Page 36 of Mate Night Snack
He caught the drink. “Something like that.”
She raised a brow, unamused. “That wasn’t a question.”
He sipped. Burnt spice and oak. Her best reserve whiskey. She was buttering him up.
“Training her already?” she asked.
Emmett didn’t answer.
Maeve gave a dry laugh. “Of course you are.”
She poured herself a half-glass and took a seat beside him. The bar lights caught the edge of her short black braid and cast her golden-brown skin in warm relief. She didn’t wear makeup, didn’t need to. Maeve Cross was built from nerve and grit, and she didn’t dull her edges for anyone.
“You’re quieter than usual,” she said, swirling her drink. “Which is impressive, considering silence is your love language.”
He set the tumbler down and looked away.
“Let me guess,” Maeve continued. “You got too close. She leaned in. You panicked.”
He stared at a water ring on the bar top. “It’s not like that.”
“No?” She tilted her head. “Because the way you smell right now? That’s a man on the edge. And not just instinct talking. This is deeper.”
“I can’t?—”
“Can’t or won’t?” Maeve cut in.
He scowled.
“Emmett,” she said, voice gentler now. “I know the signs. I’ve seen you ride the line before. Back then you always pulled away in time. But this isn’t like the other ones. This one’s different.”
He chose not to dignify that with an answer.
Maeve set her glass down. “You think punishing yourself is noble. That staying alone somehow keeps her safe. But you’re not just avoiding her. You’re hiding from yourself.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“Then talk,” she said. “Tell me why you’re so damn scared.”
He looked at her, jaw tight. “You know why.”
Maeve leaned in. “Not fromyou.Not all of it.”
Emmett exhaled slowly. The kind that dragged out old ghosts.
“She was a rogue,” he said. “Maybe seventeen. Half-starved. Hurt.”
Maeve went still.
“Part of a splinter pack Ashwin was trying to absorb. Said they were weak. Broken. Unworthy of the name. We caught her trespassing. She wasn’t a threat.”
His voice dropped lower.
“She looked at me and didn’t run. Just dropped to her knees. Hands up. Said she’d go quietly. Said she didn’t want to die alone.” He paused. “I let her go.”
Maeve didn’t blink. “And?”
“And I lied to Ashwin. Said I handled it. Said she fought back and ran. Two days later, I found her body strung up near the ridge.”
