Page 151 of Memories Like Fangs
Byrd was quiet for a moment, her eyes closed as she leaned into my touch. Then, with a soft exhale: “I want to say yes.”
“Then say it.”
“I can’t.” Her eyes opened, teary but steady as they looked up at me. “Your mom and your family are more important.”
“They can wait.”
“I have seen the voicemails and texts on your phone, Quinn. Your mom has waited long enough because of me.” She gave a tired little laugh that cracked something in me. “I know you have been worried about how you are going to talk to her. Now, there’s Cooper and how that’s going to affect not just your mom but your aunts, too. I understand you pushing her off, but youdoneed to talk to her. I haven’t known your mom long, but she doesn’t seem like the type who would pick anything over her only daughter. Maybe it’s how much she reminds me of my own mother—maybe that skews my opinion a bit—but I think she deserves you giving her a chance to prove herself.”
I nodded. Of course, my Byrdie was right. I had been avoiding my mother since we had left the Montana house. Whenwe had first left there in search of Byrd, I had texted and answered her calls, providing surface-level answers with as few words and syllables as possible. As our search wore on, I stopped talking to her entirely, forwarding or ignoring her calls and not even bothering to read her texts. Once I had Byrd back in my arms, something always made me put my phone back down. Not something. It was my thoughts racing one after another before I could even answer.
What if she couldn’t accept Byrd as a dragon-shifter and as my fated mate? What if she took Cooper’s side instead of mine? What if she looked at me and saw a liar, a traitor, a disappointment, a stranger who looked like the daughter she once raised, and everything else my father had once called me? What if she stripped me of my title and inheritance? What if she forbade me from marrying Byrd?—?
I mean, I would do it anyway, but how was I supposed to deal with the rejection of my mother?
What if you’re wrong? What if she accepts—? I shook the thought away immediately. I can’t hope for that. I couldn’t afford hope like that.
Preparing for the worst was easy because if it didn’t happen and something better did, then you have something to be happy about. But, preparing for the best only led to disappointment and often got you killed.
“Hey,” Byrd tapped my clavicle, pulling me out of my head. “You don’t know how good or bad things are going to go. Maybe go in with zero expectations instead of strategizing for the worst?”
I smirked. “Get out of my head.”
“I don’t need the bond to know that my Quinny-Quinn thinks like a warrior badass.” Byrd kissed the tip of my nose.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
Byrd smiled without it reaching her soft eyes. The darkness of her grief crept back through our bond like the night setting in your living room before you realize how late it was. “I will be. Everett, Simone, and Maisie are going to go with me. They are my OG emotional support besties. It’s going to be heavy and rough, but I will be okay with them. They’re kind of like the next best thing to a Quinn. So, we will get through this, mostly intact.”
Fuck, my girl was so incredible.I gave her her favorite smolder. “That’s some high praise.”
Byrd giggled. “Don’t let it go to your head there, Knightmaiden.”
“I will be back to you before nightfall,mi vida.”
“That’sreallyfucking cute, Quinny,” Nat shook her head from a nearby couch. “Do you forget who your mother is? If your mom doesn’t fucking murder the ever-living shit out of you for dodging her calls for this long, she’ll definitely kill you for dropping off Cooper’s body with a hi-and-bye like he’s a grocery delivery.”
Cody grinned. “Oh, my money’s on her chaining Quinn up in the basement so she can keep her eyes on her for a solid weekat least.”
Cole snorted. “That’s if she survives the culling she’s going to get for ghosting her mom for this long.”
I flipped them off with only asliverof affection. “Vete a la chingada.”
“You know we believe in you, Quinny! We just also believe in the wrath of your mother,” Nat shrugged.
So, we agreed to take five days to let the families know, mourn with them, and support them however they needed. It felt like both an eternity and not nearly enough.
Suddenly, the sound of cute nails clicking against the concrete pulled me out of my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see Clarkson bounding toward me. Her stubby Spaniel tail wasa blur as it wagged. Her long ears and her tongue hanging out of her long muzzle flopped behind her. She was in the most ridiculous outfit, a lavender knitted cardigan—yes, acardigancomplete with the tiny buttons and v-neck design that showed a dark purple plaid button-down underneath—with the cutest teddy bear pattern. Her bows andleg warmersmatched her outfit. She looked so fucking cute that I could scream.
“Look at you!” I said, moving my legs to hang over the back bumper toward Clarkson. “I see someone got hella fucking spoiled while she was at the Archive!”
Clarkson barked before running back where she came.
“The Libbies called her and Dinah their ‘Archive Babies,’ so we are lucky to have gotten them back at all.”
Byrd came around the corner then, looking like sin and salvation wrapped up in one stunning package of a woman with Clarkson’s leash loosely looped around her wrists. Her outfit was casual and sexily familiar. I immediately recognized the hoodie that she wore as the hoodie I gave her for my girlfriend proposal. It was black with a raccoon embroidered on the front that said, “Fight me, coward!” Her shorts were tantalizingly tiny, unable to be seen under the hoodie’s hem and showing off aplenty of those thick thighs and legs. The light caught not just on her tawny skin, but her iridescent scales and tail that still shimmered with holographic color despite being tattoos. I could still feel the ghost of the memory of her magic’s warmth brushing against my skin. Her cotton candy pink locs were piled messily on top of her head in a lazy bun with locs poking out in every direction like she’d wrestled with her pillow and lost gloriously. Her lips were still a little puffy from sleep, but I wanted to kiss them and bite them until they were even more swollen. There were a lot of things I wanted to do to her to pass the time until my cousins came down.
“Don’t tell me Cody got to you, too, by calling the Archive Guardians that.”
