“I know. I wanted to. Do you like it?”
I drew back and gaped at her. “Are you kidding me?”
Relief flickered in her eyes. “Good.”
Both of my offices had been furnished by the people I loved. I was a lucky duck.
Evie stepped back and Kyla cleared her throat. “The laptop, it’s too much.”
Evie’s chin stuck out and I grinned at Kyla. “I know that expression. Just say thank you and be done with it.”
An elbow jabbed into my ribs and Evie stepped toward Kyla, her face serious. “You’ve been here for my sister while I wasn’t. I know it’s your job and all, but I also know I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else at her back. So this is just a small way for me to say thank you.”
“It’s not small to me,” Kyla said. “But thank you right back.”
We all turned at a knock on the door. I strolled over and opened it. Keigan’s eyes widened when he glanced over my shoulder. Evie strode across the room and planted her butt in the chair behind my new desk. I had a feeling someone had filled her in about my newly strained relationship with Keigan, and she’d clearly decided she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hi,” I said as the silence stretched awkwardly. “Uh, do you want to come in?”
I opened the door wider and gave Kyla a warning look. She had her claws out and was examining them as if she’d recently chipped her manicure. Meanwhile, Evie was studying Keigan the way a cat would study a mouse.
I sighed, but Keigan didn’t look worried. He was too busy glancing around at my new office. I strode toward Kyla and leaned against her desk. Tomorrow was a full moon. Out of all of us, she had the shortest fuse.
A sudden thought occurred to me, and I tensed. “Are you here to tell me I can’t rent this office anymore?”
Keigan’s eyes widened, and I knew him well enough to recognize the flicker of hurt before he shuttered his gaze.
“No,” he said tightly. “I’d never do that.”
I was making things worse. “I’m sorry. It’s just… I know you’re disappointed in me.”
Keigan merely shook his head with a sigh. “I never expected you to be anything other than what you are, Dani.”
My heart twisted, both at the weariness in his voice, and the fact that he’d called me Dani again.
“And what am I?”
“You react without thinking when those you love are threatened. Sometimes, the choices you make have consequences that you don’t think about until after the fact.”
Kyla slid me a look. “I mean, he’s not wrong.”
I scowled at her, then at Keigan. His lips twitched.
“But, you have a big heart. And as difficult as it’s been to lose you to the demons, your life is better for it. When I first met you, you were antisocial, closed-off, and obsessive.”
I angled my head. “Please, don’t hold back.”
He smiled. “And now you’re in love, you’ve repaired your relationship with your sister, you have a new business, and your life is full of people you care about. In spite of my disappointment over some of your actions, I’m still proud of you.”
My throat tightened. “Well, thanks.”
He took a few steps closer, opening his mouth.
The smell of ozone made me tense.
CRACK
Cellen stood in the middle of my office, unannounced.
