Page 51 of Poet & Protector

She continued to watch me.

“What?” I asked.

I shouldn’t have asked.

“You’re falling for him,” she said. There was no accusation in her voice. It was a simple statement of fact.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried to walk away, but she grabbed me and hauled me back to the table.

“Sit.”

“Sabine.”

“Sit down, Nev.”

Resigned, I sank into the chair Mason had occupied not fifteen minutes ago. I took a breath, hoping his scent of sun-warmed grass and clover might have lingered, but I only smelled the miasma of bar odors and Sabine’s jasmine.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

“There’s nothing to tell,” I replied.

She stared at me until it became clear she wouldn’t accept that answer.

“He’s just…he’s not…” I fumbled for words, then abruptly blurted, “Did you know his eyes are this crazy hazel blue with gold flecks? When the light catches them, they’re kind of incredible.”

“No, Nev,” she said, deadpan. “I did not know what color Mason’s eyes are. Thank you so much for describing them to me.”

I shot her a resentful look, but said, “I can’t stop thinking about him.”

Or dreaming about him. I kept that to myself.

“Is that a bad thing?” she asked.

“Yes,” I answered reflexively. “No. I don’t know.”

“You don’t think he was here tonight, without his alpha, because he can’t stop thinking about you?”

My heart jumped at the possibility, but I shook my head. “He doesn’t like me. All we do is fight.”

“And he’s the one who starts the fights?” Sabine countered with a knowing smile.

“Shut up.”

“You get all prickly when you feel vulnerable,” she said. “It’s been your go-to defense mechanism since we were puppies, Nev. You must be an absolute porcupine with Mason.”

“Maybe.” I slouched in my seat. “Probably.”

“Could you try not being a porcupine and see what happens?” she suggested.

“Probably not.”

“Well, then you’re never going to get laid.”

“Sabine!” I jerked upright, nearly toppling the chair.

“What?” She flashed a smile at me. “It’s true.”

“I’m not trying—” I started, then made a frustrated sound. “I don’t want…”