“Yes, she’s strong,” Dante said. “She didn’t let it kill her heart. That’s why I cringe at the thought that she needs to be fixed. She could teach the people of this plane a thing or two.”
Susan nodded. “I understand. Just let me work with her. You’ll see. She’ll settle in. She’ll learn our ways.”
Dante had to hope so. “Just make sure the tutor is a kind woman.”
“I actually was thinking about a man,” Susan began.
“No.” He wasn’t leaving his lovely, strong, interesting consort alone with some man.
Susan smiled as though she’d been testing him and he’d passed. “Fine. I’ll find a very nice woman to teach our Kaja. Colin can help, too. He likes her. And mother wants to throw a big party for her next month. She’s inviting everyone, including the press. We’ll polish her up, show her off, and then she can go back to being herself.” Susan leaned over and hugged him. “But you should think about slowing down and really thinking about what you want. You know damn well Beck and Ci won’t run. I’ll do anything I can to help, but I’m strictly financial, brother. You could help them in other ways. Mom and Dad will try to tell you to be safe, but you’ve never been safe. It’s who you are. It’s why I love you.”
He was shocked at the tears in his sister’s eyes when she kissed his cheek and stood to go.
“And I need those reports tonight, Dante.”
The doors closed behind her, and Dante knew he had a lot to think about.
Chapter Sixteen
Kaja stared at the machine in front of her. Like everything else on this plane, she found it confusing and difficult.
“What would you like to drink, mistress?”
Though the machine had no face, it still spoke. It still asked her questions she wasn’t sure of how to answer. Everyone did that here. Everyone had questions. She could still feel the press of the people called reporters from earlier in the day. She’d been out with her mother-in-law shopping, and the reporters had found their car. When she and Alana had gotten out, there had been a rush to surround them. Kaja had changed out of sheer fear.
She could still hear the shocked shouts and see the flashes as the reporters took pictures and video.
Dante’s mother had been horrified. Oh, she’d pretended to be angry with the reporters, but Kaja had heard her calling someone known as a lawyer.
Kaja had caused this family an enormous amount of trouble. It was time to seriously consider moving on.
“Mistress? Have you changed your mind?”
No. She was still thirsty. She simply didn’t know what she wanted. It was very much how the last few weeks had gone. She was stuck in limbo, trapped between loving Dante and facing the knowledge that she did not fit in to his world.
“Tea.” Alana often had tea. Kaja had watched Dante’s mother speak to the machine.
There was a short hiss, and the machine went into motion. Kaja stared at it, but she didn’t really see it. She saw Dante in his perfect suit as he came home from work each night. He would come in and try to talk to her, but she didn’t understand half of what he said. He asked about her tutors and her classes and seemed very pleased that she was rapidly learning what he called academics. But the rest seemed to elude her.
Now, she’d utterly humiliated her new family. She’d heard the news of her failure reported on the DLs that everyone here seemed to watch. She was being called the Dellacourt Beast.
And Dante was further away than ever. He still made love to her, but he was always working. He didn’t have time for her anymore. Now that they were back in his home, he seemed to understand that he’d made a mistake.
She wanted to talk to Meg.
The machine finished. There was a lovely teacup with a saucer and steaming liquid sitting in the center of the machine. “Does my mistress wish for cream and sugar?”
“Yes.” She’d never had cream and sugar, but it seemed like something interesting to try.
“And where should I put it? Directly on your thighs and buttocks?” The machine’s voice became distinctly nasty.
“No.” Kaja took a step back and heard a chuckle.
Dante stood in the doorway, his jacket gone. He still wore his tie, but his hair was utterly perfect. He was cool and collected, and the very image of the modern vampire. He was a man who should be married to the perfect consort, not one the press reviled.
“Mom put the beverage dispenser on ‘weight management’ mode. It gets bitchy. You have to learn how to talk to it. You’re the boss, sweetheart.” He got down on the machine’s level. “Look here, you piece-of-shit machine. She said she wanted cream and sugar, and if you don’t give it to her, I will pull your plug, shove you into the recycling bin, and you’ll come back a toaster. Do you want that?”
Immediately a stream of white came from the machine’s dispenser followed by a cube of sugar. “I hope you enjoy your beverage. Please let me know if I can help you further.”
Dante reached in and grabbed the delicate cup and saucer. He indicated that Kaja should sit at the table and placed it in front of her. He turned back. “Give me three fingers of Scotch. Single malt. Fifteen years.”
The machine seemed to race to do his bidding. In no time at all, he was picking up the glass and sighing as he sipped the Scotch. He’d been drinking a lot of Scotch lately. Still, he turned and sat down at the table in front of her. “I heard you had a rough day.”
The tea smelled lovely, but she suddenly knew her stomach wouldn’t accept it. She pushed it away. “I made a mistake.”
She waited for him to berate her. She would take it. She knew she shouldn’t have allowed her four-legged form to be seen.
Dante’s lips quirked up. “Not a mistake, Kaja baby. You were beautiful. I told you, I think you’re gorgeous any way you are.”
The doors to the small kitchen opened, and Alana Dellacourt walked in. Her face was lined with worry, but when she realized she wasn’t alone, she seemed to force a smile on her lips. “Oh, hello, Dante, Kaja.”
Kaja wanted to hide. She’d put Dante’s mother in a terrible position. She’d embarrassed the poor woman. She started to get up, to excuse herself like the etiquette tutor had taught her, but Dante’s hand came out and covered her own. He grinned up at his mother.
“I saw the DL story about your brush with the paparazzi today. Nice use of four-letter words, Mom.”
Alana actually laughed. “I also used my four-inch Louboutin stilettos on one of those jerks. He tried to touch Kaja’s fur.”
Dante’s fangs popped out. “Who?”
His mother waved him off. “I’m not telling you because I don’t want to bail you out of jail. I took care of it, son. He won’t be walking for a bit. Calm down. It was only natural. No one has ever seen a shanimal before.”
Dante’s hand slapped at the table. “Motherfuckers! I told Meg. I came up with that. I totally came up with that.”
Alana shrugged and ordered a wine from the beverage dispenser. She smacked it when it asked if she really wanted the calories. “Well, CVN news is claiming to have named the new species. And more.”
Dante’s eyes lit up. “Was bestiality mentioned?”
His mother sighed, but ruffled the top of his head as though she’d known he would ask. “Yes. You’re being called a pervert of the first order.”
“Nice.”
Now his mother slapped his perfectly coifed head. “It isn’t nice for Kaja.”
Kaja watched their byplay with growing curiosity.
Dante shrugged. “It will blow over. Something new will happen, and the fact that Kaja’s also a wolf will totally blow over. Maybe I should give them a photo op of me and Kaj playing with a Frisbee in a park.”