Shaking splinters off his hand, he dipped his chin. “I’m going to walk around the building a few times.”
He didn’t wait for me to say goodbye, and that stung, but it was my fault for riling him.
“It’s more than the comment, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I tore my gaze from the door and focused on Meg. “Stavros sent me flowers, and candy.”
“That’s not good.” She took a long draw. “It’s not funny either.” She pointed the red ember at me. “Don’t yank that daemon’s tail. He believes anyone saying no is playing coy.” She pointed to the hair bracelet on my wrist. “Ask your man. He can tell you. His father takes what he wants.”
“When I tell Clay a bad joke, he calls it terrible then moves on with his life.” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the door Asa had walked out. “Apparently, when I tell Asa a bad joke, he storms off to prevent himself from portaling to murder his father.”
Never one to talk about Clay unless forced, Meg skirted the mention. “You’re his mate.”
“What does that have to do—?”
“You’re his mate.”
“But I—?”
“You’re his mate.”
“We’re not actually mated,” I rushed out before she could interrupt again. “We’re just…”
“Having sex, bandying about the L word, and planning a future together.”
“Um.” I fumbled for a smart response. “Well…” I avoided her eyes. “Yes?”
“I’m a warg. I’ve seen every shade of mating there is, and yours has begun. You’ve moved past the denial stage into the maybe it’s just physical stage, while Asa is ready to place his crown on your head.”
“He didn’t grow up with the best examples of love to follow, so how is he so good at this?”
“Children raised in split households often wonder what if. They daydream about what it would be like if their parents reconciled or to have one home they all shared.”
“But he knew about his father,” I reasoned. “What Stavros did to his mother.”
“I doubt his mother told him until he came of age, or until his trips to Hael commenced. The truth of his conception might have shattered his hopes for his parents, but I guarantee he spent so many years wrapped up in the fantasy of it that he wants it for himself. He believes he can have it. With you.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility,” I said lamely. “What if I don’t live up to the hype?”
“You won’t,” she assured me. “You can’t.”
“That’s comforting.” I scowled at her. “Then what’s the point in trying?”
“Don’t conform,” she advised me. “Smash through his preconceptions. Show him who you really are, what you really want, how life with you will really be. If he sticks around, and I have no doubt he will, then you’ll have the best of both worlds. Someone who loves you for yourself and is willing to build the best possible version of the future for the both of you.”
“I ought to go apologize.” I rubbed the base of my neck. “I’ll do better with the jokes.”
Clearly, Asa had been stewing since the rose incident to be chill in the moment but blow a gasket now.
“You’ll do fine,” she assured me. “That boy’s crazy about you.”
“I’ll go find him.” I checked with her. “You’ll be in touch?”
“One of my kinsmen will, yes.” Her light mood darkened. “Old Man Fang is a legend for a reason.”
The story claimed he went insane after eating a powerful black witch and began eating members of his pack until only his mate remained. It was said he even consumed their children before she shot him with a silver bullet through the heart. The lore also claimed she buried him in a silver casket to punish him into his afterlife.
“I’ll be careful.”