“Then prove it,” she fumed. “Prove you’re willing to take a risk. Kiss me right here and now.”
Theo hesitated. It was only for a few seconds, but it sent Odette into a rage. “See! I’m literally asking you to make a move, and you won’t. I don’t know how many signals I have to give to let you know I’m ready!”
“Odette, I don’t want to pressure you. I want you to move at your own pace,” Theo insisted. “It makes me look like a jackass if I insist you should be with me when you already have a boyfriend!”
“I get that, but why didn’t you make it clear how you felt before I got with Igor?” Odette asked. Her voice was nearly on the edge of breaking. “Why did you wait so long?”
“I… I was just…” Theo was so flustered, or perhaps so terrified of making a mistake, he couldn’t get the words out.
Odette shook her head. “This is why I’m with Igor. I need to be with a shifter who can be vulnerable. You just can’t do that, Theo.”
“I’m scared of losing you.”
“You’ve already lost me to someone else!” Odette threw her arms in the air. “You make me feel so confused. One moment, we’re just friends, and the next, you’re in love. You go back and forth so many times… I just don’t know what you want. It’s so frustrating!”
“I told you we had a mating bond.”
“Big deal!” Odette was practically screeching now. “The magic means nothing if you won’t follow your heart. You’re too afraid of getting hurt. You’re a coward.”
“I’m no coward,” Theo snapped.
“Yes you are. If you wanted to be with me, you would be,” Odette said. “But you’re not, so that must mean you don’t care about me. Or at least, you don’t care enough to make it official. You can keep playing games, but I need a man. Not a little boy who can’t make up his mind.”
Theo’s face flushed. “You do what you want with Igor. I really don’t care anymore.”
What a liar. He did care. But Odette must’ve believed him, because she blurted out, “Good! Then it won’t bother you to know that I slept with him!”
Theo’s mouth dropped open. His face went pale, and all of his words fell flat. By the look in his eyes, I could tell she’d really hurt him.
Bad.
Odette was sobbing now. “Just stay away from me, Theodore Antov! I never want to see you again!”
In full Odette-style, she ran down the road wailing. Theo shook himself out of his stupor, and went to go after her, but I held him back. “Theo, wait here. I’ll talk to her.”
He hesitated, then nodded quickly. I think he was in too much shock to know what to say.
I rushed to catch up with Odette. I grabbed her arms and spun her around, forcing her to talk with me. “Odette, what is going on? Did you sleep with Igor to make Theo jealous?”
Odette shook her head rapidly, flinging tears everywhere. “Igor said I needed to show him I loved him. If I didn’t do it, he was gonna leave me, and—”
“No, Odette, no.” I took her into my arms and gave her a hug, wondering where it’d all gone sideways. Igor was such a prick.
Odette continued to sniffle. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Igor says that I don’t love him.”
How anyone could think Odette wasn’t capable of love, I didn’t know. She was the sweetest thing on earth. “He can’t put this all on you. It takes two people to make a relationship work.”
“I have been relying on him a lot,” Odette confessed. “My mom cut me off, so I had to ask for some help, but now he says all I care about is his money.”
I snorted, “Girl, he could give you a million dollars, and it wouldn’t be enough payment for putting up with his ass.”
“I just wanted someone to love me!” Odette wailed, and my heart fell. “Theo’s so unsure, and it’s so confusing, and my family just doesn’t care about me anymore, so I thought Igor was the only one who would love me, so I had to do it, and— and—”
Odette whimpered. “I want to fix things, but I don’t know what else to do. I feel like I’m failing my boyfriend. I try and I try, but nothing is ever good enough.”
“Break up with him! He doesn’t deserve you!”
“You don’t understand what we have together!” Odette pulled away from me and