hand away as she scooted to sitting.
His heart ached, but he pulled his arm back and used both hands on his knees to push to standing. He didn’t give her much space though, just a few inches. He knew she didn’t want him to touch her. That much was clear.
“What time is it?”
“Eight. Have you eaten?”
She chuckled sardonically. “You’re worried about my caloric intake?”
He was treading on thin ice here. Nervous as fuck. “Well, I know you didn’t have lunch at my place, and I can’t smell evidence of cooking, and judging by the pile of open albums, I’m going to assume you spent every last second of daylight looking at pictures.”
She sighed as she rose to her feet and padded away from him. It was only a few feet, but he hated it all the same. Her hair was a sexy mess of curls that hung down her back. One sleeve of her tank top had slid over her shoulder to reveal her bra strap.
She ignored his question. “You should have told me,” she stated.
“You’re right. It was a horrible choice on my part.”
“And what about Hunter? Did you talk to him? Has he told Layla?”
Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know if he’s told her yet.”
“Well, neither of you opened with that information while flirting with us at the bar.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of a way to tell you, and I wasn’t about to say a word in public, and then I quickly realized you didn’t know on your own.”
“But mostly you were just thinking of yourself and how it would affect you if you told me.”
“Yes.” He wasn’t about to lie to her. Not a good way to start off their lives. He needed to grab his tail, tuck it between his legs, and fess up.
Her shoulders sagged, and she started pacing slowly back and forth. It was dark in the room. The only light came in through the windows. The curtains were still open. He suspected she had better-than-average night vision too.
Finally, she stopped and stared at him. “I’m starting to grasp the magnitude of this situation. It’s not like I can simply brush you off and leave town. Apparently my mother did that. And in a way her mother before her. I won’t be my mother or my grandmother. Someone needs to break the pattern.”
He nodded subtly, not interrupting her, sensing she was not finished.
“How do shifters keep this weird chemistry from being used as an excuse for just about anything? What keeps either party from lying or cheating or any number of things if just touching the other party somehow makes it all go away? It doesn’t seem like I can hold on to a good mad if all you have to do is touch me to make me forget why I was angry in the first place.”
“For one thing, it’s not quite that simple. Yes, you’re right about the touching thing, though I don’t think it will be as effective over time, but it’s not erasing your memory. When I fuck up, you’ll still be able to hold a grudge like any full human would. I can’t make you permanently less angry. Just temporarily.”
“Long enough to get whatever you want,” she stated.
“Okay. Now you’re presuming I’m an asshole who would use my secret powers to persuade you to do things you don’t want to do.”
She sighed as she rubbed her temples with her thumb and middle finger. “I never said you were an asshole, but I don’t want to be manipulated by you. I need to feel like I have free will.”
“I get that. It’s understandable.” He set his palms on his thighs and leaned back. “Elena, I’m desperate here. Like a man without water. Every fiber of my being wants to claim you as my own. It’s such a strong feeling. And I know you feel it on a certain level too.”
She nodded. Progress. “Of course I do. You don’t even have to ask. You made it clear you could smell it on me.”
“When I first spotted you, I immediately knew I had several hurdles. One was figuring out what you knew about shifters. One was telling you that you had shifter blood in you. One was convincing you to stay in town. And one was claiming you. I had to juggle those hurdles. Pick which ones were urgent.”
“So you chose claiming me as the priority,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“I didn’t mean for it to be at the exclusion of