Page 211 of Halfblood Deceived

Several objects flew straight at Andreas from multiple directions. A notebook from Gabby, a tablet’s lithium battery from Evan, a stuffed bear from Luce, and a stapler from Mari.

The stapler missed Andreas’ head by a millimeter. The teddy bear bounced against his chest, but the notebook and battery smashed directly across his face and then fell to his lap.

Lex slapped the back of Andreas’s head. “You are being an arsehole, and not in a good way.”

“You are going to explain yourself,” Zeydan said to Andreas, his tone icy to his own ears. “Now.”

Andreas’s throat bobbed. “I don’t trust her.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Gabby protested. “Aella almost died saving our arses, you idiot. What more proof do you need that she’s a good person?”

“She doesn’t have to prove shit to him,” Mari snarled, eyes bright with verdant magic.

“Too fucking true,” Evan agreed, brow tight with anger.

“That’s not what I meant,” Andreas said through gritted teeth.

“Then you better start explaining yourself, Dad,” Luce advised, arms crossed over the desk. “Because that was very rude of you.”

Andreas’s eyes flicked toward the open door.

Zeydan got ready to tackle him.

The grumpy bastard read the intention in Zeydan’s eyes and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I don’t trust Aella not to hurt you.”

Zeydan blinked, taken aback. “What?”

“Yeah, what the Hell?” Lex asked.

Andreas cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, but he met Zeydan’s eyes. “Aella is not a bad person, but she’s… She must still be confused about… well, everything. What if curiosity is all that she feels for you? What if she loses interest after figuring you out? And what if…” He let out a long breath, as if bracing himself for the gallows. “What if something happens to her? What would happen to you?”

Zeydan’s anger cleared like smoke in the wind, leaving behind melancholy and a pang of bittersweet understanding in his chest.

He’d told Andreas once about the only other serious relationship he’d had aside from Gabby long ago. About how he’d discovered his partner had only seen him as an oddity to unravel and nothing else. They had never discussed that alcohol-fueled conversation. Zeydan remembered every word, however, and apparently, so did Andreas.

“Well, now I regret assaulting him with a notebook,” Gabby said.

Mari scoffed. “I regret having a bad aim.”

Liar. You missed on purpose, Zeydan thought. Mari wasn’t very gifted at physical combat despite having trained with Gabby for years, but she had a wicked aim with basically anything she could throw.

“You should learn to say what you mean, Dad,” Luce said, but her irritation had also melted into sad understanding. “Sorry about throwing my bear at you.”

Andreas sighed, giving his daughter a weak smile. “I deserved it, Luce.”

“Admitting it is the first step,” Evan reminded him, his previous anger also mollified.

Lex patted Andreas’s knee. “I have no regrets and I’ll smack you again if you don’t start learning how to use the right words, you turnip.”

Andreas rolled his eyes at him, but he looked satisfyingly sheepish.

Zeydan sighed. “Aella figured me out long ago, and she remains as interested in me as I am in her.” At all the males’ curious glances, he elaborated. “I’ve been keeping her company for a few hours every night as the wolf over the last couple of months. She has known for weeks.”

He’d told Gabby, his closest confidant, about his walks with Aella, asking her advice on whether it was wrong of him or not. Mari knew because she was a hopeless busybody and Luce… Well, Luce simply knew things.

“She wasn’t scared of you?” Andreas asked. There was a trace of surprise in his voice.

Zeydan remembered the look on Andreas’s face the first time he’d seen him transform into the wolf. “Not one bit. She’s braver than you.” Andreas arched a brow, but didn’t argue. “She called me cute, actually. And cuddly.” Zeydan admitted.

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