Free Skin of a Goddess (Goddess Ascension Book 1) by Victoria C. Johnson Page A

wouldn’t want them to insult you in such a way,” Hunter says, as if it’s really for my benefit.
    Ana laughs. “Right, insult her.”
    “Let’s talk about this later, in private,” I hiss.
    “Sure we can talk about this. In private. Alone.” He grins.
    I backtrack so fast I probably have whiplash. “Well, not completely alone. If we’re going to look at this seriously, then I really wouldn’t want to be with you until our wedding night. Best not to give in to temptation.”
    “Yes, she’s very pure and chaste.” Apate nods with a straight face.
    Hunter can’t help but roll his eyes. To tell the truth, I don’t blame him. “Fine, bring someone then. I’ll see you later tonight, after dinner?”
    “Okay, you can come up to our suite,” I say. “We’ll make a group meeting out of this bitch, since I’m sure these girls won’t be able to keep the gossip to themselves. Hope you’re happy.”
    He leans down over me, closer and closer, until I’m looking backward at him. “If you think you’re going to intimidate me with the idea of sitting with all of you, then you’re wrong. I’m looking forward to it. Until then.” With that, he leans those few vital inches more and lands a quick Spiderman kiss to my lips. He’s gone before I can even protest.
    “Looks like more’s been going on than I knew,” Dysnomia says with a little smirk.
    Ana grins. “She so has no idea.”
     
    ***
     
    “Hello, everyone! I’d like to thank you for meeting me here tonight,” Harold greets all of us sitting in the conference room.
    “I’d be a hell of a lot happier if we didn’t have assigned seating.” Ana sighs.
    “Agreed,” Lyssa says before hissing at the werewolf sitting in front of her.
    Assigned seating means that all of us representatives are together and the people that shift into the same animal are grouped together. I suppose it is good planning, since the wild dogs will probably want to be together once they hear the news. Still, we’re right next to the wolves and lions. They have a whole “king of the jungle” complex, plus their long tresses get everywhere.
    The few humans who wiggled their way in here are stuck in the back of the room. Most of them are companions of a shifter or other here, though there is that one human running fast and free without his vampire master. He’s here as his vampire’s representative. When a vampire chooses to feed off of a human for a while, the human becomes a companion. This can include meal time, bed time, and everything in between. Or just for friendship, like that’s any fun.
    “I’m sorry that we had to cancel the afternoon activities,” Harold continues.
    “I’m not. I think we were supposed to have more group therapy. More like shoot yourself in the foot so you can’t be drafted. Here I come, Nurse!” Apate says.
    Enyo speaks up, “That’s not how you do it at all. You shoot the annoying people boring you with their speech.”
    “You know, this time, she might have a point.” Apate half-rolls her eyes.
    Harold clears his throat with a meaningful look at us. “I don’t have very pleasant news to tell you, but it needs to be said. Early this morning, a body was found on our property. The body belongs to Jessica Garcia, a wild dog shifter.”
    “What!” There’s an instant uproar in the wild dog circuit.
    “Jessie was supposed to show up next week. She had to stay behind for work but was meeting up with us,” a female says.
    “If you know her, we’d appreciate you coming to identify the body,” Harold tells her calmly. “She did not die a natural death, and the authorities are looking into who is responsible. I want you all to be very careful from now on, and avoid wandering off on your own.”
    “How was she killed?”
    “She was strangled,” Harold says after a moment.
    A nearby wolf asks, “Where was the body found?”
    “At a pond on the property. It is now off limits and a crime scene, so we’d appreciate it if you kept