“A couple of girls even dropped out of their packs because of their obsession with him and his other friend,” he added.
“Oh, come on, Lachlan, stop this tirade.” I snorted. “A group of werewolves in their early twenties, single. What do you expect? The girls had their fun, too, and they used them as well.”
“Neither I nor Gaius are like that. And neither is Archie!”
I snorted again. “That’s right. Gaius, you, and Archie. One found his mate, another has had a secret crush on my best friend for a lifetime…” He blushed and looked away. “…and Archie…well, Archie’s Archie. Women are either too intimidated or, if they can look far enough beyond the purple eyes and his enormous size to decide to talk to him, they’re completely ignored with kindness. But what about everyone else? Huh? Your wereball friends? Papa before he met Mama?”
He didn’t respond, marinating in his silent anger.
I continued, “And you know why? Because everyone knows that somewhere out there, there’s their other half waiting for them. Nobody wants to start a relationship that already has an end that’s more certain than a first anniversary. It’s just painful.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to play with other people’s feelings!” he snapped.
“And how do you know Logan and his gang promise girls their love and then abandon them?” Before he could retort, I changed topics, knowing that my stubborn twin was destined to become a lawyer for all his comebacks. “What did Logan tell you? In the last quarter of the game?”
“Welcome to the family.” A humorless smile slipped past his lips. “Now that I think about it? It makes sense. Back then, I thought he’d knocked you up after a one-night stand or something like that.”
“Knocked me up? Please, Lachlan, safe sex is the only sex. Anyway, was that punch during the game necessary?”
“Extremely! Wait, you didn’t send him nudes, right?” He glanced at me in horror as my face mimicked his.
“Of course not!”
“Did he ask you for any?” Lachlan stood, breaking the seat belt. I tried to stand too but was thrown back down by the belt.
“Goddess damn! Whyhimof all wolves?” he seemed to ask the Moon Goddess herself.
I patted the seat. “Sit, please.”
He huffed but relented, giving me his signature frown. Somehow, to me, it was rather pleasant, as far as frowns went. He wore it when he wanted to say something serious but was pondering the words.
I gestured to the hostess, who replaced Lachlan’s belt with another.
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen the guy before. We’ve had so many wereball events and parties in the last three years.”
“You know that I always leave parties early?—”
“And he always arrives late,” Lachlan concluded for me and shook his head. “And you avoided my games like they were open sores.”
I found his hand and intertwined our fingers.
He kissed my cheek.
“Did anyone else know?”
I shrunk in my seat.
“I just shared the news with Amaia, Makena, and…Chie,” I admitted, playing with the hem of my shirt.
“Chie as inArchie? Our Archie?” He shook his head, but I caught him smiling. “Really? Him and not me?”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t even know what to think of Logan at the time,” I sighed heavily.
“That’s why Chie didn’t call me back and his answers were so short!” Archie and my twin were childhood best friends. One of the great things about Archie? He was always honest and transparent, extremely loyal. That meant he’d rather avoid Lachlan altogether than lie to him.
“He did have a laugh or two when I told him.” I smiled, embarrassed, as I remembered that day. Then I got an idea. “Hey, could we meet up with him in Scotland?”
Lachlan brightened. We hadn’t seen Archie or his sister for almost a year! But then he shook his head.
