Page 2 of Mated to the Enemy
Zoe nodded. “Okay, that’s good. So, you can make that last for a while?”
“Yes. Between what I already had saved away and the package, I’ll land on my feet.” Jessica stated that last part emphatically. The last thing she wanted was more assistance from her sister and her husband. The pair had already insisted on paying off the house she’d bought and sending her on a fancy vacation, but Jessica didn’t like taking help from others. She made her own way in the world.
“I know you hate the idea of me helping you out, big sis, but if it everdoesget to that point, promise me you’ll come to me, okay? I won’t shove it down your throat if you promise me you won’t let it get too bad, okay?” Zoe gave her that weird combination of a smile and a glare that only a sister could do.
“Okay, I promise.” She had no intention of taking more money from them, but Jessica wasn’t an idiot either. If life fucked her over again, on top of the factory she’d worked at for 12 years closing, she would come to her sister and Lorran before living on the streets. Still, she wasn’t going to let that happen. There were jobs to be had still, she just had to find them. She quietly didn’t tell Zoe that the house was already on the market, in case she had to move.
“Now, onto happier subjects!” Zoe said, biting her lip to hold down a smile.
“Like what? Are you pregnant?” she teased.
Zoe gave her a full-on glare this time. “You know Lorran doesn’t want any children. Play nice.”
“Sorry,” she said with a chuckle. “What’s the happier news?”
“What? Oh, I don’t know. I just wanted to change the subject,” Zoe said, and the sisters shared a laugh.
“That’s going to require more wine,” Jessica told her, holding up the empty wine bottle. “I’ll grab it for us. Then we’ll come up with something good, I’m sure.”
Pushing herself up out of the plush couch, she set her empty glass down and sauntered out of the sitting room. Lorran was some sort of bigwig with House Canis, a werewolf lord of some sort—Jessica didn’t care enough to pay more attention than that—and his quarters within Moonshadow Manor reflected it.
She walked along the hallway toward the wine room—one of the few places she’d memorized the route to and from—idly looking at the pictures on the wall as she went. The door slid open quietly at her touch and she stepped into the climate-controlled room, glad she’d brought the empty bottle with her. There was a dizzying selection available.
“This one will do,” she softly proclaimed to the empty room after a search, finding something that looked vaguely familiar. They were all in languages she didn’t read, but the logo was the same, so that was good enough for her.
Making her way back to the sitting room, she slowed as she heard raised voices from up ahead. After a moment of searching, she identified them as coming from behind the double sliding doors that led to Lorran’s study. Curious as to what was going on, she crept forward as silently as possible, until she could just barely make out the words being said.
“We can’t wait much longer,”one of the voices was saying.“They’re gaining more support with every passing day. Not enough to challenge us seriously yet, but enough that we should be taking them seriously.”
“We are.”
Jessica bit her lip. That was Lorran’s voice, and he continued speaking.
“Ever since Laurent was killed and his mate fled, things feel like they’ve been in disarray. We need to get things sorted out so we can move against these upstarts.”
She’d never heard Zoe’s mate talk like that. So angry and full of hatred. What other secrets was he hiding from his mate, she wondered? Who were the upstarts, and what were they trying to do? This probably wasn’t a conversation she was meant to overhear, but curiosity was a powerful motivator.
“Their desires are pathetic,”a third voice said, speaking with more calm.“We cannot let them sway us from our path. Ursa must die, or at minimum be brought to heel! I will not tolerate their continued insolence. Our first plan was more successful than we could have ever hoped, but that bitch Queen of theirs is proving more resourceful than anticipated.”
Jessica had no idea what they were talking about, though she knew that the “Ursa” they were referring to could only mean House Ursa, the bear shifter line of shapeshifters. Although she’d been spying on her sister when Lorran had first revealed the true nature of his beast to Zoe, Jessica hadn’t bothered to learn much more about it. Just knowing that such creatures existed was enough for her.
“I want your ideas.” It was the same voice speaking, the third person. It was tantalizingly familiar, but distance and the doors were muffling it enough that she couldn’t figure out who.
“They need to be eliminated,”the first voice said again.“The sooner the better. Canis and Ursa will never be friends, no matter the wishes of these young bloods. If they can’t accept that, then they will be put down like any disobedient dog.”
“Agreed,”Loran said, chiming in.“The softness of these young whelps is abhorrent. We need not be friends with everyone. We are Canis. It is our right to rule!”
Jessica was horrified. They were talking about killing members of their own House!
“Murderers,” she gasped, taking a quiet step backward.
But she’d forgotten about the wine bottle in her hand, and it clunked off the wall as she moved.
A split second later, the double doors flew open and an evil man she’d never seen before loomed over her, lip curled back in a terrifying leer. Big black eyebrows knotted together, matching the thunderclouds brewing in the depths of his eyes.
“Well well,” he sneered. “What do we have here? A spy?”
