Page 12 of Defiant Princess

Pressing my lips together for a beat, I nod. “Thank you. But honestly, it will probably take some time. I don’t open up very well. It gives me hives. And makes me even crankier than usual.”

Layla smiles. “You don’t seem cranky to me, but I hear you. It gave me hives at first, too. But now I can say, I was kept as a slave pet by a pathetic little rich boy who liked ‘exotic companions’ without feeling weird about it.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, meaning it. “How long?”

“Six months. Then his latest ‘companion’ shredded him in his sleep, and we all escaped. She was a cougar.” She rolls her eyes. “He thought that was funny. That she was both a sexy older woman and a literal cougar shifter.” She pops another bite of croissant between her lips. “He was joking about it with his drinking buddies a few hours before she ripped his intestines out.”

“Good for her. And you,” I say. “So, what’s Diana’s story? If you don’t think she’d mind you sharing. How did she stop being a wolf and start being an owl?”

“A curse of some kind.” Layla’s dark eyes glitter as she adds, “Diana’s pretty sure it was a sex curse. She banged a witch’s favorite familiar, some fine ass cat shifter who was fighting for the resistance, and then…poof. She’s white and feathery instead of furry.”

“Wow.” I’m not one who usually gets excited about gossip, but that’s some juicy stuff. “What happened to the guy?”

“No one knows,” Layla says. “Mr. Sexy Cat dropped off the face of the earth. Like he never even existed.”

My lips twist. “Well, if he pissed off a witch powerful enough to change a woman into an owl with a long-distance sex curse…”

“Yeah, probably dead,” Layla says. “That’s what I thought, too. But I didn’t say anything to Diana. I didn’t want to add any guilt to her plate over something that’s obviously not her fault.”

“No,” I agree. “Especially since no one knows for sure.”

“Totally. But anyway, her family’s apparently tried everything to change her back—counter curses, hypnosis, gray magic—but nothing’s worked.” Layla shrugs. “So, she decided to come here. It’s the only place a girl trapped in an owl’s body can get a higher education, and she figured it was time to stop putting her life on hold, waiting for a cure that might never come.”

“Makes sense,” I say, my head spinning a little from the sudden influx of information. But my thoughts keep circling back around to the Parallel, this mysterious alternate dimension I had no idea existed until Natalie brought it up a couple days ago. “So, did everyone know about the Parallel? Like…before the portals between the worlds collapsed?”

Layla cocks her head, considering that a moment as she lifts the pineapple, shifting just her claws long enough to slice it into four juicy wheels. “I don’t know. I mean, I knew about it because my gram used to work in Parallel Atlanta when I was a kid. But I guess some people might not have known. My other shifter friends didn’t talk about it much.” She grunts as if she’s made a sudden discovery. “Could be like having relatives in prison.”

My lips twitch. “Sorry?”

“Like, when you grow up having relatives in prison, you just assumeeveryonehas relatives in prison. And that like, everyone is a little bit afraid thattheymight end up in prison one day like Aunty K.K. and cousin Shelly.” She wipes her now fully human hand on a cloth napkin from her bag. “Then you grow up, get to know different kinds of folks, and realize most people don’t have that experience. It’s just you and your poor ass family.” She arches a meaningful brow. “Like you, princess. You don’t have any relatives in prison, do you?”

“Why call me princess?” I ask, my stomach dropping.

How could she know? How could my cover have been blown already? I haven’t said anything. I’ve been careful.

“Sorry,” she says, her brow furrowing. “It wasn’t an insult or anything. I just meant that you’re really beautiful and classy looking. You look like you should be waving at someone from a beauty queen float, not visiting your family behind bars.”

“Well, looks can be deceiving,” I say, relief and suspicion swirling in my blood, making my hands shake as I claim a pineapple wheel.

Is she telling the truth? Or is she toying with me?

My gut says Layla isn’t a threat, but the suspicious voice in my head is shouting that we can’t trust anyone. My own parents both betrayed me. And if you can’t trust the people who brought you in to the world, you can’t trust anyone.

Ican’t trust anyone.

“I didn’t know about the Parallel,” I say, choosing my words even more carefully, being sure to conceal anything that might give my real backstory away. “But I only had shifter family for a short time in Alaska. When I was really young. And they were…controlling.”

“A lot of families are.” Her nose wrinkles. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. In my head, princess was a compliment. I spent a lot of time as a kid wishing I looked like a princess or a beauty queen instead of cute for a poor kid.”

“You’re beautiful,” I say, because she is. “But I get it. I’m pretty sure this sweater cost a small fortune. But it’s a hand-me-down from Natalie, not mine. I think she feels sorry for me.”

Her expression warms. “Natalie is a bleeding heart, that’s for sure. But she’s a good one. She made me want to come here, anyway. Not twelve hours after I called Lost Moon, she was in San Antonio, helping me get an apartment for a few months until it was time to fly up for orientation. She paid the deposit out of her own pocket, since I didn’t have jack shit at that point except the diamond collar Dick Head bought for me to wear at parties.” Her voice cools as she adds, “I hocked it before I flew up here to pay for my airfare and put the rest of the money in savings. When I get out, I should have enough left over to pay for a sweet little condo on the beach and start my new life in style. I’m going to be a pharmacist. Or one of those chemists who works on experiments to make new drugs. Humans will always get sick, you know. Those are the kind of careers that’ll have staying power. What about you?”

“Military major,” I say, adding, “I think.”

Her brows lift. “Military. Okay. Wasn’t expecting that, but you go, lady, embrace that inner badass.”

“Or not,” I say, placing my now empty rind on top of hers in the middle of the blanket. “I’ll get serious about picking a major when I actually make it through the trials. Even Natalie admitted my odds aren’t great, with never having shifted before and being about twenty pounds under my fighting weight.”

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