The Cost of Love

Chapter 28

I got out of my fighting stance and looked at her apologetically. She laughed again, throwing me her purse. 

"You're lucky I keep extras just in case I need to shift," she continued. 

She turned around to give me some privacy, and I quickly shifted back into human form. I slipped on the clothes she gave me - a light blue dress with brown flip flops - and brushed out my hair with my fingers. It definitely had more than a few leaves and twigs tangled in it from the forest. 

"Thanks," I said sheepishly. 

"No problem," she replied. "In a rush to go somewhere?" 

"More like in a rush to get out of somewhere." 

"Oooh, mysterious." She chuckled and tilted her head towards the diner. "Came for the waffles?" 

I bit my lip, remembering why I was here. "Er, I actually am here to meet someone. But he doesn't really know I'm here." Then I remembered. "Where is here, exactly?" 

She gave me a confused raise of the eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Are you okay? Look, my mate will be here in a few minutes. He can take you home and -" 

"My mate's inside. I mean, well, I think he's my mate," I interrupted her. 

"Does he know that you're his mate?" she asked, still looking wary. 

I nodded. 

"Well, why aren't you going inside?" 

I bit my lip again. "I think he may have tried to kill me." Then the weight of it all came crashing down once more, and I felt my eyes well up with tears. "Oh god," I choked, placing a hand on my feverish forehead. "He was trying to kill me." Because what the hell was I doing? I was wearing a random person's clothes standing outside of a random diner to what? Ask my mate why he was conspiring with hunters? Beg him to come back? 

The girl started rubbing my back, saying "Shh, just breathe," and the story all came out. It sounded even worse saying it out loud, and I could barely get through it all without spiraling into a panic attack. 

"Damn," the girl muttered once I was done. "That's like a movie or something." 

I sniffed, finally chuckling through my tears. "I know, unfortunately." 

"I have an idea," she replied, grabbing my shoulders and looking at me in the eye. My own were wide as she continued. "You go in there. Talk to your mate. I'll be right near you with my mate and if Connor tries anything, we'll intervene and take you home. Sound good?" 

Hesitantly, I nodded. I was still scared to approach him, but it was as good of a plan as any. 

"Okay." 

The diner wasn't anything special. Just a long, glossy counter with waitresses in white outfits serving tired looking people sitting on red stools. There were booths on the other side along the windows, with checkered tables and even an old juke box standing in the corner. Very old school. 

My breath caught in my throat when I saw him sitting on the last stool at the counter. His shoulders were hunched, and he was staring into his coffee. I almost let out the breath I was holding when I saw the familiar tic of his jaw. 

"That him?" the girl whispered beside me. 

All I could do was nod. She gave me a light push on the back, and mindlessly I walked forward. Chills rose on my bare arms as I got closer. 

I could tell the exact moment he could sense my presence, because he took a sharp intake of breath as his head snapped towards mine once I was about three feet away. I saw confusion in his olive green eyes, then anger, then hope. It was the most I had ever felt coming from him, and my heart was beating a mile a minute in response to his stare.