Page 43 of Reflections of Peonies
There was no way to avoid him forever.
As I expected, Titus sat on his ankles a short distance away. He was close enough to reach me but was not quite intruding in my space yet.
He’d been watching me and didn’t look away when our gazes met. Instead, he tilted his head in a motion that spoke ofcontemplation, like a wild creature weighing its trust in the presence of something unknown.
“Y-you’re stalking me again,” I pointed out. My voice shook, but I wasn’t afraid.
I’d almost expected that he’d be the one to come after me. Especially after what Damen had suggested that they’d found in evidence. Titus surely knew by now.
Was that why, this time, there was something different in his demeanor?
“I’m not stalking you,” Titus replied, his expression unchanged. “And I’m not huntingyou either, but you already know that.”
My breath hitched. I hadn’t accused him of anything of the sort—this time. However, when we’d first met, I’d been afraid for that reason.
Did he remember?
“How did you find me?” I asked. “I—I don’t want to go back.”
He tapped his nose, and his mouth thinned. “And I didn’t come here to bring you back against your will. I’m only here to observe.”
I blinked at him. “What are you observing?”
“What a difference intentcan make,” Titus said. “I messed up when we first met.”
I was too tired for this. “What do you mean?”
“I’m a shifter,” he pointed out. “I knew you were scared, but you didn’t let it stop you from challenging me. Because of that, I thought it was okay to play.”
My skin prickled. “What?”
“I’m a predator, and you’re prey,” Titus said, and his eyes gleamed. His voice lowered as he looked at the ground. “I didn’t consider that. It was Miles who reminded me that I could have, from the start, changed how I was perceived.”
I moved to my knees and faced him. “What’s wrong? I told you I’m not scared of you anymore.”
“But,” he said, his expression turning sharp. “Youdidsay you were afraid of being eaten. I knew that hunts existed. I should have made the connection.”
My hands began to shake.
Damen was right. They did know everything.
“I—I didn’t realize what they were until recently,” I told him. When he raised an eyebrow, I added, “It was when Matheus sh-shifted that I realized. No one ever changed in front of me. They chased me as wolves, and”—I looked away—“they were human when they finally caught me.”
My teeth were chattering, and a comforting warmth covered me as Titus wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “It won’t happen again,” he said.
He had no idea what was out there or what they could do. “Are you planning to hide me in one of your secret treasure caves where no one can find me?”
Titus’s chest rumbled beneath my cheek. “It depends on which one.”
He did have a cave! I tried to look at him, but he held me firmly against him. “Titus!”
“My specialty is defense and war. I have bases and connections across the world,” Titus said, sounding somewhat amused. “Not even the others know the full extent. But no, I’m not going to take you anywhere unless it’s necessary. That’s no kind of life. There’s no reason to think you’d be any less safe here with all of us.”
He didn’t sound worried, but if what Damen and Julian had told me was true, shouldn’t he be?
I pushed at his chest until I was sitting back in his lap and looked into his face. “I know about the prophecy,” I told him.
Titus’s heart thudded under my hands, and his jaw locked. But when he spoke, his voice was the same as ever. “Is that so?”
