Page 72 of Dozer

Marco tossed something to Master, and he was to me in an instant, wiping my face with a baby wipe. “Marco’s having someone bring you some ginger ale, to help settle your stomach. I’m sorry, Daisy.”

“The wolf needs to eat,” Marco said. “Harmony, take him outside the room and follow Julian, who’ll make sure he’s wellfed in whatever form he chooses to eat, though I believe he wants to come back to human, so he can talk to Daisy.”

The wolf stood, and before Harmony could stand, Brain was standing before me again, naked. He grabbed his jeans and stepped into them while he talked. “I’m sorry you’re upset.” He pulled his shirt on and looked to Marco. “Can you clear the room, please? So it’s just me and Daisy?”

“I’m not leaving her when she’s sick,” Master said.

“Trust me?” Brain asked. “She isn’t just mad at you, she’s hurt. She’s a little mad at me, too, but not as much.”

“Brain is correct,” Marco said. He pointed to a door behind him. “Take her in there. This is Etta’s office, and her living space, so don’t go past the sofas, but it’s fine to use the seating area for the two of you to talk. If you need the bathroom, you’ll need to use the one down the hall though, and not Etta’s personal bathroom.”

Chapter 55

Daisy

Brain opened the door and motioned me through, and I walked in without turning to look at Master. I went because I didn’t want to be in the room with Master and Marco, and maybe a little because I trusted Brain. He’d always been kind to me when I’d known him as Thurston. Since then, too.

“Marco said you need to eat?”

“I do, but I’ll be fine for another twenty minutes without food. Most werewolves would not be, after twochangesback-to-back. Dozer is, but the point I’m trying to make is that if a shifter tells you they need to eat, do everything you can to help them find food. Especially the newer wolves, like Harmony. It isn’t that she’ll lose control and eat you, it’s just that she’s so uncomfortable, so unused to the feeling, and I hate for her to have to…” He sighed. “But this is about you, tonight. I’m sorry you’re so upset.”

“It’s like he lied to me, isn’t it? Not telling me?”

“He couldn’t legally tell you until he had some assurances you were going to be around forever, and he wasn’t so sure of that until you married him. You might want to be mad at him for not telling you before, but he couldn’t. There’s this organization in charge of making sure humans don’t find out The Secret, other than the ones mated to a supernatural, and the rules are strict.”

He touched my hand and his palm seemed too warm. I’d thought Master was warmer than he should be, too. Was that a werewolf thing?

“The penalties for breaking the rules are harsh,” Brain told me. “Death if they have no use for you, and permanent slavery for a human if they do. You’d never be free again, and they’d likely turn you into a sex slave, possibly a whore, if your training didn’t work out with the slave trainers. For your safety and his, Dozer had to wait until a list of things were true before he could tell you.”

“Can Marco really take my memories?” I’dlikedMarco, but now I was terrified of him.

“Yes. Weallfeel a healthy respect for Marco. He’s more powerful than you can imagine, but mostly he just wants his territory to run smoothly, and he’s a benevolent dictator when things are running without drama and strife. At least, that’s my view of him. He’s a little harsher than the last Master Vampire we had in this territory, but I like him more, despite that.”

“I don’t want him to make me forget anything. It’s wrong, that he can fuck with my mind.”

“Survival of the fittest.” Brain said, and he looked grim. “Most of our laws in the supernatural world revolve around that tenet. If you’re strong enough mentally to keep him out, great. If you’re not? He has the right to go into your head and do whatever he wants. As I said, he’s been mostly fair, as far as I can tell, but he doesn’t have to be.”

“How would I go about keeping him out?”

“I doubt there are any humans who can, so it’s best you try to get along with him.” He shrugged. “I once heard him tell one of the ol’ladies that humans are the foundation of society, and he apologized on behalf of any supernaturals who’d made her feelless thanfor being human. I can’t tell you which ol’lady, because the rules say I can only tell you my secrets, but I’ll ask her to talkto you about it. She’ll be more than happy to share her humanity with you.”

“Marco told me Matty was human.”

“My guess is he telepathed Matty and asked him if he could, before he told you, but Marco can probably share people’s humanity without worry. The rest of us don’t because if we start answering who’s human then when we refuse to answer the question, we answer it with our silence.”

Telepathy was real?Fuck.

“Do you still love Dozer? Do you want to go home with him tonight?”

“Do you think he bought me a puppy today so I’d want to go home with him?”

“The puppy has been planned for months.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He sighed. “He’d taken time off next week, so you’d have three days home with the little guy before either of you went back to work. He decided you needed to know this sooner rather than later, and he wanted to spend the day with you, before he told you. The puppy gave the two of you something to do together. Something fun.”

“Is there any chance you can send Dozer in, so he and I have a few minutes alone?”

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