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He bristled visibly "What did you just say to me?"

"I said suck it up, buttercup You can’t be worried about a huile state that you can’t show up to your oedding You have bigger fish to fry"

"Secret…" Ah, the fa sound He’d loved to scold hty child, and not in a kinky way But he didn’t get to talk down to ht? That I’m your wife?"

He didn’t speak, but I could tell from the way his eyes narrowed he kneouldn’t like what I had to say next

"Then that makes me Queen of the Eastern pack Itlike a lost, pathetic puppy is putting every single wolf in your pack at risk Go home Brush your hair Put on a suit I’ll take care of this like I always take care of the stuff you don’t kno to deal with"

I looked at Holden beside me, and his brown eyes ide I couldn’t tell if he was impressed with me or appalled Admittedly, I was a bit of both Lucas had told me he was fearful for soet his royal panties in a twist

I’d also called myself the wolf queen, so really I was on a roll as far as talking outdown at his ru time before he said, "Okay"

When he walked out of the room, I stared with open amazement at the dark space he’d occupied a second earlier

Holden, not wanting to let the ed, said, "All hail Secret, Queen of the Bitches"

Chapter Four

My apartment didn’t feel like ho disaster area since he wasn’t there to pick things up or guilta slob When I’d lived alone, thewith hih a Deshho into the streets of Beirut, butroom would have served as an excellent before in juxtaposition to Holden’s sleek, spotless after, if a azine wanted to showcase New York apartments

I didn’t eat, so there were no dirty plates or food wrappers anywhere in sight What was littered over every piece of furniture, however, was clothing When I’ looks When I’m depressed, as it turns out, it is an absolute require I own

I’d been in a three-week cycle of repeating this process It had gotten to the point where there wasn’t any clothing left in hout the apart for the next time I would hunt it down, put it on, then hurl it so, folded and sorted by color in the span of twenty minutes He was an architect and had a natural flair for order, whereas my only natural skill was destruction

Rio, a wiry snake of fur and attitude, stretched out on top of the ru on and padded across the living roo her bony feline ass down in front of aze upwards

"Brreeeeow?" she asked

"Nope, sorry, kitten, just ainst h, fine" I plucked her off the floor, and the purring reached epic proportions as she bashed her tiny skull into my chin I could pretend to hate her asa tangled pair of jeans that still held the shape of s, I carried Rio back to my small yellow loveseat and curled up with the cat inher absentmindedly as I stared at the black television screen

And Desmond’s stupid Xbox

In three weeks the desire to play Halo had not proven stronger than his aversion to seeing e, waiting for him to yield and coe in a first-person shooter

I didn’t want to ado out and buy hi the woer when I stopped petting her I gave her a scolding tap on the nose then continued to indulge her whiht as well be happy I couldn’t even get laid by a vaht-stand pact with Secret McQueen, spinster for life

This hy I’d tried to be happy being single

Men screwed everything up And the ot Menage-a-trois romance novels lied There was no way to have a happily ever after with le too many balls--no pun intended--and I’d ended up ean the Crazy Cat Lady chapter of my life

Fine

I could at least be a Crazy Cat Lady who could track doard socialites Kellen couldn’t have gotten far, but she could have gotten into a lot of trouble I ht have told Lucas she was fine, but I wasn’t entirely sure I believed it myself I didn’t think she was kidnapped or dead Unfortunately, her being arrested or turned into an accidental drug mule still wasn’t out of the question

I dialedBad Wolf now?"

Doer brother and Lucas’s live-in bodyguard, was possibly the kindest, funniest, ay olf I knew, I’d probably marry him, save myself a hborhood in suburbia

Since he was an Alvarez, he’d probably h

"Heto see if he’s following your instructions, I’m pleased to tell you he has indeed showered and shaved As the one person who has to spend all day in close proxi soap"

Clearly Dominick wasn’t too worked up over the whole Kellen situation The Alvarez family had known the Rains their whole lives If anyone could be cavalier about Kellen’s behavior, it would be Dominick, since he’d been exposed to it since childhood

"How long has he been like that?" I asked

"Don’t hedge Just spit out your question"