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Val asks Ryan, “Can I get you a glass of wine? Or maybe a beer?”
He grins at Charlie. “I’d love a beer, but just one.”
“You have to be careful with werewolves,” Charlie tells us. “They can’t tolerate too much alcohol.”
A cap pops off a bottle, and when Val hands Ryan his beer, he holds her hand for a second as he thanks her. Her cheeks turn pink as she drops her eyes. Charlie and I grin at each other over the way a hot guy flusters our friend, and I imagine what she’ll be like when she finds her werewolf match.
“So,” Ryan says to me. “I hear you sent Kai packing.”
“Yeah.” I let out a big sigh as remorse fills me. I close my eyes and rub my temples because of the headache forming. “But now I think I might have been too quick to judge.” Ryan takes the other seat near the couch across from me. I notice his vivid blue eyes that are the same intensity as Kai's green ones.
“Kai and I have been friends since I can remember. He was always kind of nerdy. So were his parents. All computer geeks.” Ryan sips his beer before he chuckles. “Going to his house for dinner was different. His dad would give us verbal math problems to solve.” He grins at Charlie. “I was pretty good at it.”
She smiles back. “I have no doubt.”
His brow knits for a bit, as if he’s trying to find the right words for what he wants to say next.
Charlie, Val, and I glance at each other, and I suspect we’re all thinking about how hard it must be for Ryan to talk about Kai’s mom’s death.
He breaks the silence. “When his mother was accidentally killed by a hunter, who thought she was the deer who had just run past his tree stand, it was really hard. He was only ten and saw the whole thing. Afterward, he spent hours cruising the forest as a wolf, searching for the man who killed his mother.”
Charlie gasps. “Did he?—?”
“No.” Ryan gazes at me intently. “Once hunting season was over, Kai stopped, and Patrick forbade him to do it again.”
Val wipes the tears in her eyes. “Kai hating humans is completely understandable. That poor little boy.”
“But he doesn’t,” Ryan says. “He said he’s not sure he ever really did. It was easy to think humans were horrible people to explain why his mother was killed. He didn’t realize it until he met you, Abby.”
I take a shaky breath. “What about Life Shift? Do you think he tried to destroy it? Before he decided humans were okay?”
Ryan shakes his head. “Kai wouldn’t cross that kind of line.”
I nod. What Ryan told me explains so much. But I need time to think, and my phone is slippery in my hand as I grab it and excuse myself by saying I have to make a call to Mallory. When I get to my bedroom and glance at my bed, I notice Kai made it, and I sit on the mattress to pick up a pillow. The scent of him lingers on it, and my chest swells with love for my werewolf.
I look over to where I put the engagement ring on my bedside table. Kai didn’t want humans in his pack for a good reason. But true-mate attraction made him change his mind. He does love me.
The soft sound of Charlie and Ryan talking in my living room carries to me, and I smile at the happiness I hear. It makes me think of how I feel when I’m with Kai, and I realize it’s true—we’re supposed to be together.
I grab my cell and call him. “Can you come over?”
“Be right there.”
When I return to the living room, I can’t contain my grin, and Val, Charlie, and Ryan practically run out of my apartment when I tell them Kai is on his way over.
A few minutes later, Kai knocks, and I begin to speak as I open the door. “I know you didn’t lie to me. Ryan told me everything, and I’m so sorry I doubted you. I reacted without thinking and didn’t give you a chance to explain. You are the one who should feel betrayed. I was awful to you.” I step back to let him in.
“I was pretty awful to you when we first met. I tried so hard to hate you. But I couldn’t.” He grins. “You’re cute when you’re flustered. I went from wanting to kill you to wanting to protect you at any cost. It was hard to accept at first.”
“I remember. That’s what you meant when you said neither of us could do anything about our true-mate love.”
“Yes. It was clear you didn’t want to be in love with me any more than I wanted to love you.”
“And yet here we are.” I hand Kai the velvet box holding the diamond ring. I splay my fingers toward him. “Can we try this again?”
He takes the box. “First, I have a confession.”
My heart stops when I see his serious expression, and he walks over toward the couch.
