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Cyn always seemed uncomfortable when things upset me.

Ever since we were children, he handled things before I could have a meltdown. He sometimes went overboard with his protectiveness. I didn’t mind it, but I didn’t want him to feel responsible for my emotional well-being all the time.

“So, what do you mean?”

“Her emotions.” He looked at me again, and I saw panic flare just saying the words. “I felt her ecstasy turn into confusion when I…”

“You what?” I asked when he didn’t continue.

“I needed to show her… I…” His voice grew increasingly agitated. He squeezed his eyes shut when he couldn’t articulate his thoughts. He huffed a defeated, “Fuck.”

I reached across the counter and grabbed his hand to reassure him.

His gaze locked with mine. “I felt this urge to take care of her after she came.” He sneered. “I don’t do that shit.”

I knew that much.

I never asked about his bed buddies, but I’d overheard enough to know he was good—and that he didn’t give them much attention or feel anything for them. He wasn’t tender or loving. They gave him blood in a glass, and in return, he pleasured them. He was an heir to the council, so they didn’t care.

It explained his never fighting in bed, too. What’s to fight when everyone wanted you?

“When I got gentle, I felt her confusion. I don’t know if she didn’t understand what I was doing, or if I did something wrong because I don’t normally treat people that way. Or maybe she didn’t understand what was happening to her…”

“Why wouldn’t she understand what was happening to her?”

“There was an edge of fear souring the confusion.”

I frowned. “How did you—”

“I don’t know! I don’t know how I felt any of it.”

He spun, jerking the refrigerator door open. He grabbed a bottle of beer, opened it, and took a long swallow.

“What’s worse? It made me want to take care of her even more. But I can’t. I can’t fucking do that.” He squeezed his eyes shut.

I hated seeing him so conflicted.

He shook his head before looking at me with hard eyes. “She’s manipulating us. Or whatever is attached to her is manipulating us. This isn’t me. I would not act like this with a random fuck. And I shouldn’t have felt what I did about it.”

“What did you feel?”

I doubted he saw Rae as the “random fuck” he wanted her to be.

His teeth dug into the inside of his lower lip. “I can’t describe how much the idea of leaving her for Elyrdin in that moment broke me. And that pissed me off. So I left her and came downstairs to sleep on the floor until Ezra and Ash woke me up when they went back out to the forest to try their wings again.”

I grimaced at the reminder of our lost wings.

He took another long pull of his beer. “Like I said, she’s manipulating us, because I sure as fuck want to go home and get away from her.”

I looked down at my half-eaten pancakes.

I didn’t believe him. He told the truth, but I sensed he was trying to convince himself he felt nothing for Rae.

“Eat.”

I looked up at him. “So, what about the date?” I shoveled another bite of pancakes into my mouth, knowing he wouldn’t answer until I obeyed.

“I guess she wasn’t happy about last night. Who the fuck knows? I overheard her telling Maya to give the cousin her number.”