“The mating heat.”
“The what?”
“Jensen didn’t tell you about that?”
I sigh.“He might have.I’ve been trying to ignore him.”
Mable sighs, giving me a look.She wants me to trust Jensen.She thinks he’s a good guy.But I can’t let my guard down.
“You should give him a chance,” she says softly.
“You know what he did,” I snap.
She flinches slightly.“I know.I also know why he did it.Why he had to do it.And I’m glad he did.”
I stare at her in shock as she blinks away tears.
“You were unconscious, Dillon.You didn’t see the car.You didn’t see yourself.There was so much blood everywhere, and you wouldn’t wake up!I’ve never been so scared.I thought you were dead.”
“I wasn’t,” I argue.
“You weredying, Dillon.I get that it’ll take time to trust Jensen, but you need to stop pushing him away.Give him a chance to make it up to you.Ask the doctors for your records, and you’ll see all your injuries and how dire they were.”
Mabel clears her throat and changes the subject.“The mating heat happens every full moon.”
“Tonight,” I say, looking out the window at the moon.
“Yeah.Miles said it’s like an intense pressure to mate.Like an extreme attraction to each other.He said we’d be desperate to be together.”
“Hmm,” I say noncommittally.
The truth is that I can feel everything she’s described.I’ve been fighting it all day.
“I can feel it,” she says quietly.
“So can I.”
“Are you going to…” She trails off.
I swallow.“No.”
She nods, no judgment in her expression.
Mabel and I have been through everything together.We’re not just best friends.We’re sisters.
“Are you going to?”
She bites her bottom lip, a blush staining her cheeks.“Yeah, I think so.Miles is incredible.He’s attentive and sweet and generous.Everything I could want in a man.”
“Lucky,” I say wistfully.
She gives me a look.I ignore it.
“You ever think that maybe this is the universe's way of making up for our shitty childhoods?”
I lean my head back and stare up at the ceiling.“We had parents who never gave a shit about us.We had a whole town who ignored us.Then we came here, and bam!Suddenly, we have two men who are obsessed with us and would do anything to make us happy.”
Resentment bubbles in my stomach, and I hate it.I’m happy for Mabel.I really am.She deserves someone like Miles.The guy worships her and would do anything to make her happy or see her smile.I wish that things weren’t so complicated for Jensen and me.
