Mason blinked, as if surprised at my decision, before hurrying inside. Cassie was already chatting away, setting the tablet down. “Does it hurt changing into a wolf?” she asked. “Mommy saysIwill do that, too! Are wolves scary? Do you ever get scared in the woods?”
“She’s… chatty today,” he noted at me, and I narrowed my eyes at him, unsure if he was insulting my daughter or not. “If you’re fine with me answering her questions, then I will.”
Ignoring how every nerve in my body surged for me, I was acutely aware of him in a way I had long tried to shut down. I only nodded and headed back to the kitchen. I’d been planning on making a grilled cheese each for Cassie and me, but with Mason there, I had no appetite. I didn’t look too hard as to whether it was because he knotted my stomach the same way he once had, or whether I was still angry with him, or nervous, or if I just didn’t want to be seen eating by him.
Instead, I got to work making Cassie her snack, listening to them as they talked on the sofa.
“See, Cassandra, the thing about becoming a wolf is that itcanbe painful, but your body knows that being a wolf is a state of comfort, as well, because it’s in your genes.”
“Jeans?” she asked, pinching her own.
Mason loosened a laugh, the sound rough, and I hovered in the doorway, watching him sit next to her. God, it hurt. In another life, this would have been our life—him, being there for Cassie, raising her with me, the two of us in love and happy, bringing up our daughter around the pack. What would that life have looked like?
“No,genes, as in… what makes you, you.”
“Mommy says dancing makes me, me. That, and my smile, and my…” She frowned, her tongue poking out in thought. “Need to talk to everyone.”
“She’s probably right,” Mason answered, humming. “What sort of dancing is your favorite?”
“Ballet. That’s what Mommy wanted to do.”
Over Cassie’s shoulder, Mason’s eyes lifted to me. This was too hard—I needed him gone or Cassie to be away from him. He was her father, and neither of them knew, yet they sat soright together. I swallowed, turning back to the pan, and flipped the bread over. It was slightly burnt—too much for Cassie to enjoy, still, but I was sure I’d eat it later once Mason left. I continued that one and set about preparing another for her.
“Why’d your mom stop?”
“I don’t know. She won’t tell me.”
My chest ached horribly.Focus on the cooking, I told myself.You don’t need to interfere.You know why you’ve never told her why you quit dancing.
“She’s pretty stubborn, huh? She was just like that when I knew her years ago.”
I slammed the frying pan back down on the hob with more force than necessary. I glanced sideways at Mason, who smirked at me. I wanted to wipe that smile off his face—to shift and feel the wolf I had trapped away, so he knewIwas once part of his pack, too. That I should have been given his loyalty, no matter if he liked me or not.
“Will you tell me about when you knew her?” Cassie’s voice turned to a mumble in what I knew was her usual pout. “She doesn’t ever talk about her life before me. Mommy only saysmy life started when I had you, but that can’t be true, can it? Because Uncle Jackson, and my mommy’s mommy and daddy. And my daddy himself…”
“Yeah? Who’s that?”
Mason’s question made me freeze right as I finished Cassie’s grilled cheese. I pushed the knife into the toast to make the small triangles she liked, with more force than necessary, before I plated it up. Quickly, I interrupted them.
“Cassie, baby, how about you take that to our room? Maybe I can set you up with one of your videos.”
The thing about kids is that they are stubborn but easily distracted, so as soon as her eyes fell on the toasted, melted cheese, she lit up and scrambled off the couch. I glared at Mason as I followed her to the stairs. As Cassie raced up them, Mason’s eyes followed me.
“By the time I come back down, I’d like you gone,” I said, and then headed upstairs to see my daughter settled. Once she was, I went back downstairs. Of course, he hadn’t left. Of course, he still lounged on the sofa like he owned the whole place. Although part of me probably thought he did. Some idiotic, alpha rights to the whole damned town and—
“Bryce.”
His voice cut through my thoughts, and I realized I had stormed into the kitchen and began dropping things into the dishwasher harder than I needed to. I picked up the plated, burned sandwich, and went to toss it, but Mason’s hand was quick to grab it.
“You’re going to throw away good food?” He scoffed, looking back at me.He’s trying to insinuate you don’t ever leave your plate empty, that you eat leftovers, that you’re usually the goddamn fucking human wastebin that he once knew.
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s burned because you interrupted mine and my daughter’s snack.”
“It’s barely even brown, Bryce.” He didn’t move out of the kitchen doorway. “If you don’t eat it, then I will.”
“Fine!” I exclaimed, my nerves fraying. “Just—fine! Eat it. Toss it. Do whatever the hell you want with it. I’m done.” I threw my hands up and shoved past him, but he caught my wrist as I passed by. I growled, snatching my arm back. The noise came unbidden, and something flashed in Mason’s eyes at it, and thelast thing I needed was to antagonize the alpha wolf he kept hidden away.
“I’ll make you a fresh one,” he said quietly, already moving into the kitchen.
