Page 17 of Broken Wolf

They were all shocked—even Brian—and couldn’t hide it, but Dain looked like I’d kicked him in the nuts… Which surprised me. He’d felt something from me, so why was he acting like this?

“I can’t prove a negative like that,” he rasped. “That’s not fair nor—”

“I didn’t say it was,” I agreed. “You pushed me to say what Phobie just made me realize in therapy a few days ago. But it’s true. None of you really associate with or befriend humans. If you passed me on the street, you wouldn’t ever have taken notice of me or—”

“I don’t think that’s true for a second,” Axel muttered. “And I’ve been with lots of humans.”

I nodded, scrubbing my hand over my head. “I’m not saying it is fair,” I repeated, glad when they backed down. “He asked why I forgive Brian more than the rest of you. That’s the answer. He loved the original Sera that no one loved.” I shrugged. I wasn’t sure what else to say. “I don’t think we would have the relationships we have if I was her.”

“Part of that is just maturing,” Hagan defended. “I’m not the same guy I was in my twenties or before we lost our parents. Life shapes us all around.”

“Good points,” I accepted, bobbing my head. “You might want to think about it and talk to Phobie.” I sighed when he seemed shocked. “I think that’s where she saw my therapy going once I could wrap my mind around this. It wasn’t like I knew I felt this way.” I snorted. “I never know how I feel or—”

“I know how I felt. I know how much I love you, but sometimes you won’t let me love you,” Dain cut in.

“Sometimes you don’t show me in the way I need to understand,” I told him. I shrugged again when he gave me a hurt look. “You were the one who showed me how much Brian loved me. I’ve been holding onto that with both hands during this whole rough patch. Why the hell haven’t you shown me how you feel about me? When you can?”

He turned around and walked away, and my heart broke as tears filled my eyes… Except he didn’t leave. He just went inside.

Huh?

“He knows how much walking away from you destroyed you both once,” Axel explained for me. “He’s taking a breath and not overwhelming you with his emotions but making it clear he’s not bailing.”

That helped. “Thanks.”

“I’m sorry you’re going through something so rough and I didn’t catch it.”

I shrugged, deciding to be mature if he was. “I didn’t either and we have too much going on. Honestly, it just stung a bit until Freddie and Jessica noticed and you guys didn’t.” I met his gaze. “I didn’t blame Brian when he’s new.”

“But I did notice, I just didn’t realize it,” Brian sighed.

“And we have a theory on why we didn’t notice, and that made me realize that might be the missing piece,” Eugene said, gesturing to the rest of them, including Dain inside. He waited for me to nod to go ahead. “We’re born supes. Freddie, Jessica, Carter, and Noah were human. So was Brian. They notice…” He glanced at Axel.

“Slipping back into human behaviors?” he offered. “We are too used to people ignoring fibs because it’s considered polite. It didn’t even register with me because I would have assumed you adjusted like using ‘gods’ instead of ‘god.’ But I never had to adjust to the change at all. Did I know you flinched when people lie around you? Yes, but I didn’t notice all the time.”

I considered what he said and nodded. “Thanks. That makes sense. I’ll think on that. Really.”

“Are you really okay?” Hagan worried. “That was all we came to ask.” He shot Eugene a nasty look.

The huge dire wolf huffed and squatted down next to me. “I’m sorry. I just thought how scared you must have been, and you normally come to me when scared. I got bitchy. Smack me, but we’re worried, not ganging up on you.”

“Eva will set me straight and help me,” I promised them, hoping it was true.

5

I woke to a text from Reagan asking if I would join him for breakfast by the pool so we could talk. I was glad he’d realized—as the others had—that I liked having discussions and meetings up there instead of in my apartment.

It was more neutral and I didn’t retain the bad in my space then. I didn’t stare at spots and constantly rerun what happened in my mind.

I had enough of those already. Sometimes I still looked at the spot where I broke down after finding Brian hadn’t told me about his promotion and had brought Andrew Murray back into my life.

I hurried through my normal morning routine and grabbed everything I needed for the gym and work so I could head out right after breakfast. I left it all in the party room and went outside to meet him.

“Good morning,” he said from behind me.

I jumped and let out a yelp, turning to face him with a frown.

“You blew right by me,” he chuckled. “I was getting ice from the freezer and grabbing the last of everything.”

---