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Authors: Amy Lee Burgess
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with the Christmas tree. I think we need to dress in something other than jeans.”
He let the curtains fall. “I really shouldn’t be here,” he remarked, almost to himself.
“Nobody asked you to come back,” I snapped, terrified he was going to leave me again.
“Allerton must have a reason for doing this to me.”
“To you,” I whispered sullenly. How did this suddenly get to be about him? I guess I was supposed to drop all my anxiety and terror around facing my former pack, including the one who’d murdered my bond mates, and cater to him and whatever the fuck problem he had with some guy from England I didn’t even know.
How bad it could be? I was pretty sure it couldn’t compare to my situation, but I was supposed to feel bad for Murphy and jolly him along even while I silently went to pieces.
“It’s complicated,” he said. He glanced at me and sighed. He looked so desperately unhappy I felt a little bit like a selfish asshole.
He was always there for me. He’d stuck up for me and protected me at the Great Gathering. He’d bonded with me to keep me out of Councilor Celine Ducharme’s clutches. He guided me and my wolf, he’d brought me on a two-month road trip to allow me to sort myself and various issues and nobody was more sympathetic to those various issues than he.
Now here he was, beside himself, angry and desperate, with nowhere to turn. I had him to turn to, but he didn’t have anyone. He was trying to turn to me and I was being a baby.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I said softly. “It’s okay, Murphy. It’ll be all right. And you don’t have to stay tonight if you don’t want. I’ll be fine. I know you only came back because you were worried about me.”
He gave me a small, relieved smile. The skin stretched tight around his eyes and mouth relaxed slightly.
“That and the fact that Allerton must have a reason for this bullshit.”
I snorted laughter despite myself.
“You are always so curious about what that man is thinking and what he’s up to.”
“I have to be because lately what’s he been thinking about and what he’s up to somehow ends up deeply impacting my life. You’re a prime example.” His smile was sardonic, but his voice softened when he got to me.
“He asked me if I liked you,” I confessed in a guilty rush.
His dark eyes searched my face.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth,” I said.
“That bad.” He mock groaned.
“I do like you. A lot,” I said and he became serious in an instant. “I told him we were having so much fun on our road trip and all the cities we’d seen and then he asked me why I wasn’t in a rush to see Dublin and meet my new pack members and I didn’t know what to say.”
“Because now you’re thinking I’m deliberately keeping you away from Dublin and the rest of the pack. Aren’t you?”
It killed me, but I nodded. Every time I’d brought up Dublin, he’d adroitly changed the subject. I’d thought he’d wanted me to relax and not rush through every experience as though I were eating ice cream in ninety-degree weather, but this afternoon after Allerton asked me, I’d begun to wonder.
His reaction to the fact that this man from the English branch of Mac Tire was going to be here tonight made me wonder if there was some sort of secret being kept that he didn’t want me to know. I didn’t like thinking that way. It made me nervous and guilty, as if I were the one keeping the secret and not him.
“We’ll go to Dublin soon. Especially now that Colin’s in the picture.” The way he spat out the man’s name, as if it burned and disgusted him, made me shiver. I wouldn’t want to be Colin Hunter.
I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. He turned back to the window and I put down my brush and went to my suitcase.
Forty minutes later we were both ready. My dress was a metallic burgundy sheath with a matching bolero jacket edged in dark red sequins. I wore my new Jimmy Choo black platform
He let the curtains fall. “I really shouldn’t be here,” he remarked, almost to himself.
“Nobody asked you to come back,” I snapped, terrified he was going to leave me again.
“Allerton must have a reason for doing this to me.”
“To you,” I whispered sullenly. How did this suddenly get to be about him? I guess I was supposed to drop all my anxiety and terror around facing my former pack, including the one who’d murdered my bond mates, and cater to him and whatever the fuck problem he had with some guy from England I didn’t even know.
How bad it could be? I was pretty sure it couldn’t compare to my situation, but I was supposed to feel bad for Murphy and jolly him along even while I silently went to pieces.
“It’s complicated,” he said. He glanced at me and sighed. He looked so desperately unhappy I felt a little bit like a selfish asshole.
He was always there for me. He’d stuck up for me and protected me at the Great Gathering. He’d bonded with me to keep me out of Councilor Celine Ducharme’s clutches. He guided me and my wolf, he’d brought me on a two-month road trip to allow me to sort myself and various issues and nobody was more sympathetic to those various issues than he.
Now here he was, beside himself, angry and desperate, with nowhere to turn. I had him to turn to, but he didn’t have anyone. He was trying to turn to me and I was being a baby.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I said softly. “It’s okay, Murphy. It’ll be all right. And you don’t have to stay tonight if you don’t want. I’ll be fine. I know you only came back because you were worried about me.”
He gave me a small, relieved smile. The skin stretched tight around his eyes and mouth relaxed slightly.
“That and the fact that Allerton must have a reason for this bullshit.”
I snorted laughter despite myself.
“You are always so curious about what that man is thinking and what he’s up to.”
“I have to be because lately what’s he been thinking about and what he’s up to somehow ends up deeply impacting my life. You’re a prime example.” His smile was sardonic, but his voice softened when he got to me.
“He asked me if I liked you,” I confessed in a guilty rush.
His dark eyes searched my face.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth,” I said.
“That bad.” He mock groaned.
“I do like you. A lot,” I said and he became serious in an instant. “I told him we were having so much fun on our road trip and all the cities we’d seen and then he asked me why I wasn’t in a rush to see Dublin and meet my new pack members and I didn’t know what to say.”
“Because now you’re thinking I’m deliberately keeping you away from Dublin and the rest of the pack. Aren’t you?”
It killed me, but I nodded. Every time I’d brought up Dublin, he’d adroitly changed the subject. I’d thought he’d wanted me to relax and not rush through every experience as though I were eating ice cream in ninety-degree weather, but this afternoon after Allerton asked me, I’d begun to wonder.
His reaction to the fact that this man from the English branch of Mac Tire was going to be here tonight made me wonder if there was some sort of secret being kept that he didn’t want me to know. I didn’t like thinking that way. It made me nervous and guilty, as if I were the one keeping the secret and not him.
“We’ll go to Dublin soon. Especially now that Colin’s in the picture.” The way he spat out the man’s name, as if it burned and disgusted him, made me shiver. I wouldn’t want to be Colin Hunter.
I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. He turned back to the window and I put down my brush and went to my suitcase.
Forty minutes later we were both ready. My dress was a metallic burgundy sheath with a matching bolero jacket edged in dark red sequins. I wore my new Jimmy Choo black platform
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