The Light in Us

34. Wilder

34

Wilder

“ Y ou’re fine,” Zeke says gruffly. “For the love of fuck, leave your hair alone before it falls out.”

We’re seated in a booth in one of the Italian restaurants we frequent. The owners, an elderly beta couple who’ve been married since the year dot, give us a wide berth when normally they’d be over here chatting.

It could be the waves of panic pulsing from me like a damn warning beacon.

“Wilder.” Even Rowan looks stressed. “Breathe.”

“I am breathing.” I rake my hands through my hair again, trying not to think about how much they’re shaking. “Kind of.”

The bleach is in full effect today. I double-dosed on the de-scenter compared to yesterday, even running it around the base of my nose. My nose is bright red, but I don’t particularly care.

Much.

Zeke stiffens next to me. “They’re here.”

Both of them swing to me. “Will you stop ? You’re going to make me lose it if you keep looking at me like I’m going to bite you.”

My palms are sweating as the bell above the door tinkles. It’s quiet today, only us in the back and a pair of older women seated in the window.

This is it.

Fucking breathe, you idiot.

Ow.

On second thoughts, don’t breathe.

Fox arrives at the table first. He shrugs off his coat, hanging it on the coat rack beside us before he turns around.

I hear her before I see her, my eyes fixed to the table.

A low, throaty murmur. Her voice is deeper in person than I thought it would be, but there’s a sweetness to it that catches my attention.

My full attention.

Oh, god.

Silently willing the semi that’s just erupted in my pants to go down, I take a breath before thinking and freeze.

Nothing. Just bleach.

Rowan gives me a small thumbs up as my shoulders almost collapse in relief. “Hey, Fallon.”

Zeke murmurs his own greeting beside me. “Fallon, this is Wilder.”

She hesitates. “Hello, Wilder.”

Look up. Look up.

Swallowing hard, I force my head up. My hands grip the padded leather beneath us.

My mouth goes dry. I couldn’t speak if I tried.

Because my scent-matched mate is nothing like I thought she would be.

But she’s everything I never knew I needed.

Fallon is taller than I imagined, her body lithe but with curves faintly visible beneath her blue dress. My eyes drink her in, taking in the wind-rustled sheet of dark hair that drops down to her waist, pulled forward to hang in two sections on the other side of her face. It looks like silk.

And her face – deep-set amber eyes that show a dozen different colors blink at me, surrounded by inky dark eyelashes and a sloping nose tinged pink at the end with the cold. Her lips, the lower one plumper than the top, twitch into a small, uncertain smile.

My mate is flawless.

My mouth is hanging open.

Say something. Say anything, you idiot.

Rowan leans forward and casually slaps me across the back of the head. “Earth to Wild.”

I snap my mouth closed. “Hey. Um. Fallon. Hello.”

Whoever voted for me to be named Wittiest Colleague at the joke staff awards last year was clearly having a great laugh at my expense.

When I don’t say anything else, Fox shifts. “Why don’t we sit down and take a look at the menu?”

Teddy slips in beside me and Zeke. Fallon takes the middle beside Rowan, Fox slipping in beside her.

Directly opposite me. Our eyes meet, and she glances away, her cheeks flushing. When she starts to nibble on that plump lower lip, I jerk forward just as Zeke slams his hand down on my knee. Teddy casually leans his arm behind me, his fingers twisting in my hair and tugging.

Hard.

The small bite of pain yanks me back. I lift my menu so I can’t see Fallon at all, but then drop it again, because not seeing her suddenly feels fucking unacceptable .

I’m in the shit. Massively so. Lifting the menu again, I turn to Teddy. His brown eyes are wide, the disbelief clear on his face. What the fuck are you doing, Wilder?

Help me , I mouth desperately.

And then I turn back to Fallon as if she’s the fucking light and I’m a moth.

Kill me now.