Page 76 of Owned By Two

As if he and I were equals.

“Let’s have a toast,” Lizzy said as a servant filled her wine glass and she raised it high. “To a happy and fulfilling future.”

“A happy and fulfilling future,” Uhti and I said in unison as we sipped from our glasses.

I looked over the rim of my glass just as he looked over the edge rim of his.

There was anger in them, I thought, and defiance.

He knew what it meant to get in the way of Joisa fated mates, and if he wanted to stir that gyarp nest up, then he had better be ready for the consequences.

25

UHTI

I checkedmyself in the full-length mirror and tugged at the sleeves of my suit.

I turned one way and then another to appraise myself in the mirror.

The suit was black, with a black silk shirt, cufflinks, and shoes and socks.

I was surprised to find Earthlings all over the world, from various cultures, actually celebrated deathdifferently.

Some wore bright and colorful clothing and celebrated the dead person’s life rather than focusing on their disappearance from the face of the planet — this wasmuchmore similar to the culture of the Elkik — but Lizzy was from another part of the world where they celebrated death very differently.

It was a dark and sad and somber mood and required the guests to wear black.

I had spent the past few days preparing what I would wear to James’s funeral, but plain and simple appeared to be the best way forward.

As Blor had no black clothing, I had lent him my spare suit — and it was fortunate we were of a similar shape and size.

I recalled dinner the night before and couldn’t help but shake my head of the negative thoughts and emotions that had streamed through my mind as if pumped in by some unseen force.

I could smell his stink on her already.

It had returned — and returned with a vengeance.

I could smell her on him too, the moment he entered the dining room.

With his cocky swagger and his pilka-eating grin, there could be no doubting what he and Lizzy had just gotten up to.

I felt sick to my stomach.

Worse than that.

I feltdisgusted.

I couldn’t shake the images of them together in her room, with her letting him do to her what she had allowed me to do in the jungle.

And worst still?

The thought that she cared for him more than me.

He had already gotten to enjoy hertwicewhile I’d had to make do with just one time.

The worst thing of all was the knowledge he would get to make love with her over and over again, and feel that same raging hunger I always felt every time I looked at her.

And I would have known all that even if Ihadn’tstopped by her room before the meal and heard them at it — with him pummeling her against the door… as if to rub my nose in it.

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