Page 42 of Blood and Trouble

“How so?” Ava’s eyes lit up, and I knew he’d hinted at something that could keep her curious for the rest of the night.

“It’s like…I can get inside their head, put myself in their shoes. What would I do if I were them? How would I be if I had their life? That sort of thing.”

“And you can do that with someone you’ve never met?”

His cheeks turned a bright shade of rose, and he hesitantly met her gaze. “My wolf picks up on things the human can’t.”

“Fascinating,” she said. “Will I have a magical ability, too?”

“It’s not so much magic as it is a talent,” Poe explained.

“Sol can calm people down, and Guin is especially good at riling people up,” I said. “You walk into rooms full of men who’ve already decided what you are, and by dessert, they’re handing you their money and thanking you for the privilege.”

“That’s not a magical ability. I got that from my father.”

“Exactly,” Poe explained.

Ava hummed thoughtfully, and Poe pulled one corner of his mouth into a half grin, and their combined joy lit something inside of me, filling my soul with a fiery need to keep doing it…to keep both of them happy and smiling…to simply keep both of them.

I pushed the thought away and cleared my throat, forcing myself to get back on track.

“There are others in the pack that have certain skills. Healers, alphas, techies. It takes all types, as they say,” Poe continued.

“Don’t worry, Trouble,” I said, reaching out to grab her knee with a gentle squeeze. “You’ll get to know your other half at the full moon, and once we get you back to the pack, you’ll figure out your place in it. You’ll be okay.”

A small growl echoed out of Poe’s throat before he clamped it down and coughed to hide it.

“About that,” he said, “I’d like to see the plot for where we’re going to change. Kodiak said it’s on RBMC territory?”

I dug through the files on my phone to send him the right link. “It’s on our shared drive.”

“I’ll take a look at this and get back to you with any other ideas.” He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m exhausted. Let me know if you need anything else. Otherwise, I’m just gonna…” Poe backed toward his bedroom and flashed a tight smile before walking away.

After the door closed behind him, Ava grabbed my hand and softened her eyes.

“You okay?” She gave me a sympathetic smile.

“Fine,” I said, trying to keep my cool. Why? Did I not seem fine? Did I look like a dejected little fuck every time I saw the beautiful Bastard?

She patted my fingers and returned to her laptop.

After that, she caught up on work, I took a nap, and Poe didn’t come out of his room for the rest of the night. When it came time to go to bed, I started to head toward my own suite, but Ava held out a hand and nodded toward her room instead.

“We are married, after all,” she said.

I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head. “Not like that.”

“Does it matter?” She shrugged. “I don’t want to be alone, and after today”—she looked in the direction of Poe’s closed door—“it seems like you could use the company.”

She wasn’t wrong, but I also didn’t want to hurt Poe more than I already had. He’d said it wasn’t any of his business, and maybe he truly felt that way. It was one thing to get married in a drunken craze, knowing the whole thing was a farce. It was another to rub my ex’s nose in it and play house while he rode third wheel.

On the other hand, I’d never claimed to be a good person. I’d been born an evil, selfish piece of shit, and I was probably going to die an evil, selfish piece of shit. If there was one thing I knew for certain, it was the lengths a jealous man would go to for his beloved, whether it was the Seventh Earl of Weak Jawlines or the only male who’d ever held my heart. I wanted…hell, I wanted things I had no business thinking, let alone entertaining.

I grabbed Ava’s hand, intertwined my fingers with hers, and dragged her to her room. She read from her tablet while I caught up on Bastard business on my phone. She must have been devouring something titillating because the decadent feminine notes of arousal burst from her skin every so often, nearly drawing me between her legs. But we’d agreed to be friends. Our relationship/fake marriage wasn’t about that.

It was respect and admiration and…

Fuck, why had I ever thought that was a good idea?