“Please.” I start, not sure how to finish the sentence.
“Is this my trash?” She catches my gaze, her brows knitted together.
“It’s not what you think,” I try to tell her.
“I think you have a piece of junk mail addressed to ‘Piper Hamilton or Current Resident’.” She’s holding items up now. “You have a pile of my stuff in here.” It’s not a question.
“Piper.” I reach for her. She backs away from me. “I didn’t mean for you to see this?—”
“How do you have this? Why do you have this?”
“Piper—” I hunt for any explanation that might make it seem alright. “I don’t want to lie to you?—”
“You recognized me at the bar. You didn’t get my name off my credit card at all, did you?” She’s throwing things from the drawer onto the floor. “Have you been following me?”
“Piper, I don’t?—”
“FUCK!” she yells as her fingers hit the wooden bottom. “I am such an idiot!”
“No, you aren’t?—”
“This is mymail,Ant. My stuff! You need to explain this. You need to tell me this is some kind of joke.”
She’s still here, she hasn't run yet. Maybe I can still fix this. “It’s a Mothman’s nature. It’s in our very makeup," I start. "The urge to follow and protect the ones we love. To warn them of danger to keep our fated-mates safe?—”
“Fated-mate?” She cuts me off.
“We belong together, Piper. You feel it too. I know you do?—”
Shaking her head back and forth, she interrupts me again. “You think I’m really stupid, don’t you?”
“No!” I continue. “I knew you were meant to be mine the first time I saw you. When you came into my bar?—”
She takes another step back. “You saw me weeks ago and decided I’m your mate?”
“I didn’t decide. Fate did. Pheromones. Science. Magic. Whatever you want to call it?—”
“It wasn’t fate that we ran into each other on Halloween. You planned it, you waited, and watched me, and schemed.”
“I wanted to approach you. I knew it was pointless when you had the human man?—”
“You were waiting to hit on me until I was single?”
“I saw him moving out of your apartment. You spend your nights alone now, but you don’t have to. You can be with me. We can be together?—”
“You think that’s what I need? Some male to come along and fix me?”
“I think you need me, Piper. Just like I need you. You came back to my bar, Moonshine, several times. You think that was an accident?”
“I don’tneedanyone, I—” She interrupts herself to put even more space between us. “Oh god.Yourbar? You own it?”
“It’s full of me. Of my smell. Some part of you knew I was there, sensed that I was perfect for you. It’s why you enjoy my company so much. It’s why you like me when other humans can barely stand to look at me. It’s why you took my dick—all of me—so easily.”
“No. No. Please. Please.” Her voice is so different than when she was begging me to fuck her. “You didn’t do those things. You didn’t follow me home. You haven’t been stealing my mail. Collecting things that I dropped or lost. I need you to tell me this is a joke, Ant.”
“It’s not a joke. We’ve found each other. Now we can be together. My true mate?—”
“Shut up!” She cuts me off. “I was so flattered by your attention. But you—you’re a stalker—you’re a creep—you’re a fucking freak.” Her words hit me like a punch.
