10. Tuvid

10

TUVID

A ngie was my fated mate. The mark on my hand proved it. I wanted her heart, body, and soul. But I needed her in my arms because that was the only place she wanted to be.

I wouldn't force her into a marriage with me to protect my reputation.

Reputation be damned. If she told me no, I'd face my community with my wings held high.

"A pretend engagement?" she asked. "Would that save your reputation?"

"As far as my mother and the gargoyle community are concerned, yes."

"Won't it whiplash back on you when we break up?"

"That's the funny thing about gargoyles. As far as they're concerned, we made the effort to do right by my reputation. If things fall apart before the wedding, no one would expect us to marry just because we'd spent the night humping inside your chiller. "

"We didn't spend the night doing it. We only did it once."

"Semantics."

"They don't know we humped."

"To them, we would've."

She frowned. "I doubt many couples locked up together in cold storage do what we did last night."

"I mentioned gargoyles have voracious appetites. They'll think we did everything even if we didn't."

"How long of an engagement are we talking about?"

"A week or so? We wouldn't need to draw it out any longer than that." I'd use that time to convince her to make it real.

She sat back in her chair, her face tight with thought. "What would be expected of me during the engagement period?"

"We'd have to attend a few gargoyle events. A tail tying with a buffet meal. It's just a formality."

"And we'd end it in a week?"

Hopefully not. "Of course. I wouldn't expect you to make this real." Persuasion may work wonders. "As I said, you don't have to do this for me. I'm not worried about my reputation. I'm a rebel, remember?"

Her smile grew. "Well, this rebel gargoyle has just gotten himself engaged."