“Excuse me?” my eyes widened in surprise.
Anders pointed out the front door. “We’ve got guests, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s impolite to argue about something dumb when they’re here.”
“Dumb? Anders, that woman tried to kill me.”
He snorted and shrugged. “Well…she didn’t, did she? What’s the big deal? She told me all about that. It’s water under the bridge. Come on, help me out. Grab the broccoli salad from the fridge.”
And just like that, he switched off and turned to check on the potatoes in the oven. I gaped at him. Too in shock to do more than obey, I walked to the refrigerator like a zombie and took out the giant bowl of salad.
The rest of the evening didn’t go much better. Between the incessant sports talk, replay of past glories, and Eugenia’s presence, I was miserable by the end of the night. The woman wasopenlyflirting with my paired mate. At one point, I returned from the bathroom to find her sitting on Anders’s lap.
Still trying to do what I could to salvage the evening, I sat on the couch beside Anders as we watched a ball game. Eugenia pointed at the screen and laughed as one of the players accidentally kicked the ball out of bounds.
“What a loser,” she said, then flicked her eyes toward me. “Dumbass. It’s like someone taking twenty-seven years to figure out how to shift.”
Flaming rage roared to life inside me, a brazier of shock and anger. I would have told her to go fuck herself, but Anders and all his friends chuckled along. Anders nudged me with his elbow, still grinning.
“Oh, come on, June, you know that’s funny. Who cares? It’s just a joke. Stop looking put out. Damn.” He shook his head and turned back to the TV, sipping at his beer.
Locking eyes with Eugenia, I watched with numb detachment as she lifted an eyebrow, and while never taking her gaze from mine, put her hand on Anders’ thigh. Her fingers weren’t anywhere near his knee, but instead close to his crotch. The sheer audacity of her actions threw me into a mental abyss of helplessness.
Anders was supposed to be my mate, the man I’d spend the rest of my life with. He’d done and said all the right things to get me to come home and be with him, and after what happened with Levi, I was too emotionally distraught to think it was anything but a lifeline. Now? After a few weeks of seeing his behavior and treatment toward me? I was having a hard time talking myself into thinking I’d made the right choice.
Levineverwould have allowed Eugenia to make a joke at my expense. Heneverwould have allowed another woman to flirt with him, especially not in front of his own mate. Anders was not the man I wanted him to be, and I didn’t know if he ever would be. As awful and terrifying as it was, I couldn’t stop wondering if perhaps I’d made a terrible mistake.
Throughout the rest of the evening, I stayed mostly silent, contemplating what I could do. Anders and I needed to have a major discussion, but not now, not while his friends and Eugenia were around.
Of course, she wasstillthere when I left. The only thing I could think of was the way he’d been pushing and pushing for us to have sex, and I kept putting it off. Was Eugenia giving him what he couldn’t get from me? That thought had me more pissed off than I should have been by the time I lay down in my bed late that night. When my eyes slipped closed, though, it wasn’t Anders who was on my mind. Instead, it was Levi. His kindness, his strength, and his gentle love. A single word echoed through my mind as I slipped off to sleep.
Mistake.
63
LEVIATHAN
Iwoke the next morning with a bitter, sharp disappointment burning in my chest. I’d dreamed I was back in Hidden Grove, and everything with June had played out differently. There’d been no obsession with Naphele; I never spoke her name in my sleep, and June had stayed with me. Life was good, and the day was warm. Instead, I woke in a bed that wasn’t mine, with no warm body beside me, and outside the weather had again turned cold, with the tiny hiss of sleet pattering on the windows. Winter simply wouldnotrelease us from its grip.
As I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to force myself to get ready for the day, I stared out the window. There were no women scheduled to come by today—of course, that didn’t mean none would show up. That should have been a good problem to have, but it didn’t stir my excitement. Everything about my search for a mate rang hollow now that I knew—or at least highly suspected—that June was right. Naphele’s spirit was demanding justice before she could reincarnate. The search was pointless for two reasons; Naphele was still discarnate, and there was a woman aliveright nowthat I loved but couldn’t have. June.
Eyeing the storm outside, I grumbled to myself as I got dressed. I’d go to the shop first and see if June was there. Itold myself it was to talk about the case, but deep down, I simply wanted to see her. Our interaction the night before had been refreshing and made me think there might be the tiniest glimmer of hope. Would she leave her home or her paired mate? Probably not, but perhaps I could still be part of her life. My wolf didn’t like the idea of only being her friend because he wanted her, but I was more pragmatic about things. Sometimes people had a duty and made promises. June was the type of person who would do what she needed to do.
The run to the store was miserable. The tiny ice beads hurt even through my fur, and the air was a blustery wet cold that was nothing like the mild and unseasonably warm weather from the day before. When I finally got to the store, I made sure I was under the awning before shifting back. In my human form I was dry, but the cold still seeped in, and I shivered when I stepped inside. My irritation at the weather vanished when I saw June. She was crying, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen, her cheeks flushed. A sudden and violent anger filled me, and I wanted to break whoever or whatever had made her cry.
“Shit,” she muttered when she saw me and grabbed a tissue from under the counter. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“Why are you crying, June?” I had to force myself not to round the corner and take her in my arms. “What happened?”
She blew her nose, then shrugged one shoulder. “Anders and I had a fight this morning. I called him about… about something, and he flipped out.”
“Something? What does that mean?”
She threw the tissue in the trash can. “Eugenia,” she hissed.
My heart lurched. IknewI’d seen her the night before. I’d hoped I was mistaken, but I hadn’t been. I’d even planned on searching for her today, so I could confront her before telling June that Eugenia was in Idlewild.
“Did she hurt you?” I asked, the muscles in my jaw flexing as I thought about the woman doing anything to June.
“Not really,” June said. “Not physically anyway. She’s become buddies with Anders. She was at his house last night for dinner with his friends. She was making jokes at my expense, flirting with Anders, treating me like dogshit, and Anders didn’t do anything to stop her.” As she spoke her eyes welled with tears again, and her voice cracked. “I really thought he was changing. I didn’t know it was going to be this hard.”
