Something to Curse About by Gayla Drummond Page B

stay here. My first duty is to you.”
    “Don’t be silly. We have twenty-four people here. One more isn’t going to make me any safer.”
    Logan scowled. “Thanks.”
    She reached over to pat his shoulder. “I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it. If I’m going to be Queen, I have to trust my people, not just my protector. You’re not going to be that forever. I’ll have a mate one day.”
    “It’s my job to make sure that day is when you decide, not when someone else decides for you.” He scratched harder at my neck. I poked him in the leg with my nose. Logan’s fingers eased up. “Sorry, girl.”
    “I’m not a kid anymore.”
    “You’re not an adult yet either. Diana should’ve waited until you were before sending you here.”
    Terra laughed. “She wanted to, but Dad was tired of breaking up fights.”
    “I bet he was,” Logan muttered. I laid my head on his thigh, my eyes closing. Their conversation gave me an interesting look into their lives. “Keeping you safe was easier when you were little.”
    “That’s what Dad said, before complaining about how old he’s getting.” The girl shrugged, setting the brush down. “There, Precious. You smell a lot better.”
    “Alanna’s good at keeping people under control, but I really should stay here.”
    “No, you should go help find Discord.” Terra latched onto his forearm, her pale green eyes swirling to a green-gold. “She’s the one who needs help right now.”
    Logan’s lips pursed as he stared at her. “You really like her.”
    Releasing his arm, she sat back. “Yeah, but that’s not the only reason I think you should be helping find her.” The teen bit her lip, her gaze dropping to Princess. “I’m hoping she’ll help me pick the right mate.”
    Whoa. I lifted my head to look at her. That was a tall order. Why the hell would she want me to help her with that?
    He leaned, catching hold of one of her hands. “As long as you make your choice freely, he’ll be the right one.”
    “Everyone says that, but you know that’s not always true.”
    Logan spoke, a purr underlining his words. “I have faith that you’ll choose someone who will be a good Consort. Someone who will love you and be strong enough to protect you.”
    “I have to be strong enough to protect myself.”
    He chuckled. “That’s a given with our bloodline. You will be.”
    Terra sighed, her back and shoulders straightening. She seemed to shake off her doubts in a second. “Right. Now, go. I have Alanna and Teague to help me. You concentrate on finding Discord.”
    There were a few more minutes of back and forth, but Logan finally gave in and left. It appeared that Terra and I had some stuff in common, sort of. She might have been born into a world of magic, but she had the same kind of self-doubts I did. Not that I’d tell anyone, but I worried a lot about coming up against someone and not being strong enough to protect myself. That was one of the reasons I hadn’t thrown a bigger fit about the boss hiring Nick.
    Yet I’d never be Queen of a shifter group, like her. Having people look to her for leadership for the rest of her life...boy, that sounded like a few thousand pounds of pressure. And they had to watch out for other tigers trying to kidnap her and force her into marriage? Wow.
    I’d never have to worry about that kind of stuff, and it made my life look like a breeze compared to hers. Poor kid.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    “ Don’t pee on the floor. She’ll take us outside in a minute ,” I promised Princess, who danced around my front legs, her already bulging eyes bugging out even further.
    “ I can hold it .”
    I whined again, looking over my shoulder at Terra. The teen looked up from her book. “Oh.” She put the book down and rose from the couch. “Sorry. Let’s go outside, girls.”
    Teague sat on a folding chair in the hallway outside, reading a magazine. “Do you need something?”
    He smelled different than Terra, and I remembered