Page 73 of Gray

“Don’t care.” His chin quivered. “I don’t like being so far away from you.”

I didn’t like it either. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings. I—”

The words died on my lips as Alastair entered the kitchen.

Funny how Galen was the embodiment of Wrath, with a towering height and muscles that could easily crush me. Yet, it was Alastair who truly unsettled me. His frosty attitude combined with his calm collectiveness told me he didn’t need to vocalize his threats or resort to violence in order to get his point across.

“Join me in my study when you’re finished eating,” Alastair said. His polite tone didn’t match the hard look in his eyes. Far from it.

I nodded to him.

“Can I come too?” Gray asked.

“If you must.”

“Oh, I must all right.” He tossed me a small grin and leaned in to whisper, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. Al can’t resist my cuteness. I just have to give him big, sad eyes and he caves.”

“Yes, but your mate doesn’t have that luxury.” Alastair grabbed a kettle and took it to the sink to rinse and refill with water.

“Mate?” I asked.

Gray’s eyes blew wide. “He meant friend. Lover. Literally anything but what he just said. You and me are kinky bedfellows, remember? Hey, do you wanna go into town later? You owe Ray a box of donuts from that bakery since he kicked your butt at pool.”

Alastair looked over at Gray with what I could only describe as an apologetic expression. Which only added to the strangeness of this entire fucking conversation.

“Um, sure,” I answered him. “We can do that.”

“Cool. I’m gonna go eat my waffles now. See you soon.” Gray kissed my cheek before fleeing. Because he didn’t just walk away; he legit ran back into the dining room.

“What did you mean by ‘mate’?” I asked Alastair once we were alone.

“I’ve already said too much as it is. You’ll have to wait for Gray to explain it to you.”

“He’s told me about mates already. Simon is Galen’s mate, and he mentioned that the two brothers that aren’t here found their mates too. But I… I didn’t think he and I were…” I exhaled. “It never occurred to me.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Alastair said, watching me with amusement in his blue eyes. It took away some of the chill normally present in them.

Was that why Gray had latched on to me so quickly? Was it why I felt so strongly for him? We were mates? He had described the connection as two souls bound by fate. A “love at first sight” type of thing.

My lungs burned, and I released the breath I’d unintentionally been holding. It explained so much.

“Now you see why I told you to thank the fates for sparing you,” Alastair said with a knowing gaze. “Killing you would crush Gray in ways I’m not sure he’d ever recover from.”

“Because I’m his mate,” I whispered, still trying to process it. “So what does this mean? What happens now?”

“That’s a discussion to have with him.” Alastair put the kettle on the stove and flipped on the burner. “I don’t often apologize, but I believe I owe him an apology this time. I thought he’d already told you. No point in dwelling on the past though. What’s done is done.”

Voices filtered into the kitchen from the dining room, Gray’s the loudest of all. When he laughed at something Raiden said, the sound settled in my chest—warmed it.

The whistle of the kettle drew my attention back to Alastair. He finished making the tea and filled a cup. “If you’re done eating, we should go ahead and begin.”

“Yeah. Okay.” I stood and faced him. I needed to pull my shit together. “After you.”

Despite his earlier embarrassment, Gray joined us in the study. The day was more springlike, the temperature hovering in the mid-sixties, so he wore a blue shirt instead of his favorite cat-eared hoodie. He still curled up in front of the fireplace though, softly smiling as it warmed his skin.

“What are we gonna talk about?” Gray asked before yawning. Was he running out of energy already? His heavy-lidded eyes moved to me, kick-starting my heart. “Hunter business?”

“Yes.” Alastair set his tea aside and focused on me. “Even though your actions angered me, I spent time in here this morning and thought over what happened. I realized that in a very small way, I understand where you were coming from.”