Javier stood, shoving his hand over the short crop of his hair. His nod was jerky, but his eyes were clear. He stood in front of me, more than a foot shorter than me, but I was the one who trembled in fear.
“Yes, I want to know everything.”
It was my turn to run my fingers through my hair while Teddy shifted on her feet.
I cleared my throat.
“Your dad came into the food bank to get something for Jasmine’s fever,” Teddy said, her voice steady. “I should’ve just let him get the medicine and some canned soup, but when I offered more food, he seemed grateful. So I took him down the aisles and piled food into his shopping cart. When I got to the back of the store to get him a baked ham for Easter, the door to one of our fridges was stuck. I tried to pry it open the way I’d been doing all day, but the whole fridge came down on me instead.” She wiped the tears that flowed down her face. “He tried to push me out of the way, but it was too late. I’m not sure what kind of injuries I had, but I was in so much pain and bleeding. Together, we tried to lift it, but every effort made the pain worse. He tried, though, Javi, and he only left me to get a jack from his car. Elias arrived when he was trying to lift it with the jack. It was painful, so damn painful, and I begged him to stop. I-I told him he was killing me. Elias heard me and?—”
“For several weeks before the fridge fell on Teddy, I’d been having these visions of her,” I said, my voice a complete contrast to Teddy’s steadiness. “I knew she was in the human realm and knew I wouldn’t be able to see her in person without dooming your realm. I was prepared to?—”
“Can you get to the part where you killed my dad?” His tone was low but coiled in fury.
I swallowed again, moving my hand to the base of my neck. “When I tore through the veil, I found Teddy on the floor, screaming in agony. Even before I got there, I knew whatever had happened was killing her. I saw your father and thought he was the one killing her. I didn’t know he was trying to help her.”
“Elias walked in when I was begging your dad to stop,” Teddy said, her voice shaking. “I was begging him to stop and telling him he was killing me.”
“This isn’t on Teddy,” I said, stringing my words together quickly. “I’m the one who killed him without assessing the situation. It doesn’t matter what I thought. I killed an innocent man who was only trying to provide for his family. He was trying to help Teddy. I’m sorry, Javier. I can’t tell you how?—”
“Don’t apologize.” I scented the tears he held back while the veins on his neck pulsed. “I don’t want your apology. I trusted you, both of you. You made me trust you when you’re the ones who killed him. George said you gave the order, but he’s the one who killed him. Was he talking about my dad?”
“Yes.”
“Jaz and Juanita call the man who killed our dad their uncle,” he whispered, lowering his head on a heavy shake.
“I’m the one who ordered his death,” I said. “This is solely on me.”
“I don’t want him near my sisters.” Hate and anger filled his tone.
“Honey, the girls love him,” Teddy said. “It’ll hurt them if he stops playing with them.”
“What’ll it do to them whenthey find out the truth?”
A knot twisted my gut, making the pain from earlier seem like a joke. “Are you going to tell them?”
“No.” The single word came out low and defeated. “But I don’t want him around them.”
“This isn’t his fault, Javier,” I said, unsure how to explain. “He was following my orders. That’s what a warrior does. This is my fault. Only mine. Teddy didn’t do anything wrong either.”
“You didn’t tell me the truth.” He turned to her, eyes wide and voice quaking. When she stepped toward him, he took a retreating step back and lifted his hands. “You let us live with you. You took care of us while knowing . . . You said you didn’t remember that night for a long time. Why didn’t you remember it?”
“Elias erased my memory of that night,” Teddy admitted.
My chest pierced at the betrayal that shone on his face, but I’d prefer he see me for all the wrong I’d done while forgiving Teddy for keeping silent. Then at least he’d still have her.
“What did you do when you remembered?” he asked.
Teddy bit her bottom lip, but before she could answer, I said, “She called me a monster for killing your father. She told me to stay away from her, you, and the girls.”
Javier peered down at his bare feet. “The night of the barbecue. That’s when everything changed. When we stopped seeing you around Colina, and things got worse. We lost electricity in our trailer home, and the hike to the food bank was so bad, I had to move the girls and me to Teddy’s. Were you punishing everyone for Teddy breaking up with you?”
“I...no.” I wasn’t sure how to explain it. Wasn’t sure if it’d matter. “When she rejected me as her mate, my mind went into survival mode, and I slipped into my primalinstincts. I’d never lost myself to my instincts before, and I didn’t realize the harm I was causing everyone in the region.”
“So once she forgave you, everything was fine, and you decided to care about the people you doomed?”
“No, sweetheart.”
“Don’t.” He shook his head when Teddy approached him again.
