Page 244 of Sorrow & Strangers

It may not be a good idea, considering the confrontation I know is coming with the stranger. I am terrified of the consequences, and maybe I am being a coward, but this might delay the inevitable.

“I’d like that, just for tonight,” Alice says, relaxing into me.

Alice and I finally make it out of the house, and we go our separate ways for classes. It’s a runes class, and I am so fucking disappointed that I can’t stop thinking about the stranger and that stupid kiss. I can’t lie to him, not after I promised. He is not a reasonable male, and while I have no idea how he will react, I know it will not be good.

I am still lost in my thoughts when I get to the canteen, and it’s not until I am heading toward our table that I become aware of the strange tension gripping the air. Looking around, I realize that it’s all focused on Leo. The shifters who have set up camp four tables away are all glaring at him, and he is sitting with slumped shoulders, trying to avoid the attention.

“Hey,” I say, dropping down next to him, causing Leo to jump a little.

“Oh, it’s you,” he says, his eyes flashing.

I quirk a brow. “Hello to you too. You okay?”

He ignores me, looking around. “Where’s your vampire?”

I check my phone but it’s empty of any messages. “I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

“You two don’t go far without each other,” Leo says, looking back down at his plate.

“Well, she’s my wife, so . . .”

Leo’s eyes flash, his head snapping toward me. “You’re mates?”

“What? No.” I frown. “We’re best friends.”

“Oh,” Leo says with a little more relief than I would expect. “You have predestined mates like us, so I just assumed.”

I throw him a look. “Okay, first of all, Alice and I are both, unfortunately, heterosexual. Second, while fae can have mates, it is not something I will be conforming to.”

“Conforming to?” Leo asks, the doubt in his voice loud and clear.

I nod and take a bite of my salad.

“You get a choice?”

“Not technically. But it will not end well for the guy who comes up to me claiming to be my mate.”

Leo pauses thoughtfully and then chuckles, some of the tension evaporating from him.

“What?”

“It’s just nice to hear someone else who thinks fate is optional.”

“Fuck fate,” I say. Fate is the reason I lost Connor. Apparently, that was his fate, and I cannot believe that someone so good and so kind had a fate like his.

“Fuck not having a choice,” Leo says, and I feel like we’re no longer just talking about mates.

Leo suddenly sits up straight, his entire feline attention focused past me. He stretches out his growing hands and then fists them again as Alice drops down next to me. The dark circles beneath her eyes are a deeper purple, and she leans against me.

“Hey,” I say, but Alice has already closed her eyes, her weight pressing into me. “Al?”

She grunts softly.

“Maybe you should just go home?”

“But you’re here.”

“You’re exhausted,” I say. I know she hasn’t been sleeping properly since before All Souls, but it is harder to keep track of now that we are sleeping in our own rooms again.