I closed my eyes once more and just relaxed in the silence. We sat there in companionable silence for quite a while when I felt Alexander looking at me once more. Opening my eyes, I looked directly at him and studied his expression which looked slightly feral despite his composure. I had a feeling that he wanted answers to his earlier question and, despite my past, I felt equally curious about this shifter in front of me.

“Quid pro quo?” I asked, hoping he’d understand what I meant, and he didn’t disappoint.

“Hmmm,” his lips curved up in a small smile as he tilted his head slightly in consideration, “with the conditions of full honest answers and no free passes.”

I paused for a moment debating those conditions. They benefitted me when asking him questions but could severely hinder me when he asked his. I needed some way to limit his questions, I had way too many secrets to be careful of spilling.

“2 questions each and no more, then you have a deal.”

It was his time to pause. He nodded slowly.

“Agreed, and since I like to believe I’m a gentleman, you can have the first question.”

I took a few seconds to think about how I wanted to phrase my question. Too specific and I wouldn’t get a lot of information, too broad and I might not get the answer I wanted.

“Why do you dislike angels?”

“I figured you’d ask that. And you’re correct in your thinking about it being related to my family. My parents were on a trip to visit the Ursine, Alpha bear, of the Europe Pack. They were close friends growing up and they’d visit each other often. They’d alternate visits, and 3 years ago it was their turn to go to Europe.” He released a pain filled sigh, “One of the Protection Angels, Theodore Nimbasa, went on a rampage and massacred half of the Europe Pack as well as my parents. The hardest thing? Not only did I loss my parents but my mother was pregnant. I lost my chance at being a brother. Learning he was not killed for his actions and instead was detained, I lost all of my respect for angels and hated them on sight for taking away my family.”

Looking up at me, I saw the grief in his eyes from the tragedy and I felt guilty for making it resurface.

“I’m sorry.” I leant forward a bit and despite my fear, squeezed his hand gently that was resting on the table. “I’m not sure if this will help, but he is currently serving a 20 year punishment for each person he killed before Michael executes him. The public doesn’t know because his punishment is.. gruesome and honestly, depending on who you ask, it might be worse than death.”

“Strangely, knowing he is suffering does help a bit.”

Squeezing his hand once more, I sat back in my chair and prepared myself for his question. I knew he was going to ask me and I knew that it was only fair to repay his truth with my own.

“Why do you dislike shifters?”

I raised my eyebrow at him which caused him to chuckle. Letting out a chuckle myself, I paused a moment to sigh.

“We were helping out after a building caught on fire near the Pillar. Our job wasn’t meant to start till the next day so we had free time and having wings is helpful when trying to get people out of burning buildings. Between us and the others we managed to save everyone. I thought I heard an injured animal in a nearby alleyway so I broke away from the others to take a look. I felt a sting, like a needle in my back. The next thing I remember, I was in a basement.” I shrugged to try and hide the shiver that went through my body at the memory. “I was stripped naked and hung from manacles whilst a group of rogue shifters tortured me. From what I can gather, I was meant to be a gift for their Alpha to show his strength against… someone, I’m not sure who. It got…bad. They were trying to break me because apparently he liked his women submissive. I was found 11 months and 3 days ago. I was there for 26 days.”

It wasn’t until I finished talking that I realised I was staring at my hands in my lap. I took a few deep breaths to fight back the memories. For some unknown reason, I was scared to look Alexander in the eyes. I couldn’t stand pity from anyone but, with him, I felt like it would be much worse than everyone else. Braving a glance through my hair, I saw him taking deep breaths himself with his eyes closed.

Looking up at him fully, I saw his hands were clenched so tightly that he was starting to crack the table his hands were on. With one last breath, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. I don’t know how long we sat there looking at each other.

“Apologies.” His voice was slightly feral with restrained anger. “Go on. Your question.”

I tilted my head to look at him. He was a puzzle to me. Why would he respond to my story with such fury when he hardly knew me? Why was I just as curious to know about him? And why, despite not wanting any physical contact, did I want to hug him to calm his anger? I felt my eyes widen as it hit me. Unless…?

“Am I your mate?”

Are you my Heart?