“No.” He growled out. “I’m pissed.”
“Why?” I sighed. “Yeah. It sucks, but it’s already done.”
His eyes darkened. “You hate me.” His words were soft. “I was so mad at you. I thought you knew everything, and you were still upset. That’s why you weren’t answering me. I tried to understand your side, but some days…”
“Some days you hated me.” I finished for him. He nodded. “And now you feel a little confused.”
He blew out a breath. “Yeah.” He nodded. “I guess you are feeling the same?”
“A little.” I smiled. “I hated you for a long time. But before the graduation. I had let it all go.” He grabbed the bottle of wine, only to find it empty.
“But.” He leveled me with a look. “I know there is a but coming.”
I laughed. “But at the graduation, you decided to throw Verity at me, while she tried to paint my father as a traitor. That pissed me off all over again.”
He grabbed the last bottle of wine. Took a deep pull. He pulled out his phone. “We are going to need more wine.” He dialed and requested more wine, and finished the bottle in his hand. “I thought you knew. That’s why I was so confused when you looked at me and I saw hatred. Then you shifted, and Nix was standing in front of me and Erubus was ecstatic. He was screaming in my ear to claim you. He was certain you were his mate. But we were confused why you hated us.”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”
“I thought you knew, and you were just playing along with the ruse. I thought you were fantastic until you looked at me at the end. I ran after you to check what the call was about, and to hopefully kiss you. Goddess, I wanted to kiss you, just to make sure you still cared about me.” He paused when there was a knock on the door. Clara came in carrying four more bottles of wine. She put them directly on to the table, loaded up the cart with the empty plates and bottles, and rolled it out of the room.
“But then you followed me into a fight.”
He nodded. “And I was nervous about showing you who I was, who my wolf was, then...”
“Carl died.” I grabbed a bottle of wine. “And his kid came out.”
“You were mourning, and I wanted to support you. But when you looked back at me and you saw me, not Erubus…I knew I had fucked up. You weren’t a fantastic actor. You actually just hated me at that moment.” I nodded as I blew a raspberry.
“I hadn’t known anything. And I hated you.” I looked at him. “I wanted to hate you so much. It drove me closer to Brandon. My dad was right about that. Once you were out of the picture, I allowed him closer. And when I found out about Verity, I allowed him closer.” Rowan growled. “But it did get us what we needed.”
“We hope.”
I snorted. “You got me there.” I drank more wine. “But it did get us more information. It unveiled the Brotherhood, and it got me out of there.”
He nodded once. “But now you hate me.” He scratched at the grain on the table. “And I don’t know how I am supposed to recover from that.”
“You lied to me.”
He blew out a breath. “I did…but in my defence. I didn’t think I was.”
I snorted. “How do you fucking figure?”
He raised his hands. “I wrote you a letter every week to cover some of the miscommunication. But I also thought your dad was telling you all of his plans. And I say his plans because I was following his lead. He was able to move in the shadows, while pretending to be dead, and I was stuck in the limelight.”
“So you were playing your part thinking that I was too, only to find out afterwards that I wasn’t.” I slumped.
“Yeah.” He chugged. “Look, I have been taught all of my life that I have to be careful. That I have to keep myself hidden. So when I am me, I don’t talk about my wolf’s name unless I am with family. When Erubus is out, he does the same.”
“Why?”
He tilted his head at me like I was being foolish. “I am the last Lycan.” He blinked at me. “Well, I thought I was the last Lycan. My kind were hunted down, my father was killed, and I was raised by backstabbing assholes.” His phone rang, but he silenced it. “But even before my world fell apart, it was the same. I am a Lycan male. I have to hide my scent or I will drive females crazy.” I rolled my eyes, which made his lips twitch. “You can roll your eyes. But until you have seen an unmated female scent a Lycan male, you wouldn’t understand.”
“Come on.” I shook my head.
“The first time I saw it was when I was nine. A male thought it would be funny to release his scent in a pack. Thankfully, it was a small pack because there were only twelve unmated females. But all twelve went insane.”
“What do you mean?” I leaned onto the table, ensnared by his words.
