“Dude,” Todd said. He folded his arms over his chest and leveled a no-bullshit look at him. “You can’t interfere with the detective questioning Persephone. You’re not going to. O’Brien isn’t going to torture her, man. It’ll be an hour or two and then you can go back to following her around with puppy-dog eyes.”
Dodge growled and clenched his fists. “That isn’t –“
“You’re hard up,” the other man said. His eyes flashed gold for a moment, and a hint of darkness lingered in his expression – enough that Dodge’s wolf took notice. Todd hadn’t found his mate and instead had to watch as first Evershaw, then Henry, found theirs. Maybe Dodge, too. “Everyone can see it. But she’s human and she’s having a hell of a time with all of this. You need to prepare yourself for her walking away. If she’s your mate, it’s better that you figure it out and talk to her about it sooner rather than later. Don’t use this as another way to torture yourself.”
“I’m not torturing myself,” Dodge said. “She’s not interested. It’s fine. Just a little infatuation. It’ll pass.”
Todd’s eyebrows arched. “Bullshit. You can tell yourself that, you can tell her that, but everyone else sees the truth. Come up with a plan, Dodge. Figure out how to talk to her about this shit. Don’t use her to punish yourself for whatever you did in the past.”
Dodge tensed, eyes narrowed as he glared at the other man. Todd didn’t know what he was talking about. Dodge didn’t need to find new ways to punish himself for his previous life, for all the things he’d done or failed to do. His nightmares did the job well enough.
His silence must have spoken volumes. Todd’s lips thinned as he studied him, then the second-in-command nodded. “Go talk to Silas. Maybe he’ll give you some advice.”
Dodge growled but Todd had already moved past him and headed toward the other side of the house from the living room, where Deirdre and Evershaw still worked on some magical fix for Silas’s condition. Dodge stood in the kitchen and glared at the wall as he struggled with the urge to storm back through the house to loom over the detective and make sure she didn’t upset Persephone. He knew Todd might have had a point, that the detective couldn’t do her job if Dodge was there growling and snarling every time Persephone got upset.
But heknewthat she would be upset, and it killed him to abandon her when she needed his help and protection. What the hell kind of mate walked away in the face of difficult questions and uncomfortable situations? Dodge forced himself to leave the kitchen and head to the storm cellar. As soon as the detective was done, Dodge would take Persephone to his room and make a nest for her so she could take her nap. Maybe he’d feed her again first, then the nap, then plan for the next alligator they faced.
Silence greeted him when he finally opened the cellar doors and descended the stairs. Silas, secured to the wall with a long chain, hardly lifted his head when Dodge took the armchair across the room and poured himself a drink. Maybe whiskey would blunt the urge to break through walls to get to Persephone. He couldn’t shake thewrongfeeling of being apart from her as she struggled. He hated it.Hatedit.
Silas lifted his head and growled a bit, maybe reacting to Dodge’s heightened emotions, but Dodge waved at him. “Calm down, man. We’re trying to figure out how to help. The witch’ll be coming down here in a while to figure out making you human again. I’m in time-out so I don’t tackle the detective and get thrown in jail for assaulting a cop.”
The wolfman snorted air through his nose and laid his head back against the wall. His eyes gleamed gold in the half-lit cellar as he watched Dodge.
Dodge shook his head, running his hand through his hair. “Man, I wish you could talk. I need your input. There’s shit going on and I need a battle-buddy. I’ve gotta figure out what the fuck I’m going to do about – the girl.”
Silas blinked. Something in the way his head tilted made Dodge think – or at least hope – that the wolfman understood. That he was listening and paying attention and could eventually give Dodge a signal or advice. There was no telling how that would happen, but it made Dodge feel less like an asshole for talking to a crazy wolfman.
He drained his whiskey and poured another couple of shots, and leaned to retrieve a cigar from the small humidor he’d stashed in the cellar. Dodge took his time cutting the cigar and lighting it. He knew he was a coward for delaying saying what needed to be said. If he said it out-loud, it couldn’t be un-said. It might feel true and inevitable and –right, if he said the words. When they were just in his head, he could still deny it.
Silas grumbled and gave him a dark look. For a long moment, it felt like his human friend was back. Maybe he lurked deep inside and just couldn’t speak.
Dodge tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling as he puffed on the cigar. “The human you almost ran down yesterday morning. She’s mixed up in some bad shit with Bridger and her goons. They’ll probably try to kill her.”
Silas growled.
“I know, I know,” Dodge said. “It won’t happen, but that’s what we’re facing. She still doesn’t trust any of us, and she freaks out about everything new. She’s struggling with just the fact that we exist, that supernatural stuff is going on around her and she didn’t know it. I don’t think she wants to know. She wants to go back to not knowing any of it, not being affected by any of it. And there’s no going back.”
The wolfman blinked eyes that were suddenly more gold, more intense. Focused.
Dodge studied his cigar. “There’s something about her, man... She’s – different. The wolf is certain about her, more certain about her than anything else I’ve ever felt in my life. She’s ours. She’s meant to be ours. My – mate.”
He almost choked on the word. Mate. He hadn’t meant to say it, maybe dance around it instead. But it came out. Persephone was his mate. She was the other half of his soul, the only person who would complete him.
And as much joy as that brought him, he couldn’t forget how little she wanted to do with him. Knowing she was somehow tied to one of the supernatural creatures she wanted to forget existed was probably the worst news she could hear.
Except for more about Bridger’s goons tracking her down. That might have been the thing Persephone dreaded hearing, followed closely by being permanently tied to the pack.
Dodge took another deep breath and tested the thought. “She’s my mate. Persephone Lawson is the other half of my soul.”
His voice went rusty with emotion and he struggled to breathe for a long moment. He’d never expected to find his mate, to find anyone with the potential to make him happy. He’d given up on any kind of domestic bliss after growing up around his grandparents and their fucked up power dynamics, social posturing, and judgment. He’d given up on even short term relationships after leaving his last contract in Africa, after the nightmares got bad and he didn’t spend much time sleeping unless he was drunk enough to pass out. Dodge figured he’d be a bachelor until liquor or fighting killed him.
He cleared his throat but put aside the cigar so he could cover his face. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with that, Silas? She’s not – not ready for any of this. She barely understands what shifters are, what the pack means. She doesn’t understand mates. And why the fuck would she ever choose to stay with me? She can have anyone she wants – any normal human jackass with a normal job and a normal family. Why would she want to be with my scarred, broken ass?”
Silas’s head lowered and he growled again, temper flashing in his eyes. Dodge knew he understood what he said, since Silas didn’t tolerate the kind of self-pity that Dodge could be prone to.
Dodge made an irritated noise. “Oh, fuck off, asshole. You’re not even human right now. How about you give me shit when you can actuallytalk, hmm?”
And damn him if Silas didn’t roll his eyes.
