Three Alphas, Three Mates

Chapter 14 - But I Thought

"I know what I saw."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Carson lies right to my face without even batting an eye.

I roll my eyes. "You changed right on top of me. There's no way I missed it."

He crosses his arms. "Yes you did."

I smack my forehead. This is ridiculous. "No, I didn't. You can't just convince me that I didn't see something when you're basically admitting it."

He doesn't have anything to say to that.

I cross my arms and look at him from the corner of my eyes. "It's called shifting, right? When you... turn."

He nods. "Yeah..."

I hm and look at the other two silent figures, then back at him. "I know. I read the fics..."

They look at me. Then at each other.

Axel and Carson chuckle a bit, just slightly. "See, we didn't even need to come explain this," Axel says.

Aiden gives him a look and his face falls.

I stick my hand in my back pocket. The one that has the pepper spray. "So what, you're here to shut me up? Kill me? Eat my family?"

Carson cocks his head back. "No. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know what to think." I look him dead in the eyes.

He frowns. "Well, at least logically you could assume that if we wanted to kill you—"

I raise an eyebrow.

He puts his hands up. "I'm not saying that we wanna kill you, it's just..." he stammers.

I raise both eyebrows.

He looks at his brothers. "Um, why are you guys here again if you're just going to let me be butchered?"

Aiden shakes his head, staring at him for a while. Then he looks at me. "What Carson's trying to say is that it would've been very easy to kill you and your family last night or any time since your arrival. You're all still very much alive, so a degree of belief that we're not trying to harm you is really your only viable option."

Aiden looks at his brothers, the empty backyard, and then back at me. Alone. Defenseless. "Given the circumstances."

I grip the doorknob harder.

Axel looks between both of them, incredulously. "I don't think the issue is the logic, it's the way you're saying it. You're freaking her out."

Aiden seems unmoved by his words. "Don't you think the opportunity to say it the right way has long since passed?"

"Finally, something we can agree on," Carson says.

Aiden gives him a look.

Carson pales. "What?"

"Look," I say to Carson. "If you're not trying to kill me, or silence me, or whatever, what do you want?"

He looks at his brothers, then back at me. He hesitates. He takes a step closer. I lean back against the door. One more step and his eyes are gone.

But his eyes don't look aggressive. They're staring at me the way they've always stared at me since the first day we met. Like he's trying to figure me out. Like he's got something to say, even though I can't imagine Carson not saying anything that's on his mind.

A small hint of red touches his cheeks and he looks into my eyes the same way he did that gym day, when I nearly passed out. He was so close then, and even though there's still a good distance between us at the moment, he still feels so close now. Maybe too close.