Page 260 of Fangs
“I can stay for a little while, though.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “As long as I can.”
I wasn’t sure how long that ended up being because I fell asleep just minutes later. When I woke up in the morning, he was gone, but I didn’t have a single nightmare.
After that, Lee snuck into my room every few nights. Our trysts were always full of need and passion, and I tried to keep a wall up between him and the softer emotions I was experiencing more and more often, but that line felt blurry at best. It didn’t help that his presence kept the nightmares at bay. I tried not to overthink why.
I kept my shield up whenever I was around Mac, even though I hated the way it made him pull away from me. I wasn’t entirely sure why I didn’t want him to see anything about Lee and me, but I didn’t want anyone to know. That was a line I couldn’t cross. Other people knowing would make everything far too real, and besides, my brother wouldkillhim.
I could tell Sable was suspicious. Lee asked for pointers on massaging my scars, and Sable gave them to him, but after, I felt him watching us more often. I hoped he didn’t tell Wolf.
It was another week before Mac came and found me in Nemo’s kitchen, eating breakfast by myself and looking over Sable’s notes in the healer notebook. When I saw him in the doorway, my heart stuttered strangely in my chest.
“Hi,” I said, closing the notebook and studying his expression.
He looked…off. I couldn’t tell why or how, but he seemed upset.
“Are you ok?” I asked when he didn’t respond.
“Why have you been blocking me?” he asked, ignoring my question. His voice was rough.
I felt my cheeks warm as guilt settled like a stone in my stomach. “Mac, I just?—”
“Is there somethin’ going on between you and Lee?”
The guilt intensified, and I fell back on anger as a crutch. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
His face darkened, his grey eyes flashing. It was a very familiar expression, but it made me realize I hadn’t seen it in a long time—at least, not directed at me.
“I don’t trust him,” he growled, stalking into the room toward me.
“Why?” I was glad I was sitting. Otherwise, I might have retreated. “Just because you can’t hear his thoughts?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, like not knowing made him angrier. “I just…have a feeling.”
I flattened my lips into a thin line, my eyes narrowing.
“I know,” he snapped, running a hand through his hair. “I just…I don’t know. There’s just something.”
“Mac—”
“I saw him climbing down from your window the other morning,” he interrupted.
My face felt like it was on fire. I stared at him, my mind spinning, but unable to think of a single thing to say. He stared back at me, emotion raging in his eyes.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he finally said in a low voice.
“Mac, you can’t keep me from ever getting hurt again,” I said, a little snappier than I meant to. The memory of him feverishly promising not to let anyone hurt me again ran through my head.
A muscle flexed in his jaw.
“Lee’s not going to hurt me. I trust him,” I tried, a little softer, but if anything, it seemed to make him angrier.
“Do you really thinkyou’dbe able to tell?” he snapped.
I reeled back, hurt filling my chest. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Em, you went from Trey toZip, for fuck’s sake. I can’t?—”
“I knew what Zip was. I’m not dumb!” I snarled, angry tears welling in my eyes.
