Page 79 of Claiming the Dhampir

“Possibly. I hadn’t considered that.” Kenrid glanced at me, and I could almost see him thinking. “Would you be willing to help with that? The only governance the fae know and understand is a monarchy. We’ve all studied the democratic system, but it might carry more weight to hear it from someone who was raised here, rather than reading it from a book.”

I thought about Kenrid’s request for a moment, as well as Nathan’s. It’d be really nice to have something to do with my time, especially if I got to spend it with my favorite fae.

“I don’t mind at all,” I said. “It would be a good opportunity for us to find out if Nathan’s right about who’s left behind. If the dissenters did leave, it’ll make everything easier for the fae who really want change.”

Kenrid smiled at me, his relief obvious.

“I’m not about to let you go by yourself,” I teased. “You’re too irresistible.”

Kenrid’s face flushed, and Elliott laughed from the kitchen. The smell of cooking bacon made my mouth water. The sight of Elliott at the stove cooking—for me—warmed my heart.

“You want eggs?” Elliott caught me staring at him and winked.

“Sure. I don’t care how you cook them,” I replied with a grin. “Whatever everyone else wants.”

“Scrambled it is, then.” Elliott waved his spatula in our general direction and turned back to the stove.

“Because he always breaks the yolks when he tries to do over-easy,” Kenrid said.

Damon and Nathan both chuckled. I smiled, but I wasn’t about to tease Elliott about it. I couldn’t make fried eggs, either.

“I wanted to talk to all of you about an official job for Lorna.” Nathan made his way to the table and sat down next to Damon. He took a sip from his glass and scowled.

“You didn’t let it expire, did you?” Kenrid asked, cutting his eyes at Nathan’s breakfast.

“No.” Nathan stared at the glass like it personally insulted him. “It just tastes different.” He closed his eyes and shook his head, then looked up at me. “What do you like to do? Professionally, I mean. We have several businesses that always have job openings.”

I frowned and glanced around the table at my guys. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I’d had the same job for the last decade, but I couldn’t go back to Maxwell Securities. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back.

“Could she help the AAAE team get organized?” Kenrid asked. “They’re really good with the public facing side, but their organizational skills are lacking.”

“Good idea.” Nathan raised his cup to his mouth and wrinkled his nose. His reluctance was starting to worry me.

“I’d love to have her join my crew to get our scheduling organized,” Elliott said, drawing my attention from Nathan. “None of my folks know how to use a damn calendar. And they certainly can’t coordinate security events and people.”

My mouth fell open. I knew they did stuff to make money. We all did. But I hadn’t even thought about the career options available to me.

“I can take you on a tour, if that helps,” Nathan offered. “Now that I’m reasonably sure the fae queens will leave us alone for the time being, we should have time to get you settled into a somewhat normal routine.”

He lifted the glass to his lips and stopped. The look of disgust on his face was cute, like a child who didn’t want to eat their broccoli. The reality was concerning, though.

“What’s wrong?” I needed to know, even though I was pretty sure it was my fault. It had something to do with my blood.

Nathan sighed and met my gaze. “You are too delectable. Everything tastes like cardboard compared to you.”

“Oh.”

I wasn’t sure what else to say. Apologizing for being tasty seemed stupid. Nathan and Damon were both a tasty treat for me.

“I can’t ask you to be my blood donor,” Nathan continued before I could make the offer. “I hate being a parasite. I don’t want to make you feel like I’m only using you for your blood. You mean so much more to me than that.”

I smiled, remembering a similar conversation I’d had with Damon. My demon cleared his throat and both Nathan and I looked his way. Damon smirked at me but didn’t say anything.

“What’s so funny?” Nathan’s frown turned into a growl.

“Damon’s my tasty treat,” I replied, grinning at my demon before giving Nathan my full attention. “He convinced me that there was nothing wrong with what I am, and that he thoroughly enjoyed his part in taking care of me. How could I not offer the same to you?”

Nathan looked from me to Damon and back again. I could see when he put two and two together. I was no different from a vampire. Mir needed blood to stay healthy. Damon was happy to do that for us.

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