“He said, ‘I’m okay.’”
“Hmm.”
“Which was a lie.”
“Hmm.”
“What? Every wolf gift he has is affected. That’s the opposite of okay.”
Maggie kept walking, didn’t comment. Her gait was stronger now, her posture easier than it had been a few days ago, and the sight brought a lightness to Kelsey’s step too, despite Trevor’s lie. Yes, it was a lie. This should be obvious. Yet Maggie’s lips pressed together as if trying to keep in her disagreement.
“Maggie, what?”
“He should have told you when you asked him. You did ask pointblank.”
“Exactly. But there’s ahoweveron your face.”
“Well… Kels, men use weird definitions sometimes, especially of words likeokay. He might be grading on some weird curve, likehave I lost any limbs this week? No, I’m okay.”
Kelsey laughed, tears still near the surface. She swiped a stray one from her cheek. “I’d give that to you one-hundred percent, if my question hadn’t followed a whole long discussion about being his mate.”
“Fair point.” They made it to the recliner, and Maggie sank down with a sigh. “My stamina sucks.”
“Hey, five laps is five times more than you could do a week ago.”
“I guess so. Thanks.”
Leaning to work the footrest lever was still too much for her, so Kelsey bent to do it. “Feet up?”
“Please.”
Once Maggie was settled, Kelsey got to work on lunch. By now her stomach rumbled, and maybe it was for the best that she’d missed cookout food with the pack. This way she could warm up Maggie’s lunch too, though her aunt had managed a few times now to do this herself. Just yesterday Ember had brought a pot of chili, made with Malachi’s venison.
She spoke to Kelsey as a friend. She treated Maggie with care, as if she were extended family of pack. As if her niece were already bonded to a wolf.
Had it all been ruined?
Kelsey brought two steaming bowls to the living room. Chili had been the obvious choice, given her mood, and Maggie had requested only that she not eat chicken teriyaki again this week. Kelsey curled up in the chair across from her, balanced her bowl and tugged a throw blanket around her. She wasn’t really cold, but the blanket was comforting. The warm bowl in her hands helped too.
“I don’t know what to do now,” she said. “Maybe I belong in Raleigh after all. Maybe I belong with some boring human who’ll always answer exactly what I ask him.”
“If that’s what you want, then that’s what you should do,” Maggie said, but a smile twitched for release. “Keep in mind you just described that man asboring.”
Kelsey took a bite, then made herself respond. “You think I belong with Trevor.”
“I think you should talk to him.”
“How do I know he’ll tell the truth this time?”
“Well, is he a liar?”
“Absolutely not.” How could Maggie suggest such a thing? Kelsey’s fingers tightened on her bowl.
“Hold on now, think about the question. You just said hisI’m okaything was a lie.”
“He is not a liar. I know him. Maybe better than anybody else does.”
Trevor. Whispering to her that his brother had changed under the full moon last night, which according to Ezra might give Trevor a better statistical chance not to. Two years later, weeping in her arms because he was a werewolf after all. A few years after that, trembling with nerves and joy because they had together decided sixteen and fifteen were old enough to show each other their bodies. Pressing his lips to hers, then pulling back to tell her she didn’t have to worry, he would never do anything without asking her first and then double checking that she had said yes.
