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Toby’s eyes flashed, but he didn’t rise to the bait. “My life isn’t what we’re talking about here. Even if it was, the fact that I have countless friends and a full life proves I’m not the one with an issue.”
“Bit rude to point out my lack of friends, but okay.”
Toby did something I wasn’t expecting.
He laughed.
And not a little chuckle. I’m talking a full-body, belly clutching laugh.
I stared at him, utterly confused.
Dashing tears from his face, Toby finally pulled himself together. “See, that’s the thing, Sebastian. Everyone thinks you’re a complete arsehole who hates everyone, but they don’t know the truth. You’ve hidden it from everyone, pretending to be someone you’re not for so long that no one realises it’s all fake. And I even know why. You don’t let anyone close, because if you don’t care about them, it won’t hurt if they’re taken from you.”
I sniffed. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ah, but you do. That’s what’s so funny. You can hide from everyone else, but you can’t hide from me. I knew the old you. The one who was quick to make a joke. Who’d go out of his way to make others happy. Who made room in his heart for everyone, whether they wanted it or not.”
Tears pricked in my eyes as Toby forced me to confront the memories I’d been running from for so long. “That person doesn’t exist anymore, Toby. He died alongside his family that night in the castle.”
“What you went through that night was unthinkable,” Toby said soberly. “To lose your family, to be betrayed by the one you loved… I can’t even imagine what it was like, Sebastian. It would break even the strongest of us.”
A sob clawed its way up my throat.
“I tried so hard to reach you in those first few decades. It always ended with you punching or staking me, so eventually I gave up.”
I hung my head in shame, remembering all too well the shit I’d put Toby through.
“Now though…now I realise I shouldn’t have given up. We’re the only family we both have left, and I fucked it up. I should’ve hounded you every day if that’s what it took. I left you alone. You were lost, and I didn’t help you find your way.”
“This isn’t on you, Toby,” I rasped, swiping at my eyes. “It wouldn’t have mattered. I don’t think anyone could’ve got through to me. The only one who did was…”
“Matty. Honestly, wouldn’t have called you falling for a human, but knowing Matty, it makes sense.”
“How so?”
“He’s kind,” Toby mused. “Always positive. Almost a softer version of someone I once knew.”
“Again, he doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Tell me something,” he said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Laurent betrayed you with a clan of wolf shifters, yes?”
Where was he going with this? “You know he did.”
Toby hummed. “Yet when this human, when Matty, phoned you to say he was in danger and you realised wolf shifters were involved…you just went running?”
“Of course I did. He was in danger.”
Toby scrubbed at his face. “Fuck, you really do love him. Don’t you see the point I’m making? You had an almost identical situation—a human you loved, in danger from wolf shifters. But it didn’t even occur to you to question Matty’s loyalty. To exercise caution in case it was another trap.”
“Matty isn’t Laurent,” I said quietly. “I wouldn’t sully him by comparing them.”
“Then why are you punishing him as if he is Laurent?”
Outrage filled me. “I would never.”
“But you are.” Toby frowned. “You’re not with him because of what happened last time you gave away your heart.”
“Yes, but not because Matty reminds me of Laurent. Being with me, being with any supe, it’s dangerous. Especially when you’ve spent the last few centuries collecting grudges from just about every supe clan going.”
