She picked up her glass of iced tea and walked over to where Tate was talking to Clayne by the sliding glass door that led out onto the terrace. They stopped in mid-conversation to greet her with, “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“You weren’t. We were just talking shop.” Tate took a swig of beer from the bottle in his hand. “What’s up?”
She smiled. “Not much. Just wondering where Declan is. I thought he’d be here already.”
Tate shared a look with Clayne. “He’s not coming.”
Her hand tightened on the glass. “Why not? Is he okay?”
Declan had eaten four MREs, then gone into hibernation the minute they’d boarded the plane for the trip home. By the time they’d touched down in DC, his wounds had completely healed. Oh God. What if he had a relapse or something?
“He’s fine,” Tate assured her.
The words should have made her feel better, but instead they only made her stomach clench more. “Then why isn’t he here?”
Tate stared down at his beer bottle for what seemed like forever. When he lifted his head to look at her again, there was sympathy in his hazel eyes. “Kendra, Declan is leaving the DCO.”
She had to put her hand against the wall to steady herself. It felt like someone had just kicked her in the stomach. “What? Why?”
Tate shook his head. “I don’t know. He won’t say. I was hoping that you’d be able to tell me. I got the feeling that something happened with you two out there in the jungle.”
“Nothing happened.” Unless you counted falling in love. Apparently Declan didn’t. “Do you know where he is?”
“At his place,” Tate said. “Probably packing.”
Kendra’s hand started to tremble so much she almost spilled iced tea all over the wool area rug. She set the glass on the mantle above the gas fireplace. “I have to go see him. Tell Ivy and Landon I left.”
She didn’t wait for either man to reply, but just scooped her purse up from the floor in the entryway where she’d left it, then grabbed her coat from the nearby closet and hurried out of the apartment. Ivy’d already filled her in on the mysterious shifter and his cryptic message anyway, so she wouldn’t be missing anything. Except Declan if he left. There already felt like there was a hole in her heart.
Kendra was halfway to the elevator when Ivy’s voice stopped her. She turned to see her dark-haired friend hurrying down the hallway, her brow furrowed in concern.
“I saw you leave,” Ivy said. “What’s wrong?”
Kendra didn’t feel like standing there talking when Declan could already be leaving, but Ivy was her best friend. She deserved to know what was going on.
“It’s Declan,” she said. “He’s quitting the DCO.”
Ivy’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
She nodded miserably. “I can’t let him go, not after what happened between us in Costa Rica.” Tears blurred her vision. “How can he leave when I’m in love with him, dammit?”
“Maybe he doesn’t know.”
Kendra frowned. “Of course he does. I told him!”
“What did he say?”
She opened her mouth but then winced. “Nothing. He was sort of unconscious at the time.” At Ivy’s shocked look, she added, “He was injured and went into hibernation to heal…don’t ask. Anyway, I told him I loved him before I left the shelter to lure the hybrids away from him.”
Ivy already knew that part of the story, so she didn’t have to rehash it, thank God.
“What am I going to do about Declan?” she groaned. “I won’t let him leave, even if I have to hold him at gunpoint.”
Ivy smiled. “That’s one way to handle it, but probably not the best. If Declan is like every other man on the planet, being subtle isn’t going to work. Tell him exactly how you feel and exactly what you want.”
Her friend made it sound so simple. Kendra squeezed her keys so tightly they dug into her palm. What if the reason he was leaving was because he already knew how she felt, and he didn’t feel the same? The thought hurt too much to contemplate, much less articulate.
She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I can’t stay for dinner.”
Ivy gave her a hug. “Don’t worry about it. Go tell Declan you love him.”
Kendra’s head spun as she drove to Declan’s apartment. She replayed everything that had happened in Costa Rica. Everything had seemed so perfect in the cave. Where had it gone wrong?
She was still trying to figure it out when she rang his doorbell thirty minutes later.