Kira,
I’m so sorry I have to leave you again. I know this is twice I’ve broken my promise to stay but I just can’t help it—what I did was unforgivable and I have to be punished. I’m sure once the Breeding Fever fog has cleared from your brain, you’ll hate me and want nothing to do with me, but there is one other issue we have to address together. You should know soon if I made you pregnant. When you find out and decide what you want to do about it, please let me know. I’ll pay either way. And if you can’t stand to see me, I understand—we can work thinks out however you want.
I’m so, so sorry.
All my love,
Nick.
I stared at the letter. Breeding Fever fog? Was that a thing? Did it mean that a woman in Breeding Fever would submit to anything to be bred and afterwards, once the biological urge was satisfied, she would be upset? Or what?
Not being part of the Were world, I had no idea, but I did have an idea of how Nick thought I felt about him.
“He must really think I hate him!” I murmured under my breath. This note must have been written before I woke up that morning—he had clearly been anticipating that I would revile him for what had happened between us. Those damn Unbreakable Laws—they really had a hold on him!
I looked at the piece of paper again. Written as a postscript to the note was a phone number, an email, and an address. Nick was giving me the option to contact him long-distance, without having to meet face-to-face, presumably because he thought I wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of him.
I stared at the information through teary eyes and felt a tiny flicker of hope growing in my chest.
“I’m going to him,” I said out loud and knew it was true. It might seem desperate and it definitely wasn’t what would happen in one of my favorite guilty pleasure romance books. In the book, it’s the hero who goes to the heroine.
But my hero thought he was a villain. He was certain that he’d hurt me, even though he hadn’t. He couldn’t forgive himself even though I had already forgiven him. But maybe now that he’d had some time to reflect, I could make him understand how I felt. Maybe I had one more chance to make this right.
Opening the suitcase wide, I began to pack.
THIRTY-ONE
The house the Internet said was Nick’s had a For Sale sign planted in the lush front yard. It wasn’t a mini mansion like the Spauldings had lived in, but it was close. Nick must be doing okay for himself, I thought. But why was his place for sale?
I felt a surge of uncertainty as I got out of the Uber and walked to the front door. I almost told the driver to wait for me, in case the address Nick had given me was the wrong one, but I decided against it. I didn’t believe my foster brother would give me the wrong address.
I stepped up to the double doors, which were made of carved mahogany, and rang the bell. I wondered again if I should have given him warning first but I had been afraid he wouldn’t meet with me face-to-face. So I had decided to ambush him. Now, however, I wondered at the wisdom of my plan.
I rang the bell again when no one came. Maybe he wasn’t home? I was just about to call another Uber back to my hotel and email or call him instead, when I finally heard steps outside the door and a deep masculine voice called,
“Coming!”
The brand on my arm began to burn and then the door opened and I saw Nick standing there—but he looked different from the man I had seen only a month or so before. Deep lines of grief were etched on his handsome face and there was silver at the temples of his golden brown hair. He looked like a man who had been through a war or some other terrible catastrophe, I thought, as my worried gaze flew over his features.
When he saw me standing there, a look of cautious uncertainty spread over his face.
“Kira? Darlin’?” he murmured, looking me up and down.
“Nick!” I said as heartily as I could. And then I couldn’t help adding, “Are you okay?”
“That depends…” His forest green eyes held mine for a long moment. “Do you hate me now?”
I felt like my heart might burst in my chest but I still wasn’t certain where we stood.
“No, Nick—I don’t hate you,” I said quietly. “Even if you did abandon me for the second time—I could never hate you.”
“I’m sorry I had to leave.” He looked down at his hands. “I…I had to be punished.”