Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54509 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“But you still didn’t leave?”
“No. A woman my age? It was too late to start over somewhere else. Where would I go? What would I do? I stayed, but at least now, I’m content. I have peace and quiet and if I need to get away from that, I take this bus somewhere else. I go out shopping for the day or I go out of town for a weekend. I pretend that I’m just a normal woman who can’t shift into anything but my nightgown.”
“So, what do I do? How do I get out? I mean, I have some money that I’ve saved, but I don’t know how far it will get me if I can’t get a job right away. Certainly not enough for any sort of higher education.”
“How willing are you to do what it takes, even if it means you have to just go along with something to get to where you want to be?”
“I don’t know. Pretty willing, I think,” she said, before adding, “What do you mean?”
“My daughter, Anna. She didn’t have the stomach for leading the kind of life she watched me lead. A friend told her about a place, they have a service that sets up marriages between different clans.”
“Marriage? I don’t see how that would help. It’s exactly what I don’t want to do.”
“No. No. Sorry, I’m a little tired too, I guess. Fake marriages, not real ones.”
“Fake marriages?”
“Yes. They match up female shifters that don’t want to get married with male shifters that don’t want to get married. You have to pay them for their services, but they will get you set up in a new place and help you find an appropriate shifter to match up with. They will provide you with the paperwork for the marriage, a new name if you need one and broker the contract.”
“I don’t know. It sounds a bit shady. How do I know I won’t end up in some sort of human trafficking situation?”
“My Anna did it. She signed on with a man for eight months. When she was done, she walked away with a very nice stack of money and went to college, just like you want to do. Now, she’s a history professor out in the mainstream, away from our clan and away from the clan she was with during the fake marriage.”
“That’s amazing. Still. I don’t know.”
“Something to think about. Here, let me get your number. I can have her get you the information you need and, if it is something you think you’d like to do, you can pursue it. If not, I only ask you not mention it to anyone. They keep a pretty low profile because some of the women that come to them are hiding from someone. They had a breach not long ago when an Alpha from another clan found them and went in looking for where they had sent the woman he was intending to marry. He went after her and, since then, they’ve taken some additional precautions to protect themselves and their clients.”
“No one will look for me.”
“Then you have the upper hand already.”
They parted ways at the bus stop, walking in opposite directions to their houses, neither of which was far away. Aileen unlocked the door and stripped off her clothes, feeling incredibly tired, but as she lay in bed, her mind whirled with thoughts about what she had said. Could she really do something like that? Would it be worth it to give up some months of her life in exchange for a new start? She decided that it was definitely worth checking out. Hopefully, Anna would come through with the details Aileen needed to do so.
CHAPTER TWO
The following morning, things suddenly became much more interesting, at least from the perspective of what she wanted to do with her life.
“Aileen? I’ve had a complaint about you. Step into my office,” Maria called out, not even bothering to come within normal speaking distance, but instead broadcasting it out for everyone to hear.
Aileen looked around. Several of the other care associates were trying to not meet her gaze, embarrassed for her. She carried her head high as she got to her feet and followed Maria to her office, taking a seat across from her. Maria began some long rant about someone who didn’t think she was upbeat enough, which was probably true. She was a little hungover from too much gin the night before, but it was hardly anything anyone would complain about.
“Who did you say this customer was?” she asked.
“I didn’t say it was a customer. I said I had a complaint about you today.”
“So, you’re saying that someone in this office complained that I wasn’t upbeat enough?”
“Yes. You make us all look bad when you don’t maintain sufficient customer service standards.”
“I don’t think I’m any less upbeat than anyone else here.”