Page 58 of Brandon’s Mate

“You did. You do.” He let go of her hand, reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Want to know why I didn’t want you looking in my wallet the other day?”

“I figured you had a condom in there that was way past its expiration date because you hadn’t gotten laid in so long, and you didn’t want to be humiliated by me seeing it.”

He laughed and opened the wallet. There was a condom in there, and he flipped it over to her. She caught it and checked the expiration date. “Oh my gosh, Brand, that is sad.”

He laughed again. “That wasn’t what I didn’t want you to see, though.” He pulled out the other half of the necklace, without its chain, and turned it in his fingers. “It was this.”

Her eyes went wide, and she sucked in her breath. “You still have it.” She held out her hand and he put the jagged heart into it. She fitted them together, then looked up at him. “Why?”

He shrugged. “It reminded me of home. Of you.” He stepped closer to her, cupping her cheek in his hand. “It reminded me of a girl who wanted me to be her best friend, and her first love, and maybe even her forever.”

He stroked her hair back. “I didn’t think I could be those things, but whenever things got really bad, that necklace reminded me that somebody thought I could.”

“Oh, Brandon.” Tears filled her eyes, and she slid her arms around his waist. “I wish you’d stayed.”

“I told you. Flynn wouldn’t let me. The night I left for good, though, I came back for this necklace. I sneaked into the territory in the middle of the night and got it out of my stash in the top of the oak tree. I left practically everything else there, but not this.”

She leaned against him and kissed him over his heart.

“I’m surprised Flynn didn’t catch you. I’m pretty sure he can tell every time one of us crosses the territory boundaries.”

“He did know. He didn’t stop me, though. I thought—I thought he was glad to see me go.”

“That doesn’t sound like Flynn. What did he say?”

He told her about Flynn stopping him in the road, on the way out of the territory. What he’d said.

“And then he just let you go? With nothing? That’s definitely not like Flynn.”

“Not quite nothing.” He told her about the duffel bag Flynn had tossed into his truck.

Kitty was still standing with her arms around him. He ran his hands up and down her back, feeling the warmth of her.

“What was in the bag?” she asked.

“What do you think? Untraceable weapons. Fake IDs. A buttload of cash. Typical Flynn.”

Kitty giggled. “That right there should tell you something. Nothing says ‘I love you’ like fully backstopped false identities and cash with non-sequential serial numbers.”

“I guess, if you’re a paranoid ex-dragon guard.”

“What else was there?”

“Just a note.”

“What did it say?”

“I don’t know. I never read it.”

She stepped back, staring up at him. “Brandon Alexander Fierro! Why the hell not?”

He turned away from her. “Because I didn’t care what he fucking had to say, okay? He used to be my hero. Like another dad to me. And he didn’t even try to get me to stay. Hell, he practically paid me to go.”

She smacked him. “It was not like that. Maybe he knew you needed to. Two alphas in one territory is a bad thing.”

“I’m not an alpha,” he said. “Trust me on that.”

“But—”