Page 35 of Shifting Fate
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to keep him to myself for a little bit? You know how my last few relationships ended up, and maybe I was scared that I’d scare my mate off or something, but what they say is real, Dal. I feel him in my heart, even when we’re not together, and I know he does too. He accepts me for who I am.”
“Do you love him?” I managed, feeling the pain I’d tried to bury resurface with a vengeance. “Really love him?”
“I do. Do you wanna meet him? I mean, not today, but soon? I’ve told him all about you, and about our pack. He’s got a clan of his own, sort of co-Alphas with his two brothers. His family is so sweet too, nothing like ours. No judgment at all. You’d like them, I just know it.”
I smiled and patted her hand. “I’d like that, Tash. Really.”
“You’re not jealous?”
I held up two fingers, pinched together with a little space in between. “Maybe a little. Kind of hard not to be when I’m officially the only bachelor in the pack-house now,” I admitted. “C’mon, let’s go back to your place and watch some trashy reality TV and drink away the fact that our parents think we’re fuck-ups.”
She smirked. “Fuck-ups for life?”
“For life,” I agreed.
Going up the drive that split off into separate dirt roads, leading deeper into the territory, I noticed something out of the ordinary. “Hey, stop the car real quick, would you?”
There, sitting on the front step, was a large package wrapped in ornate foil paper, with an overly-dramatic glittery bow on the top. What the hell?
She stopped and I got out of the car, leaving the door ajar. For some stupid reason, my heart was thumping hard against my chest, and when I bent down to inspect it, I noticed a long-stemmed black rose sitting atop an envelope, which was tucked beneath the ribbon.
And my name was scrawled over the creamy paper.
I pulled the envelope free and drew out a small card. I knew before I ever opened it that it was from Arias; his heavenly scent drenched the thick cardstock, filling my lungs—and my dick—with a sudden spike of yearning.
“Dallon,
I know you’re angry with me, and you have every right to be. What I did was inexcusable. More than that, it was morally wrong. You do deserve a choice in this, but I never once wanted you to feel like you aren’t enough for me. If anything, I’m not enough for you. I bought this for you for your birthday, but maybe it can double as an ‘I’m sorry’ present? I hope you get some use out of it, at the very least.
Yours, Arias.”
My fingers curledaround the stem of the rose, trimmed of its thorns. I brought it to my nose, and his scent lingered there too. I plucked the present off the porch and hurried back to the warmth of the car. I sat it down on my lap, but I didn’t open it.
Tashi peered at me, expectantly. “What’s that?”
“A birthday gift.” I swallowed. “And an apology, from Arias.”
She wrinkled her nose in a scowl, but I touched the glitter that clung to the ribbon, feeling its grit beneath my fingertips. “Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Yeah, I’m getting there.”
Scowling, she asked, “What? One gift and you’re turning into putty?”
“Sometimes, one gift is all it takes,” I replied softly, then stuck my fingernail under the tape and peeled it back. The shiny paper fell away and my throat knotted, nearly choking me, when I saw what sat nestled in the tissue paper in an old Amazon box.
It was a very pricey—very rare—makeup palette from one of my all-time favorite designers, but how did he know? I couldn’t remember ever telling him about it, but obviously I had, hadn’t I? And he’d remembered?
I flipped open the lid to admire all twenty-four vivid neon shades of eyeshadow, eyeshadow that I knew would go on velvety smooth and blend like magic.
“Uh-oh,” Tashi murmured. “I know that look.”
“No you don’t,” I retorted as I closed the palette and put it back in the box. “Shut up and drive. We’ve got booze to drink.” Because right now, the last place I wanted to be was alone with my feelings.
Not when I wasn’t even sure what to feel anymore.
