Page 18 of Forever Mine

“What?”

“I growled at her, Liam. I growled!”

I laughed. “I told you, it's not that big a deal. Kelsey nearly snapped the heads off more than one unsuspecting she-wolf when she and Kyle were going through it. It's totally normal.”

I didn't know what to say or do when she turned sad, watery eyes on me.

“You don't understand. You could never understand. I'm not like you. I'm not like her. I don't growl.”

She was so distraught. “Talk to me,” I begged her.

She walked away from me and looked out over the water, just crying for a minute before speaking again. It was the worst feeling of my life. I knew my mate was hurting, but I didn't know how to help her.

“The night I left—” she started, but was interrupted.

“Mommy! Oh my gosh, it was so cool!” Oscar hugged close to her side and looked up at her face. Angry, disappointed eyes glared back at me. “You said you would watch out for her. I trusted you!” he yelled, and I felt it all the way to my soul.

“Stop,” Maddie told him. “Oscar, baby, look at me. I'm fine. This isn't Liam's fault.”

“Yes, it is. I thought maybe an old friend would help you. Make you happy, but he's only making you sadder. Mommy, you're crying. You never cry. Not in front of anyone, at least.”

She looked crushed at his confession. I knew without asking that she tried very hard to hide it from him, and I could tell by Oscar's reaction that it was not an uncommon occurrence.

“Come on, Mommy, let's go back to the hotel and I'll tell you all about it.”

He was placating her, treating her like she was the child and he was the parent. She had been about to open up to me and now I wasn't sure I'd ever really know the truth. She looked embarrassed, mortified even, and I could easily see she was about to give in to the kid and do what he asked.

“Mm—” I almost slipped and said Maddie. “Jane, please don't.”

She took a deep breath. Wiped her eyes and kissed the top of Oscar's head. “I'd love to hear all about it,” she told him, completely ignoring me.

My wolf was frantic and I had to actually fight to maintain control when she turned sadly to me and said, “It was nice to see you, Liam. I'm glad we got the chance to catch up some.”

I stood there and watched her leave. Jacob and Annie stared at me for a minute before turning to follow them. It was the lowest I had ever felt in my life. The thing was, I had never been mean to Maddie as a kid, but I had always shown her this cool indifference, because secretly I had always loved Madelyn Collier. I had been a good kid up until her disappearance. I rarely ever got into trouble and when I did I knew I could just schmooze my way out of it. I had the gift of charm, my mother said.

I had prayed and secretly hoped for much of my life that I would be blessed with Maddie as a mate, or at the very least, someone just like her. As far as I was concerned, the fates had smiled down on me today. The only girl who had ever had my heart, even if she didn't know it, was the only one who would ever own it, but seeing the dejection in her as she walked away was breaking it.

When she had disappeared from my life the first time, I began heavily dating. I was known as a womanizer through college and I drank and partied too much. I was the fun, carefree guy everyone wanted to hang out with. Mark and Steph knew better, but the rest just saw me as they chose. I had straightened up and stopped drinking entirely after Dad's injury. I knew I would be called up to take over the family business, and I couldn't let him or Kyle down.

I hadn't had a drink in twenty-one months, so why did I suddenly feel the urge to drown myself into oblivion?

I headed back to the hotel. It suddenly sucked that we were at the same hotel, because all I wanted to do was go to her. Instead, I headed for the bar.

“What are you having?”

I hadn't given up the bar life, I just ordered soda instead now. A part of me felt like I needed something a whole lot stronger, but then I thought of Maddie and I couldn't do it.

“Just a Coke.”

As I was finishing my drink, Jacob Winthrop wandered into the bar. He sat down beside me. “Whiskey on the rocks, and another round for my friend. What are you having, son?”

“Coke,” I said, causing me to smile for the first time since they'd arrived at the docks earlier.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask.

“Janie assured us that you were not the cause of her being upset. I'm not sure Oscar fully believes it, but I do. There's been something different about her today with you around. So I want to ask, just how well do you know Janie?”

“I've known her since I was six years old. There's a lot of history there.” He quirked his eyebrow at me again. I laughed. “Nothing like that. When we were kids she was my twin sister's best friend in the whole world. We spent every summer at camp together. We didn't grow up in the same—” I considered my words carefully, not knowing just how much of Maddie's life they truly knew. Certainly, as humans, they didn't know she'd come from a pack, or that she was a wolf shifter. How had she hidden from them for all these years? “Town,” I settled on. “Our families are very close, though, so we got together as often as possible.”

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