“Wait!” Chase scrambled to his feet.
That didn't go quite the way I thought it would.
He caught up with her halfway across his bedroom, seizing her arm to stop her in her tracks. “I know it might sound unbelievable to you, but—”
“It might sound unbelievable?” Connie whirled on him, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes glittering with barely-restrained tears. “Of course it sounds unbelievable! There's some mystic force which bound you to me the instant you saw me, huh? I'm the one person in all the world for you, am I? Well, that completely explains everything. Except for the fact that you cheated on me!”
“As I keep trying to explain to you, I didn’t!” Chase held onto her wrist. She wasn’t getting away from him this time. “Connie, I swear, I did not cheat on you. I know what it looked like, but I would never cheat on you.”
“Liar,” Connie snarled.
“I’m telling the truth! I don’t remember anything from that night, apart from going to the club and having one drink. I don’t know what happened after that.”
“Oh, come on. We both know what happened,” Connie snapped. “You got blind, stinking drunk, and couldn’t resist a pair of pretty girls. You’ve always been a playboy, and you always will be. I was stupid to think that you’d ever change.”
“I’m telling you, you’re my mate! It’s physically impossible for me to have cheated on you!”
Chase had spent years trying to work out what had actually happened that night, but had drawn a complete blank. The women had sworn that he’d picked them up and had sex with them, but he knew, knew that they had to have been lying. There was no way he could have done that, no matter how drunk he’d been.
He fumbled for excuses, knowing that they sounded weak even as he said them. “Maybe they were trying to blackmail me, or, or it was some sort of prank, or—Killian!”
“Your cousin?” Connie blinked. “Are you seriously trying to blame everything on your cousin?”
“No, of course not. I mean, he's here!” Chase pulled her toward the door that led to the rooftop garden, his heart rising again. “He said he'd come visit, but I didn't think it would be this soon. This is great!”
If anyone could help fix the mess he'd made, it was his cousin.
#
Chase took the stairs two at a time, hauling Connie in his wake despite her spluttered protests. His pegasus's special ability to sense people told him that Killian was spiraling in toward the landing area. Chase burst out onto the rooftop garden just in time to see his cousin's hooves settling onto the grass.
“Killian!” Chase waved frantically with his free arm. “Excellent timing! Tell Connie I'm not lying about being fated mates!”
Connie stared at him as if he'd gone mad. So did Killian.
“Chase,” Connie said, not even glancing at the enormous winged horse occupying a large part of the lawn. “There's no one here.”
Of course, she can't see him.
Killian was still in pegasus form, his stormcloud-gray wings half-open as if he was wondering whether to take off again. *I'm sorry,* he psychically sent to Chase. *Have I arrived at a bad time?*
“No, this is perfect,” Chase replied out loud, so as not to exclude Connie from the conversation. “Go ahead and shift. It's okay, Connie knows everything now. I had to shift to save her life. That's allowed by the law, right?”
Killian let out a snort that morphed into a deep groan as he shifted back into human form. “Trust you to find a loophole.”
Connie yelped, jumping backward as—from her perspective—Killian materialized out of thin air.
“Connie.” Killian held out his hand to her, flashing a quick smile. “It's nice to see you again. I am very sorry to have to interrupt you on what I understand has been a very traumatic day, but I needed to check that my fool cousin was all right after the crash.”
Chase cocked his head to one side. “How did you know about that so fast?”
“You know I always keep a close eye on you. It's why you're still flying around despite years of flinging yourself enthusiastically into every disaster you can find.” Despite his dry words, Killian's gray eyes were concerned as he looked Chase up and down. “Are you in one piece? Not many shifters go wingtip-to-wingtip with a wyvern and live to tell the tale.”
Connie, who had been looking back and forth between them like a spectator at a very mysterious tennis game, flinched at his words. “So it really was a wyvern that attacked my plane?”
Killian nodded gravely. “I haven't had much time to look into the matter, but in the past I've heard rumors that there's a wyvern shifter who works for criminal organizations. From what I know of your situation, I strongly suspect Sammy Smiles was behind the attack.”
“How would Sammy Smiles know a wyvern?” Connie asked, sounding lost.