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“But I’m not. Not totally. I was born this way. I don’t know anything about my abilities, just that I’m different and for a long fucking time I didn’t want to be alive. If I was alive, I could do scary shit. Unimaginable—” He swallowed, starkly. “I knew you were my mate the second I saw you.”

There was that again. And the emotional punch that came with it.

He meant it.

“You really believe that?”

Agony shone from him, briefly, before he switched it off. A wall coming down over him. “You don’t, so it doesn’t matter.”

Now I was the one letting loose an ugly laugh. He started to walk away, but I caught his arm, getting in front of him. “You can’t say that shit and walk away from me.”

A switch flipped and the walled off expression was gone. In its place was heat, blazing from him. He crowded in on my space, towering over me. His hands cupped the sides of my face and he tilted me up to see him. “This is what I know. That I have never enjoyed being alive. Ever. It’s been hard. And there’s been no color. No enjoyment. No reason to be alive, but then I met Noah and things got a tiny bit better. He made me laugh. He made me feel like I wasn’t completely alone until I lost him, but then I got him back and I don’t even know how I did it. I made a wish. One fucking stupid wish. One night when I was crying. That’s all I did and suddenly he’s in my room and he is livid with me. The best friend I was missing so much was back, but he now hates me. And I can’t bring myself to let him go. That’s the real reason he hates me. He knows I didn’t mean to bring him here, but I won’t send him back. And that he can’t ever let go. It’s the same with you. You make me want to be here. And I,” he choked off, a tear sliding down from his eye. “I don’t know how to let that go. Yes, Cole. You are my mate, but I’m pretty sure Cassian is yours.”

“You need both of them.” Noah’s voice.

“I don’t know how it works for humans, but I see it when he’s with you. You need him. I need you. How’s that for some fucked up karma?” He bit out, bitterly. Forcing himself to step away from me, he looked away, clearing his throat. “If you want this to end between us, you can do that. Okay? You’re not stuck with me because you’re my mate. I won’t force you to stay.”

I didn’t move.

He left, walking around me, and I…couldn’t…move.

What was I doing?

He was halfway across the field when it hit me that I was letting him leave.

“Lee!”

He glanced back, stopped, and there was something in his eyes. Something stark. Empty. He shook his head briefly.

He was too far away for me to hear, but his mouth moved. A second later his words came to me, as if spoken softly next to me, “I’ll leave the car for you. Go back to the house. I’m going to the hospital to heal Claudia.”

But how was he going to get there? As soon as I thought it, keys landed in front of me, and he disappeared. A black swirl of smoke rose up around him, enveloping him, and he was gone.

He could totally poof.

45

LEE

The party was going when I got to my house. Cassian said he was going to invite people over. He invited half of his school and mine. It took me fifteen minutes to take fifteen steps into my place because people wanted to say hello.

“Hey, man.” Roger, one of my linemates on the Ravens hockey team came over, holding his hand up. I cupped it with mine and he gave me a half hug, hitting the back of my shoulder. “I got the download from Emcee. You’re sharing a girl with Ripp. All good here. We got your back.”

I stopped in my tracks and frowned. “What’d you say?”

It wasn’t in the words, but it was in the way he said it. As if Cole was some dirty secret of mine.

We would deal with this. I knew that, but my patience was frayed.

He paused as he’d been stepping back from me. Music was blasting from my place and there were people around us, but everything seemed to quiet in that moment.

Roger was as tall as me, well over six feet, but he was bigger. More muscled. He was our team’s enforcer and I had no doubt he’d professionally smash heads in the NHL too. Me, I was leaner, but I was fast. I was also smarter than Roger. My temper was a lot worse.

He knew this.

“Uh.” His smile was stiff. “I don’t know, man. I’m just going off what Jason said.”

There was an opening in the crowd, where Jason Emcee, Nimrod, and a few others from Haven Rock pushed forward to stand.