“Hey,” Elliott answered, the room swirling behind him and his tousled hair as he moved around his kitchen doing the exact same thing as her—if she had to guess. “How are you? I missed you last night.”
She smiled softly, lower lip quivering as she peeled the thin lid from a creamer and set it down to grab a second. “I’m fine.”
“You seem sad for Ren.”
“I am. And I’m scared,” she admitted softly, lining another creamer up as her mug finished brewing.
Elliott carried his coffee out to the back porch. “What about?”
“Us.”
“Do younotwant to mate anymore?” he checked, but she had the sneaking suspicion he was being performative with that question. He had to know how she felt about him.
He was everything she’d never dreamed of, the type of man who was so perfect she couldn’t have thought him up in the first place. “I still do. I absolutely still do, but I’m terrified, Elliott. I don’t want to get cheated on. I don’t know how Ren’s still standing. What if it broke her inside, and the wounds aren’t showing yet?”
Scott made his horrible choice, and Ren had to live with the consequences, with feeling unworthy of love, of happiness, of commitment, of a future with someone who cared for her more than he cared about himself.
It was unfair and terrifying and could happen toanyone.
“Fern?” Her name rolled from Elliott’s mouth, a stern question, andshe realized he’d probably been speaking to her.
“Sorry. Scared.”
He sighed sympathetically. “I wish I was with you right now so I could say this in person, but listen to me and believe me, okay?”
She grunted.
“I willnevercheat on you. I think it’s reprehensible. I would never want to anyway, and I won’t be able to once we’re mated, so don’t ever worry about it, please. It’ll never happen.”
“You won’t be able to cheat? How?”
“Magic, baby.”
She snorted a sad laugh.
“Seriously, it’s shifter magic. I’ve heard I won’t even be able to get hard for anyone but you—not that I’m planning to try. But if I did try to spend time with someone else, think those sorts of thoughts about anyone but you, it would hurt me and my animal, or so I’ve been told.”
“Someone’s tested it before?”
“I’m assuming so. I don’t plan to.” With his phone in one hand and his handmade mug in the other, Elliott smiled at her before his gaze drifted beyond the camera. She assumed he was watching the birds—maybe a squirrel.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and his eyes snapped back to her.
“Fern, I— I think you’re amazing. I’llhappilystart the bonding with you whenever you’re ready.”
Nodding, she admitted, “I think we have to wait a little while. I don’t know when Ren’ll be ready to leave. I can’t abandon her, and I feelso bad, like I shouldn’t be making this commitment when her world just fell apart.”
“I understand. My offer won’t change. Whenever you’re ready, say the word. Better yet, show up naked.”
She laughed, pulling a bright smile from his handsome face as the door beeped and the handle turned.
“Get off the phone,” Liv said, elbowing the door out of the way and barreling in, a box of pastries in her hands. Ren’s red-rimmed eyes peeked over Olivia’s shoulder. “Her family fucking turned around, and we’ve gota wedding to cancel.”
Elliott’s eyes widened, and Fern shrugged.
“Call—or show up—whenever you can,” he said softly, and they said their goodbyes.
20
