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He looked down from his numbers. “I’m intrigued. Do go on.”
I ground the spike a bit. “What did you summon me for? Or did you just want to see what heels I’m in today?”
He pulled a stack of paper from some other corner of his desk. He sifted through it and handed me part of the clump. “Remember Ronald?”
“I mostly remember that as the night you were shocked to learn I was a virgin, and the others prevented you from removing my virginity because we got home late.” The deal with the human Ronald involved a parcel of land previously used for mining and logging, to rehab the land as a nature preserve, and some complicated leaseback involving solar panels. Except one of the reports had turned up the possibility that one corner of the parcel might still have some untapped platinum and such, and Ronald now wanted to move in a short-term mining operation.
Sterling’s investment focus was primarily green tech and resources. Scraping the last bits of shiny whatever out of the Earth offended both of us. The mining operation added a level of financial risk that made an already complex and risky deal a bit too rich for Sterling’s taste. But if he backed out over what was a very minor deal modification, he’d look weak. Ronald might have been human, but this was a prestige game all the same, and Ronald meant an opportunity to hunt with a bigger wolf on bigger prey.
Sterling put one hand over my ankle. His fingers found some sore spots in the tendons and gently pressed into them. “He’s resurfaced. I was hoping he would disappear until the new year, but here we are.”
I cocked my head to the side. “I know that look. Whatever you’re about to say is going to annoy me.”
“Yes.”
I sighed and tried to lift my foot off his thigh. He clutched my ankle, somehow looking both apologetic and impish at the same time. “His wife, Gazelle, is in town and he suggested you two do lunch. Tomorrow.”
“And you said?”
“That you would love to.”
I pulled my foot off his thigh. Signing me up for human games. Did every male in my life feel entitled to make plans involving me without involving me? On the other hand, Gaia’s Wheel didn’t stop, nor did it care. I lifted the stack of papers he’d passed me. “Is this required reading for lunch?”
“No. That’s the survey and map section. Tell me if you think the parcel is near any wolves. Wolves are a dealbreaker right now.”
I nodded and slid off the desk. “Then I better get started.”
Sterling captured me with an arm around my waist and pulled me down onto his lap. “You smell defeated.”
I was tired, worn, and beaten up, but I was not defeated. The wanderers were always lurking. The skyscrapers made me dizzy and swayed like treetops in the wind, and the entire city was a writhing mass of grays and browns mixed with the occasional burst of color. “I need a win, but I’m not defeated.”
He turned his attention back to his monitors, resting his chin on my head and pulling me closer. “Good. Sit with me a moment.”
I sighed and surrendered. There were worse things than being a feral teddybear, although I wasn’t sure which one of us was comforting the other right then.
W + FV 4Ever
I glanced at the herd of people on the opposite sidewalk wielding cameras with huge, long lenses. The lenses swung towards my car. What the hell was this about?
The cluster of paparazzi twitched like a pack focusing on a rustle in the grass, snapping shots of me until they realized I was nobody special.
“What even is my life,” I muttered under my breath. I was missing the gym for this.
Fern was a little miniature rainforest, and on the cold, damp November day, it was warm and almost muggy, and a mixture of green plants and minimalist natural wood furniture. No exotic birds, though. It needed at least a parrot with a dirty mouth.
I had arrived right on time, but this somehow had resulted in me being late. Gazelle was already there, along with two other women, seated at a table right next to the streetside window. Gazelle was maybe a few years older than I was, and the two women with her a little older than that. Gazelle had a huge, easy smile and was drop-dead beautiful: tall, long-limbed, elegant, radiant. She dazzled like sunlight shining through waterfall spray.
I recognized her face from a massive building-sized sign on 5th. The paparazzi were there for her.
Gaia’s tits.
Our table was right up against the windows facing the sidewalk, giving the camera-wielding hordes across the street a full view of our little luncheon. Gazelle pushed at the chair next to her. The two other women had their backs to the glass. I needed to figure out how to trade seats with one of them.
She enthusiastically greeted me. “You must be Winter! I’m Gazelle. That’s Cherise, and that’s Hunter.”
I murmured my hellos as I sat down. Gazelle pulled out her phone, leaned over to me and put her arm around my neck. “Smile for the selfie!”
She snapped the shot before I could react to the ambush, and then released me, giggling, and started tapping away furiously. Across the street, lights flashed and the herd of photographers moved as one to get a better angle.
