Page 40 of Research with Rivals
He gestured for me to go first.
Suddenly, I wasn’t sure what to say. I took a deep breath and searched for words I was sure didn’t exist. Should I thank him? Threaten him? Ask him what he was going to do now that he knew about my veil cat? About my lack of control? My indecision must have been written plainly on my face.
“I won’t tell anyone about your shift.” He ran his hand through his hair in a way that was oddly comforting. “I’m not sure why you keep it a secret, but no one will hear it from me.”
A breath escaped my lungs. Was it that easy? My brow furrowed. “Why?”
He raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “I know what it’s like not to understand your shift.” He paused as if unsure how to proceed. He decided on something. “Do you want to know what works for me?”
“What … works … for you?”
I was confused. Were we really not talking about the fact that I was a veil cat shifter? A mythical animal? Was he offering information about shifting to me with no strings attached?
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Are we not going to talk about the animal I shift into?”
He shrugged. “I told you a few days ago, it’s not as crazy as you seem to think. If the Vesten Point can do it—most would see it as a sought-after shift.”
I mulled that over. “And you don’t want to be the one to point out that another veil cat shifter exists?”
“Your secret is safe with me, Evelyn. I don’t know how else to express that.” He held my gaze until I was the first to look away.
“I have to go. I’m sorry about whatever happened when I shifted, and that it meant I didn’t spend the time working on this blood magic bond between us. I think it’s putting more stress on my shift than usual.”
He rubbed the back of his neck again. A blush tinted his cheeks. “Evelyn, we need to talk. I tried to tell you last night, but I don’t think you heard me before you shifted.” He gestured to the table between his kitchen and living space. “Will you have breakfast with me? I need to explain something about the magic binding us. You seem to think it’s entirely your fault. I assure you, it isn’t.”
16
Ambrose
Iwas not one to hide from hard truths. My job was to bring them to the surface, to state facts that might otherwise have remained unaddressed. Why was I having such a hard time with this particular truth?
The wolf prowling in my head lay prostrate, covering his face with his paws as if to ask the same question.
It was embarrassing, sure, but it also wasn’t that simple. Evelyn had been embarrassed when she’d confessed that she’d magically bound us together. If I were only embarrassed, I would have said something yesterday, so that Evelyn didn’t feel so singularly stupid. So that she knew this wasn’t only her fault.
And that was the problem.
I wasn’t convinced that my feelings and actions were due to the blood magic.
My wolf went back to pacing in my head as I considered that.I can’t ignore that blood was spilled, that I had intent. The fact that I found her on the opposite side of the bay in wolf form isalso suspicious. I hunted her, for all intents and purposes. That wasn’t due to my attraction.
On a heavy sigh, I returned to the kitchen to collect the stack of pancakes that Sasha hadn’t taken. I separated them onto two plates while I boiled water for coffee.
Evelyn sat uncomfortably at the table. Her spine was straight, and she nervously tucked her hair behind her ears as she glanced around the apartment. What must she think of it? I tried to imagine it from her perspective. Morning light spilled in through the windows in the sitting room. The light gray sofa, the plain wood table, and a small collection of toys that the twins had brought but hadn’t taken home with them. The space wasn’t much, but it was mine. That had been my concession to myself when I decided to stick close to my parents’ place to help with the twins.
As if the thought summoned them, another knock sounded at the door. I was unsurprised to see Timothy peek around the door as it opened. He hadn’t quite learned to wait after the knock.
“You didn’t bring the rest of the pancakes. Sasha said you probably got distracted. She said you couldn’t stop staring at your friend.”
I shook my head, wondering if my siblings had been created solely to torture me, even if his assertion wasn’t far from the mark. I had forgotten to bring the rest of them. “Here they are, Tim.” I offered him the plate with the remaining stack.
“Father asked if you needed him to take us to school.”
I thought maybe Evelyn snorted from the table, but when I glanced over my shoulder, her face was as masked as it had been when she searched the room.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Evelyn and I need to finish our discussion.”
Timothy nodded and left with the plate. I poured hot water over the filter and grounds, making two cups of coffee toaccompany our meal. While the coffee finished, I went to the porch to pick fresh berries from the plant I kept there.
