Chapter 10
The Confession
When they got outside, the truck they had been in was gone and a nice-looking car was in the parking space.
Cora looked around. “How are we supposed to get home?”
Emery walked toward the car. “I’ll drive you back.”
“You can’t go around stealing vehicles.”
He laughed, “Don’t worry, this one is mine.”
“You have a Tesla?”
“They are better for the environment.”
“How did it get here?”
“I asked for it to be delivered.”
Cora crossed her arms over her chest. “How did you do that?”
Emery opened the passenger side door, then looked at her. “I used my phone. Called someone to help me while you were in the bathroom. You didn’t notice when the truck was towed?”
Cora’s mouth almost dropped open at how focused she had been. It wasn’t like the truck had been out of sight from where they were sitting. “I didn’t notice.”
“Come on. Let’s get you home.”
Cora nodded and sat down in the car.
Once they were seated, she took a deep breath before asking, “And what is the truth?”
She watched as a smile graced his face. It was different than the other smiles she had seen; this one looked real and it lit up his face. “The truth is that I have been interested in meeting you ever since Silas started talking about you. For the longest time he thought that you guys would end up together. If I had to guess, when he realized that it was just a friendship, he started to change. He started hitting on women trying to replace what he felt he lost.”
“He was never interested in me like that.”
“Oh, he most certainly was. Up until you guys were in high school. He would talk about your kids and what life would be like. When it didn’t work out, his future suddenly changed.”
“He never said he was interested.”
“We don’t feel interest the same way humans do. For us it is more immediate and much deeper. When a shifter takes an interest in someone, the shifter can’t see being with anyone else. I’m not saying that Silas disagrees with you, but realizing that he felt the same way you do – that there wasn't anything romantic – that was hard on him. It didn’t help that you like Alaric and Ryland instead of him. But he got over it.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him.” Cora felt bad that she had never noticed how her friend had felt.
“He knows, and he has come to terms with it. For Silas, it is weird to not have someone to rely on, so it makes him a bit obnoxious around women. Once he finds someone, that will stop.”
“I really hope so.” Cora pursed her lips. “So Ryland…”
“Yes?” Emery was almost smirking as he said it.
“He always felt that toward Serenity? Ever since he first saw her?”
“Months before that.”
“What?” Cora turned to look at him. “How is that even possible?”
“Serenity and Alaric had been in contact for about a year before she came out this way.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Ryland told me that. It was obvious from the first time he talked about her that he was interested.”
“Had he seen her?”
“No. For Ryland, looks really don’t have anything to do with it. I suppose that is to be expected when you spend that much time around good-looking people. You get numb to it.”
Cora nodded, “Makes sense. I always knew that I never compared to the people he saw on a regular basis.”
“That had nothing to do with it. You guys would have been bad for each other, much like you and Silas would have been a bad match.”
“Did you say you thought we would have been a good couple?”
Emery looked at her from the corner of her eye. “I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I wanted to make sure you weren’t actually hiding feelings from yourself.”
“That’s insane.” She flopped back, annoyed.
“It was necessary.”
“And what could make that necessary? Trying to get me to admit to feeling for a guy that–”
Emery didn’t let her finish. “I wanted to know for myself.”
Cora froze, not sure that she had heard him correctly. She began to fidget.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything apart from take you home. You barely know me, and it is quite obvious that you already have a lot to think about without me adding more to it. I just…” His voice trailed off almost like he wasn’t sure why he had said anything.
“You just what?” Cora didn’t feel like letting the idea drop without him at least trying to make some kind of sense of what he was about to say.
“I don't know. I felt like telling you, even though I knew it was a bad idea. I tried to let it drop, but you didn’t forget. So when you brought it up, I couldn’t help myself. Call it a moment of weakness.”
Cora looked over at the man whom she had known less than 24 hours. Despite the short period of time, he knew her better than almost anyone else in the world. And he knew how to read her in a way that not even Jason could. “Why?”
“Everyone is weak–”
“No. I mean why would you want to know for yourself? What do you want to know about me? I’m nothing special.”
She saw him look at her out of the corner of his eye. He bit his lip to hide a smile. “Well, I know two men who have known you for a long time who would vehemently disagree with you. They may not know how to read you or how to help you, but they both think of you like family.”
Cora smiled at her hands. “It’s weird not to get upset about Ryland feeling I am more like a sister.”
“It’s a good thing, to be sure. Good that you are alright with it.” He seemed to feel it necessary to clarify what he meant.
Cora smiled, “You know, you should hate me after everything I put you through.”
“And you should have refused to come with me after the way I treated you and the danger I put you in.”
“I think I put you in more danger,” Cora wrinkled her nose at him.
“You only did the initial work to get us in trouble. I managed to make it so much worse by leading us to a drug ring. The smell intrigued me, I just didn’t realize what it was until we were close. Now I know how meth smells. Not sure that makes me happy, but there it is.”
“So you are all shifters?” Cora had avoided talking about it, mostly because it meant finding out that Silas and Ryland had never been the people she had thought they were. The fact that they weren’t even human was mind-boggling.
“Believe me, what you have been through would come as just as much of a shock to them as them being a shifter does to you.”
Cora became instantly nervous at the mention of what she was hiding. “You aren’t going to tell them, are you?”
He chuckled, “Oh no, not even a chance of me telling them. It gives me an advantage that they don’t have. An advantage that in time I hope to use in my favor.”
Cora felt her cheeks flush at the implications, but she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about what Emery had admitted. He had angered her so many times, and worse, she hadn’t had any trouble letting him know that. She did not feel that was a good sign.
Almost as if he could read her mind, Emery said, “I am glad that you feel you can actually show your real emotions in front of me. They have been largely negative so far, but who else has gotten to see that?”
“I don't know if that is a good thing.”
“You never show your real emotions for long, and you sure don’t explain how you feel to anyone. Granted it is much easier to do around someone you don’t know than someone you do, but judging by the way you have hidden it from new friends, I take it as a compliment. You feel comfortable around me. Or at least that is what I would like to think it means.”
Cora turned and watched him drive for a few moments. He cleared his throat, “I’m not entirely comfortable with you watching me, though. It makes me feel very self-conscious.”
“Sorry. I’m just not quite sure what to think of you.”
“Understandable. You only just learned about me this morning.”
Cora furrowed her brow. “What about your injuries? Don’t you need to get some form of care?” She knew that there was no point in suggesting the hospital.
“It’ll be fine. I can just shift back into a bear when I get home, and it will be little more than a scar in the morning.”
“Really? It disappears that quickly?”
“Not being human has its distinct advantages.”
“That must be nice. What about your life span?”
“It depends. I think you know that Silas’s parents are dead. They were killed by poachers back when he was really young. Of course, my brother died incredibly young, even by human standards.”
Cora was silent for a moment, causing him to turn and look at her. “I didn’t know about his parents.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. That was not my place to say. I–”
“No, it’s fine. I always wondered why he chose to live with us all of those years ago, but that makes sense.”
“There were family members willing to take him in, but he was certain that you were his mate. I think he always assumed your parents were dead, too. Up until your brother mentioned them a few years ago. Silas was so confused, but by then he already knew you guys weren’t going to end up together, so he didn’t bother to ask.”
“I probably wouldn't have been honest about it, or would have been intentionally vague.”
Emery nodded, “I am pretty sure he knew that, which was one reason he didn’t inquire. He always thought that you wanted someone famous.”
“What do you mean?” Cora was a bit upset by that assessment of her character. She never cared for popular people or celebrities.
“Well, first you were interested in Alaric, who is incredibly famous all around the world.”
“Oh, and then I was interested in Ryland. Yeah, I guess I can see why he would think that.”
“But it wasn’t what you liked about them.” Cora nodded at his words. Emery reached a hand out and pushed some of her hair behind her ear, only briefly looking at her as he drove. “You like the fact that they were mature men who might be able to talk to you about what you had experienced. Then you never brought it up.”
“It was embarrassing. And what if they blamed me for the deaths, too? I couldn’t deal with it.”
“No one will blame you for being young and inexperienced. Nor will they blame you for being human – that wasn’t your choice, so it’s hard to fault you for it.”
“Oh, like you guys are perfect,” she reached over and smacked his arm.
“No, we aren’t. We are very similar to humans when it comes to emotions and errors. A bit of an embarrassment, but–”
Cora smacked his arm again. “You are being terrible.”
“You have my apologies. I think I lost a bit too much blood and now I need to go get some sleep.”
“Oh, well, then why don’t we pull over somewhere and you can get some sleep.”
“I’m not going to make you suffer because I need sleep.”
“I really don’t mind. Considering my place is another hour and a half away, getting some sleep would be for the best.”
“That really isn’t a good idea.”
Cora looked over at Emery and noticed that his face was a little pink. Suddenly she understood what he meant. “Oh, don’t worry, I can get my own room if you don’t want to share one.”
“It isn’t a matter of what I want, but what is best for you.”
“Go ahead and find a place to pull over for the night. I can call Jason and let him know that we had some problems and that I won’t be home until tomorrow.”
Emery looked over at her. “If you are sure.”
“Yes, it’s fine. I don’t have any classes tomorrow, it’s been a very long and trying day, and I am feeling rather tired myself.”
“Okay. If you are tired too, there is a place not far from here.”
With that, they chatted a little bit. It wasn’t long before they exited the highway.