Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 5

If Lady Jax came around, great. If not? Well, I still had Thor. And our future, which I hoped would include a couple of Zebcats of my own, and maybe a set of twin girls to run around and tackle Daddy when he came home from work.

I had a lot to learn about his job, too. And that was after we managed to catch the traitor. If we caught him.

We’d only been in the house a few hours, and we’d been naked and fucking almost the entire time. That wasn’t the best way to root out a traitor, but it had certainly made me feel good. Because of our afternoon in bed, we were no closer to figuring out who had been behind the attack on Trinity. It was frustrating, all of it except the part about being with Thor as his mate. That was extremely… pleasant. Much more so than sneaking around on my off hours and cleaning up after his father. Now I had someone to snoop with, and we didn’t have to be all that secretive about it.

The Zebcat at my feet stretched, then rubbed its whiskered chin against my ankles, the purring noise louder than any I’d heard before.

Thor’s mother scoffed, looked under the table and glared at her mate. “You know I don’t like to have animals in the dining room. They’re filthy.”

“Life’s filthy, love. You like it a little dirty.” He smiled and waggled his eyebrows at her, which made her cheeks flush pink as she looked down at her plate.

I did not want to know.

“Back to the discussion at hand, Mother.” Clearly, Thor didn’t want to have his parents talk—even thinly veiled—about their sex life over dinner. “I need to see the work schedule for the day the comm was placed in my room, the day of the royal reception.”

“I’m looking, dear, but you know how things are around here,” his mother replied. “Sometimes the schedule is on the computer system, and sometimes it’s not. I’ve asked the head maid to find it. She will.”

“When?”

“I don’t know, dear.” Lady Jax put down her glass and patted her lips with her napkin. “She’s busy. These things take time.”

Thor slammed his glass of wine down on the table. “No. They do not. I want the schedule, and I want to see it tonight. It’s been too long already.”

She tilted her head at him, her expression serious. Placating. “Of course. If that is what you wish. I’ll ask her about it immediately after dinner.” Her gaze darted to me, and the scowl returned to her face. “I could bring it by your bedroom, if I know you’re going to be—available.”

Available? As in not fucking your new mate’s brains out and making her scream your name.

I smiled at her, and it wasn’t exactly friendly. But it wasn’t mean either. I did want her to like me. But I had no intention of giving back her son. He was mine now. And she would just have to put on her big girl panties and deal with it.

The servants came into the room and went like ghosts, bringing soup, a crisp, fruity salad and more wine. Always more wine. Since I didn’t have more than the one sip, my glass remained full, but the youngest of them was observant enough to refill my water glass instead.

Thank god. Some of the crackers and side dishes were dry, and swallowing fermented tree bark was not my thing.

When the main dish arrived, the burned smell I’d identified earlier intensified. Lady Jax rose and went to a side table, where the steaming dish had been set, and left behind, by the kitchen staff.

Thor’s mother was beaming, then lovingly glanced over her shoulder at Lord Jax. “I made your favorite, dear!”

“You know how to keep your mate happy.” His smile was endearing, and full of true contentment, even as he patted his stomach in obvious eagerness for the stinky dish. It almost made up for the stench of burning flesh.

I looked at Thor, who grinned at me, tracing my lower lip with his thumb. “My mother comes from a land far from here where this dish is a delicacy. The recipe is very old, passed down for generations.”

I swallowed. Hard. Oh, shit. There was no way. No way. Whatever it was, I would vomit all over the table if I tried to eat it. “Thor, I don’t eat meat.” I mouthed the words to him, made less sound than a whisper.

I’d messed with Lady Jax enough. Offending her and where she’d grown up might push the woman over the edge. Especially if I threw up. Not a good impression.

His mother laid a plate of steaming dead body parts in front of me, then went back to fill plates for everyone else. Three small chunks of charred… something with a coating of dark sauce.

“Don’t worry,” Thor whispered. “You don’t have to eat it.”

“That’s right, you

don’t eat any of your animal friends,” Lord Jax murmured. He, too, didn’t want to upset his mate. He winked at me as his mate returned and placed an identical plate in front of him.

When she turned her back again, Lord Jax reached over and speared two chunks of meat from my plate onto his fork and stuffed every bite into his mouth with a huge, self-satisfied grin on his face.

“There,” he said, cheeks full. “Good job cleaning your plate.”

The words were garbled since his mouth was so full, a bit of sauce on his lip.