Chapter 27
Hunter didn’t stumble back into his apartment until well after midnight last night, but he’s up at the crack of dawn, clattering around in his little kitchen. It would normally bother me, but I’m already awake. I barely slept last night.
“So,” I start cautiously, “what are you up to today?” I stretch as I get off the couch. His eyes track the lift of my arms and back down my torso. I have to fight to keep a smile from my face. Maybe he’s not as unaffected by me as I thought.
“I’ve got office hours this morning, then Madison is meeting me at Seaman’s Cove.” Hunter pours a mug of coffee and hands it to me as I join him in the tiny kitchen.
“So, are you gonna tell her?” I blow on the hot liquid and take a sip.
“No.” He turns away to top off his own coffee. “I can’t date students, so it doesn’t matter if we’re scent matches.”
I lean a hip against the counter and study him. “Come on, there’s got to be some exception to the rule in a case like this.”
“There’s not.” He crosses the room to sit down at the table that only fits two.
“So you’re just gonna pretend like yesterday never happened?”
“What else do you expect me to do, Nix?” He sets his mug down so hard hot liquid splashes over the side, pooling on the table. He stares at it. “If it were just me, I might risk it. But Madi could lose her place in the program. I can’t let that happen.”
I nod, a heavy understanding settling in my gut. I know what it is to want someone you can’t have. My phone buzzes from where I left it by the couch. I ignore it.
“What time are you going down to the beach?” I ask. “Is Caspian going with you?”
“I assume so.” Hunter gets up and grabs a cloth napkin from a drawer, then returns to the table and cleans up his coffee spill. “We’re meeting at four to determine the location for the dig site.”
“Great. I’ll come.” My phone buzzes again with another text.
“You’ll be bored out of your mind.”
“Not sure anything could be boring with Madison.” I grin as I stand up and cross the room to grab my phone. “Or Caspian.” The wink I give Hunter makes him turn away, staring into his coffee mug with a hint of pink to his cheeks.
“Maybe we’ll get to see Caspian’s tail again,” I add, watching Hunter carefully.
Hunter sputters, nearly spitting out his coffee, but the color on his cheeks deepens to red. Just as I suspected. He wants Caspian as much as I do, and learning about the other alpha’s unique nature didn’t deter him at all.
“Let me come, Hunt,” I say, grabbing my phone, but not looking at it yet.
“I’d rather hang out with the three of you while you do all that anthropological shit than sit around here all day.
” I walk back over to the table, but don’t sit down.
“You’re my best friend, and I rarely get to see you anymore. ”
My mind spins out, thinking about how things could be different, maybe, possibly, if I just confessed my feelings.
But it would probably mean giving up Sebastian.
And I love him just as much as I love Hunter.
I don’t want to have to choose between them.
And if Hunter turned me down? I don’t think I could bear it.
Things are even more complicated now with Caspian and Madi in the picture.
I still haven’t scented Madi—Hunter had clearly doused her in scent neutralizers before bringing her back to her apartment yesterday—but I have a growing suspicion I wouldn’t survive if I did.
I almost don’t want to risk scenting her because of what I fear it might mean for me and my beta.
I finally glance down at my phone.
Sebby Webby:
I’m sorry about yesterday.
Call me.
Please.
“I need to call Sebastian back,” I say.
“Right.” Hunter spins his mug one way and then the other. “About that… how much longer are you planning on staying?”
“Do you want me to leave?” Dread squeezes my chest at the thought that he doesn’t want me around anymore.
“No, it’s not that.” He reaches out, and for a moment I think he’s going to take my hand, but he pulls back. “I’m just surprised. Normally, you breeze in and out of here in less than twenty-four hours, but you’ve been here for over a week. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, fine.” I hide my face by turning away and going to the fridge.
“I’ve just enjoyed catching up with you.
And Seb is… out of the country for the month.
” Hunter doesn’t need to know we’re still fighting or what that fight was about.
Sebby was kind enough to get Madison’s parents kicked out of the restaurant when I called a few nights ago, but the conversation didn’t end well.
I’m not sure Hunter buys my lie. I think he’s always questioned whether Seb’s real at all.
His eyebrows lift. “And work?”
Shrugging, I pull the milk from the fridge and pour some into my coffee. “I finished the research I was doing on yeti crabs, and haven’t been inspired to work on a new project.”
Until Caspian. But that isn’t a project per se. It has nothing to do with work and everything to do with how fascinating I find the other alpha. Even without his tail, there’s something about him that calls to me.
Is that why Hunter wants to get rid of me? He can tell how interested I am in his scent match and her mate? Is he getting territorial? Fuck that.
“If you don’t want me around, just say so.” I turn to face him, cross my arms over my chest, and glare.
“Hey, I never said that.” Hunter doesn’t reach for me, but he leans forward, his forearms resting on the table, body closer than before. “I’m glad you’re here, Nix. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”
“I’m fine.” I down my coffee in one go, then drop my mug in the sink.
Before Hunter can say anything else, I grab my jacket and leave.
But I don’t make it farther than the hall outside Hunter’s door.
I lean against the wall and stare at the texts on my phone for a long time before calling Sebastian.