It would be close. Twelve days remained until the full moon appeared. There’d be no margin for messing it up.
I opened the door into the back room, revealing the potion in the cauldron on the ground.
Frank eyed it, apprehension causing a muscle to jump in his jaw. “Tell me why you’re brewing this right beneath the feet of the fae who condemns my kind with every waking breath?”
“Pastor Collins never comes down here,” I explained. “Whenever he wants something, he always sends me or Brexton. And Brexton rarely enters this room. After theobituaries are removed and stored next to information about the gravestones, the leftover sections are stacked here. Plus, on Thursdays, he likes to go out on visits.”
“So you knew we would be alone.”
I gazed down at the potion. “I was saying that the potion won’t be discovered. If we were found, Pastor Collins would freak out, and I’d lose my internship.” At the very least.
He inched a little closer to me. “You seem like a rule keeper.”
“I am,” I said as his warmth enveloped me. Then I added under my breath, “Normally.”
Frank squeezed my hand, his eyes dark and teasing. “Mary, Mary, quite contrary.”
My heart beat hard at his nearness. I reluctantly withdrew my hand and sat next to the potion. “Can I have the wolfsbane?”
He handed me the purple helmet-shaped plant as he settled across from me and the cauldron. Duchess came out of the stacks and rubbed up against Frank’s side, purring.
His gaze held mine with that intensity that stole my breath as I slipped the plant into the brew. “Has anyone told you, Mary Bennet, that you are nothing short of amazing?” He reached over the cauldron and brushed a stray hair out of my face, his fingers gliding over my skin, scalding me. “And you’re quite beautiful, too.”
I ducked my gaze, letting the steam hide my blush. “I’m sure you tell all the girls that.”
His brows pulled together. “Why do you say that?”
Kitty’s accusations played through my mind. “I notice the way women flock around you.”
A grin spread across his face. “Are you calling me a heartthrob?”
“I don’t blame you for wanting to make them feel good about themselves.”
His smile faded. “I see.” He reclined onto his hands and looked at the ceiling, as if deep in thought. Then he leaned forward, his expression more serious than I’d ever seen it. “I dated this girl throughout high school.”
“Drina Lexter,” I said, unsure where this was heading.
He paused, startled, and I lowered my head, the burning in my cheeks spreading to my neck and ears.
“Yes,” he said. “Drina. She was a high fae, I was a high fae. Much expectation existed concerning our shared future. As graduation drew near, there was more and more talk about marriage. I’d climb the ladder in my aunt’s company while doing schooling online and she’d go to the local college, working on her degree in marketing so she could join me in the family business. It was all planned out.
“There was only one problem. The closer we came to graduation, the more uncertain I felt about the plan and our relationship. I informed Drina of my concerns, proposing a temporary separation so I could sort things out. She seemed like the perfect girl, so kind and understanding. A bit possessive, but I found that endearing.” He shrugged. “I didn’t think much about it. Except that next full moon after we had broken up, she begged to meet me out in the woods. She said that it was important and if she ever meant anything to me, then I would come.”
A knot of apprehension formed in my gut. “So you went.”
He swept a hand through his hair and met my gaze with the most solemn one of his. “I went.” Pain etched over hisfeatures. “When I arrived, she was there, but also had this werewolf chained to a tree. I don’t know who it was or how she got him that way. It was possible he voluntarily restrained himself. He was snapping and raging. She said that if I didn’t want to be with her, then she’d ruin her life, that she’d let the werewolf bite her. I tried to talk her out of it, but once Drina set her mind on something…” He shivered. “She stepped right up to it and I lunged forward to stop her, to pull her back… at the last minute sh-she jerked to the side and shoved me toward the wolf.”
I stared in horror. “And you got bit.”
He nodded, rubbing his right shoulder. Perhaps it was the spot where he’d gotten bitten all those years ago. “She dragged me away from the werewolf and told me that she now had a secret on me. That if I didn’t agree to be with her, she’d tell everyone what I was.”
“But you didn’t stay with her?”
“Oh, I did,” he said. “But afterward I became so cold and passive toward her that she eventually initiated the separation and left town.”
I lacked words. I reached out and laid a hand on his arm, my heart breaking for him.
“After that,” he continued. “Even though I was in other relationships, they were on and off. I found I was never able to trust them enough after what Drina had done to me.” He took a slow breath. “So I flirt and act like the person who everyone likes, giving them what they want. I have to be at the center of everything because… because I can’t give them any reason to doubt, to grow suspicious, you know? I can’t let them suspect my secret.”
