Page 23 of Destined for Dreams
He set his tray on the coffee table. “The food was good.”
“I wish you’d let me warm it.” Cori brushed her dark hair from her eyes. “Are you sure about going on this trip? It’s going to be a long way away, and you’re going to be facing a lot of people. Never mind the fact you might run into the demon.”
“I’ve made my decision.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and opened them. “But why?”
“For many reasons.”
“According to what I heard before today…” She paused and swallowed. “You were adamant about not going. What changed your mind?”
If he told her she was the main reason, it would hurt her, so he told her a partial truth. “This demon has to be stopped before he hurts more people.”
She leaped to her feet, face red. “That’s such bullshit!”
He didn’t like lying to her even to protect her. It didn’t feel right with their relationship starting to find solid ground. “I won’t deny that the money I’ll earn from this trip will be useful as well. Enough to ensure I live comfortably for some time to come.”
“Yeah, I might buy that—if you didn’t turn down the money the first time.” She narrowed her gaze. “It’s because of me, isn’t it? You want the money to help me in case things don’t work out with my shop, but that’s not what I was asking for last night. I only want help fixing the situation.”
He needed to change the direction of this conversation fast. “I’m impressed with how well informed you are.”
She tensed. “Do you really think I wouldn’t find out all I could?”
She was hiding something. He’d been alive for too many centuries not to recognize it.
“How long have you known about the offer?”
Cori took her seat again, avoiding his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“When did you find out about Zoe and the demon situation? What day?” Bartol might have been out of the game for a while when it came to dealing with people, but he hadn’t completely lost his edge. He could read between the lines.
It was a full minute before she answered. “The same day as you.”
“How?”
“Well, I was with Melena and…”
“She wasn’t the one to tell you,” he interrupted. Cori was being too cagey for him to think it was that simple.
She met his gaze. “Caius came to see me and Mel at the shop, not long after he saw you. I wanted to say something, but I was afraid you’d get angry. Whatever decision you made about going to see Zoe, I didn’t want his coming to meet me to interfere with that.”
He let out a low growl, furious at this revelation. He wasn’t angry with his mate since she could hardly stop someone from coming to her shop unannounced, but he was angry at the man who’d gone to see her after Bartol had warned him to stay away. Caius should have known better. This wouldn’t change Bartol’s mind about going on the mission since he would hardly back out of it now that the deal was struck, but it would strain his relationship with his old friend.
“Thank you for telling me the truth—even if it was late in coming,” he said, standing. “I would appreciate it if you would not hide things from me in the future.”
“Don’t be mad at him, Bartol.” She stood and started to follow him. “Please. He was just doing what he thought was best under the circumstances, and I don’t want to get between you and an old friend.”
He worked his jaw. “He shouldn’t have done it.”
“Don’t be like Griff.” She gave him a hard look. “I can’t handle the idea of you getting angry with other guys just because they talked to me—especially when you’ve been ignoring me until the other day. And in this case, you have to work with him. Just let it go this once for me.”
Bartol hated it, but she had a point. He wanted to go rip the nephilim’s head off for doing something so simple and common most others wouldn’t think anything about it. Only a raging lunatic would behave that way, and he was not Griff. Bartol had to maintain his discipline above all else. Also, Cori was right that he and Caius really did have to work together in the coming days. They couldn’t afford for there to be any tension or anger between them.
“For you, I’ll do as you ask,” he promised.
“About the demon you faced before…”
“I’m not ready to talk about that,” he interrupted.
