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Considering the freezer was practically loaded with mac and cheese micro meals, it was no shock that he’d reached that conclusion. “You could say that.”
He tugged one of said meals from the freezer.
Her snake watched him closely, not so sure she was comfortable having him in her private space. Well, she wasn’t the trusting sort, nor was she accustomed to having men over.
But she didn’t urge Bailey to make him leave. She liked this male who hadn’t shied away when she’d delivered a crap load of pain to Austen. Liked that when Deke had first learned what happened to Bailey, he’d almost killed the human before anyone had the chance to question him. That his first instinct had been to eliminate a threat to Bailey was something the snake approved of.
Thinking of Austen made Bailey flex her fingers. That little shit stain was no loss to the world.
As part of her old job, she’d been in more dangerous situations than she could count. She’d been attacked with everything from knives to guns. But never acid. She hadn’t seen it coming, hadn’t—
“If you keep stewing on what happened tonight you’ll never calm down,” said Deke as the microwave whirred to life.
“It’s not so easy.” Bailey leaned her folded arms on the surface of the island. “I can still feel it. Smell it.”
“The acid?”
She nodded. It was like the stench and burn of it was imprinted on her system.
Deke’s jaw tightened. “Fucker deserved what he got.” He angled his head. “You didn’t agree with Havana.”
“What?”
“She said she didn’t believe that Roman could be behind the acid attack. Aspen agreed. You didn’t. What’s your opinion?”
“I don’t think it was him. His nest overflows with assholes, but they do have some morals.” Though not many.
He snorted. “I’m not so sure. They could have took you in when you were a kid. They didn’t.”
Bailey felt her brow knit. “Took me in?”
“You were a loner. They could have fixed that.”
Ohhhhh, he hadn’t yet figured out that she’d once been part of the Umber Nest; that, in fact, they were at fault for her being a loner. “Hmm.”
His eyes narrowed. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
He kept staring at her, his eyes delving into hers. “Wait, that was your nest, wasn’t it? The bastards banished you. Banished a child.”
She only twisted her mouth.
Several harsh curses exploded out of him. “What possible justification could they have for that?”
“The Umber Nest … it isn’t like most groupings of shifters.”
“In what sense?”
“It’s tight-knit for sure. But if you fuck up in a way that puts the others in danger, you’re on your own.”
“And you, then a child, fucked up?”
“No. My parents did.” Too many times to count, actually. They’d had so many “last chances” it wasn’t even funny.
His eyes blazed, two lasers of rage. “You’re saying they made a child pay for her parents’ sins?”
She licked her lips. “Yes. But that’s another story.” One she had no intention of telling. She rarely spoke of the people who were responsible for her birth but had done little for her. “A long, boring tale.”
“I have time for you,” he said.
Her throat went tight. “I’m already pissed off. Talking about what happened back then will only make me more pissed.”
He held her gaze for endless seconds. “Then we’ll table this discussion for another time.”
She squinted. “Do you always pester your bed-buddies to share such personal stuff?”
“No.”
“Why pester me, then?”
More moments of silence went by. “I want to know you.”
“You know enough.”
The microwave beeped.
Deke pulled out the meal, peeled back the cover, stirred the mac and cheese, and then returned it to the microwave. He pressed a few buttons, and it came to life once more. Planting his fists on the island, he said, “You’d better eat all this. You’re going to need your energy for what comes next.”
Her body perked up from head to toe. “Awesome. So long as it’s sexual.”
“It’s sexual. But Bailey,” he began, leaning across the island, “you can’t keep that wall up between us forever.”
“Ooh, I happily accept your challenge.”
His lips quirked. “Yeah, you do that.”
“On another note, I should warn you …”
“What?”
“Blair was stood behind me while I was dressing in the parking lot after shifting, so she saw the mark on the back of my shoulder.”
He went rigid.
“I don’t think anybody else did. I had my hair down, which will have helped cover it. And even if the others weren’t focused on Austen, they aren’t likely to have watched me dress.” Shifters weren’t bothered by nakedness—they stripped in front of each other all the time to release their inner animals—but they wouldn’t openly stare at someone who was naked.
“I see,” he drawled.
“I was careful when I was in the interrogation room—I kept my back to the wall while naked after shifting back to my human form. But I’d been too pissed to think about that earlier in the lot. Blair won’t tell anyone, but I can’t be sure that no one else saw the mark.
