Only Him

Chapter 38

"What's this?" my mother asked Lissa as she entered the room accompanied by none other than James Wakefield. I had to admit to some of my own confusion at his presence. While he'd become a permanent fixture in Lissa and Sonya's life over the past month or so he rarely accompanied her places, more often just meeting in her office for lessons or ambling around Court on his own.

"Are you babysitting?" I asked her. "Wasn't it Sonya's day?" That was a bit snippy on my part and I knew it as soon as the words left my mouth but I couldn't help them. I was irate. My back hurt, my bladder was going to explode and I'd been staring through the one way glass at Lord Ivashkov with his perfect suit and 'not a care in the world' demeanor for the past five minutes. Dimitri made a cautionary noise at my tone and I glared at him over my shoulder. Both he and my mother would be interviewing Lord Ivashkov in a few minutes. We'd just been waiting on Lissa to arrive.

"Today is Mommy Sonya's day per the custody agreement," James agreed glibly, "but seeing as she's out of town my other mother gets the pleasure of my company for the day."

I glared at him while Lissa scoffed. James Wakefield had turned out to have a sharp tongue and endless witticisms that rivaled my own once he'd gotten comfortable around us notorious folk. I kind of wished it had stayed hidden.

"Mommy Sonya should have taken you with her. Or put you in daycare," I snapped.

"That's what you're here for!" he smirked. "Besides, you gotta learn about those rebellious teenage years at some point." He pointed to my stomach. "That's a ticking time bomb."

"If I'd whelped you I would have drowned you," I said, deadpan.

"Rose!" Both Dimitri and Lissa admonished me sharply while, to my surprise, my mother suppressed a smile.

"Hormones," James said sagely, obviously unperturbed. "She doesn't really mean it. She just can't stop the verbal vomit, right Rose?"

I stared at him, eyes wide. "Excuse me?"

Never mind that his words were entirely correct. Could he read me that easily?

"That's why I'm here," he offered up.

And then it clicked.

"Get out of my head you little shit!" I made a grab for him but he danced easily out of my way as my larger bulk got in the way. "He can read minds?" I demanded of Lissa, appalled.

She nodded. "We figured it out a few weeks ago," she said. "I remembered what you told me about Oksana and what I felt during that fight with Avery." We both couldn't help but shudder at that reminder. "We've been working on it ever since. He's having some issues controlling it so he hasn't been hanging out with many people lately but I thought we could use that to our advantage with him." Lissa pointed to Lord Ivashkov through the window.

Well, that could be useful. But it was also a huge invasion of privacy. I remembered the invasive brush of minds when Oksana read me and didn't want this snippy Wakefield anywhere near my own private thoughts.

"That could be very useful," Dimitri mused behind me.

I screwed up my face in consternation. "Just point your satellites that way, not at me," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest and turning away from him. My head was crowded enough with my own thoughts, I didn't need him rattling around in there too.

A few more words were traded before Dimitri and my mother left us in the observation room, door swinging shut deftly behind them. A few moments later the door to the interrogation room opened and they filed in, a wall of guardian austerity, to sit before Lord Ivashkov.