For a second, I stared at the beer, remembering how my Bunny Doc told me she didn’t like beer. She preferred cider. With a sigh, I pushed the glass away. Went back to the counter and ordered cider.
Kill watched the whole thing, probably wondering why we had to waste his favorite beer and switch to shitty cider.
“I hid my identity from her. For weeks. Never specified who I was. It’s bad.”
Killian’s smirk faded as he recognized the sadness welling up in my eyes like a water mattress about to implode.
“It is,” he agreed, “but I don’t think it’s unfixable.”
“You don’t?” I asked, hope pouring into each syllable.
Kill massaged his cheeks with his fingertips. “Maybe she needs time.”
“Time?” I snorted like the horse I wasn’t. I was more like the thing that eats the horse. “I’m not patient.”
I hesitated.
And what if she couldn’t forgive me with time?
No. Shut up. She will.
Killian eyed me, shaking his head. “Why didn’t you tell her who you are?”
“You know why,” I grunted, elbows on the table as one hand passed through my hair and pulled hard.
Killian opened his mouth, shut it, re-evaluated, then parted it again. “Because she’s Comet’s daughter?”
“Course not. Don’t give a shit about pack dynamic.”
“Your, um, mother?” Killian tried again.
“Nah. I won’t let that revolting human impact my decisions.”
And then Killian understood. He pulled at the collar of his shirt. “It’s yourwolf?”
I dropped my hands, as empty as the stare I turned on Killian. “Bingo! What took you so long?”
Killian remained quiet. Then, “Yvaine’s his—um,itsmate, too.”
I didn’t like that—no, not at all—and growled. A few faces turned our way.
“No, she’s not. She ismy mate, notitsmate.”
My vision flashed crimson.
Killian jumped to his feet, taking a step back and bumping into a coat rack that promptly fell to the ground. So many things kept falling on this cursed day. However, I was sure Killian didn’t want to meet my damn wolf now—or ever again.
I watched in horror how his thumb brushed the missing ends of his last three fingers.
Another kind of guilt—a permanent, ancient one—barged through me. Bile rose up, and I almost retched there on the table.
More things would fall ifthewolfvisited us. Assessing that the situation was safe again, Kill slumped back down, a hand on my shoulder. I glanced at it.
“You’re scared she won’t accept you because of him—um, it?”
I pressed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets, wishing them to stay forever silver. No other colors. “Course she won’t! How can she, if I don’t?”
Killian paused, pondering. “Your wolf is an…interesting creature, but what’s your plan? Let her reject you for fear of?—”
