Page 32 of Truth
“What is this? Gang up on Liberty morning?” I pouted.
“It is your hormones that has you feeling sensitive, Kitten.” As the words left his mouth, every single person settled back from him. Horror written on his face. His brows scrunched together, “What? Did I misspeak?”
As if he could sense his mate’s danger, Justice appeared from the house, standing between me and Lenin, “Don’t hurt him, he didn’t know any better.” I wasn’t going to hurt him but the fact they all feared repercussions from saying something so – so – mannish, even if it could possibly be true given the circumstances, was satisfying.
“Do you want a cookie? Maybe some coffee? Want me to get you a cookie?” Sterling offered.
“Sellout.” Ellis hissed, “If Lenin takes us all down, you are coming with us whether you like it or not.”
“Jeez, I’m not going to kill him.” I took a step forward and just in case I lied, Justice’s arms went out, shielding him.
“I’m obligated to protect him, you know that, right? If you try to kill him, I will have to pick the victim’s side.” Justice clarified for me.
“He called me hormonal, is he really the victim?” I justified, trying to hide my amusement.
“I’m sorry, I’m siding with Liberty. Girl, if you need some fire to backlight this brawl, just say the word.” Michelle plopped herself down on the brick steps as she watched. Maggie joined her, humming her agreement. Maybe she wasn’t so bad, as long as he kept her witchy fingers off my men.
“I did not mean to offend, Kitten. It’s just with mating there is a lot of changes that happens to your body. Is this not true?” He’s looking pitifully at Justice.
Justice nodded slowly, his eyes wide. When he spoke, it was with more caution then I’ve ever heard from the man, “This is true. However, there are some things we don’t talk about.”
“Why? Because it makes the females emotional?”
“It’s like the ogre has a fucking death wish.” Ellis spat.
Lenin looked between everyone, “I do not understand what’s going on.”
“What’s about to happen is your Kitten is moments away from sprouting claws and decapitating you.” Justice mocked his use of pet names. “My suggestion is to maybe keep some thoughts to yourself.”
“I keep most thoughts to myself.” Lenin tilted his head as if he was still trying to figure it out.
“That’s a fucking relief.” Ellis said from my side, “Look, I don’t think he meant it, Liberty.”
Oh, I know he didn’t mean it offensively. His soul is too gentle to insult me. But the reaction from the other men was damn near priceless. “I suspect Lenin never says anything he doesn’t mean.”
Ellis muttered a curse, “This is true, but he doesn’t understand women.”
“I know a lot about women.” Lenin interjected, “I’ve read a lot about the biological make ups and differences between the male and female. Nothing is vastly different from my people, minus the social emphases on gender roles and sexuality.”
“I see.” Why was he so loveable and hot? Like, really hot. It’s not even like he would realize his attractiveness, he’s too logical to find importance in that. “Why don’t you get back to teaching me today’s lesson?”
Every man sighed relief and the women behind me sighed in frustration. I turned to them, and Michelle shrugged, “What? That could have been good.”
Lenin, still not quite sure what was going on grabbed the stones from me and took the rest of the supplies from Maggie before trudging the extra distance to the open space in the yard. We all followed after, each of us having our own strengths and weaknesses to work on. All of the men seemed slightly tense as we walked, like they were waiting for the explosion to come. Why was their anticipation of doom so much more satisfying than actually delivering the potential doom itself?
“If we leave, do you promise not to kill our mate?” Justice asked, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a bit of playfulness dancing in his eyes.
“I make no promises.” I informed him, though I knew I wouldn’t harm Lenin.
He shrugged, “I tried.” He leaned in close, “But if you kill him now, we’ll never know.”
Never know? What in the – “What are you even talking about?”
He cocked a brow as he gave me a pointed look, “I think you know.”
What? Know what? I glanced at Lenin as he innocently bent over the bag of witchy items. He pushed his long braid over his shoulder before standing to his full ginormous height. I glanced back at Justice whose eyes were on Lenin before they fell back to give me a leisurely once over. “I don’t know what you mean.”
My voice came out as a hiss and it only made him laugh. The sound was rich with joy and damn it, I could get used to that sound coming from my broody shifter. “Think hard about it, Lib. Really hard.”