Inez stared at the man, who seemed so tense that he looked like he was about to snap. Sighing, she shook her head and turned around on her feet, "I don’t want you because... I can see that you don’t want to be with me. I am not going to force you to give me something that you should be giving me, Killian. If distance is what you need, then take it." With a calm that Inez didn’t feel, she walked out of the lodge. She half expected the man to yell or scream at her. Maybe even tell her that she was overstepping her boundaries when he was the one who had given her a place to stay in the pack.
And yet he didn’t do anything like that.
If it had been Dominic, he certainly would have done it.
Instead, he got up and started walking right behind her. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t quite leave her alone either. It was weird and certainly something that Inez had not expected, and yet Killian was someone who always did something unexpected. Maybe he had something he wanted to tell her, something harsh?
What? Don’t question her. She had suffered enough at the hands of Dominic and the rest that she would have a really hard time believing that Killian didn’t mean any harm.
As she arrived at the lodge, Killian followed right behind her. Every fibre in her body wanted to kick the man out of the lodge, but something held her back. Shrugging and leaving the man to his devices, she turned around and headed straight to the kitchen, where she started to rinse off the dishware and stacked it neatly in the dishwasher. Even though the figure behind her kept staring at her, making Inez close her eyes and sigh countless times, she didn’t turn around. She continued to use mundane chores to distract herself.
When she walked out of the kitchen, it was to find Killian sitting on the couch. He was still tense as a taut bow, ready to snap at any second. He was still engaged in a pretty intense battle with his wolf. The two of them divided on an opinion, and Inez had a nagging suspicion that she did know what this was all about. But she was not going to wait for him to do it.
Leaving him to brood, Inez vacuumed the lodge, did her laundry and then finished chopping the vegetables for breakfast the next morning. By the time she was done, Killian was still sitting on the couch. His hands were angled and clenched into fists. He looked like he was still pretty strung. And he was still blatantly ignoring her.
Whatever. He could ignore her all he wanted. She was not going to play his nasty ass games. Her siren snapped at Killian. Her jagged teeth, however, were missing. Even though it was clear that she was annoyed and angry with him, her siren had no intention to hurt him.
Sighing, Inez turned around on her feet and then headed to the second floor, where she changed into her nightdress and settled into the bed with her phone. She was deciding whether to watch a series or listen to songs. However, as her head hit the pillow, after the shitty day that she just had, she ended up closing her eyes and falling asleep.
By the time she woke up, Inez heard her phone clattering on the floor. Cursing, she reached out and fetched it from the floor. She could still smell Killian’s scent in her lodge and wondered why the man was still staying in her lodge. This sure surprised her. But she wasn’t hopeful, as she was sure that the man wouldn’t stay for long. After all, even if he was just a floor away, he was still a million miles away right then. Only Killian was the one who could close the distance, and he didn’t seem to be prepared for doing that. Still, she was not going to ask him to leave. Nor was she going to lose her temper with him, something that he half expected her to do. Even when her siren kept telling her that they needed to tear a layer of his skin. Nope.
Even though their pride was wounded, Inez was not going to do. If he wanted to do the walk of shame, he was going to do it on his own.
Turning onto her side, she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. She had barely fallen asleep when the door of her bedroom was pushed open and the familiar scent wafted over to her. Instead of walking around and taking a look at her, the man slithered into her bed. He must have come to say goodbye to her. She was sure of that. Come to admit that he was scared of whatever was growing between the two of them.
Adjusting the pillow beside her, Killian sighed, "I was a replacement...from the start, you know?" He lay down next to her and continued to speak in a soft voice, "My mom—she lost my elder brother. Selene and he were twins. After his death, she became unhappy, so she convinced my father to have me. A baby who can fix their life and fill the gap that was left behind by my brother. She thought that she could love someone else the same way she loved my elder brother."
"But she couldn’t. I know you might be thinking that I am wrong and that she is my mother — of course, she must love me too. But she didn’t. She couldn’t love me. It’s clear from the fact that she asked me to play the role of Selene’s elder brother when I was the younger one; she never let me bring it up either."
"I look just like my elder brother... uncannily at that. And I think that hurts my mother in some way."