He was about to ask what she meant, but Ginny gave him a look that said later. “Ginny’s visiting, from out of town,” he explained. “And so, she decided to drop by unexpectedly.”
“What Gabriel means is that I like to break into his place for fun,” Ginny corrected with a grin. “Sorry for disturbing you, Temperance.”
“It’s not … y-you didn’t,” she stammered. “Gabriel, it’s three a.m. I should get ready.”
“You go ahead, baby,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “The spare bathroom should have everything you need. We can leave in half an hour.”
“All right.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Temperance,” Ginny called.
“Thanks. Nice to meet you too,” she said before disappearing into the hallway.
As soon as he heard the bedroom door close, he stalked to his sister. “Did Gen send you?”
“Did Gen—what the hell are you talking about, Gabriel?” Ginny planted her hands on her hips. “Why would Gen send me?”
“She’s been on my case lately,” he said. “About—”
“About you doing your family duty?” she finished.
“How did you know if you haven’t talked to her?” Gabriel pointed out.
“No, no,” Ginny said. “But I’ve heard some chatter on the grapevine, Gabriel. And it seems like the news is coming from one source: Vicky Woolworth.”
“Vicky?” he exclaimed. “What has that lunatic been saying?”
“What else?” Ginny grimaced distastefully. She hated Vicky as much as he did, as the other lioness had been jealous of his close relationship with his sister and did everything she could to drive a wedge between them. “Vicky’s been insinuating that her father and Gen are this close”—she placed her thumb and forefinger half an inch apart—“to brokering your marriage.”
“Fuck that shit!” He slammed his hands on the island counter. “I’d rather have my balls chopped off than be married to her.”
“Well, she’d probably do that eventually if you did marry her,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “That’s why I came back; to warn you and let you know I’m going to disown you if you ever married that cow.” She pointed her chin toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “And that? What’s going on there?” she asked, a brow raised. “I didn’t think you were the type to have sleepovers.”
“It’s not like that.” Uneasiness stirred in his stomach, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide the truth from his sister. “She’s mine, Gin.”
“Yours?”
“Mine … my mate.”
Ginny gaped. “Your mate?”
“Shhh!” He covered her mouth with his hand. “Temperance doesn’t know. She’s human.”
She ripped his hand away. “And when are you going to tell her?”
“I …” He blew out a breath. “I don’t know how. We only met for real a few days ago. She didn’t want anything to do with me at first. I couldn’t even get her to come here with me unless I kidnapped her gnome.”
“Kidnapped her gnome?”
“I’ll explain later,” he said. “But you can’t tell her.”
“Well, you better do it soon,” she said. “What are you going to do? About Gen and Vicky, I mean.”
A knot twisted in his stomach. “I’ll have to figure out what’s going on first.”
“And shut that lying bitch’s mouth,” Ginny added.
“Vicky tried to sabotage my first date with Temperance,” he said and gave her a quick version of what happened the night at the French restaurant. “And before that, she’d been blowing up my phone with DMs.”
“God, what a delusional bitch. What is she thinking? That if she repeated a lie and spread it around enough, it would become the truth?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve been dodging Gen’s calls for a while now.”
“But—surely she won’t make you marry anyone else if Temperance is your mate,” Ginny reasoned. “That would be cruel.”
“I hope not.” But he wouldn’t put it past Gen to make his life miserable until he agreed to her wishes. “I’ll figure it out, Gin. Listen, I gotta get Temperance to work and then head in for my shift. You need a place to crash while you’re in town?”
“Normally I wouldn’t say no to an offer from you,” she said with a laugh. “But I think you’re gonna need your privacy for a couple of days.”
“Thanks, Gin.” He kissed her on the cheek.
“I’ll wait here, and we can ride out together,” she said, walking over the sectional and plopping down on it.
Pushing all thoughts of Gen and Vicky from his mind for now, he headed to his bedroom to get ready. When he finished dressing, he swiped his phone from his bedside table, surprised to see that there were already several messages from Anders. “Geez, it’s not even four.” Opening the messages, he groaned as he read each one.
So, got that plane ready?
We can leave after your shift tonight. Jansen and Grover said they’d cover our shifts for us, but we need to return the favor next month.
Cannot wait for Vegas! It’s gonna be sick!
I’m gonna get so much cat emoji.
Hooked us up with some special party favors. Wink emoji.
The last message was simply the eggplant emoji, water droplet emoji, and peach emoji.
“Fuck me.” He had been so busy with Temperance, he forgot about the bachelor party. With the wedding happening next Saturday, this weekend was the only time they would be able to do it, which meant he had a couple of hours to get everything ready and somehow convince Damon to go along with it.
He could tell Anders to pound sand, but Gabriel wasn’t the type to back out on an agreement. Now he had to get in gear and plan a bachelor party that the groom didn’t want with the time he didn’t have.
This was going to be expensive party. But it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it. If anything, he was more annoyed at the thought of being away from Temperance while their relationship was still developing. His lion, too, was not happy.
Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll figure something out, he said, trying to mollify his animal.
It chuffed at him and tilted its chin upwards in an annoyed gesture, as if saying,
