I bit back the urge to call myself everything under the sun. I’d promised to protect the people in my employ, promised to give them a safe haven to play out their fantasies when the reality of hiding our dual natures became too much. A few moments of a bad mood and I’d broken that for someone precious. Lux had been with me since the day Fray opened. She deserved better.
Breathing hard through my nose, I pushed up to apologize but never got there. A large hand pressed to my chest and shoved me back. Hard.
“You don’t get to speak to her like that.” Killian loomed over me. He cut an imposing figure in his choice of all black from waistcoat to suit pants, but I knew him too well to be afraid of him. Accepting of the broken nose I’d rock if he chose to punch me, sure. “Apologize.”
“I was trying to.”You asshole. I didn’t know if I wanted to curse him or myself. Or both of us.
“Well?” He stepped aside, a hand held out in Lux’s direction.
I ignored my best friend and stepped up to Lux, giving her a little distance. Killian wasn’t the only one who could be intimidating between us, and that wasn’t my desire. “I’m sorry,Lux. You don’t deserve to wear the fear gathering in me. I want Willow to be accepted for who she is. She—” I swiped a hand through my hair too hard, scratching my scalp. “She wants that too. I think.”
“She wants you. I don’t think she’s got a clue what sort of baggage you come with.” Killian stood behind Lux, his arms folded as he glared daggers at me.
“Probably not.” I swallowed. Willow brought her own furry baggage to our dynamic, but that didn’t scare me. That she might want someone to help her with her family gave me renewed purpose. We needed to have that chat. Maybe I should have asked her to come by sooner. “Will you accept my apology, Lux?”
“You two are a pair of professional assholes.” She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing mascara. “But you’re my damn assholes. Someone has to look after you. Make sure you spoil your girl, Rafe. But for fuck’s sake, don’t terrify her.”
“Got the t-shirt for that already.” I gave her a rueful smile she returned with a roll of her eyes. I reached out to brush the smeared makeup away, but a glare from Killian gave me pause. “I promise I’ll stop being a dick. To you all.”
I pulled out my phone and sent off a quick message to Willow.
Are you free tomorrow?
“Good luck with that,” Killian called, a sneer lilting his voice.
He could forgive me later. For now, I strode away, watching the three dots for a return message.
What do you have in mind?
My lips curled up in a smile. This was going to be so much fun.
Chapter Eight
Willow
“There are leftovers you’re welcome to eat in the fridge. I … have no idea what time I’ll be back. But thank you again for taking the kids on short notice.” I squeezed my hands together and prayed nothing would go wrong. The boys—all five—settled straight to sleep at their regular bedtime. They shouldn’t shift without a reason. Leaving them with a regular person was … nerve-wracking. But I adjusted to it, as I had all the changes of the last year, until it became my new normal. I sucked in a long breath, wishing for Rafe to be a part of that. “If something happens, I’ll be on my cell.”
Unless Rafe ties me up and…My cheeks heated. That was a distinct possibility. I smoothed the red and white polka dot baby doll dress where the fabric swirled around my legs. My hair was pinned into a messy chignon at my nape. Tiny seed pearls decorated an antique comb that glowed amongst the darker strands.
“You look beautiful. And we will be fine,” Margot Chaseman, my landlady and best friend, assured me. “Completely, utterly fine. They know me, and if they do anything odd … well. We’ll wait for you to come home and deal with it. Or I’ll call you.” She held out her arms, and I rushed into them for a tight hug. “I’m so excited you’re dating. And he’s even someone like you.”
Apparently she meant it as a compliment, but my cheeks ached from holding up my fading smile. “Yes. He is.” Sort of, and sort of not. “I’m excited too.”
Rafe had his own reasons for not committing to me yet, but after a week with him, I’d fallen head over heels for the wedge-tailed eagle shifter.
“You deserve to be happy. You know that, right?”
“I know that.” I squeezed her back and grabbed for my purse, rifling through its meager contents to check I had everything I needed. “I’ll be back—”
“Like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You come home whenever you feel like coming home, Willow. I’ll be on the couch. And no, I don’t mind at all,” Margot added, waving a book in my direction.
“Thank you.” I kissed her cheek and dashed out the door, hesitating as it closed behind me. I stole a look back, but I’d already kissed the boys several times. Any more and I risked disturbing their sleep and Margot’s quiet time.
Getting a sitter was still a new experience for us. Both the boys and I knew and trusted her, and she’d looked out for us through the entire kerfuffle when Byron passed. With little family on either side, I had no one to call, and no community support … except for Rafe, and our scant hours together were too new to be anything more. Yet.
I spent the trip across the city center distracted, tugging at the hem of my dress, hoping it came under the heading ofcute. Fray came up, and too soon I stood outside the door. The club was closed on a Tuesday night, though I’d learned Rafe often held seminars and workshops for a smaller crowd. That he wanted to help the shifter community warmed my heart.
For all his pomp and swagger—he possessed ample of both—a cute little marshmallow resided inside him, covered by stunning black and golden feathers and talons he knew how to use to deter others from prying too far into his life and exposing his secret.