siblings were going to hate me forever. It’s been strangely relieving for them to just welcome me back in and give me a chance.”
“Why did you run from them and Hasan to begin with? You mentioned you left the werecat who Changed you much earlier than most werecats.” He tilted his head in that confused dog look.
“I…learned something,” I whispered, looking completely away from him. “That’s too personal.”
“All right.”
We sat in silence until the food arrived. He answered the door and brought it in. Grabbing another chair, I sat at a small table with him to eat. I considered telling him more about my problems with Hasan but couldn’t bring myself to continue the conversation.
“What’s your favorite color?” he asked softly. I snorted, nearly dropping food out of my mouth. When I looked at him, he shrugged. “Try.”
“Uh…Orange. Sunset orange.”
“Music type?”
“Rock, mostly.” I shrugged. “Country plays at the bar because they like it.” He knew what I meant by ‘they.’
“Why do you like hanging out with my daughter so much?”
“She’s safe,” I answered immediately. I looked up from my food and saw his concentrated look. “She’s not a threat. Physically or emotionally. And she’s so goddamn unique. She’s a great kid.”
“Did you ever want kids?” He was hitting hard now.
“Yes. If my fiancé and I had been doing our job right, and what happened didn’t happen, I could have had one roughly her age, maybe more,” I whispered, knowing how it might look. “I knew when she showed up, she could have been mine. She was someone’s. Nothing else mattered except someone’s baby was there, she could have been mine, and I would want someone fighting tooth and fucking nail to keep any of my children safe.”
“He died in a car accident, didn’t he? Your fiancé?” Heath rested his arms on the table, ignoring his food.
“Yup. I should have, too, but the official report was that he was driving to meet me somewhere and went off the road. It was written so I was never in the car to begin with.” I chuckled darkly. “It was eleven years ago. You would think I would be over him and it by now.”
“No. It took me decades to get over the loss of my first wife.”
“The one who chose to remain human.”
“Yup, and when I finally did, I barely had any time with the second. She was in and out of my life faster than I could blink. She’s the one I never really got over. I never had a chance to say goodbye.”
“Same. There was no goodbye. We were having a good time, then…we weren’t.” I grabbed a napkin and pressed it to my eyes. I would not cry, not after eleven years damn it, and not in front of Heath Everson. “Change the topic.”
“I think I know enough,” he murmured. “You’re never what I expect.”
“Really?” I snorted. “To my family, I’m exactly the fuck up American some of them think I am. Both families. You did all the research on my human family, you can tell me what impression you got.”
“Your twin is an overachiever,” he commented, leaning back again and grabbing his fork and knife. “A huge overachiever. You know she’s a heart surgeon now?”
“Of course she is.” I resisted rolling my eyes. “Does she still look exactly like me?”
“Like you in ten years.” I didn’t know what that would look like. “You still look like the twenty-six-year-old you were when you were Changed, Jacqueline Duray.”
I groaned. “I always hated that last name. It makes me sound like I should be buying bread at some bistro on a corner in Paris.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” He chuckled even more, and I wanted to reach across the table, take his knife, and stab him with it. “Why Leon?”
“It’s French without being ridiculously obvious, and my family was always proud of our French heritage. I was going for a laugh, honestly. I needed a new last name, and I liked it. It’s been my last name for…nine years now. It suits me, I think.” I had already been planning on changing my last name once I was married, so my attachment to my maiden name had faded. While I never got the last name I truly wanted, I was at least able to give up Duray.
“So, you’re Jacky Leon, the werecat from Jacksonville, Texas, daughter of Hasan.”
“Yup. Write it down, and don’t forget it.”
“I think I like Jacqueline better.”
“Oh fuck, not you too.” I shook my head as he laughed and began