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She was silent for a moment, and then said, a catch in her voice. “Did you find her SUV? It’s a gray Hyundai—”
“There were no vehicles like that in the area that we could see.”
“Where did the trail end?”
“Up the back of Hank’s Mill. I’m sure the rangers will be in contact the minute they find anything. You need to relax—”
“Would you?” she cut in, her voice a mix of anger and desperation.
“No.” I hesitated again. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help, Alice.”
“At least you’ve pinned down a location,” she said. “That’s more than we had before.”
“Yes, it is.”
She sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to wait. But thanks for trying.”
“No problem—and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you both.”
She hung up. I blew out a breath, then flashed a smile Belle’s way as she handed me a whiskey. “I know it’s very early to start drinking, but I figure we’d need the fortification to get through the night.”
“And you only half filled the glass? What, is there a drought on or something?”
She chuckled and immediately topped the glass up. The whiskey did its job, though, because I was able to get through the rest of the afternoon without stressing too much over the upcoming confrontation.
My phone rang just after four; the chime told me it was Aiden. I all but danced across the room to grab it, then hit the answer button and said, “Good afternoon, gorgeous.”
There was a long moment of silence, and then he said, with something close to amusement in his tone, “Have you been drinking?”
“Only a little. The new witch is dropping by for dinner, and I needed the fortification.” I hesitated. “It’s my goddamn cousin, Aiden.”
He swore softly. “Are you okay? Do you need me there?”
“I’d love you here, but I think it better if we just hash things out between the three of us first.”
“In other words, there are truths you still don't want me to know.” His tone was neutral, but I nevertheless heard the annoyance behind it.
“And you know why, Aiden.”
“I don’t accept or understand those reasons, Liz. Not when it’s pretty damn obvious to even the blindest of fools that I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
But you will, I wanted to say, because you’re a werewolf and I’m not. And that meant we could only ever be as we now were—lovers and friends but never anything more. Until I found that “more”—until I found the man I would spend the rest of my life with—then the deeper truths about my past would remain mine.
“If the situation was different, if you weren’t a werewolf—” I hesitated. “But we can’t change what or who we are, Aiden.”
He was silent for altogether too long—perhaps digesting not so much what I’d said, but what I hadn’t.
I used the moment to change the subject. “Are you dropping by to pick up your truck this afternoon?”
“It won’t be until much later. We’ve just received word of an abandoned SUV that matches the make and model of Mrs. Dale’s, so Tala is picking me up and we’re heading out there now.”
“I may have already crashed if you’re back too late. Do you want me to leave your keys somewhere?”
He hesitated. “No. If we’re late getting back, I’ll ask Tala to drop me home and then pick it up in the morning.”
“Are you coming for breakfast?”
“If it’s being offered, most certainly.” The smile in his voice didn’t defuse the anger still evident. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Liz.”
