“It’ll be okay,” I offer, unsure if it’s Felix or me that I’m reassuring.
“Yeah, uh, sure,” Felix agrees weakly before following Kaleb over to the other table.
“He’s so fucked,” Donovan comments when they are out of earshot.
Nolan shoots him a hard, warning look, but before he can say anything, Mei echoes, “Oh yeah, royally fucked. Do you think she’ll dump him before he gets the courage to dump her? Dude has no experience, so I think it’ll take some time to get the nerve.”
Nolan narrows his arctic blue eyes. “What makes you so sure they’ll break up?”
“Because he’s hopelessly into Callie, duh,” Mei answers like he’s thick, then takes a bite out of one of her own pork buns.
“He said—” Nolan begins, ready to do his best to protect Felix, but I cut him off before he can attempt tomakeMei believe Felix’s‘I’m just here to thank you’hug story.
“She knows about Felix,” I whisper, leaning over the table to keep from being overheard. I give Rand a squinty glare. “He knows too, thanks to super wolfy hearing.”
Rand responds by lowering his gaze and finding his lunch fascinating. Sitting tall, Connor stares at the top of his head with all of the grandiose of his alpha-ness, and I get a whoosh of his protective instinct shocking my system. Before he can rip Rand a new one, I grip Connor’s shoulder as hard as I can. It doesn’t hurt him, but it does get his attention.
For a moment, I get lost in Connor’s eyes, a feminine possessiveness flowing through me. This man, with all his power and strength, will wield it or rein it in on my word. He’s pleased by this response, a small smile tugging at his lips. My gaze follows the smile, and there’s a low flip in my belly. I forget what I was going to say.
Rand, dummy. Protecthim.
Clearing my throat and hoping that moment wasn’t so obvious to everyone else, I speak steadier than I feel. “He promised not to tell anyone, and I believe him.”
“I won’t,” Rand agrees emphatically. “I would never do anything to hurt her.”
Connor nods slowly, his mind clearly split between the emotions he felt from me and his original growly‘must protect my mate’instinct.
“What exactly do you know?” Nolan cuts in, his eyes boring into Mei and fists clenched on the table.
“I know everything,” she answers in a slightly dramatic fashion while flicking back her hair. “I’m her ride or die bestie. We keep nothing from each other.”
“Everything?” Nolan questions with a raised platinum blond brow. Now it’s my turn to meet his searching gaze.
“Everything about Felix,” I repeat with a subtle shake of my head.No, I didn’t tell her what happened to you.
Understanding the hidden message, he visibly relaxes and runs a hand through his artfully messy short hair. It’s obnoxious how effortlessly attractive he is, with his sharp, Scandinavian, model-like features, a smooth, seductive voice that makes butterflies take flight in my stomach, and a toned swimmer’s body dressed in a perfectly tailored band shirt and jeans.
Mei takes the hint to keep her mouth closed about the rest I’ve told her, and instead offers a sticky rice ball filled with peanut butter to Rand, which he excitedly accepts. Turns out wolves also like peanut butter. They have become surprisingly close now that they are partners in the unworldly drama that is my life.
“Speaking of information that’s not supposed to be shared, what the hell do we do about Felix being human again and how he knows too much about shit he’s not supposed to?” Donovan asks the table at large. There’s a pointed look at Mei, in case it was lost on us what exactly Felix knows too much about and how bad it would be if certain witches found out.
“James doesn’t know,” Connor says unhelpfully while he packs away the trash from his lunch.
Nolan nods in agreement. “He’s right. No one suspects James knows anything, so Felix will just pretend he doesn’t know anything.”
“Won’t that be hard to do with you guys hanging out when you weren’t friends before?” Rand asks innocently while also putting his trash into a brown lunch bag.
“Kaleb knows James from baseball, and Nolan knew him from taking classes together, so it wouldn’t be completely weird for them to hang out… and us as their friends,” I interject, my heart beating wildly in my ears.I did all this to bring him back. I can’t lose him to a memory wipe now.
“Seems reasonable to me,” Mei adds, doing her best to be helpful. “I mean, the cover story is he can’t remember his friends, so why wouldn’t he want to hang out with new people who don’t expect him to be James from before the accident?”
For what feels like the first time, Nolan seems genuinely pleased to have Mei join us today. What resembles a hint of an authentic smile curves his lips.
“But maybe it’s better if he did hang out with just humans,” Donovan counters, a gruff sadness in his voice. “We’re not safe. He died because he knew me.”
“It’s not your fault.” I rub his back in soft circles.
Connor vehemently shakes his head. “Felix is pack. He belongs with us.”
