Page 1044 of One More Kiss

“I think I’m going to need a few more details.” I measured my dry ingredients into each mug carefully. Clara got extra choc chips.

“I thought I was in love. I thought he’d come back. But he never did.” She leaned forward, pressing her face into her hands. “It sounds stupid but I was young. And then I was running for my life with a newborn, trying to escape the Clan. I had a lot going on.”

“Wait, what?” I added almond milk to her mug and stirred it through. “Clara, what happened to you?”

“We don’t have time for this.” Jett’s voice was sharp.

“We need to make time.” I put Clara’s mug into the microwave and stirred milk, normal milk, into Jett’s mug. “There’s a fifteen-year-old girl out there who thinks her mother is dead and doesn’t realize her father is looking for her.”

“Actually, she doesn’t know about me, or her father.”

The microwave dinged and I exchanged mugs, pulling out Clara’s and putting Jett’s in. Walking over to Clara, I placed the mug cake on the table beside her.

She sat up and smiled at me. “Thanks.”

I’d forgotten her spoon, so ducked back into the kitchen to get it just as the microwave dinged again. I brought Jett’s mug cake and two spoons over to the table and sat down.

“Here.” I slid Jett’s mug cake and a spoon over to him. He eyed it warily.

Clara dug into her treat. “Mmmm. This is good.”

I grinned. “I know. You were saying?”

“Right. So, I was pregnant and wouldn’t tell who the father was. My dad was beyond angry. He’s the Clan leader, and I had brought shame to him.” She ate more cake while she considered her next words.

I went back to the kitchen to finish off my own mug cake.

“The whole time I was pregnant I was waiting for Arun to come and save me. I imagined going back to Faerie Land with him and our baby.” She looked over at me, meeting my eyes. “Then I had my baby, Darcy, and he still hadn’t shown. I realized that I had to save myself. So I took her and ran. I was going to find a way to Faerie Land on my own.”

I put my mug cake into the microwave to cook. “How did you end up here? Thought to be dead, with a daughter who doesn’t know about you?”

She shook her head. “I hadn’t realized how power hungry my father was. There was no way a daughter of his was leaving the Clan, even if she was a disgraced single mother. He chased after me, all the way to the edge of a cliff. I was standing there with Darcy in my arms and I threatened to jump if he didn’t let us go.” She pushed her mug away from her and slumped down in her seat. “I’m not sure if I would have actually done it. But it was a cliff, and I was right on the edge. I took a step backwards, away from him, and there was nothing but air.”

I walked slowly to the table with my mug cake and spoon, imagining what it would’ve been like. “You fell?”

She nodded. “I realized almost straight away that I was going down. My father’s face, I’ll never forget it. He was horrified. He rushed forward to grab me, to save me, I think. But I was holding Darcy, and gravity had hold of me. The last thing I remember is pushing her towards him as hard as I could. And he caught her. He nearly went over himself, but he didn’t, he saved her. And I was falling, falling, falling, and then nothing. I went into the river at the base of the cliff and lost consciousness. I’m lucky to be alive at all.”

“How did you survive?” I scraped the bottom of my mug with my spoon. Apparently I’d been stress eating. I hadn’t even noticed.

“A wolf cub rescued me. It took me a long time to get my memories back, but when I did Darcy was already part of my twin sisters family. The witches thought I was dead and had moved on with their lives. I decided to keep it that way.” She stood and gathered her mug and mine. “You going to eat that?” she asked Jett.

He took a tiny spoonful. He didn’t want to. Guess mug cake wasn’t up to his standards.

His eyes widened as he chewed. He took another spoonful, a much bigger one, and pulled his mug closer with both hands wrapped protectively around it. I grinned. Yep, good old chocolate mug cake. It didn’t look like much but was so delicious.

The conference room door swung open and Shark walked in. He held my leather jacket in one hand, which he tossed to me. There was something small in his other hand which he threw onto the table.

I caught my jacket, then turned to see what the other thing was.

It was some kind of dart.

“Found that at the scene,” said Shark.

“What is it?” I leaned forward to get a closer look.

“A tranquilizer dart.” Jet turned it over, examining it. “Which means, the shooter didn’t want anyone dead. He was trying to capture someone.”

Clara gasped.

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