“What of it?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “You refused her help. Of course you did. You fool.”
“Evie has taken all she will ever get from me.”
“You will die if you do not allow her to help.”
I touched my cheek and wondered how true his words were. “I’ll take my chances.”
Rowan changed the subject. “She would have stayed with you forever, Caelan.”
I didn’t want to think about what my life would have been like if I’d stayed with her. I made the right choice, didn’t I? “Evie could not have given me what I needed.”
The other Lord sighed. “Love? Power? Meaning? She could have given you all of that and more, but you were a stubborn fool and chose to cast her out.”
“My people come first!” I heard the words and realized they sounded hollow.
“Your people would have been protected for the rest of their lives with her standing as their Lady.”
“She could not give me heirs.”
Rowan’s anger crackled over the line. “Heirs that you approved of. How very elitist of you, Lord.”
The word dripped with condescension.
“You can have her.” My words are petulant and sound childish.
Rowan laughed. “I will be lucky if she comes back to me after what you’ve done to her. You will reap what you’ve sowed, Caelan. Mark my words.”
“Enjoy my used seconds.”
I’d gone too far. Even over the telephone, I could feel his rage. And when he spoke once more, I knew I’d shattered our friendship into dust. “When we next meet, we will meet as enemies. Speak of my mate like that again, and I will revel in tearing the flesh from your bones.”
The line went dead.
His mate.
Rowan and Evie weremates.
What had I done?
The phone crumbled into metal in my hands.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
He met me on the grounds, about a half-mile away from his residence. Hands tucked into his pockets and an unreadable look on his handsome face, he watched me approach.
I stopped a few feet away, my heart pounding like a drum. “I seek refuge for me and my people.”
My father, Moira, Tess, and Ash stood just off the edge of his wards waiting to see what would happen.
One of his dark eyebrows rose. “Your people?”
I nodded. “And, um, my shop.”
His lips twitched. “Does this have anything to do with the phone call I just received from a very angry Lord in Texas?”
