Page 17 of Merciless & Mated

I put the order in for her, and about ten minutes later it was delivered to our room.

There was something ridiculously endearing about watching her slather chunks of battered chicken in plum sauce while she sat completely naked, alternating mouthfuls with chicken and root beer. Her self-consciousness had disappeared, replaced by a relaxed comfort. Apparently sleep and satisfaction agreed with her.

“We have to go back tomorrow,” I told her.

She froze, a cluster of french fries paused midair. “Why?”

“Bianca is not a patient woman.”

Gianna rolled her eyes and bit into her fries. “Maybe she would learn a little patience if everyone stopped catering to her whims.”

“Do I need to remind you how to behave?”

“Tell me I’m wrong,” she challenged.

“I never said you were wrong, but Bianca did not keep her position because she allowed people to challenge her authority. Don’t make an enemy out of her.”

Gianna made a disgruntled sound and chugged down half of her root beer. “With the way you talk about her, it doesn’t seem like I’m gonna have a choice.”

“Maybe so. Let’s not make it worse, though.” My hope was that Bianca would very quickly forget Gianna existed. I felt a little bad for how isolating the compound would be for my mate. I would be with her when I could, but I was well aware I was probably not her preferred companion.

“Do I get to work for the Gallos or am I just going to be eye candy?”

I shrugged. Bianca had never specified one way or the other. I was only in charge of securing the alliance, not anything that came after that.

“Well, if she’s going to give you any say in that, I’d like something to do all day.”

“You’ll have plenty to do in a few months.”

She stared at me, confusion pinching her brows.

“I fucked you raw through a heat. I can only imagine something will come of that.”

Gianna’s cheeks paled and she picked up the metal bowl of sauce and whipped it at my head, sauce splattering on my cheek. “Absolutely fucking not. That is for fantasy only.”

Desire rippled through me. “So being bred is a fantasy?”

“Fuck you.”

“Are you just considering that it was possible now?” Her plate of french fries flew at me and I swatted it out of the air.

“Fuck. You. I was concerned with not dying and getting bonded to a fucking stranger. There’s only so much room in my head to worry about so many things at a time.”

“You throw one more thing at me and I’m going to ask them for a belt.”

Her cheeks somehow paled even further. “This isn’t fair.”

“I’m aware.” I rose off the bed and slipped into the bathroom to clean up the sauce coating me. “What’s wrong with having my children?”

“Marco,” she growled and shoved her hands into her hair. “That’s such an asshole cis man thing to say. It doesn’t mean a fucking thing for you because you don’t have to go through it. What if I don’t even want kids?”

“Do you?”

Gianna snatched up a pillow and screamed into it. “I haven’t had enough fucking sleep for all this goddamn bullshit.”

“That’s not a no.”

“Fuck you.” She pressed the pillow to her face again and seemed to be doing her best to ignore me as I cleared the dishes off the bed. When I yanked the pillow away from her, she pressed her head to my chest.

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