Page 78 of Lost Touch

“Yeah? Um, I’m sorry for—”

“Shut up and listen,” Arik snapped. “The original magic amplified his alpha instincts. So yes, that could’ve made him want to mate you, and—I said shut the fuck up and listen!” I closed my mouth. “That magic caused him to want to claim you, but my spell negated the effects of the original magic,” he went on, almost insultingly slowly. “All I did was make his own innate magic respond to you as if you were already mated. He knows you’re not mated, or he wouldn’t want to mate you. And there’s nothing making him want to mate you except if he actually wants to mate you. Are we clear? Anything else?”

Oh, God. My head whirled, and I had to lean it against the chair and close my eyes to try to get my balance back, even though I was sitting down already.

He’d suggested mating because he actually wanted to.

Of course, the only reason he’d given me was that it’d solve our problems, not that he really wantedme.

That felt like ice water down my shirt.

But all right. At least he’d been rational. He’d been speaking for himself, and that took an enormous weight off my shoulders.

“Yes, we’re clear,” I said meekly. “If we did mate, would it reset everything back to normal? Would it, you know, fix us?”

“Yes, it would, and that’s a shitty reason to get bitten. Good, that’s settled. Nate’s sending you an overtime bill for this.”

A door on the other end of the phone slammed loudly enough to make me jump.

“’Kay,” Jared said after a second. “There’s your official answer. Jesus Christ. I think I’m going to avoid him for the rest of the day. Worth it, though.”

I winced. “I’m sorry.”

Jared’s sigh gusted down the line. “No worries. Anything else I can help you with? Maybe without the pissed-off in-laws involved?”

His teasing tone made me smile and relax a little. At least Jared wasn’t mad at me.

“No, and thank you. I’ll call you soon? Let you know what happens? Not so early in the morning, obviously.”

“Anytime. And you’d better. I want to hear from you within a couple of days, okay?”

“Okay.” We said goodbye, and I was still smiling a little as I hung up the phone.

That hadn’t exactly been the answer I’d wanted, but it was a whole lot better than I’d been expecting.

I put on the hotel-provided coffee pot and pulled back the drapes to let in some sunshine.

I had a lot to think about before Drew got back.

Chapter 22

I’m Not Any Better

I’d only managed a couple of sips of the foul hotel coffee—my sense of taste: definitely overrated—when the door clicked and Drew stepped in.

“I brought you some better coffee and a muffin,” he said before I could even open my mouth. The cup and paper bag landed on the desk in front of me, and Drew dropped onto the foot of his bed. “And the background checks I ran and then forgot about while I was going nuts came back. I have information for you. Some of it’s good news, I think.”

Good news. My head and belly churned in opposite directions.

“Good news,” I repeated, my voice a scratchy whisper.

Drew smiled, his eyes soft. “Yeah. Ash, I think I found your parents.”

My parents.

“My parents?” Shit, I couldn’t stop repeating everything he said, the words tumbling around and around my head without attaching to anything. Parents. Wouldn’t they have tried to find me? Help me? Did they believe the accusations against me?

“Their names are Judith and Paul Stern, and they live in an even smaller town just outside the one where you definitely went to college. Actually, you graduated with a degree in—”

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