“Fine,” she said. “Yes, I would like to see a polar bear in person, and if you shifted, that would be very cool. But I’m not asking you to shift for me. I’m just saying that if you want to shift, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“I’m not shifting for you,” he said. “I’m here for your protection, not your goddamn amusement.”
“I know that!”
“Do you?”
She pushed her plate away, anger and shame rolling from her in equally thick waves. “You just can’t help but be an asshole, can you?”
“Saying something you don’t like doesn’t make me an asshole,” he said.
“Whatever. Thanks for dinner.” She stormed out of the kitchen, and he heard her stomping upstairs.
His bear snarled at him, and Briggs rubbed at his forehead before closing the pizza box. “I’m not apologizing. I didn’t say or do anything wrong.”
He ignored his bear’s grumbling as he cleaned up the dishes and put the pizza box in the fridge. He continued to ignore his bear as he climbed the stairs. He wasn’t an asshole. Humans with their belief that everything put on the goddamn earth was there strictly for their enjoyment were the assholes.
He cocked his head, staring at Cece’s door just down the hallway. The muffled sound of her crying drifted to him, and the sound deflated his anger like it’d been popped with a pin. A my mate is crying, and it’s all my fucking fault pin.
He groaned before muttering. “Fuck. I am an asshole.”
His bear growled in agreement as, feeling overwhelmingly guilty, Briggs trudged to his bedroom, Cece’s soft crying piercing straight into his chest.
CHAPTER 13
Briggs paused in the living room doorway. Cece sat on the couch, wrapped up in blankets and staring at her phone. She’d been avoiding him all morning, and his bear was growing more agitated by the hour. Before he could speak, she said, “I love you too, but being around me is dangerous right now.”
His bear surged forward immediately, and hot jealousy flooded through both of them.
Our mate loves another! This is all your fault. You made her cry.
Briggs winced as his bear’s roar vibrated through his skull.
It’s okay, buddy. Shh, it’s okay.
She loves another!
She’s not our mate. You only feel this way because of magic.
His bear’s roar was even louder this time, and Briggs gripped the door frame. Shit, that was the wrong thing to say.
A woman’s voice said, “Cece, you’re our best friend, and we hate that you’re alone.”
His bear relaxed, and Briggs couldn’t deny that he felt the same swooping relief. She was talking to a friend, not her mate.
“I’m okay, Kinsley,” Cece said.
“Bullshit, you are,” a second woman said. “We can tell you’ve been crying.”
Cece sighed as guilt rolled through Briggs. “Last night was just a bad night. But I promise I’m okay today.”
“Please let us come hang out with you for a little while.”
“It’s freezing in my house,” Cece said. “Trust me, you don’t want to visit.”
“Cecelia,” the second woman said, “we can layer. Please let us come over.”
“No,” Cece said. “I won’t put you at risk, so stop asking, Maisie.”
