Chapter 220

I smiled, glad to hear his voice, but what he said next just made my hopes deflate.

“Wolf Fang is your birthright. You should remain here to help rebuild it as a pack.”

“I’m not staying here,” I said, closing the drawer. “My place is with you.”

“Hedy—”

“I want to be with you. I’m your mate. I’m your luna. We could be so happy together if you just let us be happy together. If you’d just stop pushing me away. Can’t you see that I’ve done all of this for you? I left Wolf Fang for good years ago. You promised me a place with you.”

Candido took a deep breath as he stood and continued checking the floorboards. There weren’t any others that popped up. The drawers were empty. There weren’t any hollows in the wall.

Cillian came in. “Any luck?”

“None,” Candido said. “If you’re sure that Hedwig might have owned it, and it was inconspicuous enough, it’s likely with all of her things.”

“And where are they?”

“In Full Moon.” His lips twitched. “What’s left of it anyway.”

“Don’t look so sad,” I said. “We’ll rebuild it. Better than before. The two of us. Can’t you picture it?”

Candido let out another deep sigh. Cillian turned away so I couldn’t see his face.

“We should get going. How long of a ride is it from here to the ruins?”

“A few hours at regular speed,” Candido said. Then, he looked at me. “You should think about running Wolf Fang—”

“I don’t need to think about it,” I said. “I’m staying with you.”

Candido blinked at me, impassively. There wasn’t even a glint of emotion in his eyes. Then he turned away.

“We’ll walk. They’ll need the trucks in case they need to evacuate.”

I huffed. “Walk? From here to Full Moon?”

Candido cocked an eyebrow. “Feel free to stay here if you can’t keep up.”

I didn’t want to walk, let alone run.

“Can’t we… take the caves or something?”

Candido turned and headed down the stairs. “Stay here if you can’t keep up.”

Cillian chuckled and I looked at him. “Aren’t you going to say anything? Why can’t we take the truck you and Peter brought me here on.”

“No help from vampires, remember?” Cillian teased. “Besides, I can keep up with Candido.”

I set my jaw as Cillian followed Candido downstairs.

“You’re just trying to push me away again,” I said, rushing past him to cut Candido off. “You’re not even giving yourself a chance to remember that you love me. That we’re mates.”

Candido looked down at her. Cillian let out a snicker and walked around us.

“I’ll let you love birds figure this out. I’m pretty sure most of the town could use some more medical attention.”

I looked up at him. “If you’re so upset about everything that’s happened between me and Cillian, then—”

“I’m not,” Candido said, looking down at me. He blinked at me. “Why would you think I would care?”

My stomach clenched. “We’re mates. Of course, you care that someone else… That another man touched me.”

“Don’t be a child,” Candido said. “Do you think I’ve never had sex?”

I stepped back. He tilted his head.

“And do you really think now is the appropriate time to talk about this?”

I set my jaw. “You kept walking away from me.”

“I still don’t want to talk to you,” he said. “The only reason I’m doing so is because you’re in the way.”

Tears welled in my eyes. I grabbed the front of his shirt.

“You can’t do this to me, Candido. You can’t do this to us. Wh-What happened to everything you promised me?”

“And what did I promise you, Hedy?” Candido asked. “To protect you? How can I protect you when you don’t listen?”

“I—”

“How do you expect me to protect anyone when you sabotage plan after plan?”

“I haven’t. I just want to be with you. I want to support you. Is that so bad?”

He blinked. “You think getting my aunt killed is supporting me?”

“I didn’t do anything. That was all Vanessa’s fault. She was going the wrong way. She was trying to separate us; don’t you see that? Why can’t you see that everything I’ve done is for you?”

Candido looked down at me. I had never seen such a cold expression on his face.

“How do you expect me to see that as a good thing when you’re directly responsible for the deaths of several of my family members?”

My eyes burned with tears. “We’re going to be family. Us. Why isn’t that enough for you?”

Candido pulled my hands off him. “Because I can remember what it is to have real family. Because I remember what it is to lose family and people I love. Until you know what that means… Until you really knows what that means, Hedy, we can’t even begin to talk about why I can’t stand to look at you.”

My jaw trembled. “You’re looking at me right now.”

He looked up and around the house. “Being in Wolf Fang… Being in this house with you, I can remember the girl who lied to me about her age. The girl who would use her homework as an excuse to spend time with me instead of ask.”

He cupped my cheek. “I keep trying to see her in you now, but she’s gone, and I can’t see her ever coming back.”

I clenched my jaw. “You just want me to go back to being a child.”

“No, Hedy,” he said. “I just want you to grow up.”

“I am grown up. I’m twenty.”

“Being twenty doesn’t mean much of anything if you can’t grasp basic concepts like betrayal and grief.”

“I have never betrayed you.”

“Every lie out of your mouth is a betrayal,” Candido said and stepped away from me.

“Candido, I’ve never lied to you.”

Candido sighed and shook his head. “And the sad part is that you don’t even have the sense to stop.”

“Are you calling me stupid?”

“I’m calling you childish,” he said. “Stay in Wolf Fang.”

“I’m coming with you,” I said stubbornly. “You can’t make me stay here.”

He paused and turned back to me. Our gazes met, and he took a deep breath.

“I could,” he said. “But I’m not going to treat you like a child. You’re a liar, and I can’t trust you, but you aren’t a child.”

“You trusted Estella, and she’s—”

“I do trust Estella,” He grimaced, and his eyes fluttered closed. “I… did trust Estella.”

“What made her so much more trustworthy than me?”

“There hasn’t been a day since we’ve met known each other that you haven’t lied to me in some way, Hedy,” Candido shook his head. “Do you not understand that? From the very first time we met… Lie after lie, how can you ever expect me to trust you? Do you think that just because you want me to forget that I will? That I could?”

“If you loved me, you would,” I said, sniffling. “If you loved me, none of that would be important.”

Candido let out a low sigh. “And again, I can only tell you that you have such… a childish sense of love.”

“Are you saying you don’t love me?” I asked. “Are you saying you love Estella? Are you rejecting me as your mate?”

Candido took a deep breath again, and he turned. “Stay in Wolf Fang, Hedy. Recover—”

“I’m not staying here just so you can avoid me. Answer my questions, Candido.”

“I don’t think you’d understand any of my answers in the state you’re in,” he said and opened the door. “If you’re not going to stay, then know that we’re only traveling at one speed. We’re not slowing down. We’re not taking extra breaks. You get there on your own feet, or you turn around.”

“You’re saying you would just leave me in the forest alone?”

“Yes,” Candido said.

“How could you?”

“You want to pretend to be my equal? You want to stand by my side, then do it.”

“You wouldn’t treat Estella like this.”

He blinked. “Estella could have kept up.”

My jaw dropped, and he turned to leave. I marched after him, following him and Cillian.

“I can keep up just as good as she could—I’m better than her. I’ll prove it.”

Candido said nothing, and it burned. He didn’t believe me? He thought that I was a weak child. I’d show him. I’d have him apologizing. I’d have him taking his words back.

As we got closer, a thought dawned on me, and I smiled.

No, I wasn’t going to play the game. I wasn’t going to just keep up. That would make me just as good as Estella. I was going to outsmart him.

He would have to acknowledge that I’m better then.

Everyone would have to acknowledge it, even the remaining people of Blue Moon and Moon Shadow.