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“I’ll relay your story to Knox and Harper. I can’t say whether they’ll choose to grant you a place in my lair. You’ll be contacted either way.” That was truly the best he could do. Had she been Keenan’s mate or anchor, his Primes would have granted her a place without question. But Thea was none of those things to him, so she’d be assessed in the same way anyone else would.
“I’m sorry for everything, Keenan. Really. Whatever you might think, I do care about you—I always have. And I-I missed you. A lot.”
Keenan laughed, and there was a bitter edge to it. “You took a mate, Thea. You had a child with him. You couldn’t have missed me that much.”
Annoyance in every stride, he crossed to his car, unlocked it with his key remote, and then yanked open the driver’s door. He honestly wasn’t sure what pissed him off more: that Thea would think it acceptable to ask a favor of him, or that she really thought he’d want to do her a favor.
It was like she had no self-awareness; no ability to look back on her actions and realize that, hey, she’d fucked up in a major way. It was one thing to know you’d done wrong. It was another to fully grasp the weight of said wrongdoing. She didn’t seem able to do that. Never had.
Although his peripheral vision told him she hadn’t moved an inch from where she stood near the building, he didn’t look at her as he smoothly reversed out of the parking space. Nor did he glance back at her as he drove through the parking lot and out onto the main road.
He wasn’t sure if he believed her story that Gavril had set her up to take the fall. Purely because she’d given him no reason to believe it was true. Why she thought Keenan would have taken her at her word when she’d proven in the past that her word meant shit, he had no clue.
Would Gavril frame someone for murder? Maybe. He didn’t seem to have a lot of scruples, from what Keenan had observed. But that wasn’t to say that he’d framed Thea, was it? What motive would he have to possibly do it? And why would she withhold said motive when it could prove her innocence?
Her story just didn’t make any sense.
Keenan couldn’t have turned her kid away, though. It would have made him no better than the many people who’d turned Keenan and his mother away all those centuries ago. Shit, he needed to shut down that line of thinking fast. Ruminating on his childhood only ever pissed him off. He hated that Thea had dredged it all back up again.
By the time he arrived at Raini’s address, he’d found some inner calm. After sticking her luggage in the trunk of his car, he ushered her into the rear seat and then drove to Khloé’s home. He beeped the horn and then slid out of the car.
Looking as high on life as always, the imp walked out of the house, swinging her travel bag. His gut clenched, and his dick twitched. Fuck if she didn’t work that outfit, especially those fuck-me heels.
Her tight white vest and skinny jeans clung to her like a second skin. The black lace shrug she wore trailed all the way down to her thighs, and he could just imagine her wearing that and nothing else. On second thought, she could keep the high heels as well.
Smoky-gray eyes took him in. “’Sup, Don Juan? You’ve missed me, I can tell.”
He wouldn’t smile. Nope. Sighing, he grabbed her bag. “Get in the car. I’ll put this in the trunk.”
“Works for me.”
Although she was sexy as hell, she was also pale and had dark smudges under her eyes. His demon didn’t like it at all. “You look like shit again.”
She tilted her head. “Brown and turd-shaped?”
He felt like pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just get in the car.”
Minutes later, they were driving en route to the airport. While the two women discussed their plans for the weekend, Keenan telepathically reached out to Knox and said, Thea was waiting for me outside my complex this morning.
The Prime’s mind touched his. I was clear that you had no wish to see her, he said, his voice hard.
Well, she didn’t let it sway her. Keenan quickly brought him up to speed. If it hadn’t been for the kid, I’d have turned her away.
Which she no doubt knew, so that’s probably why she took him along.
That would be my guess. I don’t have a clue how much of what she said was true. Hell, it could all have been lies. But I said you might agree to hear her out.
I’ll be honest with you, Keenan. Although I sympathize with her son, I don’t want her in our lair. Harper wouldn’t want her around either, given your history with Thea. If Thea gives me the full—and truthful—story of what happened with her ex-mate and I’m satisfied that she deserves sanctuary, I can talk to another Prime and see if they’d be willing to take in her and Lane.
