Page 85 of A World Enough

Brogan took Camber’s hand between her two and gazed down at them, as if trying to gain Camber’s strength and courage to tell the story.

“Don’t feel awkward, Wolfy. It’s just me. The woman that caught you with silver cuffs,” Camber joked.

“A wolf isn’t supposed to be thirty-two and not mated. Just another part of wolf culture I’d failed at.”

“Thirty-two isn’t old for being single,” Camber said.

“It is in wolf society. So I decided to take Gayle, my girlfriend of a few months, with me. You know, I actually tried to convince myself I loved her. But deep down I knew it was just to make my pack believe it. It was a disaster.”

“What happened?” Camber asked.

“She was rude to my family. My brother and ma came to me, so angry, she’d insulted his wife, the Mater. I knew they were right, but my pride was hurt, and I denied it. Took Gayle’s side over my own family. The worst mistake of my life. We packed our bags and left. I was estranged from my pack then.”

“Did you stay with her after that?”

Brogan laughed. “No. Within a few weeks of being back in Paris, I went around to her flat to talk about our relationship. I found her in bed with one of my vampire friends, Byron.”

“The vampires that only take blood by consent?”

“Yeah. What hurt wasn’t that it was over with Gayle—I knew it wasn’t love and thought we should probably end it. But with my friend? That’s what hurt. I left and didn’t speak to Byron until years later, we she asked me for help in their quest to stop Balor, the guy that threw me here.”

Camber smiled. “To me.”

Brogan smiled right back. Her wolf senses were going crazy right now, and her stomach was tumbling around.

I want this woman so badly.

Just then, their waitress came around to take their plates. “How was your food?”

“Beautiful, thank you,” Camber said.

“Yeah, it was great. Thanks.”

“Wonderful, I’ll be back around with the dessert menu shortly.”

The waitress’s interruption broke the feeling that they were all alone.

“I think that’s enough talking about feelings for the next five years,” Brogan said.

Camber laughed. “Thank you for talking to me. It means a lot that you trust me enough to talk to me.”

Brogan took her hand again. “Of course I trust you. You are the only one I’ve felt safe to tell this story to.”

There was a silence, and it hung heavy with feelings and their need for each other. Camber didn’t know what to say, so she was happy when Brogan said, “Do you want to skip dessert and go to the gambling hall? Ziggy gave us chips, so we can lose all of it and not be worried about it.”

“Sounds perfect,” Camber said.

Margot and Jhosa were sitting on the floor of their ship while Thane kept an eye on the controls.

Jhosa had put the ship on autopilot, so there wasn’t much for Thane to do, except watch out for anomalies.

Morrigan sat on the chair next to Margot and Jhosa. “Are all your weapons ready?” Morrigan asked.

“Aye,” Margot said, “we’ve got a rucksack with guns, one a rapid pulse gun, and some handheld bombs. Do you want anything, Morrigan?”

“Just a handgun. I think my powers will be most helpful when trying to outmanoeuvre the enemy—posing as a Drazani guard or Cardo and sending them the wrong way, or posing as Kartog.”

They’d been given information by Ziggy that Kartog, the Goddess Ninti’s escheal, was on the moon.