Page 104 of Vicious Luna

“I guess so,” I shrug. “I mean, up until Mom died. Then all this shit with The Guild started and I had to grow up pretty quick.”

Cole drops his gaze to his coffee cup, thumbing the lid again. “I wish I could’ve seen you grow up,” he murmurs quietly, almost to himself.

“Me too,” I rasp.

Another pause settles between us, my knee bouncinganxiously as I consider how different my life might’ve been if Cole was involved from the beginning. He seems like a stand-up guy, and I can feel the truth of that intuitively. I could’ve been raised with loving parents alongside siblings. I could’ve grown up understanding what I was; could’ve met Avery under different circumstances where we weren’t fundamentally at odds with one another. It’s crazy to think how one snap decision made out of fear changed my life’s entire trajectory.

“Areyouhappy?” Cole asks, breaking the silence.

I turn to look at him, narrowing my eyes. “Right now, or in general?”

“In general, I guess.”

“That’s a loaded question.” I make a scoffing sound in my throat, stabbing my fingers through my hair as I glance back toward the pond, blowing out a slow breath. “The past few weeks have been a lot, but I think I’m getting there. As happy as I can be, anyway, since I’ll always have to live with regret for the things I’ve done.”

“Can't change the past, even if we all wish we could,” he sighs. “The only thing we can do is learn from it and try to do better.”

I turn to meet his eyes, giving him a tight nod.

“Cameron…”

“Cam,” I correct.

“Cam,” he repeats, nodding. “I know this situation isn’t really ideal, but I’d like to get to know you, if you’re open to it. Make up for some of the time we’ve lost.”

“Yeah, I’d like that too,” I mumble, raking a hand through my hair.

His gaze lifts to follow the movement, the ghost of a smile crossing his lips. “You’ve got the curly Bauer hair.”

I freeze, slowly lowering my hand back down to my lap. “Can you tell me about them?” I ask. “About your family?”

He smiles fondly, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Ofcourse. Everyone says your brother Hayes is a lot like me. He’s not a big talker, but he’s always listening, and he’s got a knack for problem solving. Which is a good thing, since your brother JJ is just like his mom. If you tell him to do something, you can almost guarantee he’ll do the opposite just to prove a point that he can’t be controlled. The kid’s like a magnet for trouble.”

“I know someone like that,” I remark, chuckling lowly.

“I bet,” he muses. “Astrid mentioned that you’re fated to Avery Kessler.”

I nod, taking a swig of coffee.

“She as wild as her mom?”

I dart him a smirk as I lower my cup. “That’s putting it lightly.”

Cole chuckles softly, shaking his head. “You’re lucky, you know,” he sighs, leaning back and kicking an ankle up to rest on his opposite knee. “Not every shifter finds their other half. A lot of them take chosen mates and never get to experience the fated bond.”

“Did you?”

His lips curve into a smile. “Yeah. And even though Juliet and I couldn’t be more different, she’s my match in every way. Fate always has a plan, even if it’s hard to see at first.” His smile slowly fades, that haunted quality returning to his eyes. “I told her about you when we first got together,” he murmurs. “She helped me through my grief over losing you before ever getting to meet you. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was exactly what I needed at that point in my life. She brought me out of the shadows, gave me some perspective and helped me learn how to enjoy life again.”

As I turn my gaze back to the pond, I can’t help but draw parallels between his situation with his mate and my own. I was grieving Ben when Avery walked into my life, and she was like a fucking ray of light in the darkness. She became my reason to keep soldiering on. That was before I evendiscovered what I am or what she is to me, but looking back, I always knew there was something different about her; something soul-deep in our connection.

She could’ve tossed me aside like Jonathan did, but she didn’t. She answered my questions about werewolves. She helped me understand what I am. She taught me how to shift. As misguided as it was, she ran into that fucking cabin to save my life, which is more than anyone’s ever done for me. It’s more than I deserve.She’smore than I deserve.

“Delilah’s our youngest, and she’s on the quieter side, but she’s starting to come out of her shell more and more every day,” Cole continues, picking up right where he left off. “She’s good with computers, like Astrid and Sloane.”

“Is that kind of thing genetic?” I wonder aloud.

Cole swivels to face me, arching a brow. “You an IT guy?”

---