I rose, the world spinning around me. Garrett lurched forward and steadied me. “What is going on with you, Caelan? Why would you jeopardize something so important to you? For Rachel, of all people?”
I couldn’t answer him. I wanted to deny everything, but I couldn’t remember a thing. From the moment we left, everything turned into a bizarre fog. If I concentrated hard enough, I could see Evie standing over the table, her face a mask of frozen grief. But I don’t remember what I said to her or the aftermath. I would never have said those things to her. Yes, I was worried about our future children, but it never would have stopped me from marrying her.
So what the hell was wrong with me?
“Caelan!” Simone barked. “Are you alright?”
I blinked several times and tried to refocus on my Omega’s face. “I’m fine.”
She snorted. “I’d like your permission to contact the European Lord’s offices and speak to Rachel’s father.”
I stilled, the urge to reach out and strike her for her insolence burning in my veins. My fists clenched. What was wrong with me? I’d never been that kind of leader. “No,” I growled. That wasn’t her place and could be construed as an insult. “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
Her face turned to stone. Garrett rose to his full height and spoke. “Part of my job is enforcing Pack law and assisting youin times of need. You might deny there’s anything wrong, but I know you, and this isnotlike you. If you do not contact Rachel’s parents by tomorrow at nine a.m., Simone will do so.”
He gripped my arm. “In the meantime, I want you to visit the infirmary.”
“Get out,” I snarled. He was trying to usurp me. Simone was his co-conspirator.
I gripped my head. No. Neither of them would ever do that, not unless I was too far gone. A hiss of pain slipped from between my teeth.
A thin ring of gold surrounded Garrett’s irises. “Caelan?—”
“GET OUT!” I roared. Power boomed through the study. Seymour, still in my hands, froze. I’d forgotten I was holding him. I sat him on the edge of the desk and gripped the wood so hard it cracked underneath my fingers.
Garrett stepped forward, but Simone reached out and took him by the arm. “No,” she said softly.
I thought he’d break her grip and come after me, but Garrett gave me one more grim look. “I never thought I’d see you fuck up so profoundly. The differences between you…they could have been overcome. You didn’t have to crush the poor girl so thoroughly.” He shook his head, disgust brimming in his eyes, and spun on his heel, Simone right behind him.
When the door shut, and I sank to the floor, my vision blurring, four words kept swimming through my mind over and over.
What have I done?
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
My mother and father stood toe to toe, both bristling with magic. “You take everything,” Mom said softly. “Give this to me.”
My father’s eyes narrowed. “You won’t win if we battle.”
Mom’s smile was slow and seductive. “Are you so sure about that, old man?”
Oh shit. I looked to the left, then the right for a place I could take cover if they decided to go at it. It had been five days since the disaster at the restaurant.
True to her word, Simone had kept Caelan from my property. Or he’d chosen to stay away because he meant every word he said to me that night.
I still couldn’t think about it without wanting to tear down the Keep brick by brick while sobbing. Mom had stayed over the first two nights and proved a surprisingly good houseguest. On the third night, she told me to think, really think about what I wanted for myself. Did I want to be Cernunnos’ heir? Or did I want to run a flower shop forever and be content with my Floromancy and the occasional use of my Chimera form?
Barrett had contacted me a couple of times asking when I wanted to begin training, but focusing on magic while your heartwas shattering into a million pieces was surprisingly difficult, so I fobbed him off for a week or two.
The swans had been quiet, no doubt plotting their next move, and there was still no sign of the other missing Chimera.
So far, I’d proven a surprisingly terrible Chimera representative to our people.
But I couldn’t find the emotion to care because my heart was still tied up in Caelan.
To rub salt in my wounds, he hadn’t even bothered to text or call. Not that I would have answered, but all signs pointed to him being serious about the breakup and his new choice.
