her eyes. “He’s not a Shifter. He’s human. You’re human,” she said, the last turning to face the monster who sired her.

And there it was, the ugly truth to Jennifer’s past. Oh fuck, his heart broke for her. Zircon had suspected something strange ever since he’d scented the male. He wore some sort of hunter’s block, but the way he spoke explained it all.

Jennifer’s mother was a Shifter, but her father was human. A human who’d manipulated a woman into being his pansy, trading on her affection for him, using her to sate his greed.

Holy fuck.

“I didn’t remember,” Jennifer whispered, horrified. “I don’t understand. You were both involved in kidnapping women? Selling them? But you were Mom’s fated mate?—”

“That crazy bitch tried that line on me. After I found out what she was, and what she bore in you, I was disgusted. I wanted to kill her. I couldn’t stand being with her. I needed money, and she claimed she needed me. I knew some people, secret, scary types who provided entertainment for the rich. You know, the more money people have, the more perverse, ladybug,” he said, putting the emphasis onbug.

Oh, how Zircon wanted to squash him like one. Jennifer must have sensed it because she stepped back, leaning on him, allowing him to put his hands on her waist as she faced off with the male.

“You were going to sell me, too, weren’t you?”

“Yeah well. Life’s hard. I got needs.”

“But I’m your daughter,” Jennifer whispered.

Zircon was shaking with rage, but everyone else seemed frozen in place. His father joined them. With him was the man called Mother. It seemed they wouldn’t have to do a whole lot of work to get this piece of shit to spill the beans. Jonathan Dylluan,aka douchebag from hell, seemed all too happy to comply.

“You are not my daughter. I don’t have a daughter. You’re just a thing. Like them. Like all of you. Animals!”

“You are the only animal here. You’ve been kidnapping and selling people for how long, huh? AndIdisgustyou?” Jennifer asked, shoulders straight, anger in her eyes.

Good girl.

He loved seeing her spirit rise and temper flare. Conny would much rather his Jennifer be angry than shaken.

“People kidnap and sell animals all the time. It’s not even a jailable offense in most states,” he laughed. “Hell, I’ve sold hundreds of monsters like you!”

“That’s enough of that,” Zircon growled, hoisting the male up and tossing him to Larimar, who had him cuffed and muzzled in seconds.

“There ya go,” his brother said, slapping the male on the shoulder so hard he fell to his knees.

Everyone was moving then, talking, and there was a lot going on outside in the crisp afternoon air. The Drakein walked off together, having been joined by OX and Xabat. All except for Daeja, who was talking urgently to Dor, casting glances at him and Jenn. But Zircon didn’t care. He focused on Jennifer alone. She looked too calm.

“That is the man who took me,” Lyra told Mother, finger shaking as she pointed at Jennifer’s sperm donor before going inside the house.

“Jenn, you alright?”

“Huh? Oh, um, yeah. I just, I didn’t remember. I mean, I was so little, but still. Mom said they were fated mates, but did you hear him when he mentioned her? He hated my mother. He hated me.”

“I’m sorry, Jenn?—”

“No, don’t you see? I’m such a fool. A total idiot,” she said, turning in his arms to hold him tight.

“No, Jenn?—”

“No, really. I am. So much time, I let so much time go by, trying to keep a promise I made to my mother when I was way too young to swear such a thing. I’d convinced myself I would never be able to take a mate because my parents couldn’t keep their fated mates happy and together. Everything I thought I knew about them was a lie.”

“That’s on them, Jennifer. Not you,” he said, cupping her cheek with his warm hands.

“You are too good to me, Conny. I wasted years not telling you how I felt cause my mother poisoned my mind about fated mates, because that man manipulated her. And she let him. Oh my gods, I can’t believe all the time I wasted.”

“You didn’t waste anything. Everything happened like it should.”

“But I almost lost you?—”

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