Page 7 of Love in Unexpected Places

He was happy that Theo had found love, and he wanted the same.Surely that wasn’t too much to ask?It might not be the best moment, but this was how it always happened in books, right?People fell in love when they shouldn’t and used that love to help them survive.

Matty hoped he wouldn’t have to survive anything, especially not a fight, but he wasn’t fooling himself.The coven wouldn’t stop.

“I don’t know,” Matty said as he glanced at Sullivan again.This time, Sullivanwaswatching him, and they stared at each other.Matty desperately wanted to get up from the couch and move closer, introduce himself to Sullivan, and maybe ask him on a date, but how could he?Sullivan’s meeting with Chance and Theo was serious.Matty couldn’t bother them.

“No one is saying you have to marry Sullivan tomorrow,” Seth said as he bumped their shoulders together.“Just talk to him.See what he wants.Hopefully, it’s you, and you’ll live happily ever after.”

“What if he doesn’t want to leave the coven?I can’t leave the pack.”Not when it was the first home Matty had in years and the first place where he’d felt safe.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be, Matty.You don’t have to marry the guy.You don’t even have to date him.Yes, you like him, but it doesn’t mean you’ll continue liking him once you get to know him.You said it yourself—you find him hot, and that’s all there is to it for now.Maybe you’ll fall in love, and maybe you won’t.Maybe he won’t want to leave the coven, but maybe he’ll be happy to move here with the pack.Lester was.His friends were.”

“But Sullivan wants to save his coven.”

“Of course he does.Wouldn’t you want the same in his position?He probably has family and people he cares about.That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t move for you.”Seth huffed.“And seriously, why are you already talking about moving him in when you’ve never even talked to him?You need to fix that before you get ahead of yourself.”

Matty wasn’t sure he’d have the guts to talk to Sullivan.He’d always been a dreamer, but everything was easier if that was all there was to it.He could dream and never have to fear rejection.If he talked to Sullivan in real life, Sullivan could tell him he wanted nothing to do with him, and Matty’s dreams would shatter.

Really, he should have kept them focused on that actor he liked so much.At least there, he knew there was no way he’d ever meet the guy, which meant he’d never be rejected.

Chapter Two

Sullivan tried to behaveas if he was doing nothing wrong, and technically, he wasn’t.Right now, he was just walking down the hallway.He could be going anywhere—the living room, the kitchen, his room, or one of the rooms the mages used as offices.They had to share, but that was nothing new for their coven, and Sullivan was used to it.Only the coven leaders had their own workspaces, and sometimes, Braden allowed Sullivan to work in his office.They had to be careful that the other leaders didn’t realize the two of them were closer than they expected, though.

Sullivan and Braden were friends.They’d grown closer recently because of everything happening and because they’d been trying to find a solution.Technically, there was nothing the other coven leaders could do to Braden because he was a leader, but they could hurt Sullivan, and Braden wouldn’t be able to stop them.He was only one man against four, and that was without counting the people who followed the other leaders.

Not everyone in the coven was happy with what they were doing, but some people were.They wanted more power, more money, more everything.They wanted to destroy anyone who wasn’t like them.They didn’t think anything of taking advantage of people who’d never hurt them and hadn’t even known about them.

The coven was hidden for a reason.It was easier to attack by surprise that way.

He stopped in front of the door and looked right and left.He was alone in the hallway, so he quickly knocked and shifted his feet as he waited for someone to answer.The door creaked open, and Lana peeked out.She looked nervous, an emotion Sullivan shared and understood.

She opened the door wider, and Sullivan slipped through.

The room was similar to his.It was big enough to contain a bed, a dresser, and a few other things, and while in Sullivan’s case, it was more than enough, in this case, it wasn’t.Lana was married and had two young children, and the room was overcrowded.

Her baby was strapped to her chest while her son was quietly playing on the floor by the window.He looked up when he heard Sullivan, but Sullivan clearly wasn’t interesting enough because he went back to his toys almost instantly.

---