“God, Mateo. We had this conversation, and now there’s even more reason. There can’t ever be anything between you and me. Your pack hates me. You’ve dramatic proof of what my coven would do. And now there’s this grimoire. They can’t pull the same stunt if they don’t have the book.”
“But someone could. How many of these spells are out there?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if many covens have the same obsession, but I don’t think most of them are digging through books trying to destroy werewolves.”
“That’s a hypothesis with no proof behind it, a complete guess!”
She stiffened and leaned away from him. Even that five inches hurt. “ISawyou back in New York. At least that’s where I think there’s a truly enormous desk, and the oldest office chair I’ve ever seen behind it. You’re a billionaire; you can buy a new chair.”
“I like my chair,” he said before his brain caught up. “You’ve Seen my office?”
She nodded and winced again. He just wanted to make it better for her, but that was not going to happen.
“I’ve never seen a vision like it. I was half unconscious, but there was so much power behind it. I Saw so far into the future. And Mateo, I wasn’t there.”
“That’s it. You’re just going to obey a vision and abandon us?”
“It’s not about obeying or not! I See what is. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s not what I want or what I would hope. It is just what it is.”
He had a second to feel guilty because it was his power that had supercharged her talent, especially because he seemed to have dug his own grave.
“We don’t have to live by the prophets,” he whispered.
“Says everyone who hears a prophecy they don’t like in the history of humanity.”
“I really don’t think we should take ancient Greek tragedies as anyone to emulate.”
She frowned. “What?”
“Cassandra, cursed to tell the truth but never be believed.”
“So, believe me, do me this one last honor. Believe me. Take the book. Lock it up with one of those billion dollars in a bank no one can ever get to, and live your life. Help your clients. Help your pack. Forget about me.”
“I remember my diapers.”
She looked at him as if he had truly lost his mind. He adjusted so she was slightly closer and hoped she didn’t notice.
“I remember how much they pinched and how disgusting they were from when I was less than one year old.”
“Whoa.”
“I remember everything. All the bullshit I don’t even want to think about it from the time before I could walk, so when I tell you I will never forget you, I mean that.”
His wolf warned him that Nico approached, though he saw no sign of it before the bigger man materialized next to him. He made a point never to jump, but it was a level of paranoia he hated.
“They are mustering their forces,” Nico said. “There are more crossbows.”
Cat successfully pushed away from him this time, all the way out of his lap, and heaved the book against his knees. “Keep it safe. You have to go.”
With an aching groan, he shook his head. “I can’t.”
“We’re nothing to each other!”
“You know that’s not true. There’s a connection between my wolf and your magic.” It was all he could say, but he meant so much more. He would never experience this with anyone else. There would be no other woman for him. There would be no pups. His heart would live in a tiny town in Colorado.
“Please,” she breathed.
Because his heart was in her keeping, he stood up, told his wolf to suck it up, and walked away with the book a deadweight in his arms.
