“You asked for it,” I reminded him as I folded the letter and slipped it into my pocket. I let Cameron stew for a second longer before releasing him.

The second I did, he surged to his feet. “You bitch!” He leaped for me, but I dodged out of the way.

“Do you want me to do that again?” I snarled. “I could bind you for hours if you’d like.”

His chest heaved, but he froze. Sniffing, his nose lifted, then his lip curled. “What are you?” he growled. “Not a normal witch from the smell of it. Are you like him? An abomination?”

Since I’d stopped cloaking myself days ago, my true scent wafted through the room. I arched an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Yep, that statement just left my mouth. I’d been hanging out with the Fire Wolf for way too long, although, admittedly, I hadn’t heard a quip like that from him in days.

Cameron sneered, his gaze raking up and down my frame. “I suppose I can see why he’d want to fuck you. You have nice tits, and a decent ass.”

His statement was so crass and filled with so much hate, but I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to objectify and demean me. He was a true bully.

“Does your wife mind you saying things like that?” I bit back.

He shrugged. “She knows I’d never sleep with someone like you.”

I snorted, then let my gaze rake up and down his frame, just as he’d done to me, except when my gaze landed on his junk, I gave him a withering glance. “I’m afraid I can’t return the compliment.”

Fury tightened his gaze. “You little bitch. I’m—”

The door on the opposite end of the training room opened, and Kaillen stepped inside. He stopped mid-stride, his entire face going taut. He waited, watching. He knew I could fight my own battles, but given the fisted hands hanging at his sides as rope veins curled up his forearms, I knew he’d be more than happy to intervene if I wanted him to.

“You better watch yourself,” Cameron whispered, and then in a flurry of werewolf speed, he was gone, the exit door swinging closed behind him.

Kaillen blurred to my side, rage twisting his face. “What was he doing here?”

“Delivering this.” I pulled out the letter.

He scowled. “How did he get that? Those usually come directly to you via an SF messenger.”

“Beats me. Maybe he intercepted them.” I rubbed the envelope and finally looked at it. My name was on the front, but the handwriting wasn’t Prisha’s or Tessa’s. Frowning, I opened it only to pull out a letter that was written in a man’s scrawl. My eyes widened when I saw the name at the bottom.

Carlos.

Holy fuck, my ex had written me a letter, and a rather lengthy one at that. Carlos’s handwriting was small and had covered the entire page.

I quickly stuffed it back into the envelope, but given the energy growing from the hunter, I guessed that Kaillen had seen who it was from.

The hunter’s jaw snapped closed as a tidal wave of flames appeared in his eyes. “We should get back to training.”

Guilt burned through me, which didn’t really make any sense since I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I knew from the hunter’s furious expression that he felt I’d chosen Carlos over him. That perhaps he thought this was only one of many letters that Carlos had written me, and he was only now becoming aware of it.

“Kaillen.” I grabbed his arm, and he stopped short. I didn’t know if it was my unexpected touch, since it was the first time I’d touched him in days, or if it was something else, but his entire body stiffened. His gaze drifted to my hand that was clenching his forearm. Golden light flared in his eyes, but his face remained stoic, impossible to read.

I abruptly let go, already feeling the swirling energy rising between us, pulling and dancing, begging us to join and caress.

The breath rushed out of me, and I backed away. I tucked the letter into my pocket again and reminded myself that nothing could come of this. That none of this was real.

Kaillen’s eyes continued to burn into me, that golden glow growing. His gaze turned questioning, as if hoping that . . .

“Let’s finish training.” I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “I have to create more potions this afternoon when we finish. Nicole’s expecting them.”

I swirled around, intent on putting distance between us, but the entire time I made my way over to the mat, the hunter’s energy pulsed into my back, and my own body’s response begged me to give in.

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Chapter 23

Kaillen was still in the living room when my eyelids grew so heavy that night, I knew I couldn’t keep them open for much longer.

Even though we barely talked now, I’d kept my end of the bargain. We continued to share the bedroom, even though the tension that rippled between us was enough to make me scream.

The moon was high in the sky when the clock chimed eleven. But Kaillen continued to sit by the fire, his body stretched out in his favorite chair as he nursed a whiskey and stared at the hearth’s flames. It was his tenth drink. And even though his werewolf metabolism meant he didn’t get drunk as easily as human men, I could have sworn he was doing his best to try.

He wasn’t reading tonight either. In fact, I hadn’t seen him read for several days now. Instead, if he wasn’t exercising in the rigorous regime he completed each and every evening, he was spending his free time brooding, his eyes as flaming as the fire in the hearth.

This situation was obviously wearing on both of us. The desire that pulsed between us was still very much there, but since I refused to give in to it, I imagined his body had grown as tight as mine with unquenched want.

It didn’t help that the SF still hadn’t caught Jakub-Dipshit, and since they were so cagey about any information regarding him, neither the hunter nor I knew where things were with their investigation.

It was beginning to irritate me. Neither of us were used to sitting on the sidelines, and honestly, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could, because this situation wasn’t working. Even though my training was going well and I was improving at controlling my awakening magic, that was about the only good thing that had come out of this.

I didn’t say anything as I began to climb the stairs, but the hunter’s attention drifted to me, his eyes slightly glazed from the drink.

I felt that burning gaze follow me until I disappeared from view, and when I entered the bedroom and slipped into my nightclothes, a crinkling sound came from my pants’ pocket when they fell to the floor. The letter.

I’d completely forgotten about Carlos’s letter during the tense afternoon following Cameron’s departure. Slipping it from my pocket, I climbed onto the bed and pulled it out of the envelope. The smooth paper felt like silk between my fingers as I stared at the black ink and began reading.

Tala,

I know it’s only been a few weeks since we last spoke, but I’ve found myself missing you more and more each day. I wanted to tell you that in person, but obviously with the situation you’re currently in, I couldn’t. So I hope you don’t mind that I’m writing this letter and sending it to you via the SF channels.

I feel the need to explain myself for what happened between us three years ago. I know that I left you. I know that I didn’t keep in touch. There’s no excuse for that. I got caught up in adventures and wanting to explore, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that I never spoke with you properly about our relationship ending.

Because the truth is that I loved you when I left, and I still love you now. But I was young back then. I wanted to travel. I wanted to be free. I didn’t want to be tied down, which is something I know you never asked of me, but in a way, it felt like if I’d stayed in Chicago, I would have been giving something up.