Page 36 of Little Music of Night

“Am I losing it for wanting to say yes?” I asked.

“No,” Lisa sighed. I heard her pour herself a glass. “Not at all. I know that this all must feel like such a whirlwind, but it’s how it goes sometimes. It sounds like they didn’t want to tell you about the curse, or at least that Ray didn’t because he didn’t want you to feel manipulated. He wanted the choice to be yours.”

I swallowed hard, pulling my blanket around my shoulders. I placed the phone on speaker and set it next to my head, getting comfortable on the couch. I took a sip of tea, thinking about the two of them.

“Sorry I’ve been dumping all this on you,” I said. “I just don’t know what to do. I mean, I know I want both of them. And when I’m with them, I’m sure more than anything else that I want to be their mate. But seeing Ray’s hesitation scared me, I guess.”

“I would hesitate,” Lisa said. “I would hesitate and worry that I was too much. Especially if my mate was a human whojustlearned about the other part of their world.”

She had a good point.

“If you want them and they want you then I see nothing wrong with this. But, Christy, if it doesn’t feel right to you?—”

“It does,” I whispered. “It really does.”

Lisa let out a soft hum. “Then I say follow your heart. Then immediately schedule a dinner so I can meet them and judge them monstrously.”

A laugh bubbled up. “What if you hate them?”

“I don’t think I could hate someone so long as they love you right.”

I smiled, my eyes closing. “Thank you.”

“Of course. So . . . what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to bite them really really hard.”

12 /LEARN TO BE LOVED

Erik

“I’m sorry,” I said, panic edging my voice. “Sunshine, I’m sorry.”

He’d put a wall up in our bond and wasn’t currently talking to me. I inched closer on my knees, wishing he’d at leastlookat me.

“Ray,” I whined. “It’s going to be okay. I believe she will choose us. I didn’t want to push you, but?—”

“I’m the one that snapped,” he finally said. “Just let me be.”

I didn’t want to simply let him be. Especially not when he was beating himself up.

Between the two of us, I’d expected me to be the one in his position. But I’d always been so certain of Christy, while Ray was worried something would go wrong. He’d always been a worrier.

I put my chin on his knee, looking up at him. Despite being dominant in the bedroom, when it came to situations like this, I wasn’t above begging. I never wanted to cause someone I loved any harm. I worried that I’d pushed him too far, and that’s what had caused his outburst.

Ray finally sighed and I felt the release. His form unraveled into his most monstrous self and our bond flooded with his emotions. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I felt it all. Hisguilt that because of him, we’d been trapped here. His fear that Christy would not choose us and that we’d fade away. His worry that he wasn’t enough.

“Ray,” I rasped, reaching for him. I pulled him into my arms, holding him tight. “This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. If anything, it’s mine.”

He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t need to. I carried him to our bed and spooned him in the middle, occasionally kissing his shoulder as his emotions kept pouring like a thunderstorm.

Eventually, he took a breath and shuddered, his body relaxing. “I’m starting to feel better.”

“Good,” I murmured.

“Is Christy okay?”

“Yes,” I said. “She is more than okay.”