It was so hard to be mad at him when he looked at her like that. When he touched her with such loving sincerity. She felt her anger wilting. But worse than the anger was the underlying hurt, and their mockery that stung much deeper than she wanted to own up to. “Why weren’t you there?”
Then she saw it. The bitter agony in his eyes. His own hurt and embarrassment. “In the future, if you will call out to me on your approach, I shall make sure to be in attendance on your arrival.”
“But you won’t stay in the village while I’m gone?”
He’d shaken his head.
“Why?”
His gaze had burned into hers. “You know why, Sera. My speaking it aloud will only anger you, and solve nothing. And we both know the only thing you can do is leave… which you won’t do.” He’d placed a tender kiss to her lips. “I don’t wish to fight with you any longer. Come, let me make amends for my unintended slight. I promise, by the night’s end, I’ll earn my way back into your good graces.”
And that he had. He always did. No matter how much she wanted to stay angry at him, he had ways of making her smile. Of melting her ire until she was laughing and happy again.
That was his greatest magick of all. His ability to wash away her pain and drive out her demons with nothing more than a teasing smile, warm hug, and tender kiss.
Worse, he’d been right that day. The members of her tribe had always been too free with their hands on his body. Even though they knew he was mated and off-limits – that he couldn’t do anything had he wanted to – they’d constantly tried to corner him so that they could compare him to a “regular” man. Get a “hands-on” comparison.
To Maxis’s credit, he’d done everything he could to avoid them and their cheap caresses. Everything he could to fit in and please her. To make their union work.
If only I’d met him halfway.
Seraphina winced as the guilt of it settled hard on her shoulders. She’d asked things of him that were so far beyond tolerance, she still couldn’t bear to think on them. Things he’d suffered.
To please her.
She hadn’t deserved him and she knew it. Unfortunately, that realization had come too late. She’d listened to the wrong people and allowed their venom to color her heart. Had allowed their beliefs and opinions to interfere with her relationship with Maxis. Instead of trusting herself and her husband, she’d trusted them.
And learned the hard way that too many people spoke jealousy under the guise of “truth” and “good intentions.” When honestly, their only purpose was to make others as miserable in their lives as they were in theirs.
And instead of having a devoted husband at her side when her children had been born, as Aimee would have with Fang, she’d been completely alone.
The loss of what should have been was what made her saddest of all. Her pride and blind stupidity had robbed them all of the family life they should have had.
But there was no way back. And she had no one to blame for it except herself.
“So how do we find where they’re holed up?” Dev asked Fang, distracting her from her thoughts.
“I called Thorn, and because they’re gallu, he’s clueless. Since they don’t fall under his jurisdiction, he doesn’t deal with them and knows nothing bout them. I tried to call Sin and got no answer, so I left word with Kish to tell him what was going on. He said he’d have him call me ASAP.”
Dev glanced over to his younger brother Kyle, who’d joined them a short time ago. “What about Kerryna? Doesn’t she know them? They are technically her family, right?”
Kyle made a rude bear sound. “Um. Yeah. They’re hunting her so they can enslave and use her to awaken her evil sisters. Needless to say, she tends to keep as far away from the gallu as she can. Kind of like you and Rémi. As much as she loves us, she’s not volunteering to help with this fight. And if we ask for that favor, her hubby will tear our heads off and make us bearskin rugs. Charonte are ridiculously protective that way, especially when it comes to the mother of their young. Xed basically chased me out of the club for even trying to talk to her about the gallu.”
Dev snorted. “But she can give us intel, right?”
Kyle gave him a droll stare. “Let me reiterate. He chased me out of the club… with barbecue sauce. While smacking his lips and calling my name.”
“And?”
Fang answered for him. “Give the kid a break. They basically locked her up from the moment of birth, so she hasn’t really interacted with them… and while she’s born of the gallu, she’s not really one of them. From what she’s said in the past, they’re a separate beast.”
Seraphina felt sick at where this was going. And how slowly. They didn’t have much longer before Nala would return here and demand she leave.
Or worse, discover that she’d lied and Maxis was here, after all. In retrospect, maybe she shouldn’t have come. She could have screwed this up on her own.
Really, she didn’t need any help at all.