“Nap time!”
Velik handed the twins to Carmen without argument, his gaze locked on me the entire time.
Oh, God.
Guess we were going to have that talk whether I was ready or not.
But not here. Not in the house where our daughters slept and either Carmen or Henry—who I hadn’t seen in three days—could interrupt us at any moment.
The door to the girls’ nursery slammed closed just a bit too loudly.
Thanks, Carmen.
Velik didn’t miss the message either. I stood up and he was there, so close that half a step would have me pressed to his warmth, his strength.
Which I could not depend on. Remember that.
“Stefani. Mate.”
“Don’t start with that. Let’s start with the reason you looked me in the eye and lied.”
“I have never lied to you.”
My humph came all the way from my bones. “You looked me dead in the eye and told me you didn’t know who I was. And I quote, ‘Apologies, my lady. You are beautiful, but I do not know you. You are not my mate.’” I matched his cadence and apologetic tone perfectly. Wasn’t difficult. I’d played that moment over and over in my mind thousands of times. Every single one of them hurt.
“Please. Let me explain.”
“Go for it. Explain to me how your beast could claim me as his, have sex with me—in my car, in a parking lot, for God’s sake—and forget who I was a day later.”
He reached for me, his hand grazing my hip as he tried to pull me into his arms.
I jumped away as if burned. I couldn’t have this conversation and let him touch me. I was holding on by a thread as it was. If he held me close, like I mattered to him, I would lose it. Scream. Fall apart. Cry for days. Just…no.
Head bowed, he knelt before me like he was proposing, or waiting for me to tap his shoulder with a sword. Neither of those things was going to happen.
“Stefani, I beg your forgiveness. The jellyfish poison attacked my mind. The doctor said the ReGen pod rebuilt the cells in my brain as quickly as they were being destroyed, but my most recent memories were lost.”
What? Agitated and upset as much for what he had suffered as for myself, I paced. Thinking. Viciously squashing the little ray of hope that fought its way out of the black tar pit that was Velik’s corner of my heart.
“What about your beast? It’s not your memory that makes an Atlan claim a mate. It’s his beast. Did your beast have his mating instincts—or whatever it is—destroyed, too?”
“No. But—”
“No? So where was he when you told them you didn’t know me? When you literally said I wasn’t your mate?”
Still on one knee, he reached toward me again.
The front door opened. Henry walked in. He dropped his gym bag on the floor and took in the scene. “What the fuck is he still doing here?”
Velik rose to his feet.
Henry moved quickly, placed his body between me and Velik.
Was he crazy?
“Move, human. Or I will kill you.”
“Fuck off, you piece of shit. Do you have any idea what you put her through? No. You don’t. You weren’t there, holding her while she cried herself to sleep every night. For weeks. Taking her to baby classes so she wouldn’t feel anxious about bringing our girls home.”
