Yule Be Magical (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 8) by Sara Bourgeois (popular novels TXT) 📗

That would have been a tragedy because I could see in her eyes that she wanted redemption. Don’t ask me how. It must have been that intuition that my father had just been speaking about.

“Kinsley,” Thorn’s voice gave me a start.

I whirled around and he was standing there looking at me with a familiar softness in his eyes. One that I couldn’t remember seeing for some time. It took all I had in me not to fling my arms around him and squeeze as hard as I could, but I knew that I couldn’t fix everything by wishing it away. So, I stood there.

His mouth, his full lips that might never kiss me again, disappeared into a tight line as he contemplated me before speaking. “How are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said a little too bitterly. “I’m okay, I mean. Sorry, I’m a little on edge. What’s going on?”

“With the scene or with us?” he asked.

“Well, I was asking about the dead woman, but I’d rather hear about us… you.”

“How do you know that there’s a dead woman? Jeremy said you stayed back from the scene,” Thorn said.

I leaned in and whispered to him. “I saw her ghost,” but as I said it, I caught a whiff of his soap and aftershave. Something hormonal shifted inside of me, and I wanted to climb him like a jungle gym. Since I couldn’t do that, I took a step back. When I did, Thorn looked at me like I had three heads. Great, I thought. I’d offended him.

“Please stay out of this,” Thorn said and rubbed his jaw.

“Are you even in a position to ask me that anymore?” I sort of hissed.

“Well, I’m the sheriff of this town,” he said and scowled at me.

“Not what I meant,” I snapped back.

“Well, then what did you mean?” he asked.

We were both acting like we hadn’t been about to get married the day before. It was like the beginning of the relationship where we couldn’t decide if we liked or loathed each other. It didn’t occur to me at the time that it was probably a good sign. That even when things were at their worst, Thorn and I just went back to the beginning. It never really seemed to be over.

But I wasn’t thinking about that then. I was too busy being annoyed that he wasn’t down on his knees begging for my forgiveness.

“I meant are you in any position to try to tell me what to do, Thorn? Are we even still together?” I wanted to say more, but I bit my tongue and waited.

“I think that’s more up to you than it is me,” Thorn said, but his breath hitched a little when he said it. His shoulders slumped a little too. He was taking it hard, and I abruptly felt a rush of empathy. I felt his pain as if it were my own.

“How can you say that?” I asked. “You walked out on me.”

“Because you wanted him there. You wanted him at our wedding. That’s what I don’t get. Why? Why did you want him there?” Thorn asked through gritted teeth.

“Who?” I could not for the life of me figure out what he was talking about. Did he mean Azriel? Did Thorn think I invited him to our wedding?

“You know who. That bloodsucker. The man who loves your darkness. It makes me sick just thinking about it. The two of you. What were you planning, Kinsley? Marry me so you could have a respectable family and keep him on the side?” Thorn’s cheeks burned red with fury.

“Don’t you dare,” I hissed for real that time. “Don’t you dare accuse me of something like that. You know me better than that.”

“Do I?” Tears threatened to spill over, but Thorn kept them at bay. He would not lose control, but I could feel the devastation radiating off him. He was hurting so much, but what could I do? How could I fix this? “I thought I knew you, Kinsley, but tell me why he was there. If you didn’t invite him, then how?”

“He just showed up,” I said. I thought about leveling the accusation Azriel had shared with me about Thorn capturing him and using his gang to hold him hostage to keep him away from me, but it was becoming obvious that at least that part of Azriel’s story was a lie.

I should have seen it as a lie from the beginning. Just like Thorn knew me, I knew him too. He would not have imprisoned Azriel to keep him away from me. Would he? Either way, I couldn’t bring it up. When I tried to say something about it, the whole thing sounded ridiculous.

“He just showed up?” Thorn wanted confirmation.

“Of course,” I said. “I didn’t want him there. I didn’t invite him, and I hope you didn’t take me wanting to keep a dog from going to the pound to mean that I did. I wasn’t going to let you take revenge against Azriel out on Tangerine.”

“You’re right,” he relented. “I’m sorry I said that. I should have never. You know that I couldn’t hurt an innocent animal, right?”

“I know that,” I said. “But you were furious and not yourself. I took Tangerine because it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted Azriel there. The dog isn’t some sort of connection to him. I’m not holding on to him.”

“Are you sure?” Thorn asked.

“The fact that you don’t believe me worries me,” I said. “Do you think that I’ve suddenly become this person that’s going to lie to you?”

“I wouldn’t say suddenly,” Thorn’s edge returned. “We’ve both left things out in the past. Neither one of us has been perfect to the other, so you can’t blame me for wondering.”

“I can blame you for wondering, Thorn. We moved past all this. We were supposed to, anyway.”

“I thought so too until the man who got you pregnant while you were supposed to be with me showed up