“Look, man. You’ve been through hell. We all know it. Maybe now your heart will be more open, more patient. Because you sure as shit were never patient. If you think you didn’t deserve her before, now’s your chance to prove it to yourself that you always did. That she was always meant for you. Because you sure as shit didn’t ruin her life. But prove that to yourself. Win her over the way you should’ve the first time before you lost control. Show her—”
The door swung open so hard it slammed into the wall. Cosette wasn’t a wolf, but she was growling just the same.
Chris rose. “What?”
Cosette’s heels might as well have been breaking the floor with how hard she was stomping. “It was definitely my mother. I’m going to need to talk to her. I’m going to need to kill her.”
I didn’t envy Chris at all right now.
“We can’t murder your mother without major consequences.” Chris reached for her. “And we knew that she was responsible. Right?” Chris’s calm seemed to ease Cosette’s anger.
She took a breath and let him hold her for a second. “We assumed, but we didn’t know. Now we do. We didn’t have proof. But now I do.” Cosette stepped away from Chris. “Van!”
The fey warrior appeared. He scanned the room before taking in Cosette. “Yes. What’s happened? Where are we?”
“It was her,” Cosette said. “Proof.” She flicked her hand toward him, and I felt magic slip past me.
“This changes things.” He nodded to her before turning to me. He closed the distance between us, gripping my shoulder. “I’m glad you took my advice. I know waiting was hard, but now we’ll work to make sure she sees that new home of yours soon.” He dropped his hand and looked at Cosette again. “I’ll be back.”
Before I could say anything, Van disappeared again. “What was that?”
“My mother has been begging to talk to me, and now, I think I’ll take her up on that.” Cosette ran a hand through her hair. “Van will set the terms of our meeting.”
Chris gripped Cosette’s hand. “Are you sure this is a good idea? If it goes wrong, we have war.”
“I think we might be at that point already. Maybe not, but we’re close.” Cosette faced me. “I’ve good news and bad. I usually would’ve let you pick which first, but I’m not going to today. The bad news is too obvious. Eli was right. I can’t change the magic. Samantha was also right. The fey magic is imbedded in Tessa’s soul.”
Before I could process that, Cosette kept talking.
“The good news is—she’s awake and remembers nothing from your encounter with her. Which means you start with a clean slate instead of fighting that awful first impression where you freaked her out.” She poked me in the chest twice. “Don’t do that again.” She poked me three more times as if that would drive home her point. “You might not get as lucky again.”
“What do I do now?”
Chris picked up the sketchpad from where I’d set it down. “Move into that apartment. We’ll help you get settled and then get out of your way. You need us to come, you tell us. Otherwise, we’ll leave you to do your magic and win her over again but, um, shave. She likes your dimples a lot, and she can’t see them right now.”
I rubbed my hands down my rough face. I guess I hadn’t noticed it or really cared about shaving regularly. “This is insane. This feels insane. I have to treat my wife like she’s a stranger?”
“Yes, but you can do this.” There was zero doubt hiding in Cosette’s words.
I looked up at her. “Can I?” Cosette couldn’t lie to me.
“Yes. You can.” Cosette’s words were clear.
“See? She agrees. You can do this,” Chris said. “It was more than just fate—more than just magic and bonds—that brought the two of you together. I saw how you’d train with her. Laughing and sharing headphones while you ran. I saw it. She loved you for more than just your alpha power.”
“More than just your abs, too,” Cosette said. “Though those are fine.”
Chris stared at his mate for a hard second. “Why were you looking at his abs? When did you see—”
Cosette touched Chris’ cheek, and then he laughed. “Fine.”
My phone beeped, and I pulled it from my pocket.
Michael texted me an address. We need to go. Meet me outside the hospital.
I looked up to see Chris standing over me, reading the text. “Looks like he got the apartment.”
Be right there. I texted Michael back.