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Page 3 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

I followed her into the living room, where an awkward silence filled the space between us.

“How are you settling into Brixton?” I asked, trying to break the bizarre tension.

She shrugged. “Fine, I guess. It’s been a few months at this point.”

“Sure, but considering everything you went through, I figure it’s worth asking. Anyone who got kidnapped as a bargaining chip would have every right to take some time to process it.”

Her features softened a little. “It took a bit of time,” she admitted. “Mostly, I’m annoyed that I wasn’t able to get away from them on my own. All the training and stuff I went through, and it didn’t matter.” She spoke a little bitterly. “Not exactly a confidence booster.”

“They caught you off-guard,” I pointed out. “And besides, it was, what, three-on-one? The odds weren’t exactly in your favor. And that’s not including the fact that…” I trailed off, hesitating.

“That I’m an absent?” she asked. “Being one doesn’t render me incapable of defending myself, you know.”

“It has to make it harder, though,” I pointed out.

Her eyes flashed with anger, then something flickered behind it, the rage dulling. “Yeah, sure,” she muttered. “But it shouldn’t.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It felt like dangerous waters, and anything I said would make things worse. So I changed topics. “You’re not getting any issues over that, are you?”

“Over being an absent?” she asked a little tersely. “Hasn’t really been an issue, except for a couple of guys. Most of the people in Brixton aren’t bigots and understand it isn’t that big of a deal.”

Something about the way she said it set off alarm bells. My brow furrowed as I studied her a bit more closely. Her full lips were set in perfectly straight line, her eyes distrusting and guarded as she looked at me.

“You’re not insinuating I have something against absents, are you?” I asked, frowning.

She raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding, right? Of course I don’t.”

“Uh-huh.” Those two syllables dripped with disbelief and distaste.

I bristled. If there was one thing I didn’t like, it was being labeled something I wasn’t. What she was implying made me look like a piece of shit. “Look, if you’ve got something to say, why don’t you go ahead and say it?”

“Forget it,” she snapped. She shook her head, and I could smell the anger wafting off her. “I’m going upstairs. You can wait for Rand here if you like.”

She moved to push past me. I grabbed her arm.

“Let go of me,” she snapped.

“Why do you think I have something against absents?” I asked.

She jerked her arm out of my grasp. “You really don’t know?”

I hesitated, looking her up and down. Everything about her radiated dislike, from the set of her shoulders to her narrowed eyes.

“Honestly? No. So please tell me.” I said, the earnestness in my voice sincere. The last thing I wanted was for Thea todislike me. If I’d done something to piss her off, I’d rather know so I could clear the air.

“The party,” she spat. “When you said absents were closer to humans than shifters, and that you felt sorry for me.”

I winced as the memory surfaced. The conversation between Mark and me. I hadn’t meant anything by it, but if she’d heard it…

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think you would hear it.”

“And saying it behind my back makes it better?”

“No, but it’s not like I was spreading rumors or anything like that,” I defended. “I was just stating an opinion.”

“Yeah. A really shitty and ignorant opinion.”




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