Lib Novel Page 90
“I can take him, if you want—I have a lint roller in the other room I can?—”
But Magnus is the first to wave a dismissive hand.
“Please, it’s not a problem,” he insists.
Julian laughs and continues to scritch Rupert’s belly.
“Look at this man, who could be concerned about the state of one’s slacks when you get this kind of opportunity for belly rubs?” He beams, conspicuously resembling Rupert for a split second—his green eyes and vibrant red hair an amusing symmetry.
“I grew up with barn cats that my mama couldn’t help turning into house cats,” Sol grins.
“Doesn’t bother me, none,” He chuckles as he gently prodds one of Rupert’s pink toe beans.
While I’m glad that they’re all getting along, I’m starting to worry more than a little that Cosmo hasn’t shown up yet—that he’s left me to the proverbial wolves—when Mr. Lamont himself comes striding through the front doorway—an enormous flower arrangement in his arms.
It’s eerily quiet as I lay out all the food on the table, everyone taking seats at a comfortable distance, no one speaking.
The tense silence is enough to make me scream at everyone just to break it, but this is my mess.It’s up to me to clean it up.
“First, I want to thank you—Sol, Julian, and Magnus for coming this evening. I know that you all are probably pretty pissed off with Cosmo and I.”
It hurts that Sol won’t even look at me and I’m not sure if it’s better or worse that Julian’s big sea glass eyes fix on me, watery with the threat of tears.
There is a small amount of relief in seeing Magnus’ impassive face, already satisfied with the execution of his ‘punishment’ as my penance.
“Second, I want to apologize.” I reach out to either side of me, offering an open palm to Sol and Julian respectively.
“I don’t want to apologize for bonding with Cosmo, or for wanting to be part of this pack—even though it’s ‘common wisdom’ to wait.” I squeeze their hands, continuing on even though I can tell that Sol wants to pull back at these words.
“I do want to apologize for doing it early after we all agreed not to. I broke your trust. For that, I am sorry, and I hope against hope that you’ll forgive me. That you’ll let me earn your trust back.”
There is a long silence, and I’ve begun to think the worst when Sol looks up at me, a tired smile on his face.
“I forgive you.” Sol’s voice nearly breaks, and my heart hurts because I’ve caused him pain.
“Thank you, I promise I’ll do better.” I nuzzle the back of his hand against my cheek before I look at Julian.
“I forgive you Daphne, I’m ready to move forward.” Julian squeezes my hand before placing a kiss on the back of my hand.
I raise my eyes to Magnus at one end of the table, he’s staring down Cosmo at the other end—not even paying attention to Sol, Julian, and I.
“Magnus,” I begin cautiously, still holding Sol and Julian’s hands in my own.
“We’ve all heard you apologize, Daphne.” Magnus swirls his red wine around the large crystal globe glass in his hand.
“But right now? I’m more interested in an apology from Cosmatos,” he barks with surprising sharpness.
Moved by biological imperative and social conditioning, Cosmo is bound to at least respond to his packmaster.
“And what makes you think I owe you an apology?” Cosmo growls, low and dangerous.
“We said we’d wait, we agreed as a pack that—,” Magnus begins officiously, but Cosmo has his own piece to say.
“We agreed not to bond Daphne during her first heat because we were worried about the authenticity of the bond. When I chose to bite her—I knew what I was doing. Daphne knew what I was doing. Just because she was in a heat doesn’t entirely take away her agency. It didn’t change the way we felt about each other—about this pack,” Cosmo barks back at Magnus.
“Cosmo, your insubordinate bullshit underscores your inability to think beyond yourself. How do you think—” Magnus begins again, slower and more reasonable this time, but Cosmo won’t hear it.
“I’m not sorry for shit, Magnus,” Cosmo snarls at Magnus, his upper lip curling back to showcase his perfect, blinding white teeth.