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and to insinuate that I don t want my daughters to be happy is insulting.
 Kitten? Serenity gasped.  You knew? You knew that he& 
 That he s a shape shifter? Yes, my young innocent. Her mother sighed and took her
hand.  Come with me. No matter how unhappy we are, there s never a reason to look a
mess. Your makeup is atrocious.
They moved to the bathroom off the hall, and when Serenity s face was clean, she
followed her mother to the sitting room. At last they were seated, and Serenity explained
everything. If she thought her mother didn t care about anything or anyone but herself,
but she was wrong. Her mother surged to her feet and began pacing from the fireplace to
the door, all the time grumbling under her breath.
 It must be her, she announced.
 Who? Serenity was unaware of any her. All of her mother s friends were men, all
the contacts, all the investigators. She loved to be surrounded by them, to manipulate
them, and to humiliate them when the mood struck her.
 Your grandmother.
Serenity gasped.  I have a grandmother? I never knew. I mean I knew we had family
who disowned us, but for some reason I pictured aunts and uncles, relations twice
removed. That kind of thing.
Her mother s eyes flashed.  Oh you have a grandmother all right. And if ever you
thought I drove you crazy, she s worse. I believed you knew how much I love you girls.
But her she is the epitome of& of& well, I like to say Evil Incarnate.
 Mom, you re exaggerating. As usual.
 She s more powerful than you can imagine. I suspect she s more than one hundred
thirty, but I can t be sure. Darling, if she put a spell on Jon, neither you nor I can break
it.
Serenity felt her breath constrict, and her mother rushed to her side to pull her into her
arms.  Don t start that again, sweetie. I ll think of something. I promise I will. You ll
have your shifter. Her mother leaned back and grinned.  After all, he s not an ordinary
human, right? She chuckled.
 So that s why you haven t harassed us and why you didn t come down to his country
home to interrupt our time alone.
Her mother raised an index finger.  Make no mistake that I will do what I need to, to
protect my babies. I did come by the lake because something was bothering me about that
boy.
Serenity s eyes widened.  The lake?
 Yes, the lake. I remembered that he broke my spell over you with a bite. Her
mother shook her head.  Before you ask, yes, I mean a bite. I thought that was strange, so
I came down there to have another look. He could see me in my spirit form. That s not
unusual for some humans, but I wasn t satisfied, so I had a friend check his background.
Didn t take much to learn his secret, and then I decided to let you two explore the
relationship to see where it went. I told your sisters to steer clear as well. My friend told
me if Jon had chosen you, then that meant you were his fated mate. That could not be
changed even with a meddling mother.
Serenity choked off a sob.  But fate never met Grandma.
Chapter Eleven
Jon sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. He tried to relax, but all the muscles in
his body were tight, and his head was pounding. At least the insane need to get out of the
United States had eased. He had no idea what had come over him. Even Mordecai
couldn t explain it, but his elder wanted to meet with him the moment he got to London.
Jon wanted to put it off, tired of explaining himself. Every person he d met while running
his practice over the last three years demanded to know what bee had gotten in his bonnet
to drive him away.
Serenity sprang to his mind again and again. Every time he thought of her, he felt an
unexplainable ache. Yet, no matter how many times he searched his heart, she was just
not there. He didn t love her, and he didn t understand why he d been with her if he
didn t feel that way. Jon had never gotten serious with a woman. A mutual satisfying of
their desires was all it had ever amounted to, because all he d wanted all of his adult life
was to find his mate. Why in the world would he delay that by getting serious with
Serenity? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]