Page 14 of Fighting Fate (Monsters of London #4)

Vince

What is Dax doing here ?

Well, no, I know what he’s doing here.

But what is he—Why is he—

What is he?

Kieran clearly picks up on my sudden shift in mood, as do the two women in the room, but it takes me a second too long to tear my eyes away from Dax. Is he going to be one of the volunteers? God, I don’t think I can handle it. The memories of our weekend together flood back all at once and I fight the urge to physically shake my head to toss them aside.

“Vince,” Kieran says, and when he gets close, he shoots me a puzzled look. “Come meet the wolves who’ve volunteered. We’ve got Cecile, Saoirse, and Dax.”

They wave and say hellos, though I think Dax’s eyes are as wide as mine. Fuck. How is this happening?

Okay, I need to pull myself together. When I finally got my head around everything a couple of days after Kieran spoke to me and called him to tell him that, yes, actually, the classes would be a great idea, he told me there’d be some pushback to me being the teacher because I’m human. So I’ve been preparing for that.

I’ve not been preparing for walking in and finding that the one-night stand I can’t get out of my head is apparently a fucking werewolf.

I take a seat between Kieran and Cecile on the sofa and very determinedly do not look at Dax as I outline how I want the classes to go. Three per week to teach how to defend against wolves, though we’ll have to run some drills for a week or two before that so I can even teach this stuff.

“I’ll come along to that, too,” Kieran says. “And Drew. If we can make them early afternoon?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” I say absently. Fuck. I need to focus. I can’t have them thinking I’m useless. “So yeah, we’ll be doing the same with the vampires. Lucien and Adam have said they’ll help with that—”

“The alpha mate?” Saoirse interrupts. She leans back when we all look at her, and Kieran gives her a little shrug.

“He volunteered,” he says.

Saoirse nods and Kieran gestures for me to continue. I feel so out of my depth. He—and his brother Drew, who is perhaps the sweetest person I’ve ever met—have spent the last week explaining just about everything they can about wolves to me. I don’t get it, though. Not the way they do.

“Yeah, so there’s that. Sam and the others, too, but they’re busy training their mages, apparently, so we won’t be doing much with them. I’m trying to convince him that we need to run separate classes so that they’re all prepared in case they can’t use their magic or whatever, but…”

I trail off. Kieran snorts. “My second is proving stubborn,” he says. “We may need one or two of you at those classes to work with Ophelia and Dante. I think Sam will be covered.”

Yeah, no shit. He’s still a dickhead, but now he’s a dickhead with two boyfriends, which seems… unfair.

I flick my gaze to Dax. He’s staring at me, expression unreadable. I look away again.

“We’ll start next week,” I say. “Three hours a day all week, if you can manage that?”

All three of them nod. Cecile seems the most excited about things, but they all must have shown some interest to be here.

“Good,” Kieran says. “We’ll work on specific schedules and class numbers next week, too. I already have Adam, Drew, and Quinn working on that.”

He turns to Cecile and Saoirse, and I look at Dax. He’s still staring at me.

“Can I talk to you?” I hiss. “Outside.”

Kieran glances up as we leave, but he doesn’t stop his conversation. Dax follows me silently out of the flat and halfway down the hall.

I don’t know where to begin. I honestly never expected to see him again. In a city this big, why should I?

“What are you doing here?” I whisper. Kieran warned me that wolves have incredible hearing. I don’t like the idea of anyone in that flat listening in.

“I’m here to help with the classes. I want to help.”

“Did you know it was me running them before you came?”

Dax frowns at that, brows drawing together. “No.” Hurt flickers across his face. “I know you never wanted to see me again. I mean… I get that. I’m not here to try to do anything but help.”

I sag back against the wall. Despite myself, I believe him. It’s not as though he’s come looking for me in the last six months.

His number is in my phone, but I’m not about to tell him that. I felt bad throwing the paper away, so I saved it… just in case.

“Nothing can happen between us,” I say. Who am I trying to convince?

Dax jerks back all the same, and this time the hurt in his expression remains. “I know. I am here to help.”

I’d consider telling Kieran to leave it, to find someone else, but I’ve met Quinn now and have a better understanding of what we’re up against. He’s still terrified, months later, and if these classes can go any way towards soothing that, then… I have to help.

And I can’t go back on my word just because a one-night stand happens to be involved.

Not that Dax was a one-night stand in the end. Weekend stand. Is that a thing?

Dax sighs. “Did you want anything else?”

There’s no note of hope in his voice. He can’t have missed the message—I haven’t called in six months. I haven’t reached out.

I don’t want him.

I can’t.

“No.” My voice is hoarse. “Thanks… for helping out. I’m sure it’ll go well.”

He nods tightly. I don’t think he believes me either.