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If he was uncomfortable before, he’s practically cringing now, and for the first time, I feel a little bad for him. Maybe it was something embarrassing.

A sudden suspicion strikes me, and I speak before I can think better of it.

“Was it like, a mating thing?”

Blair’s golden eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” I say, cheeks heating again, “I have plenty of friends who are paranormal, and know a few who are mated. Not to mention one of my best friends, who I think you might know, too? Nora Perry?”

His brow furrows. “You know Nora?”

“I do. I met Nora when we were working at a bookstore together. That job… well, that job didn’t really work out for me. But I got a best friend out of it, so it wasn’t all bad.” I realize I’m rambling and try to get back on track without really knowing where I’m going with this. “But what I mean to say is that I know it happens fast, recognizing a mate, and I was wondering if that’s what—”

“It wasn’t,” Blair interrupts, tone firm and commanding and completely shutting down the idea.

Oh.

Fuck me.

Did I just insinuate the goddamn Director of the Bureau might have thought I was his mate? No. Absolutely not. I did not just do that.

“O-okay,” I stutter, grasping helplessly at any mental straw I can to salvage this. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply—”

“It was a simple mental lapse,” Blair says, cutting me off again with an impersonal, no-nonsense tone to his voice. “But I realize it might have come across as something else.”

My scrambling internal panic flat-lines. Um, okay, let’s not soften the blow or anything.

Silence falls between us, and this time it’s my turn to study him. Tilting my head slightly to one side, I let myself take my time and process the details of him. Handsome, yes, but also closed-off and distant, despite what should be warmth in his golden eyes. Instead of flames, they’re like hammered gold—metallic, cold.

It makes me question Nora’s opinion of him. She’s always had such nice things to say about Blair, hasn’t she? How kind he’s been, and how helpful.

Maybe it’s just me that rubs him the wrong way.

“Alright,” I say. “Thanks, I guess, for clearing that up.”

His mouth opens, then closes, like he thought better of whatever it is he meant to say, and we lapse into silence again.

It really is a shame he’s being so standoffish. Sure, the whole mates thing was far-fetched, but a part of me is really, really curious to know the Blair Nora talks about, thedragonNora talks about. By the way she tells it, he’s pretty damned impressive in his shifted form. Fearsome enough to team up with Elias and swoop down to save the day when Daniel Sorenson had Nora at gunpoint last fall.

Not that I’m supposed to know that. Blair’s involvement was hushed up and Nora swore me to secrecy.

Regardless, I’d like to know that Blair, not this one who looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. Which is still pissing me off a bit, considering this little meeting was entirely up to him. We could have just pretended nothing happened.

Well,hecould have pretended nothing happened, and I could have kept my head down and my panic to myself, even if no part of me can forget those few long moments that passed between us.

His eyes were different, then. Burning instead of frozen. Locked on me like I was the only person in the room. He can call it a mental lapse or whatever, but some part of me knows it was more. Maybe not a mating thing, if he’s so adamant that it wasn’t, but something that definitely didn’t feel quite human.

Just the memory of it pricks at something in my chest.

“Anyway,” he says gruffly. “I just want to apologize again. I didn’t intend to make you uncomfortable.”

My heart sinks even further. That’s all I’m going to get, isn’t it? An impersonal apology and a dismissal.

I mean, it’s not really surprising, but it makes that sharp, unexpected ache kick up even harder. I rub my hand absently over the spot where it hurts, and Blair’s keen golden eyes track the movement. He frowns even more deeply, and I take that as my cue to go.

“Alright,” I say as brightly as I can. “I’m glad all of this is settled. I guess I’ll head back to my desk.”

Another awkward beat of silence, indecision on his face, and I stand without waiting for him to answer.