With a snort, Max rolled his eyes. “To put you out of your misery, Mase. No, Rys didn’t go into detail. He said he wouldn’t fucking trust you if his life depended on it. But since mine does, and I do, then it’s not his concern. Then he told me to be careful.”
I stared at him, mouth hanging open, but words eluded me.
He trusted me enough to ignore his cousin’s warning?
“You’ve only known me a month,” I said, fully aware I was attempting to sabotage myself.
“I know.” Max smiled, the warmth in his eyes never failing to make my breath catch. But not in the way his cousin’s had once.
No one had affected me like that before Rys. Or after.
Max’s warmth affected me in a familial way, that feeling of belonging wrapped around me, making me feel part of a whole instead of looking in from the outside.
“How can you trust me, then?”
Max raised an eyebrow. “As a hunter you must have come into contact with your fair share of shifters.” I winced, but Max ignored it, not saying it to cause hurt. “And then again since you started working with the paranormal police. Right?”
“Yes, but—”
“So you know how heavily we rely on our instincts? Trusting that gut feeling, the one deep inside that you just know is steering you in the right direction?”
I swallowed, throat suddenly tight, knowing what he was leading up to. “I do.”
Max sat forward, elbows resting on his desk and meeting my gaze with a look so open, I felt a little floored. “I got that feeling as soon as we were introduced. Whatever you’ve done in your past, whatever guilt you’re carrying from it—” He pointed a finger in my direction. “Because I know that you are. I trust you, in here.” He laid a hand over the centre of his chest.
I was about to point out that wasn’t where his gut was, but his next words stopped me.
“Like I told Rys, I trust you with my life. Need to if we’re going to be partners. And my instincts haven’t steered me wrong yet.”
I bet Rys can’t say the same.
“So stop looking like I’m going to kick you to the kerb the second I know what happened between you and my cousin. Because I won’t. We all make mistakes, and the man you are now is all that matters. Okay?”
I nodded.
Then scrubbed a hand over my face. How had our conversation got so heavy all of a sudden? “Okay.”
Max rubbed his hands together, then braced them on top of the desk. “Don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough for one day.”
“Same.” I yawned, jaw cracking, and Max laughed.
“Let’s head out. I want to drop by Sherwood Pines tomorrow and check on Callum. Need to get a full statement from Falon and the rest of his pack.”
“Yeah.” We’d only got a brief outline of what had happened when Falon called it in. I had more questions and I’d bet Max did too. But that could wait until tomorrow. If the same pattern was being followed, we had about a couple of weeks before another non-human would be reported as out of control.
If.
It might not happen.
With one last glance at the new addition to our board, I grabbed my phone and car keys. At least Callum was still alive.
For now.
RYS
Sun streamedthrough the gap in the curtains. I never closed them fully, liked to see the moon no matter what phase she was in.
It was early, the house quiet in a way it rarely was. We’d invested in soundproofing areas of the house that required privacy, but it was a rare occasion that anyone actually bothered to shut their bedroom doors, something comforting about hearing the soft snores and murmurs of fellow pack mates throughout the night.
