“No, I did not. I said shut up, but it wasn’t directed to you.”
“I’m pretty sure that Richie didn’t say anything, so that only leaves me,” she said, beginning to cop an attitude.
Remi focused on her for a second, noticing how bright and beautiful her eyes were. She looked well rested.
We did not rest!Dragon snapped in his mind.
He clenched his jaws and forced a pleasant smile when his Dragon rushed forward again, peering at her with his orange pupils, blinking slowly as he took her measure.
“Oh,” she said, meeting the Dragon’s gaze. “Good morning,” she said to the Dragon staring blatantly at her. Suddenly he was gone and Remi’s dark eyes were focusing on her.
“Never mind. I see that you were having an inner monologue,” she said.
“You have no idea…” he muttered as he picked up handfuls of meat and began pressing them into the pre-greased loaf pans he’d lined up on the table beside the huge bowl of meat mixture.
Cristie looked over at Richie, who just kept doing what he was doing and grinning at her before she shifted her attention back to Remi. “Anyway, my parents are having a dinner on Sunday to welcome you to our Pride. It’s at noon, but you can get there any time you like. They’re usually an all day thing.”
“Sounds nice,” Remi said, still not looking at her as he continued building meatloaves in the many loaf pans he’d laid out.
“So, you’ll come?” she asked.
“I’d be an asshole if something special was done for me and I didn’t bother to take notice of it, wouldn’t I?”
Cristie hesitated, chewing on the inside of her cheek to keep from saying he was an asshole anyway, but finally settled on a neutral reply. “I wouldn’t know.”
He finally lifted his head and looked her way. “You’ve never had anyone do something for you and refused to be a part of it?”
“Not to my knowledge,” she said a bit sharply.
“So, it is possible that you might have done something to hurt someone who might be trying to do something because they care for you. But you might not have noticed, or not even cared,” he said, still looking right at her.
“I suppose it’s just as possible as someone intentionally pushing their mate aside because they’re so in love with someone who isn’t their mate that they don’t think she’d be important enough.”
“You really want to go there?” Remi asked.
“Yeah, I think I do. See, I was always taught that when you found your mate it was a pull so intense that it couldn’t be ignored. Yet, it appears that sometimes there are females that mean more to some males, than their actual mates. So much so that when that pull is discovered, it is easily ignored.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because if they cared more about their mates than whoever else they were involved with, they’d have not deserted them. They’d have valued them — at least as much as the other girl.”
“Some bonds make themselves known suddenly after many, many years. In fact, it can happen so fast it cannot be anticipated. And no matter who the male is, me or anyone else, if there’s another’s heart involved, it’s only decent to handle it gently rather than bashing it carelessly like some egotistical male who cares only about his own satisfaction. But I suppose that doesn’t matter to you. I guess I should have just coldly forged ahead and be damned with the damage to an innocent as long as my mate was at my side.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” Remi said. “And just so you know, I’m sorry that it took me so long to get myself together. I’ve always been told I take too much responsibility for the state of those I care about in any capacity — so I took it hard that no matter what I did, somebody would hurt. I needed time. Not a different mate. Time. But maybe I should have been more callous. Maybe I should work on being more callous going forward.”
“I don’t want you to be callous,” she said.
“You sure? It would make things a lot easier for you if I just ran through life ignoring all the damage I did to everybody but you.”
“That’s not fair, Remi,” Cristie said, her voice sounding genuinely hurt.
He went back to packing meatloaf pans, pretending that she wasn’t there.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have given you an ultimatum, but I was hurting, too. I didn’t know what to do either. It’s supposed to be a happy time, and all I scented on you was pain.”
“Confusion,” he snapped.
