“Sometimes keeping a secret feels safer than admitting how you really feel.” Conleth made a funny kind of huffing sound, looking off into the trees. “I know that from personal experience, too.”
“I don’t,” Archie said sadly, or at least as sadly as you could while eating chocolate chips, which wasn’t very. “I’m no good at keeping secrets. I blurt stuff out all the time.”
Without being asked, Conleth handed him another granola bar. “That’s one of the things I admire about you.”
Archie squinted at him. “Really?”
“Really.” Conleth actually sounded like he meant it. “It takes a lot of bravery to be honest about your feelings.”
“I don’t feel brave,” he said dubiously. “Most of the time, I feel like everyone else has it together, and I’m flailing along trying to keep up.”
Conleth nodded, as though this had proved something. “Exactly my point. I often feel the same way. But I’d never admit it, except to a few special people.”
“You literally just admitted it,” Archie pointed out through a mouthful of oats.
“So I did.” Conleth gestured at the granola bar. “When you’ve finished that, we should head back to camp. If you’re ready.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Archie wasn’t looking forward to facing the music, but it wasn’t fair to keep Mom and Paige waiting. “Hey, Conleth?”
“Yes?”
“I’m glad you’re Paige’s mate.”
“So am I.” Conleth glanced at him, the corner of his mouth twitching up. “For a lot of reasons.”
Archie nibbled at his granola bar, biting the chocolate chips off the top. He let them melt on his tongue one by one, lingering as long as possible.
“Conleth,” he said slowly. “If my mom can’t stand to be around most shifters because they remind her of my dad, what does that mean for you and Paige?”
Conleth had taken out his phone to send a text. At the question, his thumbs stopped moving. He stared down at his screen, but Archie had a feeling he wasn’t actually seeing it.
“I don’t know,” Conleth said at last. “That’s up to your sister.”
CHAPTER 39
“We should have heard something by now.” Her mom paced around the office, wringing her hands. “What if he made it to the main road? He could have been hit by a car, or worse.”
“It’s going to be okay, Mom,” Paige said, though her own heart was racing with anxiety. “Conleth’s searching from the air, and Buck and Honey are trying to pick up his scent. I’m sure they’ll find him soon.”
Even as she spoke, her phone buzzed in her hand. One glance at the screen, and all the breath left her lungs in a relievedwhoosh.
Her mom searched her face, whole body taut with desperate hope. “Was that?—?”
“Conleth,” Paige confirmed. She sagged against a wall, feeling as though she’d run a marathon. “He’s got Archie. He says they’ll be on their way back soon.”
“Oh, thank God.” Her mom collapsed into a chair, burying her face in her hands. “I’m never going to forgive myself.”
“It’s all right, Mom. He’s safe. Nothing happened. ”
Her mom shook her head, face still hidden. “But it could have. I should have been stronger, I should have been able tohold it together. For Archie’s sake, and yours. I’m a terrible mother.”
“Hey.” Paige dragged a chair over so she could sit next to her mother. “You’re a great mom. I wouldn’t want any other. Neither would Archie.”
“You should,” her mom said bitterly. She rubbed at her face. “We have to figure out what to tell Archie when he gets back. I don’t want him to feel he has to hide his shifting from me. We’ll have to convince him he misheard, or misunderstood.”
“That’s not going to work, Mom. He knows you’ve been struggling for a long time. He just didn’t say anything because he could tell we were trying to keep it from him.”
“Then we’ll have to claim I’m struggling for a different reason.” Her mom drew herself up, dropping her hands and squaring her shoulders. “We’ll tell him…we’ll tell him it was the heat. That sometimes I don’t feel well, but it’s nothing to do with shifters, and that I’m getting better.”
