I tried to read what I could see of his face. "Okay, is Ted, or rather Theodore Forrester, your birth name?"
He moved the hat so he could look me in the eye as he said, "Yes."
I just blinked at him. "Really, just like that, you finally give me a yes?"
He gave a small shrug, his mouth quirking.
"It was because I was crying, wasn't it?"
"Maybe."
Then I just went back to the fact that I finally had confirmation that Edward had been born Theodore Forrester. In a way, Ted was the real person, and Edward the secret identity.
"Thank you," I said.
"For finally answering the question?"
I nodded and smiled. "And for giving a shit that I was crying."
"What did Raborn want?"
I told him, ending with, "I know it was a stupid reason to cry. You'd think I'd get used to being called a monster."
"It's only been a month since you had to make the hardest kill of your life, Anita. Give yourself a break."
Edward hadn't been with me for the kill, because it hadn't been a legal monster hunt. It had been Haven, our local Rex, lion king, going apeshit and shooting Nathaniel, my live-in sweetie, wereleopard to call, and one of the loves of my life. Haven had meant to kill him, but Noel, one of the weakest of our werelions, had put himself between Nathaniel and that bullet. He'd lost his life to save Nathaniel's, and I'd barely known Noel. Haven had been jealous, and wanted to hurt me as badly as possible; that he'd chosen Nathaniel's death as the most painful thing he could do to me was something I still hadn't looked at too closely. I had enough pain, because Haven had been one of my lovers. I'd never killed anyone that I'd cared about before. It hadn't felt very good. In fact, it had sucked.
"You're saying I'm still raw from killing Haven?"