The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) by Kurtis Eckstein (i want to read a book .TXT) 📕

pride over himself. That is the ideal alpha, because it makes for the strongest pride. It makes for a stable pride. A powerful pride.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, because I kind of felt like I knew where this was going. And sure enough…

She turned toward me, her expression almost endearing. “You are the ideal alpha.”

Damn this got awkward real fast.

“I…I’m not sure about that,” I managed. Shit, why was she looking at me so warmly?

Her expression became more serious. “Your alpha females agreed to allow you to fornicate with the beta females. Yet you haven’t yet. Even a decent alpha might have done so already, but you haven’t, because you prioritize the wellbeing of your pride over yourself. You are the ideal alpha,” she repeated.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “Umm, thanks.”

She shrugged, focusing out the window again. “It’s just an objective fact.”

“There are probably people who would disagree with you,” I commented.

She shrugged again. “That you are the ideal alpha? Maybe. Probably other males. But objectively you have a strong, stable, and satisfied pride. Any female looking for a pride would prefer yours over others. Yours is ideal, because you are an ideal alpha. And that’s coming from someone who can read minds.”

“Okay, new subject!” I said abruptly. Shit, this topic was way too awkward.

However, in my attempt to come up with a new subject, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Does your fur make you hot?”

Dammit! Why did I ask that of all things?

Her expression was serious. “Yes. That’s why I shave it.”

“You do?” I said in surprise, partly shocked that she even answered me, and also partly because it didn’t look shaved at all the few times I’d seen it.

“Yes. I do shave. It’s only about a quarter of an inch long right now, but it’s natural length is three times that.”

“Huh,” I replied, glancing at her from the corner of my eye. “So then, just wondering, why not shave it off entirely?”

She frowned, focused ahead. “For one, because it’s extremely itchy when I do. Second, it grows back too fast, like a man’s five o’clock shadow. At this length, it grows slow enough that I only have to shave once a month. But if I tried to keep it off altogether, then I’d have to shave twice a day.” She paused. “Trust me, I’ve tried to look normal. It’s just not feasible. I’ve even tried to put various things on my lips, but it doesn’t look right.”

“Why is that?” I wondered, sincerely curious even though I sort of had a preference for the black on her lips.

She shrugged. “When most women wear lipstick, you can often see the pink of their lips just past the inside of their mouth. It’s most noticeable when they talk, though most people don’t pay attention.” She looked at me. “Or, have you ever seen anyone wear black lipstick? It only looks right when they keep their mouth closed, unless they already have dark skin. Otherwise, the pink is obvious. It’s the same with me, except in reverse. If I wear red lipstick, for example, you can see the black the moment I open my mouth. And that raises a lot more questions than just leaving my lips as they are. No one thinks twice about my black lips, other than ‘goth,’ whereas they give me bizarre looks if they notice the natural color when I’m wearing lipstick.”

“Huh,” I replied simply, unsure of how else to respond. “Interesting.”

She nodded. “Mind if I take a nap in the backseat?” she unexpectedly asked.

I looked at her in surprise, suddenly imagining her curling up like a cat. Shit, she was technically a catgirl. A real-life catgirl, minus the furry ears and tail.

I cleared my throat, hoping she didn’t take offense to my unrestrained thoughts. “Umm, yeah, that’s fine.”

Without hesitation, she unbuckled and began climbing back there, her butt suddenly right in my face, before she was lying down and getting comfortable.

I felt kind of embarrassed that I’d reacted to her ass being right there, so I quickly tried to cover my thoughts up, even though I knew it was probably a lost cause.

“Do you usually take naps?” I wondered.

“Depends,” she replied with her eyes closed, lying down like how a normal person would.

I waited to see if she was going to elaborate. But nope. After asking her to elaborate in my thoughts, and having her continue to ignore me, I finally tried prompting her verbally.

“Depends on what?”

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “I wouldn’t be a good lookout if I slept all night.”

Shit. I had no idea. All this time, she’d been awake most of the night?

“Yes,” she agreed. “You didn’t know, because you kept your eyes to yourself, even though you could have looked at any time.” She paused. “Thank you.”

“Umm, you’re welcome. But you know, I don’t sleep at all, so you could have come down occasionally to talk or something.”

“No,” she replied. “I can’t do my job if I piss off your females and they kick me out of the house. Better to be out of sight, out of mind.”

Well damn, in a weird way that made me sort of feel better. All this talk about being a good alpha seemed to be implying something, especially with the way she was looking at me when she said it, but I supposed I was just getting carried away.

She was just trying to do her job. And that job involved her being sleep-deprived as she sacrificed her own wellbeing to protect everyone else. Damn.

After that, I decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the trip, as well as try to keep my mind as clear as possible too, so Winter could relax and get some good sleep.

She definitely deserved it.

17: Stabilizing Pride

Lily Dodson

April 20, 2735 – 4 Hours Later – Early Evening

As Lily walked into the living room, where Freya, Heidi, Lexi, and Rose were all clustered in a circle