Page 53 of Her Purr-fect Christmas Mate

“I intend to gift her the title as my mating gift. Land, building, and all.” He held out the thick envelope to her. “It’s yours. I hope you’ll do something wonderful with it.”

She took the envelope, feeling numb. “It’s mine?”

“Yes.”

“But I didn’t ask you for it.”

“Did you really think you needed to?” His mind touched hers. *I know you, Peony. I’ve seen you fly to the defense of your colleagues, your neighbors, and even me. But never yourself. That’s my job. To defend you, even when you don’t know you need it.*

Her chin wobbled. The Hypatia. Hers. It didn’t seem real. A whole building? What was she going to do with a whole building?

“Mordecai—”

Oh shit.

*Does that include defending me from your grandmother, too?*

He smiled, slow and wicked and insufferably, wonderfully hers, and then turned to his grandmother.

Mrs. Leith’s eyes were deep pits leading to the void at the end of the universe. “Mordecai? What is this? Some sort of joke?” She turned her death’s-head stare on him. “Tell me this is a… no, not a joke. Of course not. She’s family, now, isn’t she? She’ll do the right thing. Mordecai, tell her. Make her understand.”

“Nobody’s going to make me understand anything!” The words snapped out of her.

So many things had changed in the last few days. She’d lostso much.So many dreams she’d kept squirreled away even from herself. Dreams about who her mate would be. Whohertrue self would be.

And she’d gained so much more.

“I’m not going to destroy the Hypatia. I’m going to restore it. All of it. The mezzanine over the bookstore. The weird old elevator. The lights! I’ve seen photos—I don’t even know how they managed to hang a chandelier there, but I’m going to find out. And the rest of the building. Everything that’s been ripped out or painted over or allowed to fall to pieces, I’m going tofix.” She was vaguely aware that Mordecai hadn’t exactly given her a budget for her renovations, and what she was describing might explode even the most generous budget, but that was a worry for later. Probably after his grandmother had bitten her head off. “All of it. The old apartments, the gymnasium, that ridiculous pool.”

“The Riviera?” There was a strange note in his grandmother’s voice.

“Everything.” Peony stuck her chin out, then glanced up at Mordecai. His eyes were shining. “I want you to have a place to shift in the city and pretend you’re under the stars. I want to be there with you. It’ll beourplace.”

“The Riviera… the stained-glass stars…” Mrs. Leith’s voice wavered.

For a moment, Peony wondered if she would break. Or bend, like her grandson had, finding something inside him that wasn’t this horrific need for revenge.

“No,” Mrs. Leith snarled. “It’s too late for that! I’ll die before I set foot in that place again! They humiliated me—it should be destroyed!”

“Let’s go.” Mordecai put his hand on her arm. *We’ve said our bit. She’s said hers. It will only get worse from here. Trust me.*

“If you leave now, you’d better never come back!” Mrs. Leith’s voice echoed after them.

Outside, he took a deep breath, as though he hadn’t breathed the whole time they’d been inside. He tipped his head back and stared up at the night sky, thick with clouds.

Somewhere nearby, lights twinkled in a window. A Christmas carol floated on the chill night air.

“That’s over,” he said. “Thank God.”

“Are you all right?”

He closed his eyes, a deep furrow forming between his eyebrows. “I am better than I ever have been after spending time with my grandmother,” he said at last. “I wish…”

Peony waited.

He dropped his chin into his collar and grimaced. “I’ve given up wishing.”

“And if you hadn’t?”

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