Page 126 of Bite Marks & Broken Hearts

I’ll bet he has, I thought bitterly.So worried.

She dropped her grip, shifting away, and Connor moved forward. “Alright there, Flynn? Ye had us worried sick, so ye did.”

Connor’s arm reached towards me, but I never found out if he meant to hug me or grab my arm. In less than a heartbeat, Seb had sprung from his seat like a coiled snake, pulling me backwards. He positioned himself between us, his stance rigid and protective. The sound that escaped his throat was more growl than anything human.

Katie’s eyes went wide. She stumbled back a step, nearly colliding with a nearby table. “Who are you, and how do you know my brother?”

Seb extended his hand, his movements deliberately slow and controlled. “Sebastián Salazar.” His accent curled around the syllables of his name. “And let’s just say Flynn’s sense of self-preservation wasn’t what it should have been.”

Ever so carefully, I slid into the booth, with Katie taking the seat opposite me.

“I’ll sort us out some drinks then,” Connor said, his Irish accent heavy in the quiet café. “What’re ye all fancying, then? Tea okay?”

As soon as he was out of earshot, I stared down at my water glass, trying to steady my nerves. The table was completely still, yet the surface of the water wasn’t—tiny ripples pulsed across it in a steady rhythm, matching the thundering of my heart. I blinked hard, but the pattern continued.

“Seb, do you see—”

“I know you didn’t want Connor here, Flynn, but I don’t feel like we’re safe here without him,” Katie said, refocusing my attention on her. She pointedly glanced at Seb, who blinked at her.

“Fine,” I snapped. So be it. He could sit here and listen to what I had to say.

“So you’ve been staying with Sebastián?” She glanced at him. “Why did you tell your bakery that you’re sick?”

“I have been sick. With a really bad… chest infection.” I rubbed at my cold spot. “My own flat is horribly damp, so Sebastián has been taking care of me.”

“And you met…”

“At a bar,” Sebastiáninterjected. “Not the most original of locations, I know.”

“Hey, at least we didn’t meet on a dating app.” I forced a laugh.

Katie’s mouth fell open. “So you’redating?”

Heat crept up my neck. “Oh, um…” I glanced at Sebastián, who remained perfectly still beside me. “Sort of? Look, I know it seems fast—”

“Fast? It’s practically light speed! You run away to London, barely talk to anyone for weeks, and now you’re living with some stranger—”

“He’s not a stranger.” The words came out sharper than intended. “And I didn’tplanfor any of this to happen. Sometimes life just… throws things at you that you don’t expect.”

Like demons. And vampires. And falling for someone who’d spent twenty years avoiding love because of a broken heart.

Katie’s eyes narrowed. “What do you need to talk to me about, Flynn? I’m here now, and ready to listen.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out, because Connor chose that moment to return with a tray full of drinks.

Connor set it down, sitting down next to Katie. “What’s the craic, then?”

My throat closed up. Under the table, I searched for Seb’s hand, finding his cold fingers and gripping them tight. The chill of his skin helped ground me, keeping the rising panic at bay.

I tried to focus only on Katie’s face. “The night I left,” I started, then inhaled sharply. “I went with Tom to the pier. And then I sat and cried on the beach.”

Katie’s face softened with sympathy, but Connor’s expression shifted, his jaw twitching.

“Aye, sure. I told Katie all about finding ye that night.” Connor’s voice thickened like cream. “Though I’m surprised ye remember much at all, what with the state ye were in. You’d had more than a wee bit of that whiskey, hadn’t ya?”

Seb’s fingers tightened around mine, almost painfully. I could feel the tension radiating from him, though his face remained perfectly composed.

“I wasn’t drunk.” The words came out barely above a whisper. “You know I wasn’t drunk, Connor.” Tom and I had shared a few swigs, but by the point Connor found me, I’d almost been stone-cold sober.

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