here, by the way? Don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad to see you after all these months. But you didn’t have to come all the way here. I will keep my word and fly out in January. I was just hoping to settle things with J.D. and have her come to London to meet you.”
“Ah, yes!” Her face lit up and her hands clapped together. “I was so desperate to see you, and then an invitation arrived, and I knew it was meant to be that I come here.”
“Invitation? What invitation?”
“Your dear cousin is coming to Blackstone for the holidays. There will be a grand ball and everything to welcome him and his family.”
He let out a blue streak in Russian that would have made his grandfather and ancestors proud.
“Aleksandr!”
“Sorry, babushka.” I knew I should have explained it to J.D., he thought to himself. There was just so much information, and he knew it would overwhelm her. “If you wait a moment, I’ll go talk to J.D. first. Then we can sit down and have tea, all right? Do you need anything?”
“No, lyuba, I am fine here.”
“All right. I’ll try not to be too long.”
After making sure his grandmother was comfortable, he went off in the direction of his bedroom. “J.D.?” he called as he padded inside. “Love, are you in here?” Her scent was still in the air, so she had been here last, but there was no sign of her. Her clothes that had been on the dresser, however, were gone, and the window next to it was left wide open.
He slapped his forehead. She had shifted and left through the window.
His polar bear roared in anger, its sharp claws slashing at him.
Ow, stop it! And by the way, this is your fault, you know.
It cocked its head at him as if to say, How?
Things wouldn’t have gone cock-up if you had let me tell her about grandmother and— “Oh bloody fucking hell.”
He wasn’t going to argue with a polar bear. All right, I’m going to fix this.
First, he was going to take care of his grandmother, then he was going to hunt J.D. down. He knew he was wrong to have kept the truth from her for this long, but she didn’t have to fucking leap off a building to get away from him. He was in this for the long haul, and he could only hope she would be too.
Chapter Eleven
Escaping Cam’s penthouse took a lot of trouble and effort, but it was well worth it. After she stormed back into the bedroom, she realized that there was no way she could get out without having to face Cam or his “guests.”
But she wasn’t out of options, and in one impulsive decision, she decided to chuck her clothes and wallet out the window, then shift into her cat form, crawling down using the drain pipe outside the building. From there, it was easy enough to walk out to the main road and flag down a passing cab.
“Five twenty-two, Magnolia Drive,” she rattled off to the driver as she slipped into the back seat. “And step on it.”
She’d been so furious that she couldn’t stand to be in the same space as that … that liar. Her cat, on the other hand, directed it at that snooty bitch trying to lay claim of their mate.
He’s not even worth it, she told her cat. We should just forget about him. “Ugh.” It was too early to be arguing with her animal. She covered her eyes with her hand as an ache bloomed in her chest at Cam’s betrayal. Mates suck ass. She wished she’d never laid eyes on Dr. Cameron Spenser, Duke of Whatever-he-was.
Her cat let out a protesting re-eowrl. Coward, it seemed to say.
“He’s the coward,” she mumbled so the driver couldn’t hear her. “And a fucking liar.”
The cab slowed down, and she saw her house up ahead. “Third one on the right,” she told the driver. “Thanks,” she said when he stopped in front of her house, then handed him a bill. “And keep the change.”
She hopped out of the cab, barefoot and only wearing her jeans and shirt, and made her way to the house. When she was about halfway there, she realized something.
“Shit! Fuck, fuck, shit!” Her house keys were back at Cam’s along with her phone. There was no way she was getting inside now, and her truck was still at the garage. “Fffuuuuuuck me.” This was all Cam’s fault.