He didn’t believe women could lead. That idea did not seem right in his opinion.
“Stupid,” Zuri murmured under her breath.
“Who?”
Zuri was startled when she heard Khaos’ voice. He was standing next to her. Only then, she realized that he almost didn’t have any scent, unless you stood so close like this. No wonder, he caught her off guard several times.
“Were you cursing me when you thought I couldn’t hear you?”
“I can curse you in your face just fine.”
Zuri thought she had gone out of the line with her reply. Men would take offense to her behavior, but she hadn’t been behaving as her usual self whenever she was around him, yet he
looked fine with that.
“What?” Zuri asked when those gray eyes stared at her.
“Tell me what he did to you after he saw I escorted you back in the middle of the night.”
“Nothing.”
The lie came out easily. She didn’t even need to think about it, because she was used to it. More so, there was no evidence. As a shifter, you healed really fast.
“I know when people lie.”
“There is no point for me to lie to you, you are not important enough for me to lie to.” There,
she did it again. She shouldn’t have said that.
Yet, Khaos chuckled. He didn’t mind her harsh words.
“Are you trying to hurt me because you are hurt?”
Something about those words didn’t settle well with Zuri. She was not hurt. Yes, people said she was crazy and she believed that. Even her own mate said that she was crazy for fuck’s sake.
Well, technically, Xaden was no longer her mate, because she had rejected him. They were simply coliving because of the benefits this union provided them; the benefits shared by the two packs, not individual.
“You need to be able to control your expression,” Khaos chuckled again.
Then, he did something that Zuri didn’t think he would do. He raised his hand and patted her head. He patted her head! As if she was one of his pet wolves! And then walked away.
It was only a single stroke to her hair, but Zuri found herself trying to fight for control over her emotions. She didn’t know why, but it caught her off guard and overwhelmed her.
No one patted her head, aside from her mother, or her father when he braided her hair. Even they stopped when she grew older and started teaching her about the real world.
It shouldn’t be a big deal, but her emotions were all over the place right now because of that stupid single stroke to her hair.
“You are sleeping on the sofa,” Khaos said from inside the bathroom.
Okay, that alpha knew how to ground her back, and his last comment was more than effective in helping Zuri regain her control as annoyance washed over her.
The next day, Zuri woke up on the bed, even though she was sure that she took the sofa. She didn’t want to share a bed with Khaos.
She felt like she was cheating. That thought made her want to laugh. Who was she kidding here? It would be great if she had conceived already after their last intimate time, so she could avoid the sex part forever, having fulfilled her duty of giving him an heir to solidify the union between the two packs.
“Uh!” Zuri rubbed her eyes, annoyed that the first thing she thought about in the morning was that bastard alpha.
Suddenly, the room dimmed as the curtain was drawn to block the light. Zuri stood up to see Khaos was the one who did that. He had a cup of tea in his hand.
He must be thinking that she groaned because of the light.
“How did I end up in this bed? I am sure I slept on the sofa last night.” Zuri narrowed her sleepy eyes at him. “We didn’t… have sex, right?” She was sure she didn’t, because every experience with Xaden was so painful. She only wanted to make sure of it.
Khaos raised his brows, he looked amused by her question. Probably, because of his reaction, Zuri acted boldly with him. Somehow, she knew that he wouldn’t lash out at her for speaking her mind.
“No.”
“Thank heavens. It would have been awful,” she muttered under her breath, but Khaos could hear her clearly.
“I will not take offense to that.”
Zuri whipped her head to look at him, but like he said, he didn’t. He looked at her with a smile in his eyes, if that was the right thing to describe it.
“What? Do you want to try?”
Zuri muttered incoherently under her breath, but Khaos was sure she was cursing at him when he saw how annoyed she was and it brought a smile to his lips.
They had breakfast in their room and Zuri went through the discussion about the ships with Khaos one more time.
She realized one thing here; this man was a good listener, but more importantly, he was someone that gave you a ‘suggestion’, instead of an ‘order’. Zuri received the latter very often.
Her father wouldn’t have the patience to listen to her explanation or give some thought to it. He only wanted to hear the pros and cons and always kept the conversation short.
Somehow, Zuri had a feeling her father was ashamed of having to seek advice from her. She was so young and green, yet her talent in business was even way better than his.
But, Khaos was listening.
“They have been holding back the price because ship trading is not very popular and the fact you wanted to buy ten ships in one go must have given them the idea that you are in a hurry.” Zuri leaned back, she stretched out her hand to fork a piece of blueberry cake, but then stopped herself. She put the fork down and continued to speak to Khaos. “I don’t know how the discussion between you and the merchant went, but I don’t think you handled your end really well. Once a merchant smells desperation, they would double the price.”
Her small gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Khaos, but he didn’t say anything. He simply continued the conversation.
“What is your suggestion?”
Zuri smiled. She liked it when someone asked her opinion and really wanted to listen and understand her point.
Meanwhile, Khaos listened to her talking about the plan she had in mind and for the first time, he could see the genuine passion in her usually dull eyes.
And by the time they finished with their plan, it was already dinner time. Zuri was taken aback because she just realized she had talked for hours without even noticing it.
However, she didn’t feel exhausted, she felt light. She felt good to know that someone appreciated her yapping away.
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