Page 12 of The Safest Place She Knows

“So, it takescontact with all three of us to heal you.” Brexel nodded. “Good toknow.”

She looked athim and was obviously upset. “Great. Now what? Can I get anothershirt and take a shower, please, boss?”

Brexel listenedto the soft, breathy tone and felt the hard burn of arousal start.Her lashes were lowered, and she was looking at him shyly. Hundredsof images of her in his home with the boys and without flooded hismind.

Iris’s eyeswidened, and she stared at him, looking between his face and theirjoined hands. She muttered, “I had no idea my tops showed thatmuch.”

He caught hermeaning and summoned one of his shirts from the other room. Helifted his hand and caught it, making Juno grunt in surprise. “Hereyou go. We will leave you to your privacy.”

Oren snorted.“We will?”

Ymer pattedBrexel’s shoulder and nodded. “We will. She isn’t going anywhere,and Brexel and I have a link to her, so we can find her if shemakes a run for it.”

Iris took theshirt Brexel held out with her free hand. “Thanks. Wait. Veeneck?”

Brexel smiledand got to his feet. “Consider it your thanks for the blood you gotall over the house.”

She looked athim, and her eyes glittered. “Yeah, thanks for that. Now, get out,or I will sic the dogs on you.”

He smiled andnodded. “Gentlemen, we are going to need to have a discussion onceshe’s with us. This is unprecedented.” He looked at the dog on thebed. “Juno, make sure she washes behind her ears.”

Juno woofed theaffirmative.

As Brexelescorted his friends out, he heard Iris speaking to the dog.“Traitor. Stop wagging. I know you are happy I am here. Now, let’swash the blood off. Jupiter, no peeking.”

Brexel grinned.It was nice having her home.

ChapterThree

Iris felt remarkablygood, considering how she had felt an hour earlier. She waiteduntil she heard footfalls on the steps before she went to thebathroom and changed the shower head to a gentle rain.

The shirt wasdropped to the floor. Towels arranged for her and she stepped underthe soft spray. The water ran pink for quite a while, but thetemperature remained warm. She really appreciated the house and itspredictable plumbing. It had come in handy dealing with makingschool projects with the boys. So much glitter. She grinned intothe spray and gently moved her fingers along the injury site. A fewclumps of blood and some grass fell out of her hair.

Her father. Shedidn’t have a bio father. She had a dad. He was the guy who marriedher mom when she was little There had never been any doubt thatthey weren’t related. His family came from the islands, and he hadfallen for a librarian in a city where winter chilled the bones.Her mom had clung and cuddled with him every chance she got, andthe cynical part of Iris thought it might have been for heat in thecold winters. His family had adopted Iris, and her name had changedfrom Emery to Killington.

It was almosttime for a trip to the island. Her siblings and cousins wereastonished when she got even whiter, and now, she was going to lookbleached. The purple in her hair washed out with the shampoo thatwasn’t designed to maintain coloured hair. She put in theconditioner and looked at the nearly clear stuff as she slicked iton. It smelled like nothing. She checked the bottle, and it wassome kind of weird scent that catered to alphas.

She squintedand snorted when she saw the mention of pheromones. Well, it mightbuy her some time. Male pheromones on a female person made alphastilt their heads.

She watched thepurple continue to course down the drain and sighed. Her haircouldn’t hold colour anymore. Everything she put on was a one-daytransformation.

Iris finishedscrubbing her knees and palms and then worked under her nails. Dirtstuck in weird places, but all the bruises were gone.

Her mother hadwarned her this day might come. Not the trio of dark elves, but herbio father showing up. Her mother didn’t have his name, but she didknow that he was one of the Elite and a bit older than most of theones that appeared on the news.

Her mom hadbeen at a research symposium on population evolution and ratioalterations, and that is where she met the Elite. Consent was upfor debate. Her mom said it was a nice evening, and the enormousnecklace he left her as payment confirmed that it was a one-timething. He’d paid to play.

Iris sighed andtowelled her hair dry. Only the lightest lavender was stillclinging to her strands. Another use of that shampoo and she wouldbe back to snow white.

“Well, Juno?What do you think?” Iris looked at the enormous dog.

Juno huffed andsmiled.

Iris pulled theclean shirt on and sighed at how deep the neckline went. It was assubtle as a shout. The best part was that it hung to her knees.

Jupiter waswaiting outside the bathroom, and Iris started braiding her wethair into a thick column that touched the base of her spine. Shewhipped a few loose strands around the base to hold the braid andwalked back into the kitchen.

A low whistlemade her turn her head. They were in the dining room, and there wasan empty chair next to Ymer, directly across from Brexel.

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