Page 106 of Shattered

Aurora had already learned Mackenzie’s tells, especially when his voice sounded like it belonged to the wolf not the man. As sexy as it was, it meant he’d been in wolf form for a long period of time and hadn’t completely shifted back to the man who stood before her.

“You hungry?” he asked before sipping from the steaming cup in his hands.

She was hungry, but not for food. Both would have to wait, at least for now. “We can eat after.” Aurora gave a small lift of her shoulder before grabbing her shoes to take them back to the door. Mackenzie, ever the opportunist, gave her a cocky, yet sensual smirk. “After we talk.”

“I don’t feel like taking, Aurora,” he growled. “I feel like fucking. Hard. Deep. I want to put all my cum inside you. Right now.”

Great, grumpy wolf Mackenzie was in the house. “Too bad. I want to know what happened today with the trial. Everyone is surprisingly silent about it. I couldn’t even find Kal, so I could ask him.”

Mackenzie shrugged. “Same shit, different day.”

Okay, she’d try another approach. “Keeley said Holly got what she deserved.”

He snorted. “I’m thinkin’ it’s all relative.”

Aurora thought he was acting like a major asshole. She kept her mouth shut, giving him some leeway because she knew today couldn’t have been easy for the entire Raferty family. Even if Mackenzie wanted to take it all on his shoulders. “Would you care to explain in more detail?”

“Kal said she’ll either spend her life locked in an asylum or locked up, behind bars in some prison. In either scenario, she’ll remain there until she dies.” He took another sip from his cup before he continued. “Is that clear enough for you, Aurora?” When he looked up at her, she saw the wolf instead of the man.

Squaring her shoulders, she held his icy gaze and sneered, “Fuck you, Mac. I came over here to help you deal with your shitty day, not be treated like a piece of shit.” Aurora turned to storm off toward the laundry room door. She’d made it only a few steps, before he wrapped his hand around her arm and tugged her back to him.

She wanted to kick and scream at him.Asshole.She reined in those urges and instead glared at him. The need she experienced earlier, only seemed to increase with her ire. From the glint of lust in his blue eyes, he knew it, too.

Bastard.

“It was a rough day,” he said.

“I know, Mac,” she spat. “But it doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole to me.” Aurora touched her chest to emphasize her point. “Aren’t we mates?”

He nodded.

“Don’t mates do and act the same way as husband and wives?” she demanded.

“Aurora—”

“No, Mac.Youdon’t get to treat me how you did, because you simply had abadday. Keeley was kind enough to take the kids for us tonight, so I could help you deal with what happened in court today. It’s pretty obvious to me, you just want to go crawl back into your cave of self-pity you seem to enjoy so much.” He tensed at the snap of her words. “And do what you do best.”

“Which is what, Aurora?” he snarled.

She rolled her eyes at his complete lack of insight into what he was doing to himself…his family. “You take on everything and make everyone’s problems your own.Thiswasn’t your fault, Mac.” She gritted her teeth, frustrated at his refusal to see what was staring him right in the face.

“Holly is my problem. I brought her into the family,” he grumbled, his gaze filled with a heady combination of lust and anger.

“Urgh…No, no, you didn’t, Mac.” She laid her hand on his chest, over his heart and tried to calm herself. “When will you get it through your thick, stubborn, Raferty skull? Holly set you all up! All of you, Mac. Not just you. Holly breaking down in Window Rock wasn’t an accident.” Aurora wanted to scream in frustration. She didn’t get how such a smart man, could be so damn stupid; on second thought, she did. Years of self-hatred was how. “It was planned. Just like she wouldn’t have taken Hayden away. Holly needed to be here. She needed to keep a close eye on your family. By you asking her to become fake mates, it was the icing on the cake for her!”

Mackenzie grunted. “Kal knew.”

The urge to slap him in frustration was strong. “Kal doesn’t count with his freaky claircognizance ability thing going on.”

Mackenzie chuckled, and a feeling of warmth flowed through her entire body, knowing she could make the big, moody shifter laugh even when he was grumpy as hell, and she wanted to smack him silly for being obtuse.

“Your brother sat back, watching and waiting for Holly to make her move and fuck up. He didn’t have enough proof until last year. We both know, it wouldn’t have mattered to Kal if Holly was your true mate or not, if he’d found her doing something illegal, he’d have nailed her ass to the wall.”

He didn’t say anything. He gave her a blank stare she deplored.

“Here’s the thing, Mac, no one is blaming you for any of this, except you. Your family— and everyone else—is blaming the person responsible for this nightmare, and that’s Holly.” Aurora patted his chest. “I wish you could get it through your thick head, it was her doing and not yours. It’s killing me that you can’t or won’t see the truth!”

When he said nothing, Aurora felt defeated. Shaking her head in disgust, she said, “I’m going to go get Abby from Keeley’s, then I’m going home to make dinner for us. Tomorrow, if you feel like pulling your head out of your ass, feel free to come and see me.” Frustrated, Aurora turned away from Mackenzie and made her way back toward her car only to be tripped to the ground by a big wolf.

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