Leonie bit her lip. “Will you come back?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Leonie. We need to talk.”
“Oh God.” Leonie rubbed her eyes, looking unspeakablyweary. “Please, not tonight. It’s been a long day. All I want to do is crawl into bed and pretend none of this ever happened.”
He wanted to say more. He wanted to promise…what? That he would stay, if that was what she wanted? That he would do better? That all would be well?
But he didn’t know if any of that was true. And he wouldn’t lie to her. Not ever again.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Leonie nodded. She started to turn, then paused. Setting her shoulders, she came back, not stopping until they were toe to toe. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she placed her hand on the side of his face, meeting his gaze.
“Your eyes are beautiful, Shan,” she said softly. “Whoever your mate is, she’s a lucky woman. I hope she realizes that.”
Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel, walking away. He stood there, staring after her, the taste of her words fading in his mouth. Desperately, he searched for any complexity to the flavor, some faint sour twist…
There was none. No trace of hidden meaning; not the slightest hint of a lie.
Only sweet, simple truth.
CHAPTER 24
Leonie woke up the next day, and immediately wished she hadn’t. With a groan, she pulled the covers over her head, blocking out the cheerful morning sunlight. If only it were so easy to escape her own mortification.
She knew the truth now. Without a doubt. She’d looked right into Shan’s eyes, and felt…
Nothing.
Well, not nothing, because he was even more attractive without the sunglasses (good lord, thoseeyes). But nothing from her animal. No soul-shattering jolt of recognition; no magical bond snapping into place. Just regular human attraction.
He wasn’t her mate.
She’d been socertain. When she’d confronted him, she’d taken his stunned silence as confirmation. She’d all but ordered the poor man to grovel at her feet.
And the whole time, he’d only been trying to work out how to gently let her down.
Yesterday, she’d been filled with righteous indignation...and, if she was honest, a tiny flicker of hope. Someoptimistic, naïve part of her had thought it would all work out. That he would come to his senses, and they would be together.
Now, she just felt hollow.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t call in sick due to a terminal case of embarrassment. Letting out a sigh, she pushed back the covers. People needed her. Time to put on her big girl pants and go to work.
Her phone informed her that she had two hundred and forty-six missed messages. She glumly scrolled back through the family chat, which was now mostly a long and heated debate between her brothers about the most effective way to hide a body. Still, at least nobody seemed to have actually bought plane tickets and a large container of industrial acid. Yet.
The most recent message wasn’t on the group chat. It had been sent to her alone, a few hours ago.
BIRDBRAIN
Hey. You okay?
She wasn’t up to confessing her idiocy to even her twin yet. Let alone her entire family. Still, she didn’t want Lola worrying.
LEONIE
Yeah. Just feeling really stupid for getting my hopes up. But I’ll get over it.
The family chat, she just left on read. Her brothers were all good, kind, generous men… but they were still her brothers. They were going to tease her about this mistake foryears.Probably for the rest of her life.
