The Rebellious Mate

8(ii) Sowing of a Conspiracy

Moggie's manic hacking, as if she was about to vomit, informed Asena her beast was kidding.

But Zane's claws and fangs emerged before he saw Duma, and snarled, "Of course, it had to be you. Ever heard of knocking? At the very least, your date went well, boy."

Duma, clutching a bag, hung his head, a mark of his subservience.

Zane stood up. "I expect marked improvements in your speech. You're making a fool of yourself and us." He locked her jewelry in the drawer and handed Asena the key. "You're participating in the viewing, yes?"

She nodded.

He glared at both of them. "Never had I dealt with a pair of dunces searching for love on their terms in the same batch."

Duma shrank as Zane exited Asena's room.

"Zane, thank you." She lifted the chain around her throat. "Please have this removed. Accepting it doesn't sit right with me."

He paused and faced her. "We'll do it tomorrow. Now let me procure a tolerable mate for you. Now, it's a matter of pride. I am a matchmaker, not a shifter trafficker."

"You're protecting an investment."

"It's already paid off dividends." Zane's deadpan quip matched hers and he winked. "Bet Bebi wouldn't employ that phrase, would she? You understood the word; the others wouldn't."

"Ugh, go away."

Zane wasn't done. "Oh, Asena, the raised eyebrows, maintaining prolonged eye contact, and pinning us with a patronizing stare are interpreted as unsaid challenges. Flutter your eyelashes; copy this dun-dum or peep under them like Bebi. Or not. Just stop glaring at everyone in your line of sight."

She did nothing of that sort.

'You do so all the time. It's coz Papa and Vic aren't here to defend you. And you can't hide behind work anymore.' Moggie, the traitor, sided with Zane.

Wide-eyed, Duma stared at them. After the agent departed, he pouted. "Zane sweet to you?" A wounded pup, he was unable to comprehend that someone didn't adore him, like Bebi and the twins. His artless enthusiasm and eagerness won hearts. She would've, in normal circumstances, found him irritating. Yet they'd met on another continent, after surviving a similar long, arduous journey, and he had comforted her when she broke down.

She massaged her sore wrist. "No. Zane's an ass."

Duma yelped, "You go on a date too? He do this? Bad. Reject male." He stared at her discolored throat.

Asena put up her sweatshirt's hood before tucking the pendant in.

"It was scary." Especially when lust led her astray. Resisting the lure of the animal instincts was, in Europa's pompous lingo, 'nigh impossible'.

Asena's mouth watered when she caught the tantalizing aromas of vanilla and nutmeg wafting from the tin box.

"Duma go to cafe, bring Asena tastiest cake on planet Gia."

Touched by his sweet gesture, she took one. "This is an eclair, not cake." After taking a bite, she said, "So, is he as yummy as these?"

He blushed.

Well, the nosh must've been exceptional. She finished the pastry in three bites. "This... amazing." She licked her sticky finger.

The new world shifters that morphed into animals couldn't eat chocolate. Or large amounts of sugar and salt. At worst, it killed them. At best, it poisoned them. Her kind, the chimeric version, could digest anything.