King of the Wilds - Tasha Black Page 0,25

of your lifetime together.”

Miranda opened her mouth and closed it again.

That’s why he didn’t want to do anything more last night. He was giving her one last chance to back out.

“That’s the short explanation,” he said.

“I appreciate knowing the unvarnished truth,” she told him. “So basically our relationship is permanent when that happens? No matter what?”

“If you have any doubts about ruling the Wilds,” he told her, “now is the time to head for the hills.”

“We’re already in the hills,” she teased.

“Well, time to head for the city then,” he told her. “But I can’t promise I won’t follow and try to bring you home.”

“Home,” she said, testing out the word.

Twenty-four hours ago she would never have used that word to describe the woods, or anywhere without a walk-in closet.

But now, somehow it felt just right.

Except for that fragment of mirror. Her mind kept going back to it. She tried to push the thought away, but there was no way to get around it. It was all tied together somehow.

She began getting dressed so as to give herself a little space to think.

If her boss had been somehow involved with evil fae, this might be messy. Maybe even so messy that Bron wouldn’t want her anymore.

But she had to give Mr. Ward a chance to explain himself. She owed him that much.

“Everything okay?” Bron asked.

“Yes, sure,” she said. “Just thinking about work stuff. I don’t usually take this much time off.”

“You were attending to your missives after midnight last night,” he laughed.

“Being an executive assistant is kind of a twenty-four seven job,” she replied, trying to smile.

“Do you like your work?” he asked.

“Most of the time,” she told him honestly.

“You will miss it when you are queen,” he said sadly.

She hadn’t thought about that.

“I’m not queen yet,” she told him. “I’m just going to run and check my messages. Meet me at the car when you’re done.”

He nodded.

She took one last look at his huge, gorgeous body, glistening in the early morning sunlight.

Then she turned and hightailed it for the car, hoping Mr. Ward had emailed her back.

There had to be a way to get to the bottom of it all with some reasonable explanation.

14

Bron

Bron was just getting dressed when he heard Miranda scream his name.

He bolted up the hill to find her, terrified that whatever had been occupying that last shard of glass had found her.

How could you allow her to roam about alone?

He should have followed her, protected her. It was his duty.

She was his rightful queen. He knew that, even if she did not.

When he reached the garden, he spotted her in the driveway.

But she was not alone. There were so many vehicles that her car was nearly blocked in. People were pouring out of them, wearing work gear and carrying strange equipment.

“What’s happening?” he asked her.

“They’re here to tear down the trees,” she moaned. “This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. I just texted Sara and Tabitha. What are we supposed to do?”

There was no time to ponder her words. One of the workers had already climbed a nearby tree using some kind of harness. They watched in horror as he began removing branches and tossing them down to his partners below.

Bron felt the tree’s pain as if his own limbs were being rent from his body. He fought the urge to lash out in defense and tried to use his words instead, for Miranda’s sake. He didn’t want her to see the things he wanted to do to the attackers.

“Who’s in charge here?” he boomed.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to him.

“I am,” a man said, striding forward. “And you’re trespassing on private property.”

“I’m the executive assistant to the man who owns all of this,” Miranda piped up. “And I’m here on his orders. Where’s Larry?”

“Bullshit,” the foreman said. “I don’t know who Larry is, but the boss’s orders are to tear this place to the ground. Today. I’m calling the cops.”

“He doesn’t even own this land yet,” Miranda pointed out.

“I can’t get involved in an argument about real estate,” the foreman said. “I was hired to do a job and if you two don’t get the hell out of the way, I’ll have police involved.”

“We already have police involved,” Miranda said, smiling down at her phone.

“What the hell?” the man stammered, then headed off to talk with the workers.

“I know what I need to do, Bron,” Miranda said softly. “I’m going to go talk to my boss, face to face. I’m going to