“Darla is not my mate, Nara. I will not bind with her just to make you happy.”
“You have to have a mate.”
I have a mate, Ahm wanted to growl at the woman but he knew he couldn’t. Not only did he have to be careful of the whole shifter thing around his cousin, he didn’t dare mention that his mate was a man.
Nara would lose her mind.
Ahm wouldn’t put it past her to go after Bryce. He might not be able to claim his mate, but Ahm would protect him with his last breath. “I will find my mate when fate decides I need one. Not before then. And I will not accept anyone else.”
Nara glared for several tense moments then dropped her eyes. “I just want you to be happy, cousin.”
Bullshit!
Ahm was immune to the simpering look his cousin gave him. He knew Nara too well. She was up to something. He didn’t know what it was or how much trouble it was going to cause, but he knew it was going to give him a migraine. It always did. The woman was power hungry. Ahm had no doubt that if she could best him, she would off his ass in a heartbeat.
“I’m perfectly happy, Nara.”
“You’re not though, Ahm. You spend way too much time working, and you never have time for anything else.” The speculative glint was back in Nara’s eyes and it made Ahm very wary. “Maybe you need to take a few days off.”
Ahm’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you want me to take a few days off, Nara?” There could only be one reason Nara wanted him out of the way. “Who’s coming to visit?”
“What makes you think that someone is coming to visit?”
“Because you want me out of the way too badly.”
Nara dramatically rolled her eyes. It was actually a pretty good eye roll. Ahm was impressed, just not enough to let the woman off the hook. He knew she was up to something because she was breathing.
Ahm stood to his feet and stretched himself up to his full height. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned over them. “Nara, I asked you a question. I expect an answer.”
Nara glanced away. That was Ahm’s first clue that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say. Nara could never look him directly in the face when she lied to him.
“I just invited a few friends to come stay the weekend. I can do that, can’t I?”
Ahm sighed and tried to remember that Nara hadn’t done anything to cause him to kill her…yet. Her mother had been sisters with his mother. And while their mothers had been very close, Ahm and Nara were not. He couldn’t stand the conniving little bitch.
“Which friends, Nara?” Ahm was pretty sure he had an idea when Nara refused to look at him. He sighed and leaned back, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “I did not invite Darla or her father here, Nara. You did, so you will entertain them.”
“But—”
“And if you give them one inkling that I invited them or want them here, I will kick you out on your ass.”
Nara’s head swung around so fast that Ahm thought he might have heard something pop in her neck. “You can’t do that!”
“Oh yes, I can. This is my home, not yours. You live here at my grace. Piss me off and I’ll send you back home so fast your head will spin.”
Nara’s eyes narrowed to tiny little slits of anger. It was not a good look on the woman. “I hate you.”
“Duly noted. Now, shut the door on your way out.”
As much as he wanted her gone, Ahm still winced when Nara stormed out and slammed the door behind her. He had no doubt that he would be getting a phone call from his uncle, Nara’s father. The man refused to see his daughter as anything other than his little princess. Ahm just wished the man would take the little princess back to his castle to live.
He hated having Nara here. He only did it as a favor for his uncle. Nara was a handful and Blythe had no clue what to do with her—except send her to Ahm.
Ahm sat back down at his desk and picked up the papers he had been going over. If he didn’t find a way to bring all of the Shadow elves under control, they were going to die out. They refused to see that they needed new blood in their ranks.
The bloodline of the Shadow elves was becoming too inbred. If it didn’t stop soon, they would start having babies with two heads. Already, their infant mortality rate was so high that women hesitated to get pregnant.
Ahm racked his brain and tried to come up with a solution to his dying race but it eluded him. If he could get his people to agree to accept other species into their ranks, the bloodline would be stronger and he knew it. He just didn’t see that happening.
And he didn’t know what to do.
But he knew someone who might.
With grim determination, Ahm gathered up his papers and put them inside his desk drawer. He didn’t know why he didn’t think of this sooner. If anyone knew how to continue a bloodline, it was Prince Christian LeAnthony Espelimbergo.