I rolled my eyes and got to my feet. “Well, I’m done. If I think of anything else, I’ll write it down and call you or come see you at the police station.”
“Fine,” Garrett agreed, flipping his little notebook shut.
I wandered over to Poppy as Daniel and Garrett started discussing what to do about Leona the Lion Bitch.
“How are you holding up?” she asked me.
“Okay. Better now that I’ve had some time to decompress.”
My eyes moved over to Daniel, which made Poppy laugh again.
“Oh, I bet,” she murmured, reaching into the fridge, and grabbing the wine bottle.
I shoved my glass at her. “I don’t know what that means, but I’m not comfortable discussing it with you.”
She laughed again. She filled my glass, much more than Daniel had. Then, she refilled her own.
After she replaced the bottle, she came over to me, lifting her glass to toast. I tapped mine against hers.
“To Daniel finding the perfect mate for him.”
I froze as she drank her wine.
“You’re supposed to drink,” she said.
I stared up at her and realized the men had fallen silent.
“Mate?” I asked, my voice a whisper. I’d all but forgotten about the conversation at Daniel’s office before, but the memory came roaring back now.
Her eyes widened and she glanced over at the table.
“Why would you say that?” I asked Poppy.
She swallowed hard. “Maybe you should talk to Daniel about that.”
“Obviously, I can’t do that since he NEVER MENTIONED IT TO ME AT ALL!” I yelled.
Daniel appeared next to me, taking the wineglass from my hand. “Cari—”
I turned my head and stared at him. “Mate? Why would she think I’m your mate? She mentioned it at your office and it didn’t click then, but it sure as hell does now! Did you forget to mention that I was promising to be your wife if I had sex with you?”
Daniel closed his eyes and took a breath. “Of course not. It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like?” I asked.
“Poppy, let’s go,” Garrett said.
Poppy looked at Daniel, then at me. She seemed to come to a decision and skewered her boss with her gaze.
“You didn’t tell her?” she asked. It sounded more like an accusation than a question.
“I didn’t get a chance before you blurted it out,” Daniel said.
Poppy crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, don’t you blame me for this, Daniel Ayres. This wouldn’t be an issue at all if you’d talked to her about this as soon as you realized who she was.”
“You mean while I had her pinned to the forest floor with the taste of her blood in my mouth?”
Before Poppy or I could say anything, the front door burst open, and a wild wind shrieked through the house.
