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“You have to know that wasn’t the case, Evie. We care about you.” He looked almost desperate for me to believe him.
“I know, Jo. I know now. But I didn’t back then.” There was silence for a while between us. “Have you seen him today? Is he still mad?”
“I... I don’t think that he was ever really mad. I think he’s more hurt than anything,” he answered carefully.
“I tried to talk to him last night. It didn’t go well.”
“I figured. Just give him a little time. For ages, we wondered why you didn’t like us anymore. We wondered what we did wrong.”
“It wasn’t any of you, Jo. It was all me, and I never not cared about you. I always liked all of you, and I always missed you,” I assured him.
“We missed you, too. Cory, I think most of all.”
“I would have never known. I thought he just saw me as Bells’ friend, to be honest.” Jo shook his head at my words.
“You were our Evie. Genius extraordinaire. We all looked at you with awe. We wished we could be half as good as you in... anything. Cory, most of all. He grew up with so many expectations on his shoulders and never thought he could live up to them. He always thought you were this amazing little person that outshone us all. That’s why he was always so protective of you. He always thought it would be a shame for the world not to have you in it.” There was a knot in my throat while he spoke, and I felt like crying.
“I need to make this right,” I said.
“He’ll get back to his senses. He just needs to get his head out of his own ass,” Jo assured me.
"You’ve spoken to him, then?”
“Not really. He left early this morning. Some bullshit excuse about needing to go sign papers before we basically put the pack house in lockdown.”
“He was lying?” I asked, my heart sinking.
“Not technically, but it’s not hard to tell he’s trying to avoid talking shit out.”
He probably thinks we hate him for kissing us. I told you to go after him, Tozi whimpered.
I was in shock, and I tried reaching out last night and this morning, I reminded her.
“I’ll let you get back, but I hope you’ll still come hang out on Saturday?”
“I’ll see what I can do. I need to get Cory to talk to me first,” I answered.
“He’ll be back, eventually. You need to teach us how to use all that shit you and your dad can work in your sleep, after all.” He winked. He stood and walked toward the door, but then looked back at me, a serious look on his face again. “We were really happy when you came back. All of us. Don’t leave again.”
“I’ll make it right. I promise.”
But when that was going to happen, I had no fucking clue. I got a quick plan together and a PowerPoint to teach them how to work the software, but Cory barely looked at me through the damn presentation that evening and left the moment it was done, despite me trying to mind-link him to ask for a minute. I knew he was hurt, but I deserved a minute of his time to explain myself and talk about what happened before he ran out the door. I also wanted to repeat it. Many times if I had a say in it.
Chapter Sixteen
Cory
I ran out of the room and into the forest, panic coursing through every atom of my body as the words I’d screamed and the surprise on her face kept flashing in my mind.
The entire interaction kept replaying in my head. I was hurt by her outburst, but then I’d let it get the best of me, and I got defensive. It was my worst fears realized. I always wondered if she thought I was too pushy and overprotective, and if she hated it. Turned out I was half right; she was running away from me, but it was for something I couldn’t change.
If I had one tiny hope that I might have a chance to convince her to take me as her chosen mate, it was crushed when I realized that she ran because I was an alpha wolf. That was what was going through my head when she barged into my room, and everything that followed was fueled by that hurt and heartache.
Panic surged through me after remembering I kissed her so roughly without her consent after having told her I loved her. I didn’t know how I was supposed to look at her after this. I knew I needed to apologize for the things I said to her, but that wouldn’t resolve the rest. How could I put the cat back in the bag? How could I make her understand that my feelings wouldn’t affect her?
We need to convince her to give us a chance, Tenoch insisted.
After what happened, the only thing we can hope is that she doesn’t quit and leave by the end of the week.
