He rarely gave me anything to work with, but he sure expected me to bare my soul to him. But if there was any hope for him, I had to show him how it was done.
“Anger,” I said. “Anger toward Olivia Hillworth.”
Eric raised an eyebrow.
“She completely rubbed me the wrong way,” I went on. “She made me feel... like I didn’t belong and never would.” I hated that feeling, wished that whatever pack instinct had started to grow in me would just go away. “I don’t need a pack.” The words were random and out of the blue. I wanted them to be true but they stank of lies.
“I would be lying to you if I told you that the...wantgoes away. It doesn’t, but it gets easier.”
I nodded, wishing it could be different, wishing I could somehow extricate that part of me, cut it out with a scalpel and throw it in the trash.
“You do remind me of her,” Eric whispered almost as if he didn’t want me to hear him.
“Who?”
“My daughter.”
I stood speechless, all words wiped clean from my brain.
He stood and walked away. “See you tomorrow at the same time,” he called over his shoulder.
I blew a raspberry and left, wondering how much worse the torture would be if I didn’t remind him of someone he’d loved.
Chapter 14
“What’s that smell?”I asked, wrinkling my nose as I entered my office.
Rosalina’s voice came from the lobby. “What smell?”
“Gah!” I exclaimed, realizing the stench came from my garbage can. I’d left the remnants of a previous meal in there overnight. Gingerly pinching my nose, I grabbed the can and hauled it out of the room.
Rosalina frowned at me. “I don’t smell anything.”
“Then you’re definitely not a werewolf. I’ll be right back. I need to dump this out.”
Holding the can at arm’s length, I walked out through the front door and veered left toward the back of the building. I passed Jake’s office but saw no activity inside.