The Clever Fox: Part One (The Pleasure Hound Series) by Ines Johnson

choice.”
    The threat hit her chest harder than the insult. It landed with an empty thud. With her soul ripped from her being after seeing the hollowed out closet, Alyss had nothing left. She would not allow her Mother to replace that hole on her insides with an inseminated creation.  
    A spark lit inside her gut when she remembered her encounter earlier today. She remembered the tall, dark male advocate talking out of turn. She remembered him being reprimanded. Her stomach unclenched when she realized that she was going up against an ordinary man, not the Male Voice.
    She’d face him with her smile, her eyes, her breasts and her hips. No man had ever failed to do her every bidding when she’d turned the full light of her attention on them. She’d use everything in her arsenal to hold him back and push this bill forward. And she would win. He was, just a man after all. It would be easy. And then, after the bill passed, she would move onto the rank of apprentice where she would no longer need her family backing. She’d be able to leave this Goddess forsaken house and live on her own terms. Perhaps even have a paint brush outside of a closet.
    Alyss straightened her back, her once empty spine reformed to solid steel. “Don’t worry, Mother,” she smiled. “I’m prepared.”  

Chapter Seven

    Emet tugged on Adom’s bottom lip to get his attention. Adom had spent the night in his studio, then trudged up the stairs this morning for a bite of first meal. His hands and arms and face were smeared with paint. He gave one word answers or unintelligible grunts in response to all Emet’s attempts at a conversation. There was tension in his bondmate’s body. Adom also wouldn’t hold his gaze. Emet saw Adom’s gaze flickering to the entryway that led to his studio. The male was obviously ready to get to work.
    Emet didn’t resent Adom for his lack of attention. Adom’s dreams were about to come true. Emet’s were too. So with a final peck on Adom’s cheek, Emet left his bondmate to his creations, and took off to begin his own big day.
    It was a bright spring morning. Birds chirped their songs above as he shut the door to the storefront. Leaves rustled from the hustle and bustle of insects going about their work. Emet hopped into his car, alert, in tune, ready.
    He turned the ignition and headed to the Sisterhood compound. Once or twice he had to tap the brakes against his eagerness.
    Inside the chambers of the full council, Emet took his place at the podium for the Male Voice of their society. The actual Voice sat in the audience with other males in his employ, mostly other novices and apprentices. The other four advocates had too much work on their plate to take time out to view the outcome of a single bill, no matter the importance. To the advocates, all of the bills were of grave importance.
    The young males in the audience beside the Voice looked at Emet with both awe and envy. Most of their work involved prepping dockets for the Voice in his crusade to keep what few rights men had alive. Emet understood the trust and responsibility the Voice had placed on his shoulders.
He rolled his shoulders back now. They were still light thanks to the loving restraint Adom had roped him into two nights ago.  
    He was ready. But where was his opposition? They were due to start in two minutes.
    There was an uproar at the back of the room. Women gasped and oohed. Males groaned and awed. It didn’t take long for Emet to figure out the source of the commotion. Obviously she had arrived.  
    Males and females alike gaped at Lady Alyss. Emet could only see her head, preening above the masses, obviously loving their adoration.
    Emet rolled his eyes. They were about to engage the debate of a serious matter and everyone was more concerned with her dress than the matter at hand.
    Emet’s frustration sat with the men as well as the women. The women were entrusted to run this society in the name of the Goddess. Yet, he saw so many of