November 1st

When we arrived back home, Leo's eye was dark and swollen and his lip still oozed blood.

"You need some ice," I said, going to the freezer.

He let me hold the ice on his eye and gently dab his lip with a tissue.

"I'm fine, Nelda," he said as I fussed over cleaning the blood off his knuckles, "I've been in worse fights than this."

I swallowed, "Worse? That was brutal, Leo. I felt like I was going to explode watching it."

"Explode? With what?"

I shrugged, "That's the thing. I don't know. But the thought of you getting hurt filled me with horror."

"Maybe you can feel the mate bond after all," he said.

I paused. But that would mean...

"I will clean myself up," he said, taking the bloody tissue from my frozen hand, "Get to bed. You need rest."

That night, Leo was working in his office late. When he came to bed, it was past midnight and he dropped asleep almost immediately. But after he had woken me with the bathroom light, I tossed and turned for over an hour.

Just as I was beginning to get frustrated, my phone chimed quietly from the nightstand.

Leo was fast asleep, his arm only gently resting on my waist so I managed to shuffle over and reach my phone without waking him.

On the illuminated screen was a message from my brother.

I'm outside and I need to speak to you.

I read it twice before getting up and tiptoeing to the window where I looked down to see Conall stood on the doorstep.

Without hesitation, I crept out of the bedroom and down the hall, avoiding the creaky floorboard. I could still hear Leo's light sleepy breaths until I reached the bottom of the stairs.

I lifted the latch slowly and carefully before turning the door handle.

"You have to be quiet," I whispered to Conall.

He smiled before immediately pulling me into a hug.

"I'm here to say goodbye," he said in my ear, "I love you so much and I promise you will be happy. I will make sure of it."

"Where are you going?"

"I have something important to do," he said.

"But what about work and the house-"

He put his hands either side of my face.

"This is more important."

"When will you be back?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. Soon hopefully."

A tear dropped down my cheek, "Conall-"

"This is for the best, Nel," he said, taking my hands, "You just have to trust me."

I nodded.

Conall forced a smile, "I better go."

I nodded, "Okay."

I stood at the doorstep and watched him disappear off into the forest before heading back inside.

Deciding I didn't want to explain to Leo that Conall had just crossed onto his territory unpermitted again, I went into the kitchen to collect my alibi, a glass of water, in case he woke as I returned.

But I never even got as far as the bottom of the stairs.

After filling the glass at the sink, I turned around to see Leo stood less than a metre away. He scared me so much that I dropped the glass causing it to smash, very close to my foot, and spread its contents all over the kitchen floor.

"Leo!" I said. "You scared the shit out of me."

"What are you doing?" he questioned.

"Getting a glass of water... or I was until you made me drop it," I replied.

"I thought I heard your voice?"

"To myself. I was talking to myself," I said awkwardly smiling.

I took a deep breath and tensed as he leant closer to me.

"What? I'm just getting you another glass," he said, reaching over my head to the glass cupboard. "And I'm sorry for scaring you."

He filled it at the tap and handed it to me.

"Go back to bed. I'll clear up this mess," he said gently but firmly kissing my cheek.

His fingers ran along my shirt as he took a deep breath in.

There was no way he didn't detect Conall's scent. It was all over me.

I smiled nervously as he watched me, quite intently, head out of the kitchen. His face wore a smile but I could tell by the look in his eye that he knew.

A few minutes later, after clearing up the water and broken glass, he came back into our bedroom. Without a word, he got into the bed beside me and wrapped his arms back around me.

"Next time, you don't need to hide him from me," he said softly.

I placed my hand on top of his, "Right."