My response had been met positively with a great deal of relief on their part.
According to the details they’d shared, the chaotic nature of earlier events outside one of theVantiqelocations had unfolded less than an hour ago.
They’d expected Winter to come straight to me, but he hadn’t.
I strode to my dresser and hurriedly opened the bottom drawer and took out a black muscle tee. I pulled it on, having been studying shirtless. It was something I did, finding it helped me to reach a more relaxing and open state. Strange, perhaps. A fact, however.
I was about to head out to scent-track Winter—with his magic unstable it would be much harder to track him via his magical signature—but then his sandalwood scent caught my attention.
Down the hall.
I frowned when it didn’t grow stronger.
He was pacing up and down nearby, then. Hesitating.
I waited patiently.
Several moments passed before it finally intensified.
And then an urgent knock sounded on my door.
I unlocked it and threw it open with a spark of my magic.
Winter strode on in, eyes wild, in a true state.
“Vax, I’m… barging in is… I’m sorry, I just—” He shoved his hand through his hair. “I needed… Ineedyour help. And I shouldn’t—I mean—putting it off forthislong…fuck,it was stupid. No, it was dangerous and selfish.” He tugged at his soft brown strands. “And now… now people are—”
“Iknow, Winter. I know what has happened.”
He jolted. “You… what?”
I went to him quickly and grasped his upper arms, holding him to me. “I was informed shortly before your arrival.”
“Evira and Zayn,” he murmured, nodding to himself.
“They were concerned. Theyareconcerned.”
He screwed up his face. “She’s gonna be exposed because of me.”
“She mentioned in her messages that she’d made the decision to do that.”
“I know, but—” He stilled, frowning in thought. “I mean, Iknow.And I’m glad that it was her decision to make. And that she’s no longer allowing outside pressure to govern who she is, or what and who she wants. But with it being my magical mishap that pushed it along—”
“It was the catalyst. Things were already moving toward this as it was. She was drawing closer to Zayn, even to me recently. You’ve drawn close to me. Zayn has. You’re seeing a way through with Zayn and wanting to drop the barrier you’ve erected. It was all coming to a head. Focus on the fact that she’s made the stand, not how it came about. Because, regardless, a definitive choice was still made. And now, Winter, we move forward.” I eyed him pointedly. “And that’s why you’ve come to me, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “I’m ready. To do this, to delve into the research you compiled. To see to this infuriating glitching.”
“Tonight was the catalyst for you too, you see?”
“Yeah, I do. And I’m sorry, Vax.”
“Sorry?”
“I slowed things down between us because of issues that were mine, that didn’t belong to you, issues that I guess I… projected onto you.”
“You mean you projectedZaynonto me.”
He grimaced. “Yes. And now I’ve left you hanging for days on end after awakening your long-buried sexual… appetite. I apologize.”
