Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
CAELAN
Ishouldn’t be here, I thought, even as I crept along the underbrush in wolf form. The night was chillier than usual, a precursor to a longer winter than normal. Dew clung to the underside of my fur as I breached Evie’s territory lines.
The wards slid over my skin, allowing me entrance, and I paused, debating whether to turn back and return to the Keep.
Evie’s breaking heart had woken me from a sound sleep, the sound of her anguished cry something that would live forever in my nightmares. I couldn’t help myself as I slipped out of the Keep, knowing I had to go to her, to see if she was okay.
Once I saw her, I’d return home.
To my surprise, she sat on the back deck, wrapped in a duster sweater and a lap blanket. She held a steaming mug.
I lifted my nose.
Coffee. Dark roast.
Evie had no plans to return to sleep.
“Caelan,” she said, her voice raw.
I jogged to the porch, staying in wolf form.
My animal form was so large, our faces were at the same level. I dug my cold nose into the crook of her neck, making her squawk.
“You’re freezing!”
But she laughed and that made the man and the beast happy. I licked her cheek and sat beside her, nudging her with my head.
Evie snorted. “You’re incorrigible.” She dug her fingers into the ruff of my neck and scratched.
I let out a happy growl and stretched to allow her the most access before I braved the consequences and lay my head in her lap.
Evie sighed. “I’ll allow it. Only tonight,” she warned.
I’d take it. She rubbed her hand down my face, smoothing the damp fur, sliding down my neck and back. Few people touched me, and I allowed no one the liberties Evie was taking with me now.
But damned if I wasn’t starved for touch.
Or maybe hers. But as Evie stroked me, I felt her heartbeat slow, and her sadness diminish.
“I know about the link,” she said a few minutes later.
I whined.
“Yep. We’re both smart enough to figure it out. I can’t take the pendant off, but we’re looking for an alternative.”
A growl escaped me.
Evie laughed, though the sound was touched with sadness. “I know why you’re here. I’m sorry those dreams touched you. It’s been a while since I dreamed of him.”
I wanted to shift into human form, but I knew Evie would clam up. So I lay perfectly still, allowing her to touch me in whatever way she wanted. The stroke of her fingers and soft words mesmerized me, allowing her to weave whatever spell she was casting over me as she spoke.
“I never wanted to get married, but I didn’t realize it until later.
Maybe it was Griffin, or maybe it was the first feeling I had of ever being truly loved.
When everything was over, I realized all I wanted was love.
Griffin wanted the whole package, the quintessential American life. But it was my fault as much as his.”
I turned my head and nipped at her arm for that last part. It was not her fault, and if it wouldn’t break Evie’s heart, I’d find this Griffin and tear him into tiny chunks to help the vultures devour him faster.
“I was so busy with work and trying to get my master’s that I neglected him, I suppose.”
I had no idea she’d done that much schooling, but I nipped her again for her thought process.
“Stop that,” she admonished, tugging on my neck fur. Regret spilled through me when she didn’t speak for a while. I nudged her belly.
“I couldn’t look at him the same afterward.
He begged me for another chance, but all the love I felt for him…
it dried up in that moment. How does that happen?
One day your heart is so full, and you can see a beautiful life in the horizon, but in the next, all your dreams lay shattered and that person, your person—”
Her voice shuddered and broke on the last word.
“They become someone you never knew. Someone you never wanted to know. And suddenly a stranger you’ve given everything to stands before you and you don’t know what to do. Life becomes unsure and the steady path you just stood on gets washed away in the storm that comes after.”
And then she went to Scotland where something happened. My intel never clarified what, but Evie’s movements after that were erratic until she landed in Joy Springs.
“Just when I was picking up the pieces, I took that trip.” She stopped talking. “Well. Things changed after that, and I drifted for a long time until I found Moira and Ash and Tess.”
She toyed with my ear, and I let out a happy little growl. Evie’s soft chuckle emboldened me, and I turned my head to let my tongue loll out.
“You charmer,” she said softly. “And now I’m here on a porch pouring my heart out to a Shifter Lord.”
Evie sighed and took a sip of her coffee. “You must think me maudlin tonight.”
I nudged her belly again and then her hand because she’d stopped petting me. This is the most she’d ever told me about herself, and the longest we’d probably gone in a conversation without being awkward or getting into a fight.
She dug her fingers into the fur on my spine and scratched.
I died and went to heaven.
“I’m going into work early today, I guess.”
A whine escaped me. She needed more rest.
“I can’t sleep. The memories are too fresh.”
I whined again and lifted my head to stare at her.
She snorted and pushed my face away. “Quit. I’m tired but I can’t sleep.”
I went and padded to her door, pawing at the handle. I could open it, but she was being awfully sweet tonight, and I didn’t want to do anything to make her snappy. My instincts kicked in. I knew what she needed, even if Evie didn’t.
She sighed. “Is this your idea of trying to get into my bed?”
Yes, but not in the way she was thinking.
Evie frowned. “Your paws are all dirty.”
I wiped them on her rug and stared at her.
Sighing, she rose. “Fine. But one wrong move, and I’ll let the plants eat you. Got it?”
I sat down like a good doggie and let my tongue hang out.
“I’m going to regret this,” she muttered to herself.
I’d make sure she did not.
When Evie rose and opened the door, I sent up a mental fist pump. She set her coffee down on the counter and watched me.
Padding over, I got behind her and nudged her hip toward her bedroom.
“Caelan!”
I yipped and nudged her until she finally headed toward her bedroom. She kicked off her shoes and slid her duster off.
It was hard not to notice how soft Evie was in all the right places, but this was not the right time.
Careful not to use my teeth, I nudged her blankets aside and waited for her to crawl underneath them.
When she was settled in, the blankets pulled over her shoulder, I hopped onto her bed.
She watched me with wary eyes, but when I settled at the foot of her bed, my head resting on her calves, Evie let out a shaky sigh.
She reached over and flicked her lamp off, plunging the room into moonlight-tinged darkness.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
I huffed an indignant breath. I’d do nothing of the sort. Her showing this much trust meant we’d crossed a bridge. I had no intention of damaging this tentative truce, even as it came about because of her broken heart.