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He softened at that and pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back as I clung to him. “How could it be her? Someone must have forced her to do it. Someone must be threatening her.”
I shrugged as best I could. Normally, his assuming a woman couldn’t be behind a scheme would annoy me—call me crazy, but I’m for equal opportunity in all areas of the world, including crime—but I knew Stella. She wasn’t capable of this. At least I’d thought so.
“I know nothing other than she dropped off the box.”
“I’ll confront her. I’m her Alpha, she has to obey my request.”
I pulled back to look him in the eyes. “No. We can’t let her know we are on to her. We need to follow her. Find out what she’s really up to. If you’re right and someone is forcing her to do this, we need to know who it is and why. If we tell her we’re on to her, it could ruin everything.”
He glared at me, and I could see his inner debate in his eyes. He wanted to take over and fix the problem. But I could tell he also understood my reasoning. “Fine. We do it your way. For now.”
“Good. But about that ‘for now’ part, please come to me before you do anything.”
“Agreed.”
We stayed there, holding each other. I wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. His reaction had been pure shock. He really hadn’t known anything about it. Or he deserved an Oscar for his performance.
He’d been weird lately, but I was almost positive it wasn’t because he was involved in the drugging of shifters.
“Are we okay?” I asked finally.
He squeezed me. “Yeah, we are.” He pulled me back so he could look at me. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a shit. It’s weird seeing you with the man you hated for most of your life.”
“Yeah. It’s a little weird for me too. But I get it. When you were with Shelby, I kept thinking she was your mate. Part of me was happy that she wasn’t.” I scrunched up my face. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good. It’d be a lot easier if we were mated, but it seems our wolves just aren’t feeling it,” he said with a small smile.
The whole fated mate thing comes from the magic that makes us shifters. It’s our wolves that decide our fate so-to-say. Mated couples have different stories about how it’s figured out. Some say it happened when they mated as wolves. Some say it happened the second they saw each other. But most say it’s when they had sex as humans. They all describe it differently, but something happens, and fate connects them forever. They suddenly can’t live without each other, and for the first year can barely get out of bed.
Whatever was supposed to happen never did between Isaac and me. And we tried every way just to be sure.
“Yeah, it would be a lot easier.” I took a step back, putting some space between us. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay. If I find out you’re like Stella, it’ll kill me. You’re the only friend I have left. Hell, you’re the only family I have. Please tell me you’re on the up and up.”
He grabbed me, kissing me so abruptly I couldn’t respond at first. Because it felt good, comforting, familiar, I kissed him back. When he ended it, he pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry, but it was kiss you or smack you.”
“Yeah, because that makes sense.”
“What you said was insulting. My first reaction was to punch you, but I thought better of it and took my frustration out in a different way. Do you actually believe I could be behind what’s going on?”
I averted my eyes, looking down at my feet. “It’d be easier to believe you’re behind it than knowing Stella is.”
He grunted. “Yeah, I can see that.” With a finger under my chin, he lifted my face. “I will admit that maybe some of my business practices are not kosher. Or I overlook some things within the pack. But I would never intentionally hurt someone else. Even a reg.”
“Good. You’ll help us figure out what Stella is up to? You’ll stop poking at Liam? And you’ll let me pay you for my house?”
He barked out a laugh. “I’ll help you and I’ll stop being a dick to your boytoy, but we already settled the house thing. Don’t start with me again.”
“Fine. It was worth a shot. And he’s not my boytoy. We haven’t even slept together.”
His jaw dropped. “What? Ember Steele hasn’t jumped someone’s bones yet?”
“What the hell, Isaac? I don’t screw everyone I see.”
“No, but you also never wait this long. What’s up? Is it too small?” He held up his hand with his pointer and thumb a millimeter apart.
I laughed, smacking at his hand. “No. That’s not it.” I held up both my hands a good distance apart. “Actually, it’s—”
“Nope, uh-uh, I do not need to know. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
