“You’re staring.” He didn’t turn around.
“Can you blame me?”
A huff of laughter as he used tongs to remove the cooked bacon.
“Is there extra bacon?” I asked hopefully.
“Eat as much as you want. Moira and I had something earlier.”
He turned, his face unreadable, and set the filled plate down. I watched as he piled pancakes and bacon high on one of my old, chipped plates and drowned it with maple syrup. I started to get up, but he shook his head and carried it over to me before going back to make his own plate.
I waited to dig in until he’d settled beside me, then watched warily.
“Eat,” he said with a grunt.
Not waiting to be told twice, I dug in like a starving man.
Or a Floromancer who’d tapped all her energy out trying to save an innocent man.
When my plate was clean, Caelan said nothing, only got back up, filled the dish with two more pancakes, syrup, and the rest of the bacon, and handed it to me without a word.
I stared down at the food, tears filling my eyes for no reason I could identify, and dug back in.
Magic took a lot of energy, even more than it used to when I’d hidden my Chimera side away.
When I finished, Caelan took my plate and set it on the coffee table, then pulled me across his lap and buried his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply.
“I could have lost you last night,” he said softly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” And I was. No longer was it me and Moira against the world. If Caelan and I stayed serious, I needed to bring him into everything I did, or at least the things which had the potential to involve him or could result in serious injury or death.
What we’d done last night had been phenomenally dumb.
Fun, but dumb.
“I understand why you didn’t. I would have stopped you.” I felt him smile against my hair. “Or I would have tried.”
I shifted, threading my hands around his neck, and tilted my head up to press a kiss to his throat.
His chest rumbled.
I smiled and did it again.
“Stop, Evie. We’re talking.”
I pouted. “Spoilsport.”
Caelan snorted. “Moira told me what happened, but I want to hear it again, from your point of view.”
I ran through the story as best I could, straining my memory for the smallest of details.
“And when Moira left? Leave nothing out.”
Moira was already gone when Garrett took the bullet. I started from that moment and what I’d done when I went back to Thorvin’s property.
“I’m not sure if he’ll know we were there or not.”
Caelan’s brow furrowed. He shifted and reached into his pocket for his phone. “Let’s look at the weather from last night.”
