“After you eat,” I told her.
“Please,” Mason said, gesturing to the spread. “I can serve her.”
“I can do it,” I said defensively. Turning my eyes from him, I leaned close to Cassie. “What would you like?”
I loaded up her plate as Cassie happily pointed out everything she wanted. One thing I’d never do is allow my own issues with eating and my fear of that judgment, be put onto her. When I’d served her. I shifted awkwardly.
“You made me breakfast,” Mason said quietly, meeting my gaze. “Now it's my turn to do the same. To serve you would be my honor, Bryce, if you’ll eat with me. I…” He let out a laugh that almost sounded nervous. “I remembered how you like your eggs scrambled to a specific moment, and no further, so they might go to waste.”
“Guilt-tripping me?” I questioned, betrayal flaring in my chest.
“No,” he said quickly. “More so, letting you know that I see you. I remember you, and want to continue remembering you, knowing you. Knowing Cassie.”
I looked at Mason, properly looked at him. Dark circles lay beneath his eyes, and there was a heaviness to his body, as if he hadn’t slept in a long time. Yet his smile was bright as he watched Cassie dig into her breakfast. There was such innocence in her ignorance of her parents’ dissonance.
Her parents.
That was what we were, wasn’t it? I had to accept it, no matter how upset I was with Mason right now.
“She’s enjoying the food,” he noted. “I like that.”
“I guess she takes after her mom,” I said, surprised at my own joke, and I felt how stricken I was, looking at Mason.
He raised a brow. “I like that, too. Will you eat with me, Bryce?”
I told myself I only nodded because I was dressed in his hoodie that was still roomy on me with how broad he had gotten. It was strange—we may have similar widths, but because he was muscle, and mine wasn’t, I was judged, but he was praised. Admired. But his eyes roved over me in his hoodie.
“Yes,” I answered, my voice quiet.
Only because you’ve gone through the trouble.Except a part of me wanted to stop running, to stop hurting, and I didn’t know if I could trust him for now. I could do this.
“Will you let me serve you?”
“As Mason or alpha?”
The question was loaded.
“As both.”
That eased something in me, and I nodded again. As he loaded up a plate, glancing at me to check he’d put what I wanted on there, I was taken aback by how he remembered all my favorites. It only reminded me of how little had changed about me, even if my life looked so different.
“Only two slices of bacon,” I said quickly, noticing how he went to put a third on. I couldn’t eat too much around him—surely he’d want—
He dropped the third one onto the plate with a frown.
“I want you to eat as you please,” he said as Mason set down my dish in front of me. “I’d like to see you enjoy it all.”
“And you?” I asked. “Are you going to eat with us?”
“After the fight, I went through? Damn right, I am.”
The mention of the fight brought forth the memory of the ifrits, how they’d crowded the car, how they’d all chittered, squealing against the windows, their sounds haunting. Clawshad dragged over glass. I didn’t know what had become of my brother’s car or if Mason had told him while I had slept. So many things to talk about, and yet…
All I wanted to do was enjoy this meal with him. And the way he looked at Cassie… that wasn’t the look of the betrayed man who had run away from the cave. Could it be that he was ready to accept what I had done? Ready to focus on the fact that we had a child together? My heart rose as I reached for a plate for him.
“Bryce—”
“Let me,” I said gently.
