My stomach drops.
“I raised you, boy,” he continues, his eyes never leaving mine. “I know what you look like when you have feelings for a woman.”
“Coach.”
He raises one hand. “I’ve been wondering for weeks. I told myself I was reading too much into it. Then I came around that corner and saw your wolf in your eyes over a woman who isn’t supposed to be anything to you. That’s not a fake fiancée, Grayson. It’s something I should have caught earlier and didn’t because I wanted to be wrong.”
“It’s not—”
“Even now your wolf is in your eyes. She’s your fated mate.”
I look at the wall behind his shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was worried about Eth—”
He slaps me on the back of my head, and I stumble forward.
“Don’t insult me.”
There is something in his face I was not expecting. It isn’t the cold pack-alpha look. It’s something older, the look of the man who taught me how to hunt when I was fourteen, the man who picked Gabriel and me up from school the day our parents died.
I press my lips together and then say quietly, “Coach, I can’t live without her. I won’t. If you tell me to walk away, I won’t be able to do it.”
He looks at me for a long time, and then he sighs.
“Once this custody mess is resolved, we petition the Council.”
I go still. “No. No, I’m not going to risk her life.”
His brow lifts. “What?”
I look at the wall behind his shoulder, anywhere but at him, and my jaw works. “I’m not stupid, Coach. Annie was approved by the Council, and she’s dead. They had been vocal about human mates.”
Coach’s eyes narrow.
I made the mistake once of bringing this up at the grave a few months after the funerals. He told me I was a man drowning in grief who needed something to blame, and so I dropped it. The rest of it I’ve never said out loud to him.
His face changes slowly, like weather moving over the mountain, and I watch the recognition arrive in pieces.
“You think the Council had her killed.”
“I think the Accord exists because they don’t want humans in our world. Gabriel made them give him permission, and they gave it. Then they took it back the only way they could. I am not putting Miranda in front of those men,” I hiss.
Coach doesn’t answer. His hand comes off my arm, and for a moment, he looks at the floor between us before his face closes over again.
“That’s not how the Council works.”
I meet his gaze. “I can live with Miranda without the mark. You just have to give us permission to get married. I won’t mark her.”
“That’s not possible, son.” Coach sighs. “You need the Council’s approval, Grayson. They had nothing to do with Annie’s death. It was an accident.”
“Coach, you can’t expect me to—”
“Once this is resolved, we will talk.” His voice is calm. “But make sure your wolf is in control when you’re with Miranda. You need healers to help her when you mark her. She’s human. She will transform into a hybrid wolf. She will need healers by her side, Grayson. And for that, you need the Council’s approval.”
I look away. “Can I go now?”
He just sighs and walks away.
Movement at the far end of the hallway catches my eye.
