Page 234 of Shifting Hearts 1
One by one, they filed out, until the library fell silent, leaving only me and Morgan in the heavy hush.
FOUR
NATASHA
The library smelled of cedar and old wealth, polished wood, leather-bound spines, velvet curtains heavy enough to swallow the moonlight. Firelight threw shadows across the carved ceiling, making the room feel alive, restless. I had never imagined the mixer this way. Certainly not here. Certainly not with him.
Collin’s eyes in Ryan’s face. That same gaze, sharp enough to gut me. How could they remember me? I had changed everything. Buried everything.
I rubbed the heel of my thumb against my palm. It was a human mimicry, a nervous habit I’d perfected just to pass unnoticed. But across the room, slouched in the dark green leather chair, his presence pulled at me like a blade against skin. I couldn’t live in a world where his hatred anchored itself to me. I wasn’t going to be the reason his life, or theirs, slipped into jeopardy.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Barely above a whisper. But in my ears it cracked like thunder.
I nodded, unable to look at him. “Me too.”
“I should’ve known.”
“How, Jace? You remembered me?” His voice through the years rose in my head, echoes of him when I was drowning, when Bibi drugged me to the edge of death, when I lay nearly petrified in that shed. His voice had been there. Always.
The thought burned. I shoved to my feet and began pacing, boots silent against the silk rug.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I can’t stay. Ask your questions, and let’s be done.”
“Just like that? At least stay for Christmas.”
“Christmas? With your wife and a pack I don’t even know?”
“She is not my wife. I’m married to you.”
“No, you’re not.”
His jaw flexed. “Then there you have it.”
“You are still married, Jace.”
“I’m not.”
“Adrienne will never let you go. You know that as well as I do.”
“Still?”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to find you once. To torch you alive and be done with it.”
His eyebrow arched, amused.
“It’s not sexy. Wipe the smirk off your face.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Steven. And her. They begged.”
His head dipped once. “At least I would’ve known you were alive.”
“I didn’t remember you.”
“My presence would’ve broken that. Eventually.” He stood, slow, deliberate.
