Chosen Mate by L.J. Red

Author:L.J. Red [Red, L.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

“May,” a familiar voice called, interrupting May’s thoughts. She turned and looked around; she’d only stepped outside of the Conclave buildings for a short breather. The knowing looks from other vassals were starting to get to her. She hadn’t realized the rumors were already circulating about her and Neal, and she didn’t know how to react to them. Did she snap back? Stare people down? Protest that whatever Neal and she had together, it wasn’t anyone else’s business? In the end, she’d decided to just ignore them. Starve them of air, and eventually, the rumors would die down. They had to.

May searched, peering into the darkness to answer the repeated call of her name. It took her a moment to realize where the voice was coming from. It was the vampire she had met on the first day, the woman with the half mask over her face. She was standing in the shadow of one of the cabins, and when May saw her, the vampire beckoned her over.

May, frowning slightly, walked up to her. She shivered as a gust of wind clutched at the edges of her coat.

“Isabella,” she said, remembering the woman’s name. There was something missing, something hovering on the edge of her memory, but she couldn’t quite pin it down.

Isabella smiled widely, yet, despite her seeming friendliness, unease ran down May’s spine. She tugged her coat closer around herself. Must be the cold. “Can I help you, Isabella?” she asked.

Isabella reached out and pressed her hand playfully on May’s shoulder. “Help me?” she said, “Oh don’t be foolish. I merely wanted to see how you are doing. I haven’t seen you these past few days, and I heard about that awful human in the Shadow’s cabin. You were there, weren’t you? Why, what on earth were you doing in the Shadow’s cabin?”

May found herself blushing despite herself, and she stuttered out an answer. “I was just… well, Neal wanted me to stay with him.”

A flash of something dark and vicious flicked through Isabella’s eyes so fast that May was sure she must have mistaken the expression for something else. “Oh, my,” Isabella said with a suggestive smile, “you have been naughty.” And her grip on May’s shoulder was for a second uncomfortably tight, even through the thick layers of May’s coat. May flinched back slightly, and Isabella let her go. “A Shadow of your own,” she said, “how unusual. I’ve heard they’re quite the beasts in bed. You will simply have to tell me whether or not that’s true.”

A frisson of temper and protectiveness over Neal rose up in May. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” she said tightly.

“Oh, you’re just too good,” Isabella snapped.

May’s glance was wary, uncertain.

Isabella’s smile suddenly flickered to life as if in an attempt to reassure May, and she smoothed her hand down the side of May’s coat. “Oh, come now, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s simply that it’s so unusual for the Shadows to pick a human,” she laughed, but the sound was cold and empty of humor.

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