He gnashed his teeth. “I don’t know,” he bit out. “I really don’t.”
I should have expected that answer. It didn’t stop the sting of disappointment.
“So, yeah, that’s what happened that day,” he said. “That’s why I acted that way.”
“That doesn’t excuse the cruel things you said to me,” I said. “Both then and before.”
“No, probably not,” he acknowledged. He went silent for a moment. I waited for the apology, but it didn’t come. When he did speak again, he added, “I was never sure how to treat you. It was easier in private. In public, I didn’t want anyone to think I was silly enough to believe in anything as frivolous as mates.”
“Mates aren’t frivolous,” I argued.
He shrugged, scratching his neck. “They make things more complicated. Besides, think about it. Say true mates do exist. What if you think you’ve found your true mate, and it turns out you’re wrong? You only find out when you stumble across your real mate sometime later, but by then, it’s too late. You’ve already mated the other one, and there’s nothing you can do but be miserable.”
“You really are a pessimist, you know that?” I said. “That’s such a cynical take on things.”
And what does that mean about us?I wondered with an unpleasant jolt of panic.Does that mean you think I’m a mistake? Are you already miserable?
The questions pressed against my lips, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask them. I didn’t know if I wanted to hear the answers.
He shrugged. “That’s just the way I feel about it.”
I nodded. “Okay, well, thanks for telling me.”
“I just thought you should know.”
I waited once more for the apology. I wasn’t going to beg him for it. I shouldn’t have to, not about this. He should know he needed to apologize without my having to tell him so. Except it never came. I buried my disappointment deep inside, because it wasn’t going to do either of us any good to dwell on it. If he wasn’t going to apologize, I wasn’t going to wait for one.
“Is that all, then?” I asked.
“No.” He let out a deep breath, still frowning slightly. “You’re right. I can’t control your life, and you could do a lot of good for the town. If you really want to train and work with Rachel and Emma, then I’m not going to stop you.”
I wasn’t sure if I heard him correctly at first. It took a moment for the words to sink in, for me to register that he meant it.
“Really?” I asked.
He gave a rare smirk. “I have a funny feeling that you would do it with or without my blessing, so I might as well give it, right?”
He wasn’t wrong, but despite everything, I felt better knowing he was on board. I knew he might struggle with the idea of mates, but that didn’t stop the fact that I still felt that tug toward him.
Without realizing what I was doing, I jumped from the couch and pulled him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around me. I breathed in his scent, pleasant and leathery. Without realizing I was doing it, I tugged him closer to me.
“Thank you,” I said when I finally broke the embrace.
“Just be aware that I’m going to continue being worried about you,” he growled as he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “And that’s not going to stop.”
***
The next day, I met up with Emma and Rachel at Emma’s house.
“Rachel told me everything,” Emma said. “You’re still willing to help out?”
“Of course,” I said.
“How did Drake take all of it?” Rachel asked.
I shrugged. “He was surprised for sure. But he adapted quickly.”
I wasn’t going to tell them about our conversation or our fight. It was private. On top of that, I was still sorting out my feelings over the whole thing. Those sorts of outbursts were rare for me because most of the time I tried to keep them in. I always wanted to look on the bright side of things, and I always wanted to be happy, not angry. But Drake’s initial reluctance had pissed me off so much that it had sort of burst out without my meaning for it to. It had been as much a shock to me as it had been to Drake, probably.
