“My mate… our mate was hungry, and the town doesn’t even think about waking up before ten,” I answered on a pained wheeze. “So I drove her to Galway, bought her breakfast, groceries, and clothes that actually fit. Figured she’d had enough of my joggers and oversized tees.”
“You couldn’t have fed her here? There’s plenty in the kitchen, and it’s a mate’s duty to —”
“Fuckin’ hell, the way I won’t miss your sanctimonious bullshit.” I finally managed to straighten up, though pain still shot through my gut.“She doesn’t like my cooking. Thought it’d be nicer to take her somewhere proper where she could order what she wanted. Jayzus, don’t you ever tire of being a complete nutter?”
Wild stared at me with unhinged anime villain eyes. “So, this morning you woke up and thought, ‘Yeah, today’s a grand day to get murdered.’”
I snorted. “Aren’t you a wee dote? Acting as if you were capable of doing anything that went against the prophecy. You do not tell me how to act with our mate. She ismine,too."
The Feral King raised his fist even higher. “Why ye fuckin’ city —”
“Wild, please stop.” Naomi scrambled back between us. “I’m sore, I’m tired, and I don’t understand why you’re reacting — why you’reoverreactinglike this.”
Wild’s feral gaze darted from her to me. His side of our bond stayed blocked, but I didn’t need it to feel the rage rollingoff him.
He pointed at me and snarled, “Fuck you, Dublin. And your entire snooty good-for-bollocks city line.”
“Wild!” Naomi said again. “You can’t just…”
He didn’t give her a chance to finish. He stormed off, disappearing around the side of the house.
Leaving Naomi to stare after him, confusion radiating over her side of the mate bond.
“We thought you’d kipped off back to Dublin.”
Naomi and I looked up to see Sea leaning against the open doorway of the Belfast House like he’d come to see the show but didn’t want to get wet. Or involved.
“Jayzus Christ, Sea. Were you there the entire time, man? Why the hell didn’t you say anything — or at least intervene before he…?”
Sea shrugged. “Next time, leave a note to tell us where you’re going, City King.”
“That doesn’t make sense!” Naomi said before I could answer.“If Wild was so angry about us leaving, why was he so upset when we came back?”
Sea and I exchanged a look over her head.
Naomi’s eyes narrowed as she glanced between the two of us. “I’m guessing from the way both your bond lines have gone mute that this is yet another question I need to ask Wild.”
“Or you could give him some time to cool off,” Sea suggested with a diplomatic tilt of his head. “Come in out of the rain. Then we can —”
Sea didn’t get tofinish either.
“Where are you going?” he called after Naomi when she flipped the hood of her new parka up and blasted past him instead of taking him up on his suggestion.
“To finally get some answers!” she yelled over her shoulder before disappearing around the corner in the same direction as Wild.
Wild
A Wild Wolfwould rather be caught dead than caught out complaining about the weather. But this shitey cold rain was taking the absolute piss out of me as I tore off toward the lake side of the house, full-on mocking me for losing it on Dublin.
It wasn’t just the cold rain biting at my skin. Shame clawed at my gut, gnawing at me with every step. Seriously, Wild? Couldn’t even manage a few minutes of pretend civility for her sake? Are you truly no fuckin’ better than your father?
Clearly, I wasn’t.
I thought fulfilling my part in the prophecy would free me from the ticking bomb of history rattling around inside my DNA. But all it did was unlock the door to memories I’d buried deep, dragging them to the surface like drowned corpses.
Nearly twenty years had passed since that day, but the images hit me like fresh punches as I stormed off along the lake path.
Sea and me walking into the residence beside my father, our catch of foxes and rabbits swinging from our hands…
