The guilt that didn’t leave his eyes, living behind the hazel gaze, had intensified. I chewed on my lip. Now that the adrenaline had calmed, my hand pulsated. Nodding stiffly, I backed away.
The second step off the shack creaked under my weight. Bruno fell into step beside me. After a few quiet beats, he exhaled.
“I’m sorry, Luna.”
I slowed to look over at Bruno quizzically. “If I would have looked into it instead of believing him . . .” He scowled. “I should have double-checked, Luna?—”
“It’s okay.”
Bruno strode next to me, quiet and contemplative.
“I should be saying sorry,” I joked, trying to add levity to the conversation.
“About what, Luna?” He was a very soft-spoken man.
“All of thisdrama.” I waved my hand toward the shack.
“I’ve never seen Lucian happy like he is now. You have nothing to apologize for.” He smiled slightly. “And don’t try apologizing to Lucian, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you.”
My face warmed.
“Do you really think so?” The vulnerable question caused my voice to tremble.
“I was with him when we found out about your death. Of course, at that time, I hadn’t known what happened, but now, looking back, it makes more sense. Duane made it sound like Lucian waited a week because he didn’t care, but in that week leading to him asking us to look for you, he unraveled.” Bruno frowned. “All we had to go off was the name your father placed the room under, but it didn’t exist.”
Dad had a tendency to do that; he’d even had a bank card in a false name to make all his payments.
“After we told him about your death, Lucian spent months locked in his study here,” he jerked his chin toward the house. “It was how Cierra held onto her influence.”
Cierra, it always returned to her.
“Since the pack had always seen them together, and knew they would take each other as chosen mates, it was easy for her to hold on to it.”
“You don’t think he’ll tire of me?” I blurted.
His eyes widened, and his eyes peeked at the shack.
“If anything I said made you believe that, I apologize?—”
“No,” I interrupted. “I just know he wasn’t sexually deprived,” I said pointedly.
He exhaled and relaxed.
“Lucian has always been promiscuous.” He cleared his throat, and his eyes flicked to the side again. “But after you were declared dead, he only hired from the Shifter Services agency.”
That woman from our first night that had entered his hotel room. She was a service . . . “With how he disintegrated after—” He shook his head and cut himself off.
A piercing scream came from the shack. I jolted, stopping myself from running back, mainly because Bruno intercepted my path.
“Let me pass,” I finally spat out.
“Apologies, Luna,” he murmured,but still didn’t let me through.
Footsteps came from behind me.
“Let’s get you some hot tea, Joey.” Verity curled her arm around my waist. I looked over Bruno’s shoulder, where the screams continued. I finally relented and followed Verity to the kitchen. “We have a lot to talk about.”
She guided me to the chair, and I stretched my arms across the surface, watching her putter around to grab a mug.
