Danzig finally put down his fork. I looked at his plate to find it empty. A look around told me that while we'd been talking, he'd eaten about half of all the food on the table. Leaning back in his chair with a satisfied sigh, he patted his belly. “That was perfect.”
“Did you chew?” I teased.
“Some,” he responded, grabbing a napkin and daintily dabbing the corners of his mouth. After I chuckled, he tossed the napkin down and picked up his beer. “I nearly shifted into my serpent form so I could swallow all the food whole. But I decided to be nice and share dinner.”
“How thoughtful of you,” I teased. It was nice to have Danzig back to his normal, good-natured self. It was also nice to be around Marduk and not have every other sentence about how I needed to be safe and let them into my life.
This dinner felt nice. Low stress and as if even Marduk was ready to listen to me.
“I wish this was how it always was.”
I didn't realize I'd said that out loud until Danzig started talking.
“I feel your discomfort is all my fault,” he said.
My jaw dropped. He was the easy going twin. Out of the two, Danzig was far more likely to tease, joke, and talk to me before acting.
“How is this your fault?” I asked.
He let out a long breath. “The day we met was traumatic for you. A lot happened and instead of giving you space to come to terms with everything, I kept following you around.”
“And you were naked,” I said, vividly remembering his body. Those memories might have featured in a few of my dreams.
He didn't smile or make a joke. “Shifters are used to nudity, but it's not part of your culture. I was insensitive to you in so many ways that day. And that night.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I shifted into my snake form and snuck into your room,” he said. “I was there when Mila handed you her dog.”
“No, you couldn't have been,” I said. “That guest room wasn't very big.”
“I was hiding under the bed,” he said, looking ashamed.
“That's why Babette was so insistent on investigating under there,” I said.
“There's more,” he said.
“I got there a little later,” Marduk said. “We spent the night curled at the foot of your bed in snake form.”
Danzig blinked rapidly as he spoke. “That's why this is all my fault. I knew you wouldn't approve of what I did, but I did it anyway and invited my brother to join me. That set the tone of our relationship. You asking for time and space and the two of us ignoring you. It's not right.”
Marduk rubbed his hands over his face, looking deeply upset. “I’ve been thinking a lot about it. If I had a child and a male was treating her the way we've been treating you, I'd want to murder him, even if he was my child's mate.”
I was impressed at everything the men were saying, but this was a lot to think about.
“I'm going up to my room to call Mila,” I said.
I stood up and grabbed my phone. Marduk stood up. “Do you want us to leave?”
I looked down at Danzig. He still looked pale and I noticed he hadn't stood up. “No, you guys can stay.”
I really needed to talk to my best friend in the entire world and have her help me work out my thoughts and feelings.
Chapter 10
Bec
The moment Mila answered the phone I started talking. Because she was wonderful, she let me explain everything that had happened, but that wasn't all. After giving her the facts, I vomited out every thought and feeling that passed through my brain.
